Gravity Don't Mean Too Much to Me

Bandit stood outside her classroom door, waiting for Frank to pick her up. She glanced through the window, seeing Sam laughing at something Angela had said. The shy girl looked embarrised, but Bandit knew Sam wasn't picking on her, Angela just genuinely got embarrised easily. Mrs Hemmings was now telling Sam to settle down, and Bandit giggled at her friends.

It wasn't Sam and Angela that caught her attention however. It was Vicky. Vicky was the kind of girl that you didn't annoy, because if she got mad you'd pay for it. She was an extremely popular girl, Bandit would have been more popular, but as she always said; She'd rather have two loyal friends than fifty friends that don't care about her. Vicky was wearing a skirt that was much higher than it should be, well above her knees. She wore a vest top and leather jacket, and today she was wearing plenty of make up. Bandit never understood why some girls her age wore so much make up, they were twelve not thirty.

The girl's hair was ginger and very long, reaching well below her shoulders. Her eyes were dark green, and now her dark green eyes pierced into Bandit's. She gasped and looked away, hoping Vicky wouldn't have seen her staring. She did not want to make an enemy of her.

Bandit almost fell backwards as the door was pulled open suddenly, and she had to cling onto the desk outside the classroom for support. There stood Vicky, staring down at her with a look of annoyance on her face. Bandit looked over the girl's shoulder and saw that Mrs Hemmings was no longer in the classroom. She began to panic.

Vicky smirked at the expression on Bandit's face. Bandit cleared her throat, trying to sound brave as she asked; "Where has Mrs Hemmings gone?"

Vicky giggled, and now two of her friends stood behind her. Gwen and Jenny, known as Gwen and Jen, Vicky's little sidekicks. Gwen had blonde hair and blue eyes, and her face was covered in just as much make up as Vicky. Jenny wore just as much, with brown eyes and brunnette curly hair that reached her shoulders. Gwen shut the classroom door behind her, smirking at her friends.

"Why, it's the end of the day silly." Vicky smiled, pointing at the clock. Bandit gasped. Frank should have been here twenty minuets ago, she was always dismissed from class earlier than everyone else.

"Looks like your mommy's a little late today." Gwen laughed, and the other two girls joined in.

"What's wrong? Your famous daddy not here to protect you?" Jenny snarled, taking a step towards Bandit. She got ready to run, in case they started physically hurting her. But to Bandit's surprise, Vicky held Jenny back.

"I don't like the way you were looking at me just then. That was extremely rude of you, staring like that." The ginger girl looked completely serious, and her friends were now looking excited. Bandit's stomach clenched in fear. She didn't know what to do, what to say. "Cat got your tounge, Way?"

More laughter. Children were walking out from the classroom now, collecting their bags. A few looked over curiously at Bandit, but most thought nothing of it, and continued walking out the building to find their parents. "N-no." Stuttered Bandit, and she cursed herself for acting so scared of them.

"Sounds like it to me." Vicky grabbed Bandit's wrist, squeezing it tight. Bandit gasped in pain, and tried to pull away. The girl smiled and tightened her grip, making Bandit cry out loud this time.

"Let go of her." Demanded Sam, who had just left the classroom. She was face to face with Vicky now, and Angela stood behind her quitely. "I said, let go."

Vicky laughed and let go, shoving Bandit backwards. She hit her back against the desk, and she clung to Sam in pain. Gwen and Jenny now had tears in their eyes from laughter, until Sam shoved Jenny with as much force as she could.

Jenny gasped and grabbed onto Gwen for support. Bandit stiffled a giggle, grabbing Sam's hand and squeezing it tight to let her know that that was enough. Before Vicky could even react, Jenny's mother arrived, announcing that she needed to take Gwen home with her. Relief flooded through Bandit. At least now if she tried to insult them it would be two against one.

Vicky looked infuriated. "How dare you push my friend like that?" She hissed, pushing Sam. Bandit grabbed her friend to stop her from falling. She muttered a thank you and went to shove Vicky back. Bandit grabbed her friend and stopped her, this had gone on for way too long. She didn't like violence, even if Sam were trying to defend her.

"Go home, Sam. Everything's okay now, don't worry." Sam hesistated, looking from Bandit to Vicky. "Your mom's probably waiting for you outside. Besides, Frank is going to be here any minuet."

After much persuading Sam finally went outside to meet her mother. Once she had gone, Vicky began laughing evilly, and Bandit tried not to panic. Pretend she's just a Draculoid. A voice inside her head told her. You are Lady Sunshine, and no one can defeat you.

