After Happily Ever After

Wolflet

"They're going to find out, Elle," Michael whispered to his sister, making sure the adults at the front of the room didn't see what was going on. Michael, unlike Michelle, who was already wearing her 'I'm going to cause some trouble today face', most certainly did not like getting into trouble. Never in his twelve years had he liked to.

Michelle rolled her eyes. "Loosen up, Mike. I just want to have a little bit of fun," she said with a mischievous, lopsided grin. She was holding a small mouse in her hands, making sure to keep it hidden until the right moment. Michelle held the mouse up higher and nudged it with her freckled nose. "Right, Tail?"

Michael sighed and looked back towards the front, where a Farmer's of France Association meeting was going on. His mother sat at the front with her eyes attentively on the speaker, a short round man who was in the desperate need of a good shave. Ze'ev, his father, stood at the doorway, arms crossed. His green eyes were focused on the food table at the end of the room. Or more specifically, on the salad bowl with the tomatoes.

Michael didn't understand why his father liked tomatoes so much. He didn't like tomatoes, which often led to silly arguments about why tomatoes were good or bad. Michael enjoyed those arguments. They made him feel like he was preparing for his life-long dream career of being a lawyer. Maybe lawyers weren't solicited anymore as much nowadays, what with reliable droids taking over most of the courts, but that still didn't stop Michael. He would be a lawyer if that was the last thing he did.

Michelle found it ridiculous. She told her nonidentical twin that it would be a waste of his time if he did that. She thought it would be a better idea if he went into the military like she planned on doing, and like Carswell, and like grand-mère had once done. But Michael didn't want that.

"Ready?" whispered Michelle.

"Elle, don--."

"Set..."

"Stop it, Elle. I mean it."

"Go!" She set the mouse down and it scurried a few inches. "Run, Tail!" she whispered again.

Michael could only stare in horror as the mouse scampered all around the area in the back of the room, then went on to the chairs. His tail brushed an elder's ankle and she looked down with horror. "Mouse!" the woman shrieked, climbing on top of her chair.

Michelle laughed to his right, trying hard to go unnoticed. Michael glared at her. "What the aces is wrong with you, Michelle?" Michael stood up and walked after the small creature. The room filled with chaos. Michael only wondered why a small mouse would cause so much fear in a room of adults. He shrugged and continued to follow Tail's trail.

Finally, the mouse was only two feet away, busy nibbling on a piece of cheese that had fallen to the ground. Michael tilted his head. He knew cheese wasn't a mouse's favorite thing to eat. He sighed and dove onto the red carpeting. He clasped his hands over the mouse. Got him. His emerald eyes lifted and he saw a set of feet standing in front of him. He lifted his gaze a bit more, and he saw his dad, his arms crossed. Michael gulped, grabbed the mouse, and stood up. "Hello," he said happily. "What a surprise to see you here!"

His father narrowed his eyes. "Michael..."

Michael sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said, "It was Michelle."

His father smiled. "Thank you, Michael. I'll see you at home. Your mom is staying behind, I'm heading home with Elle. Alright?" Michael nodded and his father ruffled his auburn hair before going in the direction Michelle was nervously standing.

A delicate hand fell on his shoulder and he turned around. His mom smiled. "Ready to go?"

He nodded and they began walking towards the door. "That was really boring," he said. His eyes widened. He never said things as rude as that. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Scarlet laughed, throwing her head back just a bit. She wore a loose orange scarf around her neck, a red sweater, jeans, and her everyday boots. When she laughed, Michael's father always smiled. That was just how wonderful her laugh was. She put an arm around her son. "Michael, you little sophisticated nut." Michael frowned. That was a new one, he would have to remember it. "I'm sorry it was boring. I thought it'd be better too."

Michael turned his head and looked back where people were still running out of the room in fear. He turned towards his mom. "Shouldn't we tell them the mouse was taken care of? That dad ate him, or something?"

Scarlet frowned with a smile. "Your dad does not eat mice, Michael." He shrugged and so did she. "It's fine. They'll figure out the mouse is gone eventually."

Michael smiled as he swiped his wrist with his ID chip in front of a droid's sensors, and he stepped into the maglev. "Okay."

***

Michelle swiped through the pages of the holographic book. Pages of clothing swished by. She, out of boredom, tapped on a random article of clothing and checked it out. Maybe she would purchase it, just for the fun of it. She yawned and looked at her fingernails, the black and red nail polish almost completely gone. She shrugged and continued to surf the web.

A knock on her bedroom door got her attention. "What?" she asked, annoyed, through the door.

Her mom stepped in and closed the door behind her. Her eyes scanned her daughter's room in disapproval. Michelle did the same. There was nothing out of the ordinary. A portscreen was on the floor, along with a few pieces of clothes. The walls still had the white wallpaper and the posters that switched images every few seconds. Most were images of her favorite celebrities, but some were of her favorite second era comics. She shrugged. "Why are you looking at my room like that?"

"You better clean this up, Michelle."

"No," she responded, leaning forward, challenging her mother.

Scarlet closed her eyes and took in a deep shaky breath. "Michelle Annalise Kesley Benoit, you better not start this right now."

She rolled her eyes. Michael was well behaved, it was her job to cause stress. She shrugged. "Too late." Her mother opened her eyes. "What did you want, anyway?"

"You need to show some respect, Michelle."

"What did you want?" she repeated.

"The peace ball is in two days. We will be traveling, so start packing," Scarlet said, eyeing the clothes on the floor.

Michelle rolled her eyes and blew a strand of straight brown hair out of her face. She crossed her arms and leaned further back into the red pillow on her bed. "I thought you said I was grounded," she mumbled, glaring at her mother.

"And you are, which is why you are cleaning this mess. But you don't have a choice. You're coming, too."

"Why should I?"

"The Clay family will be there."

Michelle grinned and hopped off the bed. She hummed softly to herself and started picking up the mess in her room, packing too. "I'm in," she said.