Tricky Measures Chapter 19 A, a ncis: los angeles fanfic

Chapter 19—A Different World

Raisa raced across the schoolyard to join her friends. They all liked to meet under the big tree.

"Let me see!" shrieked Olivia.

Jorge reached into his pockets and brought out a crumpled plastic bag. He waggled it in front of the other kids. "You're not going to believe what I got this time!"

He dumped the bag out in his hand.

"Gumdrops? For all our money, you bought gumdrops?!" screamed Maria.

"No, you jerk! These are the ones they're advertising on TV. I took them out of my mom's drawer. She doesn't know that I know she uses them."

Raisa's sharp eyes noticed the recess teacher. "She's going to ring the bell right now! Gimme one!"

Jorge nodded, and handed each of his friends two gumdrops. He put three into his own mouth, but nobody complained.

"Oooh, I like these," commented Raisa.

"So do I. Thanks, Jorge," said Olivia.

Then they all scattered and ran to their classrooms. Nobody was late.

Anya glared at her worksheet. It was full of basic geometric shapes, and each one had one or two lines that had to be identified with colored pencils which she particularly hated to do. Mr. Cohn noticed her growliness.

"How about you stay after school today to work on that?" he asked.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed loudly.

"Then get focused. As it is, you have detention for fifteen minutes today."

Anya banged her head on her desk and grumbled. "Yes, Mr. Cohn."

Nikolai threw his box of crayons across the classroom. "I don't want to do this!" He crumpled up his worksheet and then threw it, too.

"Oh, boy," muttered Ms. Veronika. "Nikolai, if you don't get done, you're going to bed in five minutes."

"No, Ms. 'Ronika! I don't want to!" he argued.

"Then go pick up your stuff and do your work!"

Stomping his feet, the little boy retrieved his belongings from where they had landed. He was glad that his crayons hadn't scattered. He clumped back to his table, slamming anything he could. Ms. Veronika didn't say a word.

"Mr. Goldblatt, when are we finishing this dreadful unit?" Kira asked.

"Probably tomorrow, since I've planned a quiz on it for tomorrow," the teacher replied.

"Oh, come on, man!" griped Tone. "That's too soon!"

A very smooth, clearly malevolent, smile crossed the teacher's face. "I'll tell you what. How about we trade in our assignments right now in exchange for the quiz? It is ready, you know."

Kira wadded up a piece of paper into a tight ball and threw it at Tone. "Thanks a lot, you dumb twat!"

Jerzy laughed at her, and Tone shoved him onto the floor, where he stayed. "I guess I'm dead," he declared. "And if I'm dead, I won't have to take the quiz."

"True," agreed Mr. Goldblatt, "but your grade will resemble the Sun."

Both Tone and Kira laughed at him, as did the rest of the class.

"How about it? You want the zero, or would you prefer to take the quiz?"

Raisa was glad when the bell rang. She carefully packed up her books and papers and put them all into her backpack. She couldn't wait to have another gumdrop.

She was underwhelmed to see her mother driving the car. She got in, and buckled herself in. Before Anna could move the car, a pair of Raisa's friends flew at the car.

The boy knocked on the window, and Anna agreed to let Raisa open it. He talked to his friend for a few minutes, and then handed an envelope to Raisa.

"Thank you, Mrs. Callen," he said. "Raisa forgot this part of her homework."

"Thank you, Jorge," Anna said. In the rear view mirror, she watched Raisa put the envelope away very carefully into the side pocket on her bag.

"You're welcome, Mrs. Callen. 'Bye, Raisa."

Raisa nodded at him, and he ran off to find his own mother.

"Where's Nikolai?" Callen asked, turning in circles because he couldn't see the little boy.

"I right here, Papa," Nikolai said, giggling.

"Say what?"

"I right here," Nikolai repeated, but grabbing hold of his father's leg.

Anna frowned. "What's going on?"

Callen picked up Nikolai. "Read this." He handed her his watch, and she read the text from Ms. Veronika.

Anna looked at him. "Is she talking about the right kid?"

"I don't know, but we need to talk to her." Callen sat down with Nikolai on his lap. "What's going on, little boy?"

Nikolai shrugged, feigning innocence.

"Why did Ms. Veronika text me today? Did you mess up?"

"Yaa," he admitted. "I throwed my crayons."

