alright so I said I would write about Cassidy but my fingers said no, so here we are.

The part about Elizabeth wanting ice cream was inspired by user beesandpolio on Wattpad. I read their work a couple months ago and it's really good, go check them out!

Review time!

MoonTheMagical: Minecraft is the best game. I have a couple servers me and my friends play on, but we mostly play Death Run on the Hive. And yes, the horse head is the greatest purchase I have ever made.

Naughtycat9: Turtles All The Way Down is the one I was referring to. And the Zelda games are fun, though I suck at them. I played one of them when I was ten and I just hid under a bush for two hours.

mixsii: you're in this chapter mwah mwah

SomeRandomRobo: I watched Markiplier play those two, they're really funny. And I played Henry Stickmin, I forgot which one, and found the Fnaf reference, so that was fun!

Enjoy!

Chapter 54

Training Wheels

"Evan, stop bullying your sister."

Clara didn't even bother glancing over when she said that, simply flipping through her magazine and twirling her blonde hair around one finger. Evan gasped.

"What?! But she kicked me! And I'm not bullying her." He showed off the purple bruise his sister had given him. Elizabeth put her hands on her hips, her face red.

"Yeah, but you stole my dinosaur! Mummy, tell him he should give it back!" She whined, stamping her foot on the brightly coloured foam carpet.

Clara sighed. "Evan, give your sister the dinosaur."

Evan sniffled. "No! It's mine! You're just taking her side 'cause she's your favourite." His wide, glassy light blue eyes threatened to spill tears.

Elizabeth grinned, her turmoil forgotten. "Ha-ha. I'm Mummy's favourite!" She stuck out her tongue.

"You're all my favourite, Liz." Clara droned in a monotone voice, not really paying attention. Evan beamed, but Elizabeth just crossed her arms. She hated her brother for stealing all the attention from her. So stupid.

She bounced up on her heels to try and grab the dinosaur toy from her brother, who just smirked and held it out of reach, chuckling to himself. Elizabeth stamped her foot in anger again, and with all her strength, yelled.

"I HATE YOU!" She kicked him in the shin and plopped on the ground, burying her face in her hands and crying. Clara stood up, anger blooming in her gaze.

"Elizabeth Eleanor Afton. We do not talk to our family like that. Now apologize this instant." She ordered. The five-year-old just sobbed harder, her dusty ginger curls spilling out around her sunny yellow tee-shirt.

"It's true! I hate him so much, and I wish he was dead! He keeps stealing my toys, and he steals all of Daddy's attention from me! I hate him, I hate him, I HATE HIM!" Elizabeth screamed at the top of her lungs, pounding her fists into the carpet in a furious temper tantrum. Evan just stared at her in fear, clutching the green dinosaur to his chest.

Clara watched her youngest daughter in a panic. Was this what her ex-husband had to deal with?! Since when was Lizzy such a brat? When Clara and William divorced last year, Elizabeth had been an angel, so sweet and cute. Now she was aggressive, whiny, self-centered, and needy, latching herself to Clara whenever she was babysitting, like now, and her father especially.

Michael and Evan weren't much better, Evan being snarky, uncontrollable, and destructive, and Michael being a lazy, moody, bully. Sure, they'd never been the closest, but Clara in the three hours she'd been here had overheard some crashing and yelling between the two that she never would have condoned when she was living with them.

Suddenly, Michael appeared from out of his bedroom, staring at his sister.

"Elizabeth, get up. Stop acting like such a brat." He rolled his light blue-gray eyes and adjusted the sleeves of his red hoodie. Elizabeth turned her angry emerald gaze over to him. Tears and snot streamed down her face.

"SHUT YOUR FACE UP!" She bawled, furiously wiping her eyes and face with her fist.

Clara glared at her youngest. "Elizabeth, I'm going to count to ten, and you're going to your room even if I have to drag you there." She stuck out her hand to grab the tiny girl, but Elizabeth snatched her hand and bit it, her sharp teeth nearly breaking skin. Clara cried out and pulled her hand back.

Evan stepped forward angrily. "You hurt Mom! You'd better say sorry!"

