Day Twenty-One < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty-Three

Monday. Just another crazy day in the Malone household. Marnie is getting pretty good at cooking now, and keeps trying tricks that involve fire. (…Which never fails to worry me. It would not be good to lose a parent in this family.. I need all the help I can get!)

Jaz woke up in a good mood, with nothing that needed doing before school, so she spent some time with her younger brother, Braydon. He’s the only one of the twins who still has skills to learn, as both have been very good at finishing up things mostly on their own.

In the darkness outside, I spy a ticked off toddler on the warpath. Brett woke up in a bad mood, and plans to take it out on Phoenix.

For the heck of it, I follow along, and laugh at the horrified response Phoenix gives to getting chewed out by a pint size “monster”

After everyone goes to school, the twins have been fed, and I’m busy with Bennie, Marnie starts in with cleaning everything she can. Starting with Braydon, who needed a bath in a big way.

What is Bennie up to? .. Dumpster Diving. He was in no mood to open the store, and being over 1000 short for bills (AGAIN!) was something he certainly wasn’t going to admit to anyone. He was also scheduled to work this evening, so getting the bills paid as soon as possible was paramount in his mind.

Luckily, before it was time for him to go to work, he had managed to find enough to sell .. and had covered the bills. This time. He had no idea what would happen next week. There was definitely some thinking to do…. because this whole get-rich-quick scheme with the store was clearly not going to happen. He could not keep going like this, especially when he was hoping to actually get some decent microphone time at the club in the future. Scrambling for dumpster trash every week to pay bills was NOT Bennie’s idea of fun, and he was, quite frankly, tired of it.

Oblivious to the thoughts in her husband’s mind, Marnie chugged on with her day. When the kids got home from school, Myles was practically in her pocket as usual, and they got one time of getting his homework done focused easily. Then, with an eye towards finishing up some scouting badges he hadn’t had time to work on yet, he started gifting his stock of frogs. He was horrified when his precious pets were met with mixed feelings. In fact, he was pretty sure Marnie had let the one he gave her go into the weeds beside the store. When he went to rescue it, though, it was no where to be found. Depressed about the loss of his frogs, he went to go work on his Mental skill on the science table, only to find out it was being used.

Jaz swore he could use it in a few minutes, though, so they chatted amiably for a while. He wasn’t about to tell his sister about his frog failure, because, quite honestly, she was a girl.. and girls don’t like frogs. (Or so his friends had told him.)

Jaz finished up with the science table on a high note, and with a grin, she left Myles to work on his own experiments, and grabbed the phone to call Colin, Elsa, and Miki with the good news that she had finished her aspiration. She couldn’t afford a party line call, however, so each one had to be called separately.

Bennie also arrived home with a triumphant smile on his face. The purchase of the guitar had paid off, and he ended up getting a full time gig at the lounge. He wasn’t a headliner… yet. But he would be. You just watch. He didn’t bother telling any of his family about the promotion, because apparently he didn’t feel they needed to know that any more than they needed to know about the financial crisis he was still in. Even with the promotion bonus, there was no way he was going to be able to pay the bills next week.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Phoenix met up with Max, and the two of them chatted in the rain for a couple hours. Sure it was cold.. but there were plans that had to be made.

You see, they had become Partners in Crime…. which meant they had to start planning pranks. The first prank planned was to stuff some geeks into lockers – and there was a ton of things they had to work out before tomorrow so the plan could go off without either of them getting into trouble for it.

After a while (and definitely past his bedtime), Phoenix had his first best friend. He and Max swore an oath to stay friends forever, no matter what. With a grin on his face, Phoenix headed home and went straight to bed – luckily without getting caught. Things couldn’t go better for him right now… and tomorrow… was going to be EPIC!!

Part of the reason he hadn’t gotten caught being out past curfew was because both Bennie and Marnie were busy. Bennie was practicing on his guitar (to everyone’s horror)… and Marnie was busy talking in serious tones to Jaz. Phoenix clearly didn’t care what his sister had done this time, and shrugged, sneaking past them to his bed.

