After Headlines

28: School

" Penny, come here please." Bexley called.

" Yeah?" Penny skipped over to where Josh and Bexley were.

" So, it's around the time school would start-" Bexley started.

" So, I get to go to kindergarten?" Penny perked up.

" Sorta, we're going to homeschool until we get back." Josh explained.

" Okay." Penny smiled.

oOOo

" WHAT IS THIS?" Josh stared at the example of long division. The guys sat around Ben and JoJo's hotel room while  Bexley and JoJo took Penny to the pool.

" She's doing long division in kindergarten?" Ben asked from a few feet away.

" It's probably someone who thinks that's gonna make kids smarter." Cara laughed.

" I think it's gonna confuse kids more." Sky shrugged.

" Forget the kids, it's confusing an adult." Ben chuckled.

" This is completely different from when I learned long division." Josh muttered.

" You also learned long division about 17 years ago." Cara stated.

" Ah, long division, the bane of my existence." JoJo said as she, Bexley, and Penny filed into the room.

" You would be amazed at the amount of times I've heard her tell off numbers." Ben laughed as JoJo flopped onto the bed next to him.

" Whatcha doing?" Penny skipped over go Josh.

" Trying to figure out how to teach you long division." Josh muttered.

" Oh, you line them up, go down by twos each time until you finish with no remainder." Penny spit out. The six adults stared at her in surprise.

" What? It's easy." She shrugged.

" How-" Sky gaped.

" I think we have a math wiz on our hands." Bexley laughed.

oOOo

" And if you can't find me, look to the Western sky! As someone told me lately, everyone deserves the chance to fly!" Jeff sang from on top of a table.

" Jeffrey, get down." Bexley laughed.

" Sorry mom!" He hopped down.

" Coming in!" Ben barreled in the room with Penny on his back.

" Benjamin Tyler, put her down." Bexley grinned.

" Aw, but it's fun." Penny giggled.

" Don't you have a lesson right now?" Bexley cocked an eyebrow.

" Shh, I'm hiding from Daddy." Penny whispered loudly.

" Penny?" Josh called from down the hall. Penny dived behind Bexley's.

" Has anyone seen Penny?" Josh asked.

" I have no idea where she is?" Sky said dramatically.

" Too sarcastic, you're gonna blow my cover." Penny hissed.

" Penny, come on, you've got school." Josh chuckled, picking her up.

" Alright fine." She sighed.

oOOo

" Do you know all of our middle names?" DeMarius asked.

" What?" Bexley gave him a look.

" Do you know all of the Toursies middle names?" He repeated.

" She doesn't know mine." Cara smirked.

" I don't know yours, do I?" Bexley looked mildly surprised.

" Sky?" Michael looked to the red head.  

" What?" He glanced up.

" What's Cara's middle name?" Michael asked.

" You think she's told me." Sky snorted.

" If we guess it, will you tell us?" JoJo asked.

" Sure, but it'll take a while." Cara nodded.

oOOo

" Elizabeth?" Chaz asked in the elevator.

" No." Cara laughed.

" Jane?" Anthony asked.

" Nope."

oOOo

" Katrine." Ben cut her off on the way to the pit.

" That's JoJo's middle name." Cara made a face.

" I know but it's the only German name I cod think of." Ben sighed.

" Sorry." Cara laughed.

oOOo

" Can we have a hint?" Iain begged.

" My middle name is five letters long." Cara grinned.

" Emily!" JoJo shot up.

" No." Cara shook her head.

oOOo

" Layne." Jeff fell off stage, into the pit during a run through.

" Nope." Cara shook her head.

oOOo

" Cara, we've been going for a week now." Jeff sighed.

" What is your middle name?" Nico muttered.

" I know." Sky strolled in.

" Do ya?" Cara smiled.

" Evony." Sky smirked.

" How did you-" Her jaw dropped.

" You're middle name is Evony?" Nick looked between the two of them. After a moment, everything clicked.

" You asked Anni, didn't you?" She deadpanned.

" Hey, there was no rule against me asking your sister." Sky grinned.

" Uh-huh." Cara rolled her eyes.

oOOo

" Mommy?" Penny looked up from the early learning book in front of her.

" Yea?" Bexley turned to her daughter.

" Am I really your daughter?" Penny asked.

" What provoked that?" Bexley asked carefully.

" Because, before you became my mommy, I had a different mom. But she wasn't very nice." Penny explained.

" Penny," Bexley sat next to her, " Just because you aren't biologically related to us does that make you any less our daughter. You were born of our hearts and that's what matters."

" I love you, mommy." Penny smiled.

" I love you too, babygirl." Bexley whispered.