Parents night
"Parents night, the one night of the year when all parents, be they mothers, be they fathers, be they whatever, come together and share in our positive learning environment. So make sure you give your parental figures these recyclable handouts." Miss Grotke said as she walked the classroom passing the notice to every kid. "Or they might miss our classroom festivities. And we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?"
"Yeah, that'd be a real tragedy." Spinelli scoffed as she crumpled up the handout.
"Come on, Spinelli, I know your parents can be...a bit overbearing, but they should still know about this." Dede whispered as she put her notice in her bag.
"Yeah, not a chance, I can't deal with that level of embarrassment." Not long after everyone got the handout the bell for recess rang out, allowing all the kids to leave to do what they wanted, the group of seven were out by the jungle gym.
"Oh, boy, parents night." Said Gus as he was hanging from the rings. "I can't wait to show my dad how I organise my desk. All the pencils on one side and all the papers on the other. He'll be so proud."
"I'm gonna show my parents the class telescope." Gretchen said, sitting on the swing. "And the celestial object I discovered and named for them. Comet Doris-Phil."
"I'm gonna show my folks the dead pig in Mr Germaine's science lab." TJ said when he got to the bottom of the slide. "Man that thing can really float."
"I can't wait to show my parents the portrait I made of them in art class." Dede said as she sat up on the bar above Gus' head. "While making sure that the Ashley's don't see my mum."
"Right! I forgot your mums a fashion designer, the one the Ashley's have said multiple times, that she's their favourite." Gretchen states as her swinging comes to a slow stop.
"Yeah, I don't want to have to deal with that."
"What about you Spinelli? what are you gonna show your mum and dad?" Mikey Asked from atop the cheese box.
"Me? Oh, my folks aren't coming." Spinelli was lying on top of the tube.
"But, Spinelli, it's parents night." Gretchen tried to reason. "They've got to come."
"Well, they can't, okay? They're busy Thursday night."
"Busy, on parents' night?" Asked Vince.
"Yeah, they're uh... having dinner at the White House."
"The White House? You mean where the president lives?" Asked Gus while he dropped down from the bars as Dede was busy introducing her palm to her face.
"That's the one!"
"But isn't the president in the Middle East this week?" Asked Gretchen.
"Uh, yeah, that's right. And that's why they're going...to keep an eye on things, you know hold down the fort."
"What about the secret service?" Questions TJ.
"The secret service? They're, uh, uh....they're bowling, it's their bowling night." Spinelli made up and before anyone could question her further the bell rang. "Oops, there's the bell, got to go." Spinelli made a mad dash outta there.
"Dee-" TJ said looking up at Dede as she jumped down from the bar.
"Well, Spinelli's right, we best go, cya." Dede ran after Spinelli before they could stop her.
The next time the kids could continue to talk about stuff was lunch, the whole gang was the except for Spinelli and Dede. "Wow, Spinelli's parents at the White House. That's amazing." Gus was still surprised about what Spinelli had said during morning recess.
"No more amazing than last year. When they went headhunting in the Amazon." Replies Gretchen.
"Or the year before that, when they went hang-gliding off of Mount Everest." Said Vince.
"You know, it's kind of strange that Spinelli's parents are always busy on parents' night." TJ said putting his sandwich down.
"That's cause she's making the whole thing up." Mikey told them.
"What?" Asked Vince.
"Well think about it, every year since kindergarten, Spinelli's came up with weirder and weirder excuses. And sometimes she can't keep her stories straight."
"No, that's ridiculous." Said TJ.
"Hey, you guys hear." Said a random third grader that came up to their table. "Spinellis mum and dad are gonna be the first parents on the space shuttle."
"See what I mean?" Mikey said after the kid left.
"But it doesn't even make any sense, I mean, why would Spinelli lie about her parents?" Asked Gretchen.
"Don't ask me, I never met 'em." Gus said, eating his sandwich.
"Neither have I!"
"Me neither." Said TJ. "The only one of us that probably has is Dede, but she always runs when we try to ask her about them."
"But TJ, you live right down the street from Spinelli." Said Vince. "How come you've never met her parents?"
"I don't know. He dads car's gone every morning before we go to school and she never even talks about her mum."