"NO! YOU'RE ALL DUMB-FACES AND I HATE YOU AND I WISH I COULD SLICE YOU ALL INTO BLOODY LITTLE PIECES AND FEED YOU TO AN UGLY SNAKE! I WISH YOU WERE ALL DEAD AND ROTTEN AND I WISH YOU COULD ALL-"

"I'm home!" William called, balancing bags of groceries using his arms and left hip. Elizabeth gasped at the noise and hauled herself up, brushing away her stray tears and dashing over to her father, hugging his leg.

"Yay, Daddyyyyyy! I love you so so so much! You look really purple today!" Elizabeth squealed, her shiny leaf-green eyes alight with adoration. Elizabeth liked to match feelings with colours, and purple meant happy. Clara was shocked, however, because Elizabeth certainly wasn't very purple just seconds before.

William shook her off, muttering something under his breath about some Tony from Venezuela. Elizabeth perked up and followed him like a puppy. Michael ran over and peered into the paper grocery bag, Evan still frozen with the lime-green dinosaur figure in his sweaty small hands.

"I brought home some more ham and cheese, so we can make sandwiches." William told him, pulling out a greenish banana and tossing it to his oldest.

Clara walked over and swiftly grabbed her ex's arm, dragging him off into a tiny spare room, her light blonde hair brushing into her face. She locked the door and turned to him. The lights were out, so she could barely make out his face.

William held up his hands. "Hey, I thought we were over!" He smirked. Clara rolled her light green eyes. Typical William. She didn't know how she managed to put up with him when they started dating in college, let alone be naive enough to marry him and have three children.

"Oh, shut up. Do you know what the hell is wrong with Elizabeth? I've never seen her like this! I know she's five and doesn't know better, but Evan, and not even Michael were like this at five. She's physically harming Evan and me, she's making violent death threats and saying she hates us, she's whiny, bratty, needy, egotistical, unempathetic-"

Clara groaned, realizing.

"And just like you." She hit herself in the head. "God, I'm such an idiot. You did this to her, didn't you! You've influenced these kids too much. What was I thinking when I gave you custody of them?! You're horrid! Have you been abusing them?!" Clara yelled. She was livid, how could he?!

William growled.

"Shut up, you idiot. Of course they're going to turn out like me, they live with me! I can't help it. You're the one who wanted to have them with me!"

Clara snorted. "Oh please. Pin the blame on me." He was so infuriating! As if it was only her decision.

William sighed. Obviously, yelling at her wasn't getting anywhere. He needed to play the victim, get back on her good side. If there was one thing he knew about Clara, it was that it was easy to change her mind and take advantage of her with some incredibly simple manipulating.

"Look, Clara, I…" He ran a hand through his ebony locks. "I know that I have some...issues. And I know that Elizabeth and maybe some of the others inherited those 'issues'. But I'm trying. I- I just want you to give me a chance. Please. I swear I'll talk to Lizzy about proper manners." William begged.

Clara crossed her arms, looking him up and down. He didn't look like he was lying...

"Fine. But you'd better make an effort. I did not raise my children to behave like...like that, and I want to see an improvement next time I visit."

William snorted. "Okay, Mom."

When Clara shot him one of her famous glares, he backed up and exited the door, mumbling to himself.

William laughed to himself as he walked down the hall. Like hell I'll talk to her.

~lll~

Michael spread yellow mustard on his whole-wheat bread, while Evan made a face at his brother's meal. Elizabeth was in the backyard with William picking apples, and Clara was packing her vegan-meat sandwich into the basket.

Despite being divorced, William and Clara liked to go on trips to the park with the kids every now and then, since they barely got to see her. The plan was to bring the bikes and try to teach Liz how to ride. Hopefully, this would go well.

Elizabeth skipped in with an armful of lucious red apples, smiling to herself.

"I picked lots of apples!" She chirped, dumping them in a green cloth bag courtesy of their local supermarket. Elizabeth suddenly gasped when she saw a colourful red jar. "Jam!" She made grabby hands to it, her forehead coming just above the countertop.

Clara took out a small spoon and scooped out a bit for her daughter. "Here you go Liz. Try not to get it all over your face."

"Yay!" Elizabeth squealed, getting the strawberry jam all over her face.

Evan grinned, picking up a particularly shiny apple.

"Good, I like ay-pals."

