by Sarah Markel
Max’s fork paused in mid-air and she stared at her wife. “You’re kidding,” she stated disbelievingly.
She knew kids could be naïve and she’d even had a few that seemed to completely misunderstand simple things, but surely Dani was pulling her leg.
“Benjamin Andrews asked why in the world he should have to do a math problem for Britney Thompkins. Walter Sessions asked which ex he was solving for, because if it was Kristy Dillon, he wasn’t doing it.” Dani explained through a bite of veggies.
Max wasn’t sure what to say. An awkward silence settled between the pair as they ate. Dani, still ruminating over her disappointment with today’s teens, finally broke the silence after a healthy drink from her wine glass.
“How about you, sweetheart, glean anything insightful today?”
Max finished the last of her food and pushed the plate to the side. “There’s a lot of speculation around the teacher’s lounge about what happened to the girls. Mr. Restin, Ms. Holbrook, and Mr. Garrity all think the girls are fine and doing this for attention. They seem to agree that the girls are holed up somewhere, laughing it up while the town searches for them.”
“Ms. Carlton, Mrs. Walsh, and Mrs. Perry all think the girls have been kidnapped and are either dead or being used in sex-trafficking. Mr. Wentz says he doesn’t have an opinion either way, because he doesn’t want to cause further pain to the families with gossip and speculation. I like Mr. Wentz,” she added with an affectionate smile, “he reminds me of my high school history teacher. He likes to reserve judgement until he has all the facts.”
Dani stood and gathered their plates. “I wish I’d had a teacher like that,” she lamented, “All of my teachers were judgmental assholes who liked to try and force us to abide by their ideals without question.”
Max picked up their wine glasses and followed Dani into the kitchen to refill them. “Really?” she asked with curiosity, “I’m sorry, babe, that really sucks. I liked most of my teachers in school. Each had a uniqueness about them that made learning from them fun. Although, having an eidetic memory always landed me the role of teacher’s favorite. I got teased for that by my classmates, but overall, I really enjoyed school.”
Dani accepted the refilled wine and lead Max out onto the back deck. The back side of the house faced the river and Dani loved to sit and watch the trees sway in the gentle, late summer breeze. She and Max settled into the padded deck chairs to relax. Grateful for the privacy fencing surrounding the yard, Max reached over and laced her fingers with Dani’s.
“I hated school,” Dani said, breathing in a deep gulp of the clean, crisp air. “I was tormented relentlessly by the students because of my height. I was shoved into lockers and pushed around by the other kids because they thought it was funny.”
Max frowned at the look on Dani’s face, but kept quiet as her wife reminisced.
“At one point,” Dani said, staring off into the trees that lined the far end of the property, “in my junior year, this boy named Derrick Abbey thought it would be hilarious to use me as a prop. Derrick was over six-feet tall and the starting center on the basketball team. His girlfriend convinced me that they were wanting to do a picture for the yearbook, showing the tallest and shortest kid standing together.”
Max grimaced but stayed silent as she listened.
“Stupid me believed them. I stood next to Derrick and he put his arm around me. Marie counted to three and we both smiled as she snapped the picture. Before I could walk away, Derrick scooped me up and tossed me over his shoulder. I freaked out and screamed for him to put me down, but he didn’t listen. Instead, he walked over to the step ladder that was in front of the trophy case.”
Dani’s expression darkened, and she took an angry sip of her wine. Max wanted to comfort her wife, but could see that Dani was lost in the memory.
“All my classmates and so-called friends were laughing and taking pictures as Derrick climbed up the ladder and deposited me on top of the trophy case. Even my girlfriend was having a laugh at my expense.”
“I kicked and screamed the whole way up, but it didn’t deter him at all. It didn’t even slow him down! Marie took a bunch of pictures that later ended up in the yearbook under the listing ‘Pranking our favorite classmate’.”
“I begged someone to help me down, but no one did. Everyone just got their pictures and their laughs and moved along. I was up there for almost twenty-minutes before the janitor returned from lunch and helped me down.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “None of the teachers heard you calling for help?” she asked with surprise.
