Skylar quietly tried to climb back into her window, unsure how to process what just happened. Who is Penelope? She thought. Why would my mom and her be on bad terms? Should I even trust her? Skylar could not help but have her mind run with all of these thoughts.
Just what she was fearing, as Skylar climbed back into her and her brother's room, she noticed Silvester sitting straight up on the bed. He quickly peered over at his intruding sister and frowned. "I was just about to go wake mom up." He growled.
Skylar jumped into the room and sighed. "I'm sorry, Silver. I didn't do anything bad, I promise."
Silvester shook his head. "I was worried you were going to do something stupid or whatever." He eyed the vase his sister was holding and raised an eyebrow. "Where did you get that vase?"
Skylar handed the vase to him. "That tapping noise we both heard, it was some lady named Penelope. She said she knew where our dad was."
Silvester's face grew puzzled. "Penelope? Never heard of her. Did she give you this vase or something?"
"Yeah. She said to give it to uncle B and that he would know what to do with it. I don't know, she didn't really explain. I am supposed to meet her tomorrow at the sandwich shop by the school so she could explain more."
Silvester carefully placed the vase on the nightstand over by their bed. "Well that'd be nice. I'm curious what an old vase has to do with any of this." He quickly looked down, refusing to make eye contact with his sister as his body started to fill with anxiety. "You shouldn't skip school, Sky. They will punish us way more harshly than you taking other kids' things you know."
Skylar frowned. "Well I wasn't planning on skipping. She told me to meet her after school anyway." Skylar remained quiet for a while as she was thinking. "I just don't know how I am going to explain that to mom. She would never let any of us do that."
"I would…like to go." Silvester scratched his head as he continued to look down at his feet. "I don't want to get in trouble with mom, though."
"Wait, Silver." Skylar smiled. "I have an idea."
The next morning…
Just like every school morning, Carmelita dropped the twins off right by the sidewalk leading to the school entrance. "Have a good day, kids!" She yelled.
Skylar and Silvester waved goodbye to their mom as they continued to walk up towards the school. Quickly, Skylar noticed Kennedy running up to the twins, visibly very angry.
"You don't think I have forgotten about that pen, do you?" She growled.
Skylar huffed. "I told you, Kennedy, I don't have your stupid pen." Skylar quickly started to speed up to avoid Kennedy, leaving her brother behind. Kennedy did not get the message, however, and started to walk at her pace.
"Give me the pen or else." She threatened.
"Screw off you stupid brat!" Skylar started walking faster, opening the school door entrance and quickly shutting closed, cutting Kennedy off. She bolted to the classroom and took her seat before Kennedy could catch up.
Silvester soon after entered the classroom with another student. Skylar knew this student alright, but they were not best friends or anything. Her name was Savannah and she got along with pretty much all the students. Savannah was a mouse, looking very similar to Penelope, but was slightly overweight. She wore just plain jeans and a red t-shirt, as she played fairly rough at recess. Skylar knew one thing about Savannah…Savannah ALWAYS had pink fluffy pens in her backpack. She normally would sell these to the other girls in the school for a quick buck, each pen being 25 cents. Skylar signaled for Savannah to sit next to her. She picked up on the message and plopped her things in the desk next to Skylar.
"Hey Savannah." Skylar smiled. "You still selling those pink pens?"
Savannah smiled. "Yeah. They're 25 cents. You want one?"
"I do." Skylar smiled. She dug around in her backpack and found a quarter she had taken from her mom's coin jar the previous night. "Just one, please. The pinkest and sparkliest you can find. You remember the one that Kennedy used?"
Savannah smiled. "Yeah, I sold that one to her. I still have a bunch. You want that one?"
Skylar grinned deviously. "Yes, I do if you wouldn't mind." She handed the quarter to Savannah and she gave Skylar the pink pen in return. The pen looked just like the one Kennedy used. Skylar waved it to her brother so he could see it and smiled. As soon as she did this, Kennedy entered the classroom with all her 'minions' and Skylar quickly shoved the pink pen back into her backpack. She grabbed her notebook out of her backpack and quickly placed it on her desk, acting as if she had been prepared for class. The teacher quickly walked in and sat at her desk.
"Good morning students." She smiled.
"Good morning, Mrs. Hill." All the students said in unison.
"Today we are studying the French Revolution." Mrs. Hill stood up and approached her dry erase board and started to teach. Skylar was paying no attention, as usual, and her brother was rapidly taking notes, sitting at a desk he normally did not sit at. Skylar reached into her backpack and quickly felt the fuzzy pink pen she had just purchased, trying to act out her plan in her head. Soon, she pulled her hand out and quickly scribbled a note to her brother in her notebook. Carefully and quietly, she tore it out and handed it to the student sitting next to her. She eyed her brother at the opposite end, which the student understood, and the student quickly started to pass the note to her brother.