Michael rolled his eyes. "It's pronounced ah-pulls, dumbass."

Clara pointed to him accusingly. "Michael Terrence Afton. Watch your language. Think about your five-year-old sister."

"Yeah, Mikey. Think about me." Elizabeth hugged him from behind, pressing her face, sticky with jam, into his light gray shirt.

Michael muttered something colourful under his breath, but didn't otherwise complain.

The family finished packing and hopped into William's purple (of course) van.

(perfect for kidnapping children-)

They began to drive the fifteen minute drive to the park. Not seconds later, Elizabeth kicked her legs in the booster seat.

"I'm bored." She yawned.

"Colour a picture." William told her. Elizabeth made a face, holding the broken green crayon and dumb colouring book with obvious distaste.

"Are we there yet?" Evan whined. Clara sighed. She'd forgotten what kids were like on road trips, no matter how far or how long the trip really was.

"It's only another fifteen minutes, we'll be there soon." She chided. "Why don't you three play 'I Went On A Trip'?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "That's a baby game."

Evan glared at him and turned happily to the front.

"I went on a trip and I saw an apple!" Evan said cheerfully. Both him and Elizabeth looked at Michael expectantly, as he was the next one in line. Michael sighed.

"I went on a trip and I saw a brother who is a massive pest." He grumbled. Elizabeth clapped her hands.

"I went on a trip an' I saw a cangaroo!" She chipped in cheerfully, rolling up her socks.

Evan stared at her. "Where's the kangaroo? We're in America. Also, kangaroo is spelt with a K, not a C."

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"Evan, just go ahead." William sighed, exhausted from the endless bickering.

Evan crossed his small pale arms, burying himself further in his comfy gray-and-black striped hoodie. "There's no point in playing if we're not going to play it right."

Elizabeth glanced out the window and gasped when they passed by a certain ice cream restaurant.

"Daddy, can we get ice cream?" She asked politely, clasping her hands together. William shook his head.

"Sorry, Liz, but you've already had too much sugar today. Plus, we're nearly there." He explained. Elizabeth pouted.

"Pleaseeeeee? I'll be really really good! Pinky promise." She bribed. William frowned.

"Elizabeth, I told you no. That is final."

Michael cast a quick glance at his sister's face, which was currently working its way throughout fifty different shades of red. He covered his ears in advance.

"I WANT ICE CREAM! I WANT ICE CREAM! I DESERVE IT, I GOT GOLD STARS ON MY MATH YESTERDAY. YOU HAVE TO LOVE ME AND GIVE ME ICE CREAM." Elizabeth screamed, her legs and arms in hyperspeed.

"None of us had ice cream, so why should you?" Evan reasoned. Elizabeth shook her head wildly, still flailing about like a beached whale.

"YOU'RE WRONG! DADDY GOT ICE CREAM YESTERDAY, I SAW HIM EATING IT WITH HIS PILLS THAT HE GOT FROM THE MEAN DOCTOR!" Elizabeth yelled. William threw back his head and groaned.

"Dammit, that's what I forgot today. And Liz, shut the hell up already! God, I'm going to make you take those pills if you keep acting like you're on twelve lines of cocaine all the time!" He told her.

Elizabeth paused. "What's 'cocaine'?"

Clara sighed. "Never mind that, love. Your father shouldn't have said that. Right, William?"

William was staring straight ahead. Clara tapped his shoulder.

"William? You- OH MY GOD!"

Apparently William was so zoned out so much he didn't notice he was drifting into the wrong lane. He cursed under his breath and swerved to miss an incoming semi-truck heading straight for them. The truck honked before zooming past them. William honked back angrily.

"That stupid prick didn't see where he was going! Jesus Christ…" He muttered. Clara stared at him.

"Are you kidding me? You were in the wrong lane, idiot! There are three young kids in the back, you need to stop thinking about yourself for once!"

"Yeah Dad, think about us," Evan jeered from the backseat. William fixed him with a ferocious glare.

"I'd murder you all if I could." He sighed. Clara punched him in the shoulder.

"You don't just say that with easily influenced children beside you! Maybe you should have tried harder to remember your meds! See, this is why-"

Suddenly, Clara saw the discomfort of her children in the back. Michael looked slightly angry, Evan looked like he wanted to disappear, and Elizabeth- well, she looked joyful as always, but still. Clara took a deep breath and tried to control herself.