Dani’s eyes narrowed as she tossed back the remainder of her drink. “Oh, I’m sure they did. They were probably laughing it up like the kids were. No one was laughing when my dad found out, though,” she added with a satisfied smirk.
“My dad may not have wanted much to do with me after I came out, but he was royally pissed when I told him what happened. He marched right into the principal’s office the next morning and demanded that Derrick and Marie be expelled for putting me in physical danger. The principal tried to blow him off saying that it was just a prank, and no one was in any danger, but my dad was having none of it.”
“He told the principal that what Derrick did was no different than if they had put a fifth-grader up there. If I had fallen I would have been seriously injured, and my dad actually used the threat of having Derrick, Marie, and the principal charged with attempting to commit a hate crime. The principal took his sweet time making a decision, but when he hadn’t done so by Friday, my dad went above his head.”
“Did he file the charges?” Max asked, intrigued by the story.
“No,” Dani said, standing so she could move into Max’s lap, “He went to the school board and the news station. The newspaper ran the story on the front page for weeks. In the end, the parental outrage at the prank was such that the school board had no choice but to expel Derrick and Marie, and fire the principal.”
Max slung her arms around Dani’s waist and cuddled her close. “What happened to them?” she asked.
She didn’t want to care; she was beyond angry that someone had treated Dani in such a manner, but she did hope that a stupid prank had not cost the two classmates their chance to graduate.
“Mr. Peters ended up working for the city as a trash collector. He died of a heart attack a few years ago. Derrick and Marie moved to a private school. Unfortunately for Derrick, the school didn’t have a basketball team and he couldn’t rely on his athletic abilities to skate by in class. He tested so far behind that he was held back twice. He finally managed to graduate when he was twenty.”
Max pressed a kiss to Dani’s shoulder and smiled to herself. Good, at least he finished school. “What about the girl?”
Dani let out a sigh and closed her eyes. She had long ago forgiven Marie for her part in the prank. Sadly, Marie never knew that the forgiveness she’d sought had been granted.
“She sent me dozens of letters during senior year, asking me to forgive her. She explained that she was sorry, and she apologized profusely. I finally got over it a few days after graduation.”
“I went to her house to tell her we were good, but when I got there, her parents told me what happened. Marie and nine other students were killed when the limo they were taking to the graduation ceremony was hit by a runaway train.”
Max gasped audibly and held her wife tighter. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. That is horrible.”
Dani swiped at the few tears that leaked down her cheeks. She always cried when she remembered Marie, but she could never figure out why.
“Anyway,” Dani said shaking off the sad memories, “that’s why I didn’t want to do this case. I can’t stand teenagers and I didn’t think I could pretend to be one. I’ve nearly blown my cover at least a dozen times. Sometimes, my hearing is a much bigger curse than it is a blessing.”
Max nuzzled the back of Dani’s neck and sighed. “Well, baby, hopefully we can wrap this up soon and you won’t h
ave to pretend anymore.”
“We better,” Dani replied softly as she shifted to straddle Max in the chair, “because calling you Mom is really grossing me out.”
Max snickered and allowed her hands to roam over Dani’s hips and back. She accepted Dani’s kiss, moaning softly when the redhead rolled her hips.
“Take it upstairs, Agent,” Harrison’s voice rang in Dani’s ear, “You two are ruining my appetite.”
Dani barked out a laugh and tapped her earpiece when Max gave her a curious look. “We should take this to the bedroom,” Dani supplied as she eased herself off Max’s lap, “I don’t want to be Harrison’s free porn while he’s watching the perimeter.”
Max nodded her understanding and accepted Dani’s hand as she stood. As the couple passed the hummingbird feeder that housed the concealed camera, Max flipped Harrison off.
“Sorry, Max,” Harrison laughed, “you’re not my type. Wet dreams, ladies.”
Chapter 13
“Your room is pristine,” Eli noted with awe as the three teens followed Dani into the staged bedroom.