Jaz hadn’t done anything wrong.. this time. But she was being kept home from school the next day, whether she liked it or not. Tomorrow, apparently was her doctor’s appointment, and she was trying not to worry. She had no idea what might happen at a doctor’s appointment, because the last one she had been to had been before she could remember. She thought about asking Marnie what might happen to her, but Marnie seemed to be in a “mood” and Jaz (wisely) kept her mouth shut. Trying not to worry, she crawled into bed and attempted to sleep… but even with all the good things that had happened that day, sleep was a long time coming for poor Jaz.

Day Twenty-One < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty-Three

Day Twenty < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty-Two

Sunday dawned overcast and cold. Phoenix decided to work on his social aspiration for a change, and invited Max over. After a play session with the soccer ball, they joked around and watched the clouds for a while, then joked some more.

Upstairs, Bennie was yelling at Marnie for the house being in the state it was (although she never stops cleaning!!). I’m sure the whole neighborhood heard the argument, and poor Marnie barely stood up for herself. Bennie then stormed out of the house, while Marnie turned to rage cleaning, scrubbing at stains that were never going to go away.

Benji had, somehow, gotten a hold of a project box for building a bridge, and decided to spend the day working on it. He’d already completed his make-up homework, and hoped dearly that, in the last week and a half of school, he could pull his grade up to at least passing. (Clearly the twins aren’t helping with the cleaning situation…)

Downstairs, Max and Phoenix chatted on. Phoenix found out that the type of humor Max liked was the mean kind, because he was Evil…. and so they alternated playing pranks on each other, and both ended up laughing until they cried.

Colin had come over to visit with Jaz, and they were playing chess. Colin, unfortunately, wasn’t having the best of times at home with all the arguing, and having heard the argument between Bennie and Marnie hadn’t helped his mood. After a heart-to-heart where Colin spilled his soul about his parents still being on the warpath, and how it felt like they were purposely ripping the family apart, Jaz finally managed to get him to cheer up a bit.

While they were outside playing, Elsa stopped by, and her good cheer was infectious. Soon all three were laughing, and it didn’t matter who was winning the chess game anymore.

Upstairs, Benji had finished his bridge. Or, at least it was still standing. For the moment. He hid it under the science table to hopefully protect it until the morning.

Marnie was taking out her bad mood on the twins, and had cleaned up all the messes they had made during the morning. Myles came home from scouts and complained that the shower and toilet were broken… which didn’t help Marnie’s mood, but she still sighed and got right to work.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Phoenix was close to having his first ever best friend. Max and he played pirates for a while, and joked around some more. The fun abruptly stopped, however, when they saw Bennie heading home in the growing darkness with an oddly shaped box. He did NOT look like his mood had improved, and Phoenix decided heading straight to dinner and bed might be the best thing to do in the circumstances.

Marnie had found something else to fix, Myles was taking his bath, and the twins were yawning hugely by the time Bennie got upstairs. He completely ignored everyone, and headed for the living room.

Strangely enough, the living room was completely empty of people, so nobody was there to see him pull a battered guitar out of the oddly shaped box. They heard the racket it made when he started trying to play it, however, and the whole household collectively cringed. Nobody knew where Bennie had gotten this “treasure”, and only Bennie knew that spending the money on the guitar would mean he couldn’t pay the bills in the morning. He hoped, however, to make up the money by getting that skill point in guitar for a (hopeful) promotion, because he dreaded opening the store in the morning. Perhaps he could make up the difference with dumpster diving again. It had worked last week, after all….

Marnie made a late dinner for the twins, and – while waiting for the bathroom to be free – Jaz decided to work on some (unnecessary) extra credit. It wasn’t like she wasn’t holding down straight A’s still. It never occurred to her that increasing her grade might annoy her classmates.

Day Twenty < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty-Two

Day Nineteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty-One

The day dawned beautifully, and Jaz was so excited. Today was Club day at the park, so she hurried to get ready. A quick breakfast, a shower, and going to the bathroom, and then she just had to wait for Phoenix to finish his morning routine.

Once they got to the park, Elsa was the first to greet them. Jaz and Elsa marveled at the flakes of snow coming from the sky, and giggled together over the strange weather.

Miki was playing on the jungle gym, and it looked like so much fun that Jaz joined in. Colin was heading to push someone on the swings, so it left an open spot on the jungle gym for Phoenix to join in.