Silvester, still rapidly writing down what his teacher was writing, was tapped by the student behind him. He turned around and saw the student was holding a note. He looked over at Skylar and furrowed his brow. He knew the note was from her, as her notebook contained sparkly blue paper. He remembered their mom buying it for Skylar, as the notebook was on clearance and Skylar wanted it badly. That was a rare moment Carmelita bought things her kids wanted outside of Christmas and their birthday. Skylar loved it though, and she never really asked for any other silly school supplies.
He grabbed the note and opened it. The note read in Skylar's horrible handwriting: I got the pen. It happens at recess. Silvester folded the note back and placed it into his backpack, careful not to draw attention to himself. He did not want to have to read it in front of the class. Besides, he has a good reputation with his teacher, he was not about to let a dumb note destroy that for him. He sat up nervously, fearing if the plan would work. He knew they were going to get in a lot of trouble for this, but if it gets their dad back, Silvester deemed it worth it.
6 hours later…
Just as the teacher was finishing up with her second lesson, Skylar eagerly watched the clock for dismissal for recess. Her belly was quite full from the lunch Carmelita had packed both of them, so she was unsure how her plan was going to play out. She did not enjoy executing devious plans on a very full belly.
Soon, just as Skylar was waiting, the clock struck 2 o'clock. The bell rang throughout the building, dismissing the students for recess. "Okay everyone, line up for recess." The teacher instructed.
Silvester hesitantly joined the line. His heart was racing at what seemed to be a heart attack level. His hands began to sweat and he shook all over. He was clearly extremely nervous about Skylar's plan.
The teacher quickly noticed Silvester. "Are you okay, Silvester?"
Silvester took some deep breaths. "Yes ma'am."
Mrs. Hill dismissed her concerns as she trusted Silvester would be honest with her if something was wrong. She opened the door and signaled the students to walk outside. They all traveled down the hall and exited to the door, leading to the playground. As soon as they stepped outside, the twins bolted to their usual spot by the tetherball.
Skylar patted her very nervous brother on the back. "Don't worry, it's going to be fine. Remember, we are doing this for our dad."
"What if the plan doesn't work, Sky? I don't want to get in a huge amount of trouble. Mom is going to kill us." Silvester locked his fingers together and continued to shake.
"Mom is not going to kill us." Assured Skylar. "Remember, I am going to get in trouble, not you. Just relax."
"I'm…involved." Silvester stuttered.
"Nobody knows that." Skylar assured. "Look, just go home with mom as planned. After school I'll meet you by the sandwich shop. Mom is supposed to go back to work to question someone after she drops you off."
"So just come home and sneak out." He suggested.
"Can't do that." Skylar glared in Kennedy's direction, who was playing kickball with her friends. "Penelope might leave."
"She might come back." He muttered.
"I don't know that." Skylar sighed. "This might be our only chance. If any of us chicken out she might not help us."
"Did she…did she say that?" Silvester stuttered again.
"No." Skylar looked down at her black sneakers. "But I'd imagine she would, maybe. I don't know, I don't want to take the chance."
Skylar looked up and noticed Kennedy marching over in her direction…again. "Look out, queen B is coming."
Silvester nervously glared down at his brown boots. He did not want to see what was going to happen next.
"I'm not going to ask you again, Fox." Kennedy stopped marching and eyed up Skylar. "I want that pen back. I knew you took it."
"You're such a brat." Skylar taunted. "All of this crap over a stupid pen. Just buy another one from Savannah."
"You stole my pen." Kennedy accused.
Skylar deviously grinned. "Oh, my bad. You mean THIS pen?" She pulled the pink pen from her back pocket and waved it in front of Kennedy.
Kennedy's face turned bright red. "I KNEW it. I KNEW you took it! Give it back!"
"You gotta catch me first!" Skylar laughed as she took off with the pen. Silvester buried his head into his hands after he watched Kennedy angrily chase Skylar around the playground. Skylar was extremely fast, so Kennedy was having a hard time catching her. She quickly climbed up a tall tree next to the fence by the busy street. She sat down on a branch, waving the pen at Kennedy who was running as fast as she could.
"Give me back my pen!" Kennedy yelled at once more.
"Come and get it you stupid bitch." Skylar taunted some more. "Oh wait, you can't. You can't climb trees. It'll ruin your pretty princess dress."