"Just focus on the road."

Silence washed over them...for about three minutes.

Elizabeth suddenly began to wail, flailing around in distress in her car seat. "MICHAEL'S LEG IS TOUCHING MEEEEE!"

"NO IT ISN'T! YOUR FOOT IS TOUCHING ME!"

"SAYS WHO?"

"SAYS ME!"

Clara breathed a sigh of relief when William finally pulled into the parking lot for the park. The sight of bright sun and paved sidewalks welcomed her, the sharp tangy scent of pine filling her body with a sense of much-needed calm.

William parked the car and Michael and Evan got out, Michael helping his sister out of her carseat. Clara grabbed the basket of fruit and sandwiches and William and Michael pulled out the bikes. Elizabeth grinned when she saw her own bike - pink, sparkly, and covered in glitter, with ponies on the side and purple streamers dangling from the handlebars.

"Yay, bikes!" She chirped. But then William leaned down, and began to take off the light pink training wheels with a screwdriver. Elizabeth looked at him in a panic.

"W-what are you doing?" Elizabeth asked nervously. William looked up at her.

"I'm taking off your training wheels. It's about time you learned how to ride for real." He explained.

Elizabeth stamped her foot angrily. "No! I'm not doing it."

Evan rolled his eyes, pulling out his dark blue bike and clipping on his green helmet, tufts of soft dark brown hair peeking out. "C'mon, Lizzy, don't be a-"

"SHUT UP! I'M NOT DOING IT!" Elizabeth yelled, squeezing her eyes shut. Clara put a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder, but she shook it off.

"I'll help you, Liz. I'll hold onto the back of the bike until you're ready for me to let go."

Elizabeth frowned. "Fine. But I'm never gonna want you to let go. Never never never!"

Clara smiled softly. "Okay. Do you want me to put your hair in pigtails?"

Elizabeth grinned and threw her hands up in the air. "Piggy-tails!"

Clara tied Elizabeth's dusty amber-blonde hair into low pigtails with pink ribbons. She plopped the purple helmet on and fastened the strap just under her chin.

"Mom! Father! Look!" Michael called. He pedaled as fast as he could and launched himself off of a plank of wood he'd placed over a rock in a sort of see-saw jump.

"See, Lizzy? You might be able to do that one day." Clara told her. Elizabeth nodded.

"Yeah, but I'll do it with my taining wheels on." She muttered. William laughed and stood up, brushing his hands off on his faded blue jeans. "We'll see about that."

Clara helped her daughter on, who kept her feet on the ground as she wobbled unsteadily. Elizabeth gripped the rubber handlebars so tight her knuckles were white. She swallowed hard.

"Mummy...I don't wanna…" She murmured. Clara patted her back.

"Shhh, Liz. I've got you. I'm holding the back of the seat, see?"

Elizabeth snapped her neck back and observed her mother's hands on the seat. She sniffled.

"O-okay. Just keep holding on."

Elizabeth pedaled a little down the sidewalk unsteadily, until about five minutes in she got more confident, starting to ride faster and faster (well, as fast as you could go on a tiny bike made for kindergarteners).

"So, how is school going?" Clara asked, hoping to distract her. Elizabeth grinned.

"It's fun! I met a girl there named Brynn, who's kind of mean but also funny. And there's a boy named Nicky who's really really nice, but not very funny. And I played with finger paints yesterday, and I drawed a red rabbit, 'cause it's my favourite aminal. An' then we-"

Suddenly, Elizabeth realized something. Her mother had let go of the bike! Now she had no control over whether she fell or not, and she was going to scrape her knees and die!

Elizabeth winced, took a deep breath...and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"AAÃÁÆAAAÆAÅÀÂÄAAAÅÆÃÀAÁAAAÆÃĀAAAÄÁAAAÃÆÄÂÆÂAAAÆ-"

And then she was cut off by her tiny pink bike smashing into a large red car.

Luckily, the car in question was parked and in a driveway with nobody around. Elizabeth tumbled off her bike and fell to the harsh gravel floor, wailing and kicking around wildly like a banshee.