The space monster battle really kicked into high gear when a teenager they didn’t recognize came over to play the “monster” and Jaz and Phoenix worked tirelessly to rid the galaxy of their mortal enemy.

After a while, Jaz decided to take some time to finish her homework. It was a breeze, and before anyone hardly noticed she’d been gone, she was back to playing.

Miki and Jaz were chatting animatedly, and Lucas was starting to kick a soccer ball around with Colin…

When the sky suddenly darkened and the clouds literally let loose on them. The first lightning strike made Jaz remember the terror of her mother getting struck, and she quickly hurried everyone inside.

Feeling proud of herself for saving everyone… she tried to come up with something they could all do. Max, however, was worried about the storm, and before long, everyone was heading home under the care of their parents.

Benji found out about the city Romance festival, and quickly decided to invite Shaylee out on a date. (Although he seems to be paying more attention to his phone than his girlfriend here…)

The night ended with a perfect date, and one that hadn’t cost him a thing to pull off. He dropped Shaylee off at her home with a heated kiss, and headed back to help all the Malone kids get into bed.

Day Nineteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty-One

Day Eighteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty

The kids all wake up and scramble to get ready for school before Marnie, Bennie, and the twins are even conscious. By the time Bennie wakes up, it’s mid morning, and he is in no mood to run the store again today. Checking his schedule, he knows he has to open up for yet another act tonight, and one job in one day is more than enough, he thinks. So, he grabs some breakfast, and goes to watch sports instead, leaving Marnie in charge of the twins. (Or rather, the twins in charge of themselves…)

Marnie wakes up and decides it’s past time to fix the keyboard. Crossing her fingers (and hopefully not the wires this time), she sets to work. By the time she finishes, the twins are screaming about wanting breakfast, so she makes a bunch of omelets, and puts the spare food in the fridge.

Jaz gets home from school.. and stands for a moment, reveling in the fact that she came home with straight A’s for the first time. She takes a moment to sniff the fall air, then heads inside to do her homework.

Benji comes home from school in a far worse mood. His grades finally fell off that last cliff before a passing grade. He’s failing, and doesn’t know how to get back to graduating status. Morosely, he looks at the homework he forgot on the table this morning, and heads over to work on some makeup homework. He also has an opportunity for extra credit, if he can find the funds to buy the materials for the project over the weekend. For a moment he wonders if he can just steal the ingredients from the store.. but the fleeting thought goes away as he struggles through some math problems in his workbook.

Finished with her homework for the entire weekend, Jaz goes to see what there might be for after school snacks, and – wonder of wonders – there actually are leftovers in the fridge! Grabbing some before they disappear, she marvels at the way her day is going. After earlier in the week, Jaz was so down she never thought another GOOD day would ever happen. Clearly, she needed to look on the positive side. She had finally worked up the nerve to ask for a hall pass in a different class today, so she’d even managed to get lunch and sit with her club friends again, too.

After filling her stomach, she knows she can spend some time on the science table, because the only other person who might be using it was downstairs with Marnie. She had the whole room to herself, which was pretty darn close to a perfect afternoon for her. Even the mice were staying in the walls for a change.

Speaking of Myles and Marnie, they were struggling through the rest of Myles’ aspiration, since he needed several chess games to get past it. Marnie loved every minute of it, but I don’t think Myles felt the same. Chess just wasn’t what he wanted to be doing.

Upstairs, Benji had finished his math homework, and, instead of heading to the store to try to get ingredients for homework.. decided to spend some time playing a game with his brother. (No matter how hard I try to get Benji’s needs up every evening, by the time he comes home from school, he is ALWAYS in the red, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just him.) He loses the first game, so they play a couple more.. and he finally wins one in the end. It doesn’t help his mood, though, and he finally eats a salad of his own making (on his own), and crawls into bed miserably.

While Benji was eating, Phoenix takes a moment to tell Jaz about tomorrow’s club meeting at the park, and both chat for a while before deciding it’s way past bedtime. (Jaz has yet one more triumph before going to bed – she hits level 9 of Mental! Only one more to go!! Hooray! I might get this done after all!)

