Kandi

The last bell rang and kids quickly began grabbing their backpacks and walking out of the school to their parents cars.

“Bye Kandi!” Bandit waved to her friend then ran over to Gerard’s car.

Kandi waved then watched the car drive off. Soon enough there were no more cars in the parking lot, leaving Kandi all alone sitting against a wall.

“Hey Kandi, why are you just sitting outside?” Miss Cooper asked kneeling down in front of the little girl.

Kandi shrugged, “Zacky’s not here.”

Miss Cooper shook her head out of disgust, then waved the little girl back inside of the building, “I’ll call your house.”

Kandi sat down in one of the desks and silently waited as Miss Cooper dialed the in case of emergency number that was in Kandi’s file.

“Hello?” Zacky picked up the phone.

“Hello, this is Miss Cooper. I have Kandi here, apparently someone forgot to pick her up.” Miss Cooper tried to keep her cool.

Zacky glanced over at the clock in his room and realized that he was over an hour late to pick up Kandi from school.

“Shit” he groaned, “I completely spaced it, I’ll be there in a few.”

Zacky hung up without a goodbye then quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and his flip-flops before grabbing his keys and heading out to go get Kandi. He knew the guys were going to be pissed that he forgot to pick her up on time. Zacky didn’t mean to forget to pick her up, he had just overslept. He parked at the school and ran inside.

Kandi looked up at him with a blank look on her usually smiley face, “You forgot.”

“No, no, no. I didn’t forget, I just….” He tried to think of an excuse but was cut off by Miss Cooper.

“Forgot.” She narrowed her eyes at the green eyed man in front of her.

Kandi grabbed her backpack and got out of the desk, ready to go home.

“Kandi could you wait outside for a minute, I need to talk to..” Miss Cooper trailed off not knowing the name of the man in front of her.

Zacky stuck out his hand for her to shake, “Zacky, names Zacky Baker.”

Kandi walked out of the classroom, letting the door shut behind her. Once she was sure Kandi was out of ear shot, Miss Cooper let her anger come out.

“I understand that her father is in rehab, but as her guardian for the time being you should know how to properly care for a child. You have to understand that you have a responsibility and it’s that sweet little girl out there right now. Do you understand how disappointing it is for a child to feel like they’ve got no one there for them? No one to come pick them up from school at the right time, no one to sympathize with them about not having a parent there for them. You better start taking care of that little girl right before something bad happens, because if something does happen it’s going to be your fault for not being there for that little girl who just wants to be cared for!” Miss Cooper snapped angrily.

Zacky stared at the woman with wide eyes feel like he was a child again being scolded by the teacher, “I…I…um.”

“Tomorrow I expect to see someone outside ready to pick Kandi up.” Miss Cooper narrowed her eyes at him, letting Zacky know that she meant business.

He nodded, “Yes ma’am.”

“Do I make myself clear, Mr. Baker?” She asked.

“Yes ma’am.”

She finally smiled, “Good.”

Zacky walked out of the class room and took Kandi’s hand, leading her out of the school. Once he got Kandi buckled in he hightailed it out of the parking lot.

“Kandi, I’m not picking you up from school anymore.” Zacky spoke.

Kandi sat in the back and giggled at Zacky, who was now white as a ghost.



When they arrived at the house Kandi was in a better mood but Zacky was still pretty white. He walked inside the house and plopped down on the couch where Johnny and Brian were all watching a football game.

“Jesus, what happened to you?” Brian asked.

Brian chuckled, “See a ghost?”

Zacky shook his head no.

Kandi tossed her backpack on the floor and giggled, “Zacky got yelled at by my teacher.”

The guys all began to howl with laughter at their friend.

Zacky shook his head, “Not funny. That woman is scary. I’m not picking her up from school anymore, someone else can do it.”

“I’ll do it.” Brian smiled.

Johnny rolled his eyes, “Hey mommy Brian, take a brake and go hang out with Michelle for awhile, I’ll pick my best friend up.”

Brian shrugged, “It’s no big deal, I can do it.”

“Nope, mommy Brian.”

Kandi disappeared to the backyard to play with Gabby. The little girl was starting to find that Gabby was good at keeping secrets and was basically her best friend.

“Zacky forgot me Gabby.” She pouted.

Gabby barked in return and laid down at Kandi’s feet, rolling over and nuzzling her faces against Kandi’s palm.

“You’ll never forget me, right?” She asked.

Gabby barked again making Kandi smile, “Good, cause I’ll never forget you either.”



Matt sat in his car outside of the diner. It was around midnight so he knew he needed to get home.

“Damn, time really flies.” Matt mumbled to himself when he saw that the clock read 12:29.

He took the long way back to the house, driving past the beach, past his old house and past Val’s old apartment building, past the dance studio she used to teach in, and past their old high school. All of the memories hit him like a tidal wave, causing tears to form in his eyes. He pulled up to the house and quietly walked inside the house to find that it was dark, which meant that everyone was most likely sleeping.

“Mattie?” A small voice came from behind him as he went to walk up the stairs.

He turned around and flipped on the living room light to find Kandi gazing up at him with big eyes.

“What are you doing up right now?” He asked kneeling down in front of her.

She held up Bunny, “We gots scared and Daddy’s not here so I can’t sleep wit him.”

Matt smiled softly and picked her up into his arms, “Okay, you can come sleep in my bed if daddy’s not here and you get scared. Okay?”

She nodded and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, “Otay Mattie.”

He kicked off his shoes in the corner of his room then set Kandi on his bed, letting her crawl inside. Then he went to the bathroom to change into a pair of pajama pants before getting in on the other side of the bed.

“You’ve got to go to sleep now, okay?” Matt told Kandi.

She frowned, “Why?”

“Cause you have to get up for school in the morning.” He pointed out.

Kandi snuggled into the pillow with her eyes shut, clutching Bunny tightly to her chest. Matt stared up at the ceiling and tried to fall asleep but nothing was working. He tried counting sheep and counting up to 100 but he remained awake.

“Will you tell me a nigh-night story?” Kandi’s small voice whispered a few minutes later.

Matt turned his head to see her big blue eyes staring at him over her stuffed animal.

He nodded, “What story do you want to hear?”

“I dunno.” Kandi answered quietly.

Matt made a face and thought for a second before beginning to tell her the story of the ugly duckling, a story that his mom used to read to him when he was a child. Kandi slowly began to fall asleep and not long after she fell asleep, Matt drifted off into a peaceful slumber.