Kennedy was indeed wearing a sparkly pink dress that day that her father gave her. Skylar knew she didn't want to ruin it, but at the same time Kennedy was filled with so much rage she did not really care. Skylar was right though, she could not climb trees. It had nothing to do with her dress, she physically could not climb trees. She was a horrible climber.
Without thinking, Kennedy started aggressively shaking the tree, attempting to knock Skylar out. "Help me out you idiots!" Kennedy shouted to her 'minions.' Quickly, the students all ran up to Kennedy and helped her shake the tree. Skylar started to hold on for dear life, but she knew Kennedy was going to do this. Silvester watched from a distance, terrified his sister was going to fall onto the busy road. He wanted to help, but he knew he could not. He had to let his sister do this.
Skylar quickly fell from the tree, but thankfully not on the busy road. She landed on her butt, thankfully not hurting her too much. She stood up and brushed off herself. "All of this over a stupid pen." She taunted some more.
Without thinking once more, Kennedy tackled Skylar to the ground, attempting to get her pen back. She repeatedly scratched Skylar's face. Skylar was freaking out a little bit, as she did not count on Kennedy doing this. Kennedy started to punch her in the face, yelling at her to give her pen back.
Silvester noticed the fight and knew he had to intervene. He quickly bolted to his sister to try to help, ignoring his teacher who was on her phone, clearly not paying attention. He ran up to his sister and tried to pull Kennedy off of her, but was knocked down on the ground.
Skylar soon had enough of being beaten up. She felt the Fox's blood rush though her all at once, overriding the Cooper blood. While on the ground, she kicked Kennedy in her stomach to pry the brat off of her. Out of breath, Kennedy remained on the ground, looking up at the sky.
"You wanna fight? Come on over and fight you stupid bitch!" Skylar yelled.
Silvester gasped, wondering why his sister was using the B word. They had heard their mother use it several times, but if they had used it they would get in trouble for it. This didn't really matter though, Skylar was extremely angry. Her plan was only to make Kennedy mad enough to get her down from the tree and hopefully grab the teacher's attention. Skylar knew Kennedy would get her way and she would simply get after school detention. Skylar was sent to detention often, and she often escaped, leaving her to serve an extra 2 days. She figured she would sneak out, meet Penelope, and just get an extra 2 days the following day. Not a big deal to her. This plan was soon out the window, and Silvester knew the problem grew much MUCH worse.
Kennedy soon jumped from the ground, running back up to the fuming and bruised Skylar. Skylar, without hesitation, punched Kennedy right in the face. Kennedy was not knocked over by this, leading to her attempting to punch Skylar back. Skylar avoided the attempt and tacked her back to the ground, repeatedly punching her in the face until her nose started to bleed.
Silvester soon got extremely scared. He attempted to once again break up the fight, but Skylar accidentally knocked him over in a fit of rage. Without thinking, Silvester finally ran up to his teacher who was clearly too distracted with her phone to notice the fight.
"Mrs. Hill!" He screamed. "Skylar and Kennedy are fighting!" He started to cry as their teacher right away looked over at him.
"Wait…what?"
"Skylar…" Silvester couldn't stop crying to finish his sentence. "Over there." He pointed over to his sister beating the crap out of Kennedy.
"Oh my God!" Mrs. Hill tossed her phone on the bench where she was sitting and bolted over to the girls. "THAT IS ENOUGH!" She screamed as she manually tried to pull Skylar off. Skylar was not budging, as her rage was overwhelming her body. She had always dreamed of doing this, feeling Kennedy would get what she deserved.
The teacher quickly radioed administration to separate the girls. The other students gathered around to watch Skylar beat Kennedy up. Kennedy soon started to punch Skylar in the face extremely hard, eventually hitting her nose. Skylar grabbed her nose, which was now gushing with blood, releasing Kennedy from her grip. Mrs. Hill took this opportunity and grabbed Skylar, allowing Kennedy to flee.
Mrs. Hill forced Skylar to look at her and examined her bruised face and gushing nose. "Skylar." She moved over a piece of hair in front of Skylar's face, and noticed her curly ponytail was now frizzed and mangled.
The principal, who was an extremely large black panther, rushed out into the playground, realizing Mrs. Hill broke up the fight. He noticed Mrs. Hill with Skylar, so he quickly rushed over to the other students to find out what had happened.
Another student explained to him what had happened. The principal quickly started scanning the area looking for Kennedy. He noticed her hiding behind a picnic table off into the distance and rushed over to her.
Silvester could not calm himself down. He sat down, still by the bench his teacher was sitting at, and started throwing a fit.