Clara and William noticed their youngest daughter's turmoil and ran over as fast as they could.

"Lizzy? Are you okay?" Clara asked, panic in her voice. William winced at the white scrapes turning red on the little girl's knees. Elizabeth sobbed harder, salty waterfalls streaming from her closed green eyes.

"Y-you let go of m-me! You promised you wouldn't! You're a meanie!" Elizabeth kicked her mother as hard as she could with her scuffed-up sneakers and kept on crying. Clara grit her teeth. Jeez, having a daughter was PAINFUL.

The lady who owned said car suddenly burst out of her house, highly confused at the screaming child outside. She had on a blue puffy vest and skinny jeans, her blonde hair in a short bob. The lady ran over to the little girl.

"Wha- who are you people? Why is she crying?"

Oh no, Clara thought.

"My- my mummy was being really mean to me! She promised that I would be safe on my bike, but then she let me run into a car, am' now I'm bleeding! She's the worstest mummy EVER!" She weeped.

The lady turned her angry brown gaze over to Clara.

"Take better care of your daughter, both of you!" She scolded. She turned back to Elizabeth. "Did she do anything else, sweetheart?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Mm-hm. Today, she-"

William clamped a hand over her mouth and whispered in her ear,

"I'll buy you ice cream if you shut up and tell this lady you were joking."

Elizabeth perked up. She wandered over to the lady and smiled sweetly, blinking her wide emerald eyes at her.

"I was just kidding, lady. Also, your skin looks like an orange an' your outfit is stu-"

William dragged his daughter away before she could say anything else. Clara waved at her, whispering a hushed "Sorry!" before they walked back to the park to Michael and Evan in a fierce competition over who was a better biker. A girl with red hair who held a severed head watched intently.

"Wheelie! Twelve points! Beat that, scrub." Michael jeered. Evan narrowed his eyes and sped forward pedaling so fast that his feet were a blur. He wove around thick pine trees, colourful flowers, and fluffy bumblebees. Just a little further and-

He smacked right into a tree.

Michael peeked out. "Oof. Ha-ha, guess that means I win. Loser!" He did a victory dance in celebration, then noticed the bruise on his little brother's head. He laughed an ugly mocking laugh.

"Aw, is the little baby going to cry?"

Evan glared at him, his eyes full of light blue fire. "Shut up, Michael, or I'm spearing this branch right through your stupid-"

Clara ran over to try and break up the fight. "Okay, okay. Evan, I'll buy you ice cream too. We're going to The Scoop, so get in the car."

Michael's mouth opened, agape.

"Hey, I won though! I should get ice cream, too!"

~lll~

Long story short, the whole family got ice cream.

Elizabeth sat happily in the middle in her booster seat with her new cat-printed bandaids on her knees, licking her strawberry vanilla cone with a maraschino cherry on top. Evan and Clara got chocolate, Michael got Rocky Mountain, and William got the colourful Bubblegum Blast.

"I like bike-riding," Elizabeth decided. Evan and Michael put their cones in the air in a sort of toast.

"A-greed," they chorused.

For the next few minutes, they ate their frozen treats in silence, before Elizabeth suddenly looked up and asked with an innocent curiosity,

"Mummy, where do babies come from?"

Clara and William shared an embarrassed look, clearly taken aback. Michael averted their gaze, and Evan just looked back and forth in confusion. She laughed uncomfortably.

"Um, Liz, maybe that's something for another day."

Elizabeth shrugged and dug a spoon into her ice cream. "Okay. I don't like babies anyways. They're smelly."

Clara and William both laughed, then shared a glance. Clara smiled softly, and William smiled back. Almost like a peace offering. They didn't have to live together or be involved romantically, but they could still be friends, and that was good enough for Clara.

It was a successful day.

A/N

Can you tell I love writing about Elizabeth? cant wait to write about Sister Location.

Also I might be getting a DeviantArt account soon...

save me there's eighties music playing and I can't turn it off because Google is sassing me-

Question/Challenge: What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten? I ate a strawberry sriracha spicy snow cone once, it was actually pretty good. Oh, and I tried cricket powder. It was disgusting, do not recommend it. I hear they taste better fried and on pizza, or covered in chocolate.

have a great day/night, and remember to vacuum your fish!

-Ghost