The Failure of a Father
Ch 17: On The Road to Happiness
It was Monday, the one day every person in the neighborhood of Royal Woods likes to hate and dread. Michael was feeling a bit lazy today, but he still got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower, changing into his trademark gray T-shirt with red sleeves and blue jeans. The teenage boy went downstairs for breakfast before school. Now that his personal life has taken an upturn, it was time for him to make some arrangements for his return to his own family.
Class was rather boring to put it lightly. As the teacher's voice filled the air, some of the students would drift off to sleep. Drenched in the burdens of History, the subject seemed to be dull and boring.
Michael almost drifted off to sleep, when Stephanie poked his shoulder.
"You want to get lectured by Miss White again?" She whispered.
The Afton teenager shook his head. He hoped for recess to arrive at this time. Looking at the clock, it was already half past 10 in the morning. Michael grinned, knowing that lunchtime will arrive in just 30 minutes.
Lunchtime came…
Michael and his friends were talking to each other, and Elijah laughed at Robert's comment about what happened with Mr. Grouse when he was watering his petunias on Sunday.
"Really, bro?" Elijah said. "When Mr. Grouse was watering his petunias, he accidentally watered his trousers?"
"Yup…" Robert said, rubbing the back of his head. "I passed by Mr. Grouse's house, and saw him do so. I also smelled Mr. L's lasagna…" The boy's mouth watered at the thought of Lynn Sr.'s lasagna. "Mm…that cheesy feeling as you dig into your first bite…"
"Mr. Loud makes lasagna?" Michael asked.
"Well, yeah…" Lincoln said. "We…ahem…mostly cook it for our neighbor, he's got a penchant for it…"
"Mr. Grouse likes your dad's lasagna?" Stephanie asked.
"Yep." The 11-year-old Loud said.
"Tell him we'd want three boxes of lasagna." Robert said, raising three of his fingers.
"Sure thing." The boy said as he trailed off.
Home-time…
They packed up their stuff and got ready to go home. Michael got off the bus with Stephanie and Jamie, then went to the house. The trio sat on the couch, exhausted after the trip home.
"Where's Mom and Dad?" Stephanie said, looking for their parents.
"I'm here." Abigail said, coming out of the kitchen.
"I'm in the bathroom." Julius said, with toothpaste foam spilling out of his mouth.
"Dad…" Jamie said. "Y-You have r-rabies…"
"What? No, I don't." Said Julius.
"Don't be such a scaredy cat, Jimmy." Stephanie said. "Dad just brushed his teeth and he forgot to spit out the foam…"
"Sorry…" The father said, running back to the bathroom and spitting out the toothpaste foam. He rinsed his mouth afterwards.
"Your dad's a classic, ain't it, Stephanie?" Michael said, chuckling.
"Yeah, he is." She smiled.
"I thought Dad had rabies…" Jamie said, confused.
"One, Jamie is scared of any type of arachnid, and two, he's scared of rabies." Stephanie muttered. "Well, he is very serious with those types of phobia."
"Well, could say the same."
The next day…
The alarm clock rang, and Michael hit the snooze button. He woke up Stephanie from deep sleep.
Rubbing off the sleep in her eyes, Stephanie yawned. "Well, great, the burdens of waking up at 7 each morning…"
"Let's just get this over with…" Michael said as he got up and went to the bathroom to freshen up for the day.
Later, they were having buttered toast and waffles for breakfast today. Silence lingered around them like mist in the woods, until…
"So…" Julius said, taking a bite out of his toast. "…how's your day going?"
"It's going fine, hon." Abigail said, continuing to eat her waffles.
"Nothing exciting…" Michael and Stephanie said, eating their toast.
"Well, it's boring…" Jamie said, taking a bite out of his waffles.
Later, they finished breakfast and went on the way to school and work.
At school…
For the next 8 hours, students were imprisoned in their classrooms like inmates in their prison cells. Drowned in the usual boring subjects of mathematics, history, and science, the class was irritated of having to get their asses up and go to school until their suffering was over on Friday, the one day students longed for to come.