"You're Uncle Frank is coming to get you?" She snorted. "That short man from your dad's band? Pfft, yeah, he's really gonna protect you." Then she lifted her arm, aiming for Bandit's face. She shut her eyes tight, waiting for the stinging to hit. Two, three seconds passed and she felt no pain. That was odd. Did she dare open her eyes?

She opened her eyes slowly, dreading what she might see. Maybe Vicky was just waiting for her to open her eyes, so that when she did all she would see was the girl's hand slapping her across the face. Maybe she'd just run off, making her look stupid for just standing there with her eyes shut.

What she saw was completely unexpected. There stood Frank, holding Vicky's hand gently, restraining her from moving any further. He looked angry, but a smile was forming on his lips. Bandit couldn't help but smile back at him when he let go of the ginger girl's arm and patted Bandit's shoulder.

"I sincerely hope you weren't about to hit this young lady." He said sternly, and Vicky now had tears in her eyes. If there was one thing a girl like her hated, it was being beaten. "I've never liked violence young lady, especially when someone intends to be violent towards my niece."

The ginger girl just nodded, muttering an inaudiable apology. "But if there's one thing I hate more than violence, it's being called short." Vicky gasped, she looked as if she were about to run for her life. Bandit didn't blame her, if she were in the same position she'd do the same thing. Frank may be small, but when he got angry you had better stay away.

Vicky was staring at the tatooes on his knuckles. Her face had gone white. Bandit smirked, Frank could look very scary to someone who didn't personally know him. "Bullying will not be tolerated by me, do you understand?" The white-faced girl nodded quickly, looking down at her shoes. She was avoiding eye contact with Frank, but Bandit saw Frank looking into the frightened girl's eyes, and she was soon looking back.

"I think you should apologise to my niece, so that we can go home."

Tears were pouring down Vicky's face now, and her eye make up was smudged. Bandit held back a giggle, she looked like a clown.

Vicky seemed to be considering her options, looking back and forth between the door and Bandit. Was she seriously considering running away? Was apologising really that bad? However, the ginger girl sniffed and whispered; "I'm sorry."

A smirk formed on her Uncle's lips, and Bandit muttered that it was okay. She hadn't wanted to make Vicky cry, and now she was afraid the ginger girl might get revenge on her when she returned to school the next day. She didn't voice her worries to her Uncle however, as she watched the ginger girl stumble from the corridor.

Once they had reached her Uncle's car and they were driving home, Frank began to speak. He didn't seem angry or annoyed, like other adults might be if they were in this kind of situation, but he was grinning. "We did well Lady Sunshine. I don't think that girl will be bothering you anymore." She nodded. "Although, I think you should tell me why she seemed so angry with you."

Bandit sighed and told her Uncle what had happened. By the end of her story he was no longer smiling. "She started picking on you just because you looked at her?" He shook his head in disbelief. "You stay away from that girl, Lady Sunshine. Although I'm sure you could kick her butt if you wanted to, I think for now you should keep your distance." He flashed her that smiled that she loved, and she couldn't help but grin back.

"Thank you, Fun Ghoul. I think maybe she was working for Korse." Bandit loved playing Killjoys with her Uncle, and this seemed to lighten the mood. He smirked back at her.

"You think she was a Draculoid? But why would she expose herself in public? You know of her identity now, Korse won't be happy."

They continued talking like this for the entire journey, and by the time they had reached Frank's house, they had come to the conclusion that Vicky was working undercover for Korse, pretending to be a student so that she could spy on Bandit. Bandit squealed with excitement when they had pulled up outside the house, and she jumped out of the car as quickly as she could. She couldn't wait to see Cherry and Lily, they were going to have so much fun. It would take her mind from the previous night's events, for a few hours at least.

"Bandit!" Squealed the twins, both pulling her into a tight hug. Frank laughed and announced that he was going to start dinner. All thoughts about the previous night left Bandit's mind in that moment, and all she could focus on was her friends.

She pulled from their hug, smiling hugely. "What do you want to do today?" She asked, hoping they'd want to play Killjoys or a game simular to that. After her discussion with Uncle Frank in the car, she was in the mood for it.

"Daddy's got us some cakes to bake!" Lily replied excitedly, and Bandit was now being dragged by the two sisters, into the kitchen. Frank laughed at how eager his daughters were, and Bandit could see cake holders, ingredients, and kitchen supplies laid out neatly for them. She thanked her Uncle, and he hugged her in return.

"I thought you could make yourselves some cakes, and maybe you could make some for your parents too." Frank directed this at Bandit, and she smiled in approval. "I think a red cake would be suitable for your father, to match that bright hair of his!" Frank made a squinting face and pretended to shield his eyes. The three girls giggled, and began to set to work.