"There's something weird going on here you guys."
"Yeah, and we got to get to the bottom of it."
"But, how TJ?" Asked Gus.
"The best way is the sneaky way. A steak out."
That evening, by the time the street lights came on, the group of five can be seen dotted around Spinelli's house, Vince was hiding behind a car looking through some binoculars. "Hey, Teej, you see anything yet?" He asked into the walkie talkie.
"Negatory, Vince. How about you Gretchen?" TJ answered hiding in a dog's house.
"Nothing back here Teej." Replied Gretchen hiding behind a bush before the back door opens up. "Wait a minute, I think I see something." Gretchen then put on her night vision goggles. "A person."
"Who is it, Gretchen?"
"I can't tell from here. How about you Gus?"
"It's too dark." Gus says from up a tree. "But whoever it is, they're heading for the garage."
"Heads up, Mikey, he's coming your way." TJ warned Mikey who was hiding in a bin. When the person got to the bins and lifted the lid, it was revealed to be Spinelli as she screamed at seeing Mikey hiding there.
"Hi Spinelli." Mikey greets.
"What are you doing in there?" Spinelli demands.
"Uh...sitting?"
"Well, get out of there. And you, Gus, get out of that tree." Spinelli turned to point up at him before turning to Gretchen in the bush. "And, Gretchen, get out of that bush, and all you guys, just leave me alone, ok? Leave me alone!" Spinelli ran back into her house, slamming the door shut.
"Well, so much for the sneaky approach." TJ said as he and the others walked up to the bin Mikey was starting to climb out of. "From now on, we gotta be direct. Tomorrow after school, we're going in. Somehow, someway, we're going in."
The next day after school the group was not far from Spinelli's house, having to use a new plan as the steakout had failed, and that plan included making Mikey drink an abundance of water to try and get him into Spinelli's house to use the bathroom. "You think this is going to work?" Vince asked as he watched Mikey drink from the hosepipe.
"Absolutely, it's foolproof. Drink it down big guy, drink it down." TJ said, both to Vince and then to Mikey.
"Please, no more, I'll burst." Mikey begged as he pushed the hosepipe away.
"Sounds about right." Vince shut off the water before they all walked to Spinelli's front door.
"Okay, you know what you gotta say." Gretchen asked Mikey after ringing the doorbell.
"I got to go to the bathroom." Mikey was bouncing from one foot to the other.
"Perfect." TJ slaps Mikey on the back.
"What are you guys doing here?" Spinelli asked when she opened the door.
"Tell her Mikey."
"I got to go to the bathroom." Mikey said, fidgeting with his shirt.
"He's gotta go to the bathroom."
"Yeah, so?" Asked Spinelli.
"So you got to let him in." Said Vince. "He's ready to burst."
"Sorry, can't help ya." Spinelli shut the door.
"Come on, Spinelli, open up." Said TJ.
"What?"
"Mikeys gotta go!" Said Vince trying to change Spinelli's mind as Mikey was jumping up and down at this point.
"What are you guys really doing here?"
"We want some answers Spinelli." TJ said.
"What are the questions?"
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Begged Mikey pushing his way forward.
"What else?"
"Number one, what's the deal with your folks?" Asked Vince.
"Could you, please, not say 'number one'." Mikey pleaded.
"Number two, why don't they ever come to parents' night?" Asked Gretchen.
"None of your business." Replies Spinelli as she goes to close the door again.
"Come on Spinelli." TJ said, stopping the door from closing. "We're your friends."
"Okay, I'll tell you, but you got to promise not to tell anyone." At their nods and raised hands as a promise, Spinelli looked around before looking back at the others. "My old man is a secret agent, the old lady too!"
"That's it, we're going in." TJ said not buying it, they all tried to push their way in but Spinelli managed to push them all back.
"Wait, wait. All right, all right, I give. I'll let you meet my parents. But not now." Spinelli had to push them back again as they tried to get in again.
"When?"
"I'll bring 'em to parents night."
"No deal." Mikey tried to push his way in again but was stopped by Vince.
"Hold on, Mikey. That seems fair." Vince said before Mikey grabbed Vinces shirt.
"I can't hold on, that's the problem."