Mrs. Hill looked into Skylar's eyes, who now started to cry. "What has gotten into you?" She asked sternly.
Skylar could not answer, as her nose continued to bleed rapidly. Mrs. Hill quickly rushed Skylar inside the building to visit the nurse. Skylar looked over at her brother as they were walking and saw him having a fit. She felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt, knowing she could not do anything for him now. She did not intend on things escalating like this, and as soon as her rage finally left her body, she felt just an overwhelming sadness and guilt rush through her.
Mrs. Hill led Skylar down the hallway to the nurse's office. This took them quite some time as they were not walking fast. She held a paper towel to Skylar's nose, attempting to control the bleeding.
The nurse was already notified they were coming, so she had her door wide open and her table prepped to examine the beaten up Skylar. Kennedy was soon on her way, but the principal radioed in that she was not willing to leave the playground, so it was going to take even longer to examine her.
Skylar and Mrs. Hill quickly entered the nurses office, with the nurse taking Skylar away from Mrs. Hill. "Is she okay?" She asked, clearly extremely concerned.
Mrs. Hill crossed her arms. "Her nose won't stop bleeding. I didn't get a chance to check up on Kennedy. The principal should be bringing her by too. I think Skylar is the only one with an injury like that, though."
The nurse cleaned Skylar's face up and shoved two cotton balls up each nostril. "The principal radioed me about Kennedy. So far, Kennedy is just bruised up pretty good, possibly a black eye. No bleeding though. Skylar is the only one who is bleeding." She reached over for a moist cloth and wiped the dirt off Skylar's cheeks. "Sweetheart, she punched you good."
Skylar still refused to talk. She knew she was going to get in a massive amount of trouble when this was all over. Now, meeting with Penelope was completely impossible.
After the nurse finished cleaning Skylar up, she quickly examined her nose, noticing it was lopsided. "Her nose is for sure broken." She stated. "She needs to go to the hospital."
Skylar quickly started to cry again. "I can't go to the hospital!" She blurted.
"Well, honey, you don't have much of a choice. That nose has to be treated. We're going to have to call your mom and let her know."
Skylar soon started to ball. "My mom? Please don't call her, please! I'll take detention. In fact, I'll take detention for the rest of my life. I didn't mean to fight, please don't call my mom!"
Mrs. Hill sighed. "Skylar, this is not about punishment. This is about getting you help." She kneeled over to Skylar. "We can sort all of this out later. For now, you need to go see a doctor to get your nose patched up. It won't stop bleeding if you don't. I'd imagine you can't breathe real good out your nose right now."
"I can't." She sighed.
"Well, let's call your mom and get you to the hospital." The nurse calmly grabbed her arm. "The doctor can get your nose fixed right up."
"Can you at least go help my brother." Skylar sniffled. "I made him upset, I didn't mean to. Trust me I didn't."
Mrs. Hill smiled. "I know you didn't. He will be okay."
The nurse let Skylar go and went over to the office phone. "What is your mother's number?" She asked.
Skylar quickly recited the number for the nurse to dial. The nurse quickly dialed it on the phone, with Carmelita answering rather quickly.
"Miss Fox?" She asked. She remained silent, as Skylar and her teacher could not hear Carmelita on the other line. "Miss Fox, this is the school nurse, Miss Leighton. Your daughter, Skylar, had an accident today and she needs to go to the hospital." There was more silence as the nurse held the phone to her face. "No, she doesn't need an ambulance, it isn't that serious, but she does need to go. Can you come and take her? We will provide an administrator to come with you if you'd like." More silence ensued as the nurse continued to hold the phone. "You will? Great! I'll let the front office know you are coming. Just come right into my office and Skylar will be here-what's that?" There was a brief pause as the nurse continued to listen. "Oh no, it's just Skylar. Silvester is okay. So how long is it going to take you to get here?" The nurse listened intently to the phone. "Oh, 10 minutes? That's perfect. Skylar will be here. You can just come right in, like I said I'll let the front office know you're coming." The nurse hung up the phone and smiled. "Your mom will be here in 10 minutes."
Skylar sighed as she sat down on one of the chairs by the door. "I'm dead." She murmured.
"Skylar, I doubt you are going to be in any trouble." The nurse said with an assuring tone. "Your mom sounded very concerned. She never asked what had happened. She wants you well."
Skylar sighed in response and sank into the chair. The chair felt cold against her body, but it felt nice. Skylar's nose was feeling extremely hot, so a quick cooldown felt nice.
10 minutes flew by for Skylar, as she was terrified of what was going to happen. Just in a flash, she saw her mother, still in her police uniform, rush over to her. "Sweetie!" She yelled. Carmelita examined her face and noticed her lopsided nose. "What happened?"
