12"How was your dads?" Antoine asked as he poured himself some cereal. Skye wrinkled her nose and made a disgusted face.
"I hated it. I am never going back. E-ver." She announced. "Nothing can make me." Skye had a determined look on her face, it was as though she thought that she wouldn't have to go again.
Antoine laughed as his sister complained about her dad's house. Skye never thought about the fact that she was in the big city, only about that fact that she had to hang out in her dad's apartment for three days.
Emilie was sitting on the second of the three bar stools, eating her cereal and babbling to one of the toys that sat beside her. She was successfully ignoring her older sister and Antoine had to give her props for that. He couldn't even do that, which sucked
He was part of the conversation though, so even though he didn't want to be had to participate.
"You have to though, he's your dad." Antoine said as he took a bite of the cereal. Looking at his watch he saw that they'd be leaving in about fifteen minutes.
"No I don't, I don't have to do anything I don't want to." Skye was determined. Just then Melinda walked out of her room and into the kitchen.
"That's right," She said as she kissed Skye's hair and grabbed her cup of coffee. "What aren't you doing?"
Skye scoffed at her mom and Melinda raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure she liked what was seeming to go on in Skye's head.
"I'm not going to dads ever again." Skye said proudly.
"Oh, yeah you're going again in two weeks." Melinda shrugged. "No if ands or buts. Your butt will be there next Saturday like always."
Skye pouted but Melinda gave her a look, making her glare down at her toast. Emilie hadn't noticed what was going on around her and continued to talk to her toys.
"Anyways," Antoine said awkwardly. "I'm hanging out with Mack after school today. He's coming here, is that okay?"
"Yes, of course," Melinda said as she started to collect the things for their lunches from the fridge. "Can you pick your sister up from daycare? And Skye from the middle school?"
Antoine laughed a bit but nodded. He didn't mind getting his sisters from school.
"Thank you, you're the best son." Melinda said as she handed him and Skye their lunches and finished packing Emilie's daycare bag. "I can bring the stroller to the daycare if you want, that way she can sit in it or the bags can when you're walking home.
"It's okay," Antoine said with a shrug. "We can walk,"
Melinda nodded and finished getting all their things ready. She placed all of Emilie's things in her bunny backpack and started helping the girl put on her white keds.
"You okay with walking?" Melinda asked Emilie as she helped the girl put on her blue coat. Emilie nodded her hair and held her arms up. Melinda picked up the little girl and put her on her hip before finishing her rounds of the housing gathering her things that she'd need.
Antoine grabbed his sister off of his mom and set her on the ground.
"Come on Em, let's go to the car," Skye said with a smile at her sister. Emilie grabbed Skye's hand and pulled her out the door. Antoine grabbed Skye's bag and Melinda grabbed Emilie's as they left the apartment.
Phil hated the mornings when his son didn't want to go to school, but he despised the rare ones when along with Lance, Fitz also had no intention of going.
"Come on boys," Phil pleaded as he looked at the two of them. Neither moved from the couch though. "I know you both hate Mondays, everyone does…"
"I don't want to go," Fitz complained. It was odd for him to complain about something, and Phil wasn't exactly sure of how to deal with this. He needed to stay strong though.
"You have to," He said as he heaved Fitz up and then Hunter. "Get dressed."
The boys trudged towards their separate bedrooms, groaning. "Just remember, there used to be special police for kids who skipped school."
That seemed to have a slight effect on the boys, which made Phil smirk. Might as well scare them to do what he wanted, if they wouldn't do it without complaining.
As the boys got changed, Phil poured himself a cup of coffee and started making the boys lunch. If he had that done by time they got out, it was one less thing to do.
He put four slices of toast in the toaster as he spread butter, mayo and mustard onto four different pieces.
The toast cooked slowly, almost as slow as it took the boys to come from their rooms. Hunter and Fitz eventually emerged though, and when they did the toasted popped.
Phil made it the way they liked it, Hunter with just blue berry jam, Fitz with just a slight amount of unsalted butter.
He placed the plates on the counter and continued on with the lunches. The boys sat down, slightly grumbling about the fact that they actually had to go, and ate their toast.
Once Phil finished that, he put all the food together in the lunch bags and placed them for the boys to grab and put in their bags. He was their father, not their maid. He wasn't doing that much for them. Really, the boys were old enough to make their own lunches. That was just the part of fatherhood Phil didn't want to give up yet.
Once they were all ready too go, the boys grabbed their things and put their bags together. Fitz was in a better mood now that he had eaten and was smiling as he put on his shoes.
Phil sighed in relief, but one thought filled his mind as he pulled out of the driveway. Was he going to get to see Melinda again soon?
Sorry this was so much shorter than the other chapters (and so late). I've had major writers block on this story, and wasn't able to make the chapter longer than this. I tried. I will try and update again soon.