"Okay, Spinelli, see you on parents night." TJ said, leading the others away. "Come on, Mikey, there's a gas station about five blocks from here."
"Five blocks!"
"Okay, see you guys later." Spinelli waved at them before sighing and going back into her house, shutting the door behind her. "Me and my big mouth."
"You know, It'd be a lot easier on you if you didn't keep coming up with lie after lie." A different voice said, Spinelli looked up to see Dede standing in her living room holding two cans of soda before handing one over.
"I can't, you know how embarrassing my parents can be." Spinelli took her soda and sat on the sofa with Dede following her.
"I know, but every parent embarrasses their kids at some point or another."
"Mine embarrasses me all the time, you're lucky your parents don't embarrass you as much."
"Really? Need I remind you of my full name?"
"Your names' not that bad."
"Candy Diamond King??"
"Right! Sorry."
"And let's not forget my dad, who seems to make it a hobby to call me a different Candy or sugar related name every time he addresses me!"
"Oh Yeah, I forgot he does that."
"Haha, see, it's just how parents are, so, what are you going to do? You just promised you'd let the others meet your parents. You can't back down from that now or they'll never let you hear the end of it."
"I don't know, I'll figure something out."
"Alright, I'll leave it to you then, I best get back to my parents, I'll see you later." With that Dede stood up and left Spinelli's house and headed for her own. "Mum, dad, I'm home."
"Sweets, you're back." Keith's voice rang out as he ran and hugged Dede, rubbing their cheeks together.
"Dad, how much coffee have you had today?" Dede asked as she pushed Keith's face away. "You also need to shave."
"AHH!" Keith sulked as he let Dede go to lean up against the wall. "My own daughter thinks I need to be dosed up on caffeine in order to show my affection, how cruel."
"Come now, darling, you know that's not what she meant." Said a new voice, laughing, making both look over to see Dede mum, Crystal standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Mum, your back." Dede ran to hug her mum, who returned it wholeheartedly.
"Of course, my little jewel, it's parent's night, I'd never miss a chance to see how well you are doing in school."
"How was Paris?"
"It was lovely, we'll all have to take a family vacation there at some point."
"Why don't I get a greeting like that?" Cried Keith as he watched the mother daughter duo hug. "I'm lovable, right?"
"Haha, of course dad, I'd never change you." Dede laughed at her dads childish antics.
"Yay." He cheered as he joined the hug.
"All right, we best get ready." Crystal says as the family hug finishes. "I'll make us an early supper while you two get cleaned up."
"Okay." Dede said running upstairs and got cleaned up. After having a nice supper with her parents and Lapis, the three humans left to go to third street school for parents night and when they got there they saw kids and parents mingling all around.
"I'm telling you, this is the deal of a lifetime." They saw Hustler's kid's dad say to Hank the janitor, as he shows him a watch. "This things got genuine Swiss movement.
"Scandalous." Dede heard the Ashley laugh and looked over to see them and their mums all laughing.
"Oh no, err...come on mum, dad, let's go... the long way round." Dede said as she eyed the Ashley's to make sure they didn't see her.
"But, why sugar? We're almost at your class. Wait, you're not being bullied by any of the kids around here, are you?" Keith asked before looking around to see who's making his daughter nervous.
"What? No. It's...uh.."
"Well, well, well, looks like you're here and let me guess, Spinelli won't be showing her face on this parents night either." Dede looked over and saw the Ashley's standing behind her.
"Of course I'm here and no, she'll be here."
"Oh, really, well we'll see about that. And are you here with your grandmother again? Your parents are always busy just like Spinelli says hers are." Said Ashley A.
"No! My parents are here this time."
"Then where are they?"
"Oh, are these some of your friends jewels?" Crystal asked as she put her hand on Dede's shoulder.
"Well-"
"No way, you're Crystal king, owner of Crystal Chic." Said Ashley A.
"We love your brand." Ashley B added on.
"Why, thank you girls, that's lovely of you to say." Crystal smiled at them before looking down at Dede. "I didn't know you had fashion centric friends, my jewel."
"Uhh-" Dede started before the Ashley's interrupted her again.
"Wait, so the Crystal King is your mum?" Ashley T asked.