Day Eighteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty

Day Seventeen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Nineteen

Jaz woke up and got ready for school, and headed out the door. She was feeling terribly sad after the day before, and would have FAR preferred not going to school today at all, but that, of course, wasn’t an option. Miserably, she walked to school, hoping the mean kids weren’t going to start in on her again.. and wondering which class to ask for a hall pass in… since the one after lunch certainly wasn’t going to allow it anymore.

Marnie’s day started off on a shocking front.. the TV was broken, and while trying to fix it, she must have crossed the wrong wires.

With a plume of smoke following behind her, she went to change the thermostat to warm, since fall was definitely in the air. Good thing she’d already pulled out the kids’ winter clothes.

Bennie, after several attempts to be the man of the house and fix the TV (while I kept cancelling the action so he wouldn’t DIE!) – headed downstairs to open the store for the day.

Marnie fixed the twins some lunch, then tried the TV again. This time, it worked.. but it had taken ages to fix, and by then the kids were home. Before long, the keyboard was also broken, but Marnie wasn’t going to press her luck again today.

Jaz took the first shower for a change (apparently everyone was feeling sorry for her after the day before!) and sat down to do her homework. The game playing in the next room definitely made getting it done harder, and so did the growly tummy she was nursing. Out of fear of asking for a hall pass in a different class, she had skipped lunch to go to the bathroom while everyone else was in line. With nothing in the fridge when she got home, she was going to have to wait for Marnie to make dinner…. and who knows when that would be. Clearly skipping lunch wasn’t an option, either. She was going to have to go back to the “drawing board” for new ideas.

After dinner, and some close calls with nearly stepping on a mouse, she spent some time working on her Mental skill, then called it a night. Luckily, the twins were doing well with their skills (largely on their own), and sleeping through the night was a “thing” in the Malone household again, so she fully expected to sleep until daylight the next morning.

Day Seventeen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Nineteen

Day Sixteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Eighteen

Jaz’s day started out perfect – too bad It didn’t end that way. But I digress. One thing at a time. She woke up early to do her homework, and breezed through it in plenty of time before school.

Elsewhere in the apartment, Myles was letting out some inner rage on Blarffy… (Who knew he had an inner rage?! .. perhaps he’s more like Dad than he’s let on….)

Braydon heads off to the kitchen to get something to eat.. and of course, the stove is broken.

Marnie is johnny-on-the-spot, though, and gets to work fixing it right away.

All the kids are off to school, and Bennie is “watching” the twins while Marnie fixes the stove. He’s doing a bang-up job, though, isn’t he? (And.. who’s behind the dust cloud??)

… Turns out it was Braydon yet again. Bennie goes to dump his dirty plate on the table, then go watch some sports TV.

The stove is fixed, but the kitchen still needs cleaning, when all of a sudden Marnie’s phone rings. Putting on her “everything is awesome” face and voice, she answers it.

“Hello?”

“Is this Marnie Malone, mother of Jazmyn Malone?” a gravelly voice says on the other end of the line.

Marnie pauses a moment to compose herself again, and responds, “Yes?”

“Jazmyn is being sent home early from school. She carries a note to explain everything, but suffice it to say, she barely avoided suspension today. She will need to be checked by a doctor as soon as possible, and to stop using so many hall passes to go to the bathroom. We have breaks between classes for a reason.”

Stunned, Marnie doesn’t know what to say. Of all the kids she has, getting a call from the principal about JAZ had never, ever crossed her mind.

“Jaz should be arriving home any moment now, I suggest you take some time to talk some sense into her. Also, I expect her to have seen a doctor by this time next week. Otherwise we may have to proceed with the suspension, after all. Meanwhile, I need to get back to work. Goodbye, Mrs. Malone.”

The other end of the line goes dead.. and Marnie literally just stares at her phone for a moment, fuming.

Then, from outside, she hears soft footfalls on the stairs to the apartment. Jaz is home. Marnie goes to sit in the living room (where Bennie is) and calls Jaz in.

Sighing deeply, Jaz gulps nervously, clutching the offensive note in her hand. For a moment, she wonders if she can somehow play this off as some other type of offense, and just not give her parents the note. “Probably not.” she thinks morosely, and goes to face the music.

Walking into the living room, Jaz hands her mother the note, and goes to sit down next to Bennie angrily. She wonders exactly what will happen to her now, because she’s never really gotten in trouble before.