By the end of the day they had made two big cakes and thiry five cupcakes, all hand decorated by the three girls. Frank stayed with them throughout their activities of course, helping them only when the oven needed to be used. He refused to help decorate the cakes, telling them that they would do a much better job. Jamia secretly helped them a little when Frank had gone to the shop to fetch some snacks.

They had made a medium sized chocolate cake which was completely covered in red icing. This was meant for Gerard of course, and Lily had attempted to draw his Killjoy mask. Bandit had written 'Party Posion' in scribbled writting, but it was readable. Chocolate coins were pushed into the sides of the cake, and to finish it off Cherry had added a red candle on the top.
The second cake was a little bigger, it was strawberry and had green icing. Cherry and Lily had written 'We love you Daddy' on it as neatly as they could in white icing, and Bandit, being good at drawing, had draw his raygun. Frank had loved it, and insisted he should eat a piece before dinner. But the girls had told him that he couldn't touch the cake until after dinner, and he had pouted.
The cupcakes had all the girl's initials iced onto them, including a few with "L", "G", "F", "R" and "M" on them, for Lindsey, Gerard, Frank, Ray and Mikey.

It was now after dinner, and the girls were allowed once cupcake each and a slice of one of the cakes. They had chosen to have a slice from Frank's cake, and Frank had come back from the living room to find half of it missing. He chased the girls around playfully, telling them to give him his cake back, and soon enough, the doorbell rang.

Bandit's heart sank. She had completley lost track of time, and now she would have to go home and face what had happened last night. Frank saw the expression on her face, and stopped to comfort her as Jamia answered the door.

"Don't worry, Lady Sunshine, you can come back and play tomorrow if you'd like. Then I can make sure that girl at school hasn't been giving you anymore trouble." He pulled her into a hug. Should she tell her Uncle what was bothering her? She could always trust her Uncle to be there for her, but would he understand? She made her mind up quickly as she saw her mother standing at the door, in deep conversation with Jamia.

"I'd like that, if you wouldn't mind." She took a deep breath. "But, I'm not worried about Vicky, I'm worried about something else." Bandit saw her Uncle's face grow serious, but he continued to smile in reassurance.

"What else could you possibly be worried about? As long as we have defeated the evil...Vicky.." He smirked. "Then everything will be okay. Well, once we take down Korse and his minions."

The small girl didn't smile at his words, and she could see this worried him. Speaking like they were Killjoys always cheered her up, so something was defently wrong here. She forced herself to smile, but then gave up. "I'm worried about going home Uncle Frank. My mom and dad had a fight last night, and I don't know what's going to happen.." She trailed off, trying not to cry.

Frank sighed and hugged the small girl again. "Everything's going to be fine. I'm sure your parents have made up with each other by now, look at the way your mother is smiling." Bandit looked over at her mother, who was indeed smiling. "See? I bet you everything will be fine." This reassured Bandit, but her Uncle obviously wanted to make sure she was okay. "Tell you what, why don't you text me when you've gone home? Let me know how everything went." She agreed, and gave her Uncle one last hug.

"Bandit, are you ready to come home?" Her mother called, and she turned to her friends, hugging them goodbye. She thanked her Aunt and Uncle for having her, and was given some cupcakes in return.

The drive home went better than Bandit had thought it would, her mother had seemed completely fine, cheery even. This gave Bandit some hope. Maybe they had made up. Maybe they had decided to keep the baby afterall! Bandit's heart raced with excitement, and she couldn't help grinning. Her mother kept looking at her in confusion at her daughter's sudden good mood, but Bandit kept telling her that she was just happy because she had had such a good time at Uncle Frank's.

Lindsey smiled as she pulled up ouside their familar house. At least Bandit was already in a good mood, this meant that the news would be even better to break to her. She wondered how Bandit would react, and she guessed that her daughter would surprise her, as usual. Her daughter never failed to surprise her, she always highered her mother's expectations. She had a feeling Bandit already knew, because the small girl all but sprinted to the front door.

They were greeted by Gerard, who picked Bandit up in a warm embrace. A smiled formed on his lips in excitement and he winked at Lindsey, who blushed frantically. Today was going to be a very, very good day.

The two parents led thier eager child to the kitchen, where they would break the news to her. Lindsey's stomach began to clench with nerves as they reached the kitchen. Gerard sat down on one of the kitchen stalls, with Bandit sat on his lap. The little girl sat patiently waiting for her parents to begin talking.

Gerard nodded at Lindsey to begin, and she cleared her throat, ready to start.