"Yeah?"
"Like, how come you never mentioned that before, we'd so make you an honorary Ashley for being the daughter of a great fashionista." Ashley A said as the other three nodded.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind-"
"Oh, look at my sugar cube making more friends." Keith cooed as Dede face palmed to herself.
"Well, we best get to class, so Miss Grotke can meet my parents, bye Ashley's." With that Dede grabbed her parents' hands and dragged them to her class. "Man...the one thing I wanted to avoid and it just happened."
"What was that jewels?" Asked Crystal.
"Yeah, sugar belle, you seemed to want to get out of there in a hurry." Asked Keith.
"Kinda. You see, I knew the Ashley's loved your brand mum and that's why I wanted to avoid them, now that they know I'm your daughter they won't leave me alone about either joining them or becoming more of a girly girl like them." Dede answered honestly looking up at her mum. "Their whole lives revolve around fashion, Makeup and boys-"
"WHAT?!? Okay, you are not to hang around those girls." Keith declares before grabbing Dedes shoulders and shaking her back and forth slightly. "My little girl can't be interested in any boys like that, not ever. It's bad enough you meet up with that Bob kid every Saturday to let him play with Lapis, but you are to never show any interest in any boy like that. You hear me? Never!!" Keith at this point had his head on Dedes shoulder and was 'crying'. "No boy is worthy enough for my little girl."
"DAD!!" Dede blushed as she looked around seeing some kids and their parents laughing at what was going on.
"Okay, that's enough darling." Crystal grabbed Keith and dragged him off of Dede and in the classroom. "Let's just go and meet this Miss Grotke."
"Thanks mum." Dede whispered before she smiled at her parents fondly and followed them. When Dede entered the classroom she could see most of her friends milling about showing the parents their desks. "Mum, dad, this is Miss Grotke." Dede said as she walked her parents to her teacher.
"Wheatgrass juice? Carob cookies? They're homemade." Miss Grotke offered.
"Ohhh, yes please." Keith said before he grabbed a cookie and ate it. "Wow. This is so good."
"Why, thank you."
"Hey, Dede." Said person looked over and saw TJ, Vince, Mikey and Gretchen beckoning her over.
"I'll be back in a bit." Dede said to her parents before leaving them to walk over to her friends. "What's up?"
"Have you seen Spinelli?" Asked Vince.
"No, not yet."
"She chickened out." Said TJ. "I was afraid this might happen."
"Maybe, she's just a bit late, she'll be here."
"If you say so."
"Guys, look." Gus came running over to them before pointing to the door, they looked over to see Spinelli walk in before gesturing behind her for someone to follow. When the two people followed Spinelli in, the others were all happy thinking that they were finally meeting Spinelli's parents, the only one not happy was Dede, instead she was more confused than anything.
"Hello, you must be the Spinelli's." Miss Grotke greeted them, walking over with the plate of cookies.
"That's right sugar." Said the man.
"Hehehe, I'm your daughter's teacher, Miss Grotke. Care for a cookie?" The man took a handful of cookies and started chewing before spitting them out.
"That's disgusting!" He threw the other cookies in his hand back on the plate. "Give me something to kill the taste. Anybody got a brew?"
"Oh....no, but I'll see what I can do." With that Miss Grotke walked off.
"Spinelli." TJ called as they walked up to her.
"Mum, dad, I'd like you to meet my friends." Spinelli said to the two people in front of her.
"Yo!" Greeted the man
"Uh... Spinelli? Who're-" Dede started before Spinelli covered her mouth.
"Hold on a sec guys." Spinelli said as she led Dede a little away.
"Who are they? Where are Mr Bob and Mrs Flo?" Dede whispered.
"Relax Dee, it's all gonna be fine. They're cool."
"But you promised that the others were gonna meet your parents...not these strange people!"
"Oh. Come on Dede, you know I couldn't do that, my reputation would be over if anyone met my parents. Please, I'm begging you, play along." Spinelli held her hands together in a pleasing motion, making Dede sigh.
"You know I'd do anything for you Spin, I'll do it this once but that's it, any other time you say they can meet your parents I won't back you up."
"Thanks Dee, you're the best."