Marnie takes a moment to read the short note, and absolutely loses her hold on her temper.

“WHAT IS THIS??” she yells. “Why are you trying to skip class every single day, and using the bathroom as your excuse???”

“Mom… I’m not skipping class! And I DO need to go to the bathroom each day.” Jaz protests.

“Of COURSE you need to go to the bathroom!” Bennie joins in, having now read the offending note for himself. “But that’s what lunch and breaks between classes are for. Classes are for learning!”

“But I CAN’T go then!” Jaz wails. “There’s too many people in the bathroom then!”

“WHAT ON EARTH SORT OF EXCUSE IS THAT?” Bennie yells, flabbergasted.

Sheepishly, Jaz hides her face and replies, “I can’t pee with everyone else in there. I feel like they’re watching me.”

“Why in the world can’t you?” Marnie interjects. “Don’t you know how to close a bathroom stall door?”

Jaz looks confused, and replies miserably, “Of course, I can close the door. But there’s still PEOPLE outside the door so I can’t go.”

Marnie and Bennie glace at each other, trying to figure out exactly how to handle this. Marnie finally says. “The school thinks there’s something wrong with your bladder, because you go at the same time every day, in the same class. Apparently you’ve done this for more than two weeks straight. Either there’s something wrong, or you’re just skipping class, which would mean a suspension.”

“I told you, I’m not skipping. I have to pee! I can’t hold it all day!!” Jaz, fighting tears, gets up and storms out of the room, knowing she hasn’t heard the last of this argument – but truly needing some time on her own to think things through.

“Now what??” Bennie asks Marnie.

“I guess we call the pediatrician. I don’t think she’s skipping on purpose. I mean, her grades are fine…” Marnie replies.

“How are we supposed to pay for this?!” roars Bennie, causing Jaz in the other room to cringe.

“I mean, there’s obviously something wrong with her, so we should be able to find some welfare funding for it. I hope so, at least. I can ask at the doctor’s office when I call.”

“You’d better. Because I certainly can’t afford it!” Bennie looks at his watch. “I have to go to work.” he says, and stands up abruptly, leaving the apartment past a miserable Jaz.

Jaz checks in the fridge, and finds she is stuck with water and cereal yet again. Sighing, she gets her snack and sits at the table to eat it.

Marnie, still unsure what exactly is going on, picks up her phone again, and looks up the pediatrician’s number. She then spends nearly two hours on the phone, trying to arrange welfare coverage for the necessary doctor visit for Jaz. Finally, she gets an appointment with both the county people and the doctor (for Jaz). She’ll be able to find out more about how they’ll manage to pay for it tomorrow. Exhausted, she puts down the phone, looks miserably at the still-dirty kitchen, and pulls down the murphy bed instead – the kids will just have to cope. She needs sleep.

By the time Benji arrives home, Jaz is engrossed in experimenting on the science table.

“Benji…” Jaz starts hesitantly. “Your hall pass idea didn’t work. I almost got suspended today.”

“What?” Benji queries, confused.

“I got sent to the office for using the hall pass to go to the bathroom every day.” Jaz explains.

“Why? Did you do it all in the same class or something?” Benji asks again, still confused.

“Well, of course. Because it’s right after lunch and that’s when I need to pee!” Jaz replies indignantly.

Benji bursts into laughter, tries to say something, then breaks into more laughter. Finally, he manages to say, “Oh my God, Jaz. Never use hall passes in the same class every day. That’s how you get suspended!!”

“You could have told me that before now.” Jaz replied miserably.

Still laughing, Benji blurts out, “I never thought you’d be THAT stupid!” and leaves the room, chuckling to himself.

Jaz’s eyes well up with tears again, and she tries hard to compose herself again. “I’m NOT stupid.” she mutters to herself, dashing the tears away and going back to her experiments.

Just before bedtime, the doorbell rings. Okay, so they don’t exactly have a doorbell. The door is so thin they don’t need one, they can hear whenever anyone walks up the steps. To Jaz’s surprise, it’s Elsa, and Marnie allows her to greet her friend for a short while before bed.

(Apologies, these photos have been lightened, so if they look washed out, that’s why. It was nearly impossible to see them without the adjustment, though.)