Mrs. Hill quickly interrupted. "She had a…disagreement…with another student." She stuttered.
Carmelita grew puzzled before quickly realizing what had happened. "You got in a fight?!"
Skylar closed her eyes, accepting her fate. "I did, mom."
"What? Who?"
"Kennedy and her got into a fight at recess." Mrs. Hill answered. "The principal right now is talking to Kennedy. We were going to get this resolved tomorrow, since Skylar's nose is like this."
Carmelita closed her eyes in disbelief. "I want to press charges."
"We understand that. We are going to get the law involved, but for now Skylar really needs to get her nose fixed."
Carmelita angrily looked over at Skylar, unsure what to think. Skylar was never one to fight, usually she hides or tries to run away. She knew somehow she had to get the story out of her, until then she knew she had to take her to the hospital.
"Come on Sky. Let's go." Carmelita helped her daughter up from the chair.
"Do you want someone from our school to come with you?" The nurse asked.
"No." Carmelita quietly answered. "But I do want to speak to the principal as soon as Skylar is okay." Carmelita led Skylar out of the nurses office into the main piece of the school. She did not really talk to Skylar, who was now feeling a lot of pain in her nose. She opened the door and escorted her daughter to her patrol car, which was parked right up against the curb.
"Do I have to ride in the back?" Skylar asked with sad eyes.
"No." Carmelita opened the passenger side. "You haven't committed a crime have you?"
Skylar sighed. "I think I did."
Carmelita laughed nervously. "Honey, you're okay. Just get in the car. Everything is going to get resolved tomorrow. Right now we need to get you to a doctor to fix that nose. I bet it's hurting, isn't it?"
"Yeah, a lot." Skylar attempted to touch her nose, but she quickly stopped as the pain from her fingers made her nose pain worse. She started to cry a little because of the sharp pain radiating her nose, but tried to look tough and hold it in.
"Don't touch it." Carmelita ordered. "Just get in the car. We're going to the doctor."
Skylar shamefully entered the passenger side of her mother's patrol car. It was a full size suburban with a lot of room in the front. Skylar was thankful she got to sit on a leather seat instead of the cold hard plastic seat in the back. She played with the laptop that was in the center console and felt the fine leather dashboard. "This is nice." She smiled.
"Nicer than riding in the back, I bet." Carmelita laughed.
"Yeah, it is. I don't think I've ever been in the front seat before."
Carmelita slowly hit the gas once Skylar was buckled in to exit the parking lot. As soon as she got on the main road, she started to question Skylar. "So, tell me exactly what happened."
Skylar was caught off guard by this question. "Well…" She stopped herself. "I can't tell you."
Carmelita slammed on the brakes and stopped the car. She looked at her daughter with angry eyes. "You can't tell me? Why? Did she threaten you?"
Skylar just shook her head in response. She took down her messy ponytail and let her long curly hair flow out, which was very bushy and frizzy at this point.
"Skylar…" Carmelita demanded.
"No mom. She didn't threaten me. Can we go now?" Skylar cuffed her nose, avoiding touching it. "My nose hurts."
Carmelita groaned. "Fine. But you are going to tell me when we get to the hospital. Don't make me ask your brother."
Carmelita pulled out from her stop and continued to drive to the hospital. The hospital was a bit far, actually close to where Bentley lived. She drove at a fast speed, hoping to get her daughter there as quickly as possible. She wanted to use her sirens, but she knew her boss would be really upset with this since this wasn't exactly an emergency. As soon as they got to the hospital, Carmelita opened the passenger side and escorted her daughter in the emergency room. They were greeted by an older nurse, who looked very familiar to Carmelita.
"Hi, her nose won't stop bleeding." Carmelita held her daughter. "We think it's broken."
The nurse smiled. "I know you, you're Miss Carmelita Fox aren't you?"
Carmelita sighed in relief. "Yes, yes I am."
"Remember me? I'm Susan. I was your nurse when you were pregnant. Is this Skylar? My you have grown!"
Carmelita smiled. She was so relieved she knew someone. "What are the odds?" She laughed.
"Come on back with me." The nurse escorted Carmelita and Skylar into a small bay room, with the only privacy being a curtain. The nurse took Skylar's blood pressure and heart rate. "Okay, the doctor will be in shortly."
"Thank God." Carmelita sighed in relief as she picked up her daughter and placed her on the bed. "Now, before the doctor gets here, tell me what happened." She demanded. "I need to know because I don't want Kennedy getting away with this…I doubt you do either."
Skylar sighed. "Okay."