"Yeah, yeah. It's not me you'll have to watch out for, my parents are here as well, don't forget."
"Oh...I'll just have to stay out of their sight then." With that Spinelli walked back over to the group that was standing there watching the girls as they talked. "Hey, dad, show my pals that thing you do."
"Oh, yeah, sure. Check it out, dudes." The man said before he lifted up his sleeve and she's a skeleton on his bicep, which he started to flex making the skeleton 'dance'.
"Wow." Mikey said in awe.
"Yeah, and he can pop a wheelie on his chopper, too." Spinelli said.
"Mr and Mrs Spinelli, I wasn't able to find any brews..but I did track down some root beer." Miss Grotke said as she came back holding two bottles.
"Well, it's better than nothing." The man said taking them before walking away and handing one to the woman and then drinking it.
"Wow, Spinelli. Your mum and dad are great." Said Vince.
"Yeah, why were you hiding them?" Asked Gus.
"You know, I guess I wasn't sure what you guys would think." Replies Spinelli.
"Are you kidding? They're the coolest parents here." Stated Vince.
"I'm glad you brought them, Spinelli." TJ puts his arm around Spinelli's shoulders.
"Gee, thanks guys." Spinelli smiled as the two strangers walked up to her.
"Hey, kid, can we talk to you a minute?" Said the woman before leading Spinelli away a bit.
"Well, sister, it's been real, but we got to blow." The man said.
"What? But the party just started. We had a deal." Spinelli said.
"Sorry, squirt, times up. So, if you don't mind, we'll take out payment and split."
"Hey, keep it down, will ya." Spinelli dragged the two people outside and the other friends looked through the window to see what was happening, they saw Spinelli waving her fist about before the man grabbed Spinelli, turning her upside down and skating her, making money fall out that the woman proceeded to pick up, then after the man put Spinelli back on her feet they walked off, leaving an angry Spinelli to walk back into the classroom and take her seat.
"No offence, Spinelli, but I've changed my mind about you having cool parents." Said Vince as they all walked up to Spinelli's desk.
"Yeah, now we know why you didn't want to bring them." Said TJ. "They're real jerks."
"Spinelli, you need to tell the truth." Dede said.
"Right, you guys don't understand, those weren't my parents." Spinelli sighed.
"What?" Asked TJ.
"Where did you even meet them?" Dede questioned.
"I met them in the parking lot at the speedy mart and paid them to say they were." Said Spinelli."
"But, why Spinelli?" Asked Gus.
"Because my real parents.....they embarrass me, okay?"
"So?" TJ asked after the others all shared a look.
"So? What do you mean 'so?'"
"Well, everyone's parents embarrass them." Replied Vince.
"Yeah, it's a scientific fact." Said Gretchen. "Parents have a unique ability to be a never ending source of humiliation for their offspring."
"You guys don't understand." Replies Spinelli. "My parents aren't like yours, they're worse."
"Oh, come in. How bad could they be?" Asked TJ.
"Sweetheart, there you are?" A woman's voice rang out making everyone look to the door to see Flo and Bob Spinelli standing there before they ran to Spinelli. "Oh, pookie, we were worried about you." Flo reached Spinelli and kissed her cheek. "Oops, I got lipstick all over your face, here let me clean that off." Flo licked her thumb and started rubbing Spinelli's cheek.
"No, mum, please!" Spinelli begged, but it was pointless as Flo still cleaned her cheek.
"You know, princess, there must have been some sort of mistake." Said Bob. "I mean, we wouldn't have even known about parents' night if Crystal hadn't rang up your mum and asked when we'd be here."
"This can't be happening." Spinelli whispered as Dede face palmed.
"Hello again, Candy, dear. How have you been?" Flo asked, seeing Dede stand next to Spinelli.
"Hi, Mrs Flo, I've been good. It's great to see you both again."
"Oh, you're such a sweetheart." Flo then kissed Dede on the cheek as well. "And these must be your other little friends. Let's see, you must be Mickey, and Vance, and Gretel, and Russ and....you must be B.J. He's the one our little honey bunny has the crush on."
"Mum!" Spinelli said.
"Hey, would you kids like to see some pictures of my little princess when she was just a baby?" Asked Bob.