Raisa took her bag upstairs. She sat on her bed with it, but turned her back to the public. Gently, she removed the envelope, and then opened it. Her eyes widened with happiness when she saw that there were six gumdrops. She took two and popped them into her mouth. Not wanting to bring the envelope back to school, she got up and wandered around her room. After several minutes, she put the envelope in the far, far back of her makeup drawer, where her mother couldn't see it. Raisa smiled smugly. Then she took her bag and went down to the dining room.

"Whoa!" Callen said as Anya stormed into the dining room. "What is going on here?"

Nobody answered him.

Anna frowned. "I think you all better sit down real quick!"

Growling and grumbling, all four kids sat down in their own chairs.

Anna surveyed her disheveled group. The only one who didn't seem grumpy was Raisa.

Callen wasn't happy with any of the kids either. He looked at Anya. "We'll start with you, Anya. Why were you late in getting home today?"

"I hate eighth grade!" she declared.

Callen bit back a displaced smile. "You've been telling us that since September. Try again."

She gave her father a dirty look. "I got detention today."

"Why?" asked her mother.

"Because I didn't want to do my work!" Anya griped.

Nikolai looked at her. "Did you throw it?"

"No, but I wanted to," she replied.

Anna's glance settled on Kira. "What happened?"

"Tone pissed me off!"

"Hey!" said her father.

"Sorry," she said. "He acted like a jerk, and we wound up taking a quiz that we weren't prepared for. Jerzy didn't help much either."

"Oh, boy," said her father. "I think Jerzy might be in Mr. Goldblatt's class next year."

"Could be," agreed Kira.

"What did you get for homework?" Anna asked.

"All the work we couldn't do because of Tone."

"Oh, boy," her parents sympathized.

Callen looked directly at Raisa, who was behaving and not causing a ruckus. "Didn't you get detention today?"

"No, Papa. All I did was forget part of my homework and Jorge brought it to me."

"Okay. Look. It's getting late, and nobody has begun their homework. Please get two assignments finished before dinner. Okay?"

All four mumbled and groaned. Kira spoke up. "Okay, Papa. What's going to happen if we don't?"

"The movie will be cancelled tonight," Anna said.

"Noooo," groused the four.

Anya glanced at Kira. "She didn't say anything about the popcorn."

Kira frowned. "Perhaps not, but let's not remind her, okay?"

Anya nodded, and then pulled out her homework. She groaned loudly when she saw that her geometry worksheet had to be double-signed by her parents.

Nikolai pulled out his phonics page and got started, and so did Raisa. She chose her map study skills sheet.

Kira had a thunderous look on her face. She didn't understand the concept too well, thanks to Tone's nonsense, but she didn't want to ask her parents for help. She wanted to do it by herself.

Quietly, Callen tapped Anna and led her out to the kitchen.

"What is going on?" he asked her.

"Seriously? They're all growing up, and it can be a real pain sometimes."

He frowned. "How so?"

"Really? Nikolai has four-itis, which means that his behavior is going to suck for the next few months. Anya is turning into a teenager, so her behavior is going to be horrendous for a while. And Kira is in the middle of it all." She sat down at the kitchen table.

"How do you know all that stuff?" He sat down as well.

"Probably too many conversations with Ms. Leslie over the years."

"What's with Raisa?"

"I don't know, Callen, but I do know that we are going to figure it out this weekend."

Raisa went out to the kitchen. "Mama, I'm done with my homework," she said.

"Can we see it, please?" Callen said. He was very skeptical.

"Okay, Papa," Raisa agreed. She went and and brought him her worksheets.

He read both papers very carefully, and then looked up at her. "You did a good job, baby," he praised, handing the papers to Anna.

"Very nice," Anna praised, giving her daughter a hug.

"Can I go upstairs for a little while, until dinner?"

"Sure, if you want to," Anna said. "Just make sure you come down when we call you."

Raisa nodded. "Thank you, Mama." She put her papers away, and then put her backpack by the front door. She couldn't wait to have another gumdrop, and some of the other specialties that were hidden in her drawer.

Anya finished her detestable geometry worksheet. Then she gathered up all of her papers, and put them into her backpack. She was careful to close it, and put it by the front door.

"Papa, what's for dinner?"

"I have no idea," he said, wondering how she got done so quickly. "Why don't you watch TV for a little while?"

"Callen, what's wrong?"

"Anna, I think she just told a fib. I don't think she is finished at all."

