Hero's Responsibility

Ch9: Ned In The Middle

Michelle had become increasingly peeved over the weekend for two reasons. Or more like two people.

The first one was her dad. He had come home on Saturday around seven at night. He had arrived unusually happy. Not that her dad wasn't happy when he came home; seeing his girls always placed a smile on his face. However, that day it was evidently obvious as he walked in through the door dancing. Michelle who was studying over the decathlon questions in the living room, made her dad stop mid-step when he saw her. He directed his smile to her and broke out into song, just like a Disney movie.

"Isn't she lovely," he sang, on key. Singing to them when they were little had really favored his voice. "Isn't she wonderful. Isn't she precious." Michelle sighed as her dad sang to her. This was one of the songs he would sing to her, saying that the words of the song all applied to her. When she was young, she liked it when her dad would sing that song, only it started to get embarrassing as she grew older because he would sing it to her when they were in public places. He did it to get her scowl to leave.

Tia ran in when she heard their dad singing. She climbed onto the back of the couch. "That song has someone else's name in it," Michelle announced, knowing that Stevie Wonder had written that song for his daughter, Aisha.

Her dad's smile didn't waver. He took in a breath as he changed the song. "Michelle ma belle. These are words that go together well. My Michelle." Her dad crouched down to place a kiss to the top of her head before he stood up and continued to sing, twirling his arms up. "Michelle, ma belle! Sont des mots qui vont tres ensemble tres bien ensemble. Tres bien ensemble!"

Tia laughed at her father's antics. "Okay," Michelle placed her notebook aside. "Spill it. What happened at work."

"This guy," Her dad pointed to himself with his thumbs, "just stepped up from ticket cop."

"What?"

"Yay!" Michelle and her sister's reaction were very different. For Tia, her father's news was obviously good if it put her father in such a good mood. For Michelle, the news meant that if he was no longer giving tickets, he was now on the streets to place himself in a dangerous situation. She knew it would happen eventually, but she wasn't prepared for it.

"I got placed with a partner, and we went around cursing in our designated area of patrol." He smiled brightly. A smile that only made Michelle feel worse. She was going to ruin her dad's good mood with her inability to see any bright side to his news. Sure they would be able to pay their bills but it wasn't worth it by putting her dad's life on the line.

Tia showed her enthusiasm by running up to her dad and embracing him. He lifted her up and twirled her in the air. A task that was not an issue for him. Despite Tia being ten, their dad was buff from constantly going to the boxing ring when he wasn't a cop. Now he had a whole new exercise regimen.

"That's great dad," Michelle placed on a tight smile to try and be convincing. Luckily her dad didn't notice since Tia was asking him to continue to sing.

A request which her dad provided. "I got sunshine on a cloudy day," He sang directly to Tia. "When it's cold outside, I got the month of May. Well, I guess you'd say, what can make me feel this way? My girl!" He twirled Tia. "Talkin' 'bout my girl!" The continue to dance around as Michelle placed a fake smile on her face until she could slip to her room.

That event had happened on Saturday and as Sunday came around, Michelle was plagued with the second problem on her list. The problem that was named Ned Leeds.

Michelle had Ned's number. She had gotten it as a way to reach him and coordinate their plans for Homecoming. She had used it only twice and the call had lasted a minimum of thirty seconds, long enough to only ask a few questions and get an answer. That was the only time, she told herself, she would ever use it. The only reason she hadn't deleted it from her phone like she originally planned, was because she kept it for reference. Just in case she needed to lecture them if they, most specifically Peter, ever skipped out on a decathlon meeting. However, she had debated, over the weekend, if she should use it again. Not for friendly conversation, but to threaten into keeping his accusations to himself instead of going all gossip girl with Peter.