“Yeah, Daniela, it’s so clean it doesn’t look like you’ve ever slept in it.” Zeke tucked his hands into the pocket of his denim shorts as he perused the shelves of knick-knacks in the corner.
Dani shrugged and dropped her heavy backpack onto the floor with a thud. “Of course, I sleep in here. I just like my space to be clean.”
“Are you sure your mom won’t mind you having all of us here?” Melissa asked, glancing into the hallway as if she expected to find an angry Max standing behind them.
Dani dropped onto the twin bed and shrugged again. “She didn’t say I couldn’t have friends over. She just said I had to do my chores. I took out the trash and emptied the dishwasher when we got here, so there’s no reason for her to mind.”
“You’re either really brave, really lucky, or you have a death wish,” Zeke teased as he perched on the end of the bed.
Dani narrowed her eyes and tipped her head curiously. “What do you mean?”
“Our mom would skin us alive if we brought friends over without clear permission.” Eli supplied. He leaned against the closet door across from the bed and crossed his arms over his chest. Dani didn’t miss the way he scrutinized her.
“We have to make sure we ask before any of our friends step foot in the house. Aunt Lilah hates it when the house feels too crowded.” Melissa claimed the chair at the desk under the window and turned it to face the others.
“She doesn’t like crowds?” Dani asked, glancing between her three friends, “she seems so comfortable in Church.”
“That’s different,” Zeke said, “That’s at Church. It’s not that she doesn’t like crowds, Mom just doesn’t like unexpected crowds in her personal space.”
“Dani, Max is on her way in.” Young advised.
“Why don’t we get started on our homework?” Dani suggested as she pulled her backpack onto her lap.
“Ugh,” Zeke and Eli groaned. “You’re actually going to do the assignment?”
Dani chuckled at the twins unified question. She always found it amusing when they spoke in unison.
“I am,” she replied with a chuckle, “You’re supposed to be my assignment partner, Zeke, so you should probably help me out.”
“Or, at least copy her work,” Eli teased with a smile, “That’s how I’m doing it. Tracy Bowman is my partner, and she’s such a bookworm that she probably had the stupid thing done before the end of class.”
“If you need any help,” Melissa said, digging her algebra homework out of her bag, “just say so. I finished that assignment two days ago.”
The others stared at the young woman with looks of astonishment. “How did you do that?” Dani asked, “Mr. Wentz just gave it to us today.”
Melissa offered the others a conspiratorial smirk. “I clean his classroom every day during my free period. It’s his free period, too, and he prefers to spend it in the teacher’s lounge. Last week, while I was straightening up that disaster area he calls a desk, I found his lesson planner. I was curious, so I snooped around and saw the assignment schedule for this week.”
“So, you decided to get ahead so you can have a free week?” Eli asked, clearly impressed with his cousin. Melissa nodded smugly.
“Wow, Misery,” Zeke said with admiration, “I didn’t think you had it in you to cheat.”
Melissa’s eyes blazed and before the boy knew what was coming, she lobbed her algebra book at him. “Stop calling me that!” she barked, “I’m not cheating. I’m just getting ahead. I didn’t look at any of the answer keys, or look for a surprise quiz, I just looked at the assignment list.”
Dani, afraid the two might come to blows, stood and stepped between them. “Knock it off, both of you,” she snapped, “I don’t need to explain to my mom why or how my room got trashed.”
Melissa glared at Dani, her breathing heavy as she tried to calm herself. Zeke rubbed at the sore spot on his chest where the heavy textbook connected. Eli stayed where he was, saying nothing as he watched the scene unfold with a smirk of merriment on his face.
He likes seeing them fight, Dani concluded, what a dick.
“What is going on in here?”
Max’s sudden, silent arrival startled the teens. Dani forced herself to act surprised. “Mom, I thought you had a teacher’s meeting. What are you doing home so early?”
Max glared at the occupants of the room with a mixture of annoyance and irritation. “You know the rules about guests, Daniela. Care to explain yourself?” she snapped.