Anna slumped on the table. She looked up at her man with a twinkle in her eye, and a smirk covering her face. "I told you she was going to be difficult."

"Yes, you did. But, it won't matter. She is already grounded this weekend for something else. She'll have plenty of time to do her work."

"That's not nice," Anna snickered.

"Neither is telling fibs to your parents."

Anna groaned. "Now what?"

"Nothing. We are going to have Backwards for dinner tonight."

"What's Backwards?"

Callen laughed. "It's where we get the last laugh. They are not watching the movie tonight, or having any popcorn, but they are having pizza for dinner with no extras. Noth-ing. Not even ice cream for dessert. This crap of theirs needs to STOP!"

Anna agreed wholeheartedly, but she knew Callen wouldn't understand that it's going to take several years for it all to pass. She sat up straight, and laughed. Then she got up and hugged him. "It'll be fine."

Upstairs, Raisa made sure her door was closed. Then she moved her desk chair over to her vanity. She opened the drawer, and felt in the back for the envelope. She took out the gumdrops, but put them back. There wasn't enough to be wasteful; she wanted them to last until Monday.

Raisa sat and stared out the window for a little while, until she made a decision. She pulled open her other drawer, and felt in the way back for another envelope.

She held it in her hands for a few minutes, and then opened it. It held a small, folded paper that felt squishy when she squeezed it.

Laying it on the vanity, Raisa opened the paper. Inside was a small amount of white powder, and a very skinny straw. Jorge had told her how to use the cocaine, but she still wasn't sure she wanted to sniff powder up her nose.

She dampened the tip of her finger, and dipped it into the powder. Then she tasted it. Not very good. Maybe it was better to sniff it. Looking in the envelope again, Raisa found a tiny spoon. It wasn't even big enough to play dolls with!

Using the spoon, she put two very small piles of the powder out, away from her paper. Jorge called them lines, but Raisa didn't want to do that. Then she folded the paper and put it in the envelope. She didn't want to drop any of it, no matter what.

After sitting for what seemed like an eternity, Raisa took the tiny straw and stuck it in her nose. Then she plugged up her other nostril, and slowly sniffed the powder with the straw. It felt funny, and she coughed a little. She felt the effects fairly quickly, so she decided to sniff the rest of what she had laid out.

She felt very removed from her room, but she liked the effects. Floating was fun. She was able to focus on her straw and spoon, and she put them in the envelope with the powder. Then she returned the entire thing to the farthest corner in the back of her drawer.

Raisa floated over to her bed and laid down. She wondered if Jorge had ever felt like this.

Kira was feeling defeated. She got up and went to hug her father, even though he was sitting down. He responded immediately, and hugged her in response.

"What's wrong, Kira?" he asked.

"Nothing much, Papa. I hate Tone. He messed up our assignments and everything else. Can I stay home tomorrow?"

Callen chuckled. "No, baby, although that's a good try. What's really bothering you?"

"It sucks being a teenager," she replied. "It's better being a kid."

"No, it isn't," Anna put in. "You'd miss out on too much."

Kira looked at her mother. She made a face. "I guess so."

Callen hugged her tightly, and then released her. "Baby, go get finished. I'm ordering dinner shortly."

Kira perked up when he said 'shortly.' "Okay, Papa." She gave him a kiss and returned to the dining room.

"Was that wise?"

"No, Anna. Probably not, but if it gets her to finish her work, then it's worth it."

Anna nodded. "Okay. What are you ordering?"

He smirked at her. "I told you already. Backwards. That means plain and simple."

Anna's eyes opened wide. "Oooh! You mean cheese only!"

"Yep!"

"Kira, how do you do this one?" Nikolai asked.

"What's wrong with it?"

"It doesn't got the letters."

She looked at his paper. Sure enough, the letter choices were missing.

"Maybe put a circle around the whole thing, and tell Ms. Veronika in the morning. There is no way to answer it, Nikolai."

His eyes widened. "She not get mad at me?"

"I don't think so, Nikolai. Let her know and then tell me when you get home tomorrow."

"Okay, Kira. Thanks!" He gathered up his papers and stuffed them into his backpack. Then he tossed the bag at the front door.

Callen started to say something, but Anna stopped him.

"Let it go, my love," she said. "He's already in a foul mood. Why make it worse?"

Callen glared at her. "When did he get so crabby?"

"About three months ago," she said with a smirk. Then, to distract him, she kissed him. "You need to stop." She kissed him again.