Run, Girl (If You Can)

By the time 3 PM rolled around Keeley was exhausted from all of those phone calls but at least she finished them. She would have an awful lot of meetings the next couple of weeks but she could worry about that later. Right now she needed to go pick up her kids.

It was a bit annoying having her children so spread out. Kaleb and Violet were in middle school and Oliver and Nathan were in elementary. At least it wasn't as bad as when Nathan was in preschool. Back then she had to pick them up from three different places.

She picked up the twins first because the middle school let out for the day at 2:45 PM and they had already been waiting. Spotting them in front of the school building was fairly easy despite the throng of students waiting to be picked up. Though they had to wear a uniform (private school and all) they still managed to have their own style.

Kaleb's tie was never tied properly and he always wore several thick rubber bracelets around his right wrist. Since there was no code about shoes, he always made sure to wear the wackiest colors and patterns of sneakers he could find. Right now they were light blue covered in pineapples.

Violet always tied her hair back in a ponytail with a different colored or patterned ribbon and wore the Tiffany bow earrings Aaron had given Keeley way back in high school pretty much every day. She was very into nail art right now and had a fancy new DIY manicure each week.

She always wore a silver charm bracelet Noah got her for her thirteenth birthday as well. Right now the only charms on it were a pair of ballet slippers, a book, a violin, and a heart. It originally only had the heart and ballet slippers but he had given her the additional charms later.

"Alright, you know the drill. Tell me three things about your day. One good thing, one not so good thing, and one thing you learned," Keeley said as her kids piled into the back of the minivan.

She had bought it after Nathan was born because there wