216 |𝐛.𝐚| (hiatus)

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PETER KINGSLEY groaned as he opened the door, connecting his room to the hallway. He was fortunate enough to be the only male in the house, so he got his own room, at least until Uncle Hartley visited. It still beats sharing a room with one of his sisters.

Peter glanced briefly at Lucy, Aspen, Genevieve, and Penny starting to cook breakfast. He started to open the door, backpack in hand when he heard Lucy's voice, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Breakfast," Peter replied bluntly.

Lucy handed the pan of eggs over to Genevieve and walked over to the slightly open door and closed it, "No, you don't. When I said grounded. I meant it. And that means you are having breakfast with us, and dinner."

Peter scowled at Lucy, "That's unfair,"

Lucy shook her head, "What's unfair is not keeping promises. A man without his word is not a man." Lucy recited in a sing-song voice.

"Ugh," Peter groaned again as he dropped his backpack at the door and sat down with his sisters at the dining table, the breakfast set on the wooden table. Lucy sat down right after Peter and sighed. Teenagers.

Peter watched as the girls of the house reached in, passing the many plates of bacon, eggs, toast, fruit, butter, and jam. He was not winning in that battle. Aspen was brutal.

Lucy passed the egg plate to Peter, "Here," She said.

Peter nodded at Lucy and took the plate, pushing some scrambled eggs onto his plate before passing it off to Genevieve who was on his right. Then he received the bacon and fruit which he did take while keeping on passing the toast, butter, and jam. He was more of a bagel guy.

"How long is this gonna last?" Peter asked Lucy. He liked meeting his friends for a bagel at Jitters.

Lucy shrugged before swallowing the bite of toast in her mouth, "Until you earn that privilege back."

"Which one?" Peter questioned.

"Any and all," Lucy replied.

Peter set down his silverware and sighed, "Look, what if I promise to come back on curfew and spend some dinners here?"

"No," Lucy responded, "You will not bargain the terms of your punishment. You've also promised the curfew thing before and look where it led us. I'll tell you when you are not grounded anymore."

"Well, what do I have to do to get there?" Peter asked, "I just wanna have some freedom."

Genevieve, Aspen, and Penny exchanged glances with each other while quietly continuing to eat their breakfast while Lucy and Peter stared each other down.

Lucy shot Peter a sarcastic smile, "And you will get your freedom when you start showing maturity and responsibility."

"C'mon," Peter said scoffing, "I'm responsible." Aspen snorted out the milk from her mouth, laughing as Genevieve bit her lips together to keep her from smirking and Penny quickly drank her chocolate milk to keep from remarking.

Peter glared at the girls, "I am,"

"Pete, you promised me that we would read The Hobbit together. A chapter every week. The Hobbit has 19 chapters. You promised me that a year ago." Aspen piped in, accentuating her words.

Penny nodded, "Yeah, and what about that time you said you would do the laundry when Lucy was sick. And you purposely turned everything in the whites, pink."

"It was funny!" Peter said defensively. He turned to his right and looked at Genevieve, who seemed to still be biting her lips together, "Don't. You. Dare." Peter glared at the girl.

Everyone at the table turned their attention over to Genevieve who looked like she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen if she didn't open her mouth and breathe.

"But, remember that time when yo-" Genevieve burst out until she felt a sharp burning pain in her arm, "Ow!"

Lucy glared at Peter, "PETER KINGSLEY! You do not use powers on family! Or anyone in fact!"

Aspen reached to grab Genevieve's arm and cooled it down with an ice cube conjured from her powers. Genevieve smiled gratefully at the young brown-haired girl, "It's okay, Lucy. I did say I wouldn't mention it again. It was probably an accident. I-"

Lucy held her hand up, stopping Genevieve from talking further, "No, you don't have to make excuses for him, Gen." Lucy turned to Peter and looked him straight in the eye, "This was exactly what I was talking about, maturity and responsibility. After school, you will go to the grocery store and you will come home immediately to make dinner."

Peter stayed quiet.

"Do you understand, Peter?" Lucy asked again, her tone changing to a more demanding motherly voice.

Peter nodded, knowing that arguing would land him making dinner for a whole month. Penny and Aspen stood up from the table and gathered the dishes, making their way to the kitchen sink with a stack of dirty plates. Lucy stood up as well, making her way over to a jar and pulling out a few bills.

Lucy extended the hand with money out to Peter, "I'm not going to make you pay for dinner, here's some money. Please, just spend it on dinner and food. No arcade, no gum, no comics."

Peter nodded again and took the money, safely putting it in his wallet. Lucy then turned to Genevieve, "Are you working the store today?"

Genevieve shook her head, "No, remember, I'm taking Aspen and Penny to dance lessons and then going next door to rehearsal."

Lucy nodded and handed some money to Genevieve as well, "That should cover the tickets for your musical and Aspen and Penny's recital."

All the kids then gathered their bags and lunches (premade by Lucy the night before) and stood at the door while Lucy got her keys. Lucy clapped, making the kids smile.

"Alright everyone, let's get going!"

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Alright, that is chapter nine. Uh, if the parenting (if you can even call it that) seems weird, its because I'm not even old enough to be a parent so I don't really know much about that subject which is ironic, because she has four kids... anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying it! Be sure to vote and comment if you enjoyed the chapter!

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