The clock ticking was the only sound heard in the room, the sound of the AC system running, and students chattering, too. Michael was writing his notes, so were the others.
Robert decided to play a trick with his pencil, so that his crush, Mary, would acknowledge him. He spun his pencil, well, not long until Stephanie called out to him.
"Robert?" Stephanie called out.
This made him drop the pencil out of his hand. "Geez, way to ruin the moment…" He said.
"Well, unless you want Mary to kiss you…" The teenage girl said in a sing-songy tone. "…in the lips."
Robert's face flushed as he covered his face. "What a way to go, Stephanie, cropping up those thoughts in my head…"
"Robert?" Mary said. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, Mary…" Robert responded. "I'm alright…"
"You're blushing…" The girl said. "…I think you want to kiss me..." She said, blinking her eyes in a charming way.
The boy's face turned red as a rose, as he smiled in joy at the thought of kissing his girlfriend, in the lips.
"Such a classic…" Michael thought.
Lunchtime…
The students were talking to each other about their life goals, getting married, having kids, all that stuff. Michael had a lot of goals, except getting married and having kids.
"Hey Robert." Mary said, approaching Robert. "Can I have lunch here with you?"
"Y-Yeah, sure…" Robert said, his cheeks turning red.
"Hey Mary, how's your day going?" Stephanie smiled.
"It's good." She said.
"So…" Michael said. " How would you, Robert, like the thought of a date with Mary?"
"Sure, wait—" The boy interrupted. "What did you just say?!"
"You and Mary are going to go on a date on the weekends~" Stephanie said in a sing-songy tone.
"Oh my God, just stop it guys." Robert said.
"Oh come on…" Michael said, patting Robert. "We're just messing with 'ya."
Elijah ruffled Robert's hair and said. "Don't be peeved, little Rob…"
"Hola…" Roberto said as he and Lori approached. "…What's going on here? Why's Robert blushing?"
"We told him that he's going on a date with Mary on the weekend." Stephanie said.
"Oh, I can help!" Lori said, smiling.
"Alright, I'll go on a date with Mary on the weekends…" Robert said as Mary kissed him on the cheek.
Later, they went back to class. Michael was back to writing his notes, and so were the others.
"I hope home time arrives soon…" Robert whispered to himself.
The clock ticked every second of every minute, later, the students finished copying their notes, and got ready for home.
Later, the final bell rang, and every one ran out of the place they deemed torturous and a place of boredom.
At Stephanie's house…
Michael, Stephanie, and Jamie sat down on the couch to rest. They must have had a long day at school.
"School is boring…" Jamie said.
"Alright…" Michael said. "…let's go eat dinner…"
The trio saw their plates covered in foil, they removed the covering and started eating away at their dinner.
"Feels nice to be back here again after 8 hours of school…" Stephanie smiled, eating her dinner.
"Me too." Michael said.
"Me three." Jamie added.
Silence lingered around for some time, until Stephanie ignited the conversation.
"So…" Stephanie said. "…I heard from Lincoln last time that your family was planning a 'welcome home' party for you, can I come?"
"Sure thing." Michael replied. "How did Lincoln know?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Afton ust have told him or something, or it must have been Liz and CC, he's close friends with them."
"OK…" Jamie said. "Well, he said that he and Lori go to the city with Roberto and he helps with the 'Trout Express' business that he's doing."
"'Trout Express'?" The older boy said confused. "What's that?"
"Well, it's an endless delivery of fish from the bodega to everywhere in the city." Lincoln said, as he, Roberto, and Lori entered the house.
"I came up with that idea, and all the spare trout was sold to everyone in the city, and we got extra income, heh heh…" Roberto said. "Don't worry, Lincoln got his share of income."
"That's weird…" Stephanie said.
To be continued in Ch 18…
A/N: Hello guys, it's me, some of you may think the story is dead, but I still got the fire to write it burning inside me.
Anyway, the 'Trout Express' idea comes from Thomas & Friends, for those familiar with the Flying Kipper, they will understand.
And also, now that Robert has the balls to ask Mary out on a date, this will happen in chapter 20.
Chapter 18, is two parts, by the way.
See you in the next chapter!