"Dad!"
"Just look at her on that rug, her little fanny in the air."
"Why me? Why me?"
"Bob! Flo!" Keith and Crystal said as they walked up and all four adults shared a hug.
"I was wondering where you were." Keith said, patting Bob on the shoulder.
"There was a little mistake, we didn't even know it was parents' night." Said Bob.
"Good thing Crystal gave you a call then." With that both men laughed.
"Hello, may I help you?" Miss Grotke came up, seeing the new people.
"Why, you must be Miss Grabkey, we're the Spinelli's." Said Flo shaking Miss Grotkes hand.
"Bob and Flo." They both said.
"You're Mr and Mrs Spinelli? But I thought-"
"Oh, I know you thought we'd be better looking." Bob chuckled before giving Spinelli a noogie. "What, with our little beauty Queen here."
"We're so proud." Said Flo. "You know, she just stopped wetting the bed this year." That seemed to be Spinelli's breaking point as she ran out of the classroom screaming.
"Oh, honeybunch!" Said Flo, trying to stop Spinelli from running but it was pointless, she was long gone.
"Was it something we said?" Asked Bob.
"Yes!" Dede snapped, having enough of watching her friend be embarrassed.
"Candy?" Flo and Crystal asked, neither expecting her to act like this.
"There was no mistake about you not knowing it was parents' night, you didn't know about it because Spinelli didn't want you to know."
"But why?" Asked Bob.
"Because you embarrass her, more than most parents' embarrass their kids." Dede stomps her foot on the floor childishly. "She went so far as to hire some random strangers to act as her parents because she thought they were cooler than you guys." With that Bob and Flo looked at each other before running out to go look for Spinelli.
"Wait, you're not embarrassed by us, are you sugarplum?" Asked Keith as he turned to look at Dede.
"Yes!"
"AHHH! Our daughter is so cruel to us." Keith bent forward to rest his hands on a desk as he started sulking again.
"Oh, she must be going through a rebellious phase, I've read about this. ohhhh, it's so exciting." Crystal squealed, resting her hands on her cheeks. Dede just turned to her friends with a 'what the' face and gestures with both hands to her parents and they just shrug, trying not to laugh at Keith's and Crystals actions.
"Oh." Keith said as his phone rang. "I'll be right back, my dears, just gotta take a call." Keith walked outside the classroom before answering his phone. "Yes Jerry!"
"Keith, I need you and Bob to come in, the fate of the world is at stake." Jerry, the leader of WOOHP, said.
"Sorry boss, but it's parents night, so the fate of the world has to wait."
"But-"
"Bye Jerry." Keith hung up before walking back Into the classroom and finished parents' night with his wife and daughter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N
I have finally settled on an outfit for Dede, I had so many different ones I made up but didn't really like them 100%, but I have now done one I really like for her, simple but nice.
Dedes full name is indeed Candy Diamond King. Dede is a combination of both first name and middle name Can"dy Di"amond. Just spelt differently.
The reason for her name is this, Candy for as when her mum Crystal was pregnant with her all she'd crave was sweets/candy, so Keith suggested that be her name, in hope she'd be just as sweet, Diamond because it's part off Crystals family tradition to give their kids the middle name based on the birthstone of when they were born, Dedes birthday will be in April so it's Diamond.
Dedes mum is Crystal Sapphire King and she is a fashion designer that specialises in kids and teens clothing, the clothes that the Ashley's all wear are designed by Crystal, that's why they love her work, I did this because I have a bunch of ideas for future chapters involving Dede and the Ashley's.
Dedes dad is Keith Luka King and he works for WOOHP, I decided to include this spy branch for just incase when I finish this story I'll want to make a sequel for totally spies, but instead of Sam, Clover and Alex have Dede, Spinelli and Gretchen replace them. It'd be a good continuation for when I finish this story, let me know what you think and if you'd wanna read that.
Also, as a kid, this episode confused the heck outta me, you see, here in England a "Fanny" is another word we use for a ladies front parts, not the bum, so I had to ask my mum why Spinelli's dad was going around showing people pictures of Spinelli's "Fanny" XD it was so confusing as a kid.
Any questions, thoughts or suggestions feel free to message me : )