When the three children finally arrive home, they grab a snack and head upstairs.
All three go into John's room where Stan will be sleeping on the blowup mattress.
Stan tosses the bags his mother dropped off onto his new bed. Then he slides his backpack off of his shoulder and deposits that onto the mattress too.
John crosses the room and hangs his backpack up, while Nic sits down on his bed.
When he turns around, he sees Stan removing the stolen goods from his backpack.
"Oh hell no," he snaps, rushing to shut his door,"you better put that shit away."
Stan smirks and tosses the beer can up, catching it easily.
"Ya scared of a little beer?"
"Don't say that so loud!" John whispers.
"Who's gonna hear us?"
At that moment, there's a knock on John's bedroom door.
Quick as lightening, Stan sets the beer can into his backpack.
Nic snorts, somehow finding this situation humorous.
"Come in," Stan says, which earns him an irritated look from John.
Will opens the door, his large frame filling the small doorway.
He looks tired and in desperate need of a shower and change of clothes.
"Hey, just got home and wanted to see what y'all were up to."
"Nothing much," Nic says, calmly.
"How was school?"
"Good," John replies,"how was work?"
"Long. I'm glad to be home."
He looks over at Stan as if he just noticed he's here too.
"Hey, buddy. You excited for this weekend?"
"Yeah," Stan says, with a genuine smile.
"Me too. Alright, I'll leave y'all alone. I gotta go take a shower."
Will leaves the room, closing the door behind him.
After she's sure that Will is gone, Nic turns her attention on Stan.
"He almost caught you."
"No, he didn't," Stan replies, putting his backpack on the floor,"quit with that. You'll both be grateful when ya have something good to snack on tonight."
"I am not eating stolen candy," John says, adamantly.
"Your loss, dude."
"I'll eat it," Nic says,"but if anyone finds out and asks why I have it I'm blaming you and denying everything."
"Fine with me," Stan replies, with a shrug.
—
No one gets caught that night. The three children eat their candy, yes, even John, and watch their movies without any problems.
Although, the next day at school, Stan isn't so lucky.
He gets called into the principal's office an hour before school lets out.
Mr. Morgan, the principal, looks extremely unhappy when Stan walks into his office.
"Mr. Stanley, sit down, please," he says, gesturing to the chair before him.
Without a word, Stan sits, leaning back in his chair, seemingly relaxed.
"Do you know why I've called you in here?"
YOU ARE READING
Growth Of A Wildflower
General Fiction• The Second Book In The Wildflowers Trilogy • It's been more than two years since Isabella Riley got out of the foster care system and found her forever home with Regina Flynn. While running her own cafe is hard work, Regina is quickly realizing th...