Elsa greets her, asking about why she got kicked out of school, and trying to find out if everything is okay. (It never occurs to Elsa that Jaz could have actually done anything wrong.)

Leaning forward. Jaz whispers the whole story to her new friend. She ends it with, “All I wanted to do was go pee! I didn’t know this would happen!”

“Oh, Jaz! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know. Don’t be ashamed of having to pee, we all have to pee sometimes! When are they taking you to the doctor?”

“Next week.” Jaz mumbles miserably. “I’m scared. I don’t remember ever going to the doctor. At least, not since I was a baby.. but I definitely don’t remember those visits…”

“Oh, it’ll be okay,” Elsa replies cheerfully, “Doctors aren’t scary. Just tell them what’s going on honestly, and they’ll get you fixed up in no time!”

“You think so?” Jaz replies dubiously.

“Of course!!” Elsa replies, and wraps her new friend in a big hug.

Jaz looks back towards the apartment… “I better go. I don’t need to be in more trouble.”

“See you tomorrow in school, then, Jaz!” Elsa replies, and waves jauntily. “I’m sure everything will be okay, don’t you worry!”

Jaz tries to smile back to her friend, and heads inside to go to bed. How could such a good day have gone so wrong??

Day Sixteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Eighteen

Day Fifteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Seventeen

Since Bennie hadn’t told anyone about the looming financial crisis, life in the Malone household continued as normal.

Jazmyn woke up early the next morning, and quickly realized she hadn’t finished her homework. Searching for some peace and quiet so she could study, she ended up sitting with the twins, who were sound asleep still (by some miracle).

Benji was having a “distant” phase and wanted to be ANYWHERE but near his family. Which, let’s be honest, wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. So he ate breakfast across from Myles while making faces at the ceiling.

Jaz finished her homework in plenty of time, and strutted confidently off to school. In her mind, things were going perfectly. She was even finding friends, so all the bullies could be ignored in her opinion.

After school, everyone queued up for the bathroom as usual, and played while waiting, or worked on their skills. Jazmyn finally had enough Mental skill to make the Emotion potions she needed for her aspiration, so she stayed up a bit late to finish those, and happily crawled into bed, looking forward to seeing her friends at school the next day.

Day Fifteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Seventeen

Day Fourteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Sixteen

Jaz heads off to school Monday morning, furious because the mice woke her (and the rest of the family) up.

Bennie wakes up in a foul mood, but it’s not the mice, and he’s not telling anyone why. Yesterday the bills came due.. and there is no way he can pay them. He’s short nearly 2 grand. So, he opens to store, and hopes that will generate some income before the power goes out and the whole family knows what a failure he’s been lately. He knows he’s supposed to be the opening act at work tonight, but he doubts he’ll be able to get away from the store to go.

Thoroughly frustrated, he walks past the overfilled dumpster.. and an idea occurs to him. He is going to end up filthy, but there has to be some things he could sell in there, right? People throw away all kinds of weird things….

After an exhausting day, I find poor filthy Bennie sound asleep in the dumpster, but at least there’s finally room in the dumpster.

By the time he closes the store, goes to the local thrift store to sell what he found in the dumpster, and heads upstairs to clean up, he is gratified to find out he has made enough to pay the bills. Barely, but at least the power will stay on and his kids can be fed.

Exhausted, he doesn’t even try interacting with anyone from his family, and just pulls the Murphy bed down, crawls in, and passes out. Even the mice aren’t enough to wake him up.

PS: Jaz spent her day either working on Mental skill or at school, I just somehow missed taking any shots of the rest of the family. Getting the money to pay bills was stressful!

Day Fourteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Sixteen

Day Thirteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Fifteen

Breakfast with the family. Dirty dishes everywhere, mice running past your feet, cranky toddlers yelling in the next room, and cold, gummy pancakes. Just another day in the Malone apartment.

Jaz finished as quickly as she could, and headed back to the room to do some experimenting. She still needed Mental skill for her aspiration.

Downstairs, Myles was finally getting started on his reading for his aspiration.. and of course, it was his mother doing the reading.

Upstairs again, Benji had another “important” phone call, and spent a few minutes on the phone. After spending some time with the twins (since nobody else was)… he suddenly left the apartment.