Dani’s posture stiffened and she rolled her eyes, scoffing with disgust. “The rule is, my chores have to be done before I have friends over. They’re done. Now I have friends over.”
Max crossed her arms over her chest and stepped into the room. She scanned the area quickly, noting the position of each teen, as well as the look of morbid curiosity on their faces.
“Daniela, you know that’s not what the rule says,” she said firmly, staring down into Dani’s defiant face, “You are supposed to check with me before you invite people over. That way I know what to expect when I come home.”
“Well, excuse me,” Dani retorted, her voice thick with attitude as she drew out the words, “I didn’t think it pertinent to interrupt your damn meeting by asking if I can do my homework with my friends.”
Melissa, Zeke, and Eli gasped softly in unison at their friend’s audacity. They’d never have the guts to speak to Lilah in such a manner.
“Watch your tone, young lady,” Max barked, pointing her finger at Dani, “You have no right to speak to me like that. Now,” she said, turning her attention to the others, “I think it best if you all go home. Daniela and I need to have a little talk.”
“No!” Dani yelled as the others scrambled to gather their belongings, “Zeke and I have an assignment we have to do together. We’re not goofing off or messing around, Mom, we’re doing homework. You and I can have our talk after we are done with the assignment.”
Max’s eyes flashed with amusement. Dani caught the look and did her best not to giggle. The teens simply did their best to avoid eye contact with either woman.
“Daniela Willows, that’s not how this works,” Max scolded hotly, “You might be seventeen, but I am still your mother. I make the rules in this house, and until you move out, you will follow them. Now, you are grounded for a week. No friends, no television, and no phone when you aren’t at school.”
Max extended her hand for Dani’s phone. Dani crossed her arms defiantly and stared the woman in the eye. “No.”
“Uh, we’d better go,” Melissa said quickly. She and the twins didn’t wait for a response as they eased their way past the stand-off.
Once the teens were out of the room, Max held up three fingers and lowered them one-by-one. When she pointed at Dani, the redhead growled as loud as she could.
“I hate you!” she screamed. The couple listened as the stampede of footsteps halted near the fr
ont door.
“Oh, shit,” one of the twins said, louder than he intended. With that last utterance, the teens rushed out of the house, closing the door firmly behind them.
The women laughed, and Max pulled Dani close for a quick kiss. “I’m glad you weren’t looking at me when you said that,” she said, “Even knowing it’s not true, it would have hurt to hear you say that to me.”
“I don’t care what op we’re running,” Dani said, wrapping her arms around Max, “I would never say that to you. I will always find something else to focus my attention on.”
“All clear, Agents.”
“Thanks, Young,” Max said to the room, “see you in an hour.”
“Copy,” Young replied, “Dani, don’t forget the cheesy breadsticks this time,” he added with a chuckle.
Dani shook her head and stuck her tongue out at the porcelain duck figurine that held one of the cameras.
Young laughed in Dani’s ear. “Sorry, Dani. You’re gorgeous and all, but you aren’t quite my type. Besides, I don’t think I’m man enough to defend myself against your wife.”
Dani laughed loudly as she relayed Young’s responses to Max. Max chuckled along and gave the camera a thumbs-up.
“He’s not wrong,” Max said, leading Dani out of the room, “Young couldn’t defend himself against an angry two-year-old.”
“Hey!” Young squawked, causing Dani to flinch, “I can still hear her!”
Dani smacked Max on the arm and growled at Young. “Ouch, dammit! Not so loud. You two can duke it out in person at the meeting. Young, I’m taking the bug out. Max, stop instigating.”
“Sorry, Mom,” Max and Young chorused teasingly. A deep, angry growl emanated from Dani, sending the Agents into a fit of laughter.
“See you soon,” Young chuckled, “Line going to auto-record. Young, out.”
Dani pulled the bug from her ear and switched it off. “After everyone leaves,” she said, “You’re going to be in so much trouble.”
