I don't know

16

Cam hated timeout. It was so boring. The wall was empty, and 5 minutes would feel like a century. At least at school, they gave him a chair. His dad didn't even give him that courtesy.

In all the triplets, Cam was definitely the one who got into the most trouble at school. Sydney was a little angel at school - not so much at home though- and Sierra just kept herself to herself.

But the best thing about getting into trouble was getting into trouble with your best friend. So when Mr. Samuels put Cam and his best friend Leo Jackson in adjacent corners because they wouldn't stop talking in class. The 2 couldn't stop exchanging looks and giggling.

'Boys, if I have to ask you to stop giggling, then I am going to move your chairs apart, and then you can miss story time.' Mr. Samuels said, looking very intimidating.

Cam and Leo just nodded, hiding their smiles.

Mr. Samuels nodded sternly 'Ok you boys can come out now. No more talking when I am. That's just rude.'

'Yes, Mr. Samuels.' The boys chorused as they dashed out of their chairs.

They didn't get too far before they were stopped by Sydney.

'Cam! Stop getting into trouble!' Sydney said, hands on her hips.

'You're not the boss of me!' Cam retorted.

'I'll tell Mom and Daddy.' Sydney threatened as Cam's eyes widened.

'Stop threatening my best friend!' Leo said, standing up for his mate.

'You're mean, Sydney! No wonder Dad doesn't want you!' Cam said, and he regretted it immediately. But being the 5-year-old he was... He didn't apologise.

'That was kinda mean, Cam.' Leo said after a while.

Tears rapidly fell down Sydney's face as she ran towards one of the helpers, Ms. Riley.

Mr. Samuels did not look pleased at all!

~~~

Anthony was livid. He was never this mad, not even when Cam accidentally deleted one of his articles by accident. He had to wait until the end of the day to go pick Cam and Sierra up, and him and Ally decided to go together.

'Anthony, when we go in that room, let's find out both sides of the story.Understood?' Ally said as the 2 stood outside the classroom where Mr. Harry Samuels had asked them to come after all the parents had picked up their kids.

'Mr James and Ms. Rivera.' Harry greeted as Ally and Anthony walked into the classroom. Their triplets were there and another little boy. 'Sorry, we just need to wait for one more parent,'

As soon as he said that, a man came through the door, 'Am I late? Sorry, I had to break up a fight and then call their parents in,' He then paused and realised the irony of that sentence.

'Mr. Jackson. You're not late at all.' Harry said, as the man met Anthony and Ally's gaze.

'Anthony.' Anthony said as he introduced himself. 'Sorry, this happened.'

'Edward.' Mr. Jackson replied. 'Eh, Leo probably did his fair part.' He said, as he gave Leo a stern glare who, in exchange, hung his head.

'I've elaborated most of it on the phone, so this will be short. Honestly, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Sierra doesn't normally have any part in it unless she's trying to break the fight up. But I'm afraid this needs to stop. Cam and Leo get into enough mischief as is, and Sydney adding onto it isn't helping. All I ask of you is go home and talk to your children.' Harry said, explaining the whole situation.

'I'm sorry, sir. It won't be happening again.' Edward said as he got up. 'Come on, Lee.' He said, putting out a hand for Leo to take. Leo smiled at Cam before exiting the classroom.

'We'll talk to them. Thank you.' Ally said, shaking hands with Mr. Samuels, before also leaving the classroom, holding both Sydney and Sierra's hands.

'Let's go, Cameron.' Anthony said as Cam followed his mother and sisters out of the classroom. Anthony nodded curtly at Mr. Samuels and followed his family.

When all 5 of them got outside, Ally turned to Anthony, 'What about you take Cam to your apartment and I'll drive Sydney and Sierra around for a while. And then you can have the weekend with Sydney...' Ally suggested before Anthony nodded and walked over to his car with Cam following him

'Why would you even say something like that, Cameron?' Anthony asked as Cam got in and buckled himself up.

'She was being mean, Daddy.' Cam said, fidgeting with his fingers.

'That doesn't mean you say something like that! You go tell a teacher if she was being mean, you don't retaliate!' Anthony said, his voice raised. Tears began rolling down Cam's cheeks as Anthony continued lecturing him till they got home.

'Upstairs now!' He demanded when they reached their apartment. Cam quickly ran up the stairs, not wanting to disobey his father.

Anthony sighed as he climbed up the stairs himself, slowly thinking about how he should punish him.

'Get yourself in the corner. I'll be there talking to you when I think you've had enough.' He said. He opened the front door, and Cam rushed in, walking over to the corner of the living room.

After 15 very long minutes of standing in the corner, without fidgeting, Anthony walked over and sat down on the couch, calling Cam over. He had tears streaming down his cheeks and his eyes were swollen.

'Why have you been crying?' Anthony asked, softening his tone a bit and wiping Cam's tears away.

'Cuz you're mad at me! And so is mummy!' Cam said, sniffling.

'Yeah, we are mad. But that's because you said something really mean to Sydney. We still love you, ok?' Anthony asked, waiting for Cam to acknowledge him. He nodded, and Anthony took that as a good enough answer. 'How do you think we should punish you?'

'No football for a week?' Cam tried, and Anthony nodded.

'And you write an apology letter to Sydney? Oh and no football for a month. Don't be smart with me, Cameron, I know an international break is going on.' Anthony added.

'Yeah, sorry.' Cam nodded, still sulking.

'Well, I'm glad we agreed on that.' Anthony said as he breathed a sigh of relief. He thought that would be way harder.

~~~
'Sydney?' Ally asked as she and the girls sat down in the car, eating McDonalds.

'Mhm?' Sydney said, looking up at her mum to tell her she was listening

'What exactly happened at school today?' Ally asked as she sipped on her coke.

'Cam was mean to me.' Sydney replied bluntly.

'Yeah. And he's being punished for that but I'm asking what you did to provoke him?'

Sydney slurped on her juice, shrugging one shoulder. Sierra just stared at the two of them, her eyes flickering between them. Why was she always witnessing arguments?

'Nope, that's not an answer.'

'I told him he needed to stop getting into trouble.'

There it was. That's what Ally was looking for.

'Sydney, I know you meant well but leave that to me and Daddy next time, yeah?'

Sydney nodded eagerly as Ally sighed. They had three 5-year-olds, two of them always fighting, and the youngest was the peacemaker. Where had they gotten so lucky?