Those who were watching would notice that he just went across the street to the Teen Hangout. He met up with a young lady named Londyn. There was, after all, an opening in the club. After making sure she actually did meet the club qualifications, she became the eighth member of the club… and at about that time, the rest of the members all showed up in a tense group.

Londyn spent some time getting to know other club members as the rain started pouring, but it didn’t dampen the club’s plans for the evening.

Benji spent some time getting to know a pretty girl who happened to be hanging around the café area, letting the other members mill about and chat as though nothing was wrong.

Jay finally decided it was time to face the “music”.. and came to sit with Benji.

Benji cursed at his best friend, angry, and having a good reason to be. Jay’s betrayal was clear in Benji’s mind.

Somehow, Jay managed to talk Benji into believing it was all his girlfriend’s fault. He said she was the only person he had told. They bantered a bit, then Shaylee walked by, and waved Benji over to her.

Of course, he followed curiously, like a moth to the flame. She smiled coyly, and invited Benji to bowl. He was more than game for that, and as they bowled, they joked around. Benji felt a bit awkward, because he knew that Shaylee also knew about his crush on her, but before long, they were chatting like old friends.

“Oh, Benji, just wanted to let you know Cade and I broke up.” she mentioned slyly, watching for his reaction.

“Really?” Benji tried not to let his voice crack or anything like that, but he was genuinely surprised. “I thought you guys were tight?”

“Apparently not as tight as I had thought.” Shaylee said dryly, and related the rude and all-out nasty way Cade had broken up with her.

“Aw, I’m sorry, Shay. You have always deserved better than him, you know?” Benji said, smiling at her, and trying desperately to to look confident.

After another couple of frames of bowling, (Benji won), he dared something he’d never tried before. He blew her a kiss and let his flirting become more overt. She didn’t shoot him down, and Benji, encouraged…

Surprised her with a first kiss.

She giggled awkwardly afterwards, and they played a second game of bowling, but she hadn’t shot him down!

By the end of the night, Benji had a new girlfriend.. and they had snuck around to a dark corner to make out.

She didn’t want to say goodbye, but there was no way he could stay out any later. It was nearly 4 am as it was, and he had school at eight. Assuring her he’d see her at school, he gave her one last lingering kiss and headed home.

Day Thirteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Fifteen

Day Twelve < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Fourteen

Marnie is cooking breakfast for the whole family. French toast… but somehow she almost explodes the entire kitchen. Good job, girl. Luckily, all is eventually well, and the food even is warm for everyone this time.

Outside, Myles and Phoenix are trying to socialize with their Dad.. but ending up getting grumpy one-word responses – he’s upset about standing in the rain.

After breakfast, Jaz gets a phone call. Colin wants Jaz to come to his house to hang out. She needs to take a shower, but Colin assures her she can take one at his house – and it’ll even be warm. With this in mind, she agrees.

Colin’s mother just got home from work…. and seems to be in a good mood. At least until she gets inside and finds her soon to be ex-husband sitting on the couch watching TV.

With an eye to getting Colin out of the house ASAP, Jaz takes a quick shower, luxuriating in the hot water, and the fuzzy towels… then they head to the park for today’s club meeting.

The first person she meets is Miki, who welcomes her with a happy smile and a few jokes.

The club is not the only kids in the park, however, but Jaz elects to ignore the others, because several are friends with Billie, and haven’t been nice to her in the past.

Elsa agrees to push Jaz on the swings, while Phoenix swings by himself and Max (another club member) makes a mess.

The day, quite honestly, couldn’t be going any better for Jaz.

Most of the other kids start to leave with their parents or older siblings, so soon it’s just the Adventurers that are still at the park.

Jaz plays some soccer with Max, who, while reminding her of her troublemaker siblings, still seems nice. Miki cheers them on.

As the night ends, They all play a round of basketball (except for their leader, Elsa, who had to use the restroom). The rest of the club pictured (from the left) are: Colin, Miki, Lucas, Max, Phoenix, and Jaz.

At home, it turns out all she missed was a nasty thunderstorm… so she grabs some cold leftovers, then heads to bed. What a perfect day. She can only hope the next day will be anywhere close to as good.

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Bonus picture:

… No way, Jaz, I’m NOT fitting that into the story.

Day Twelve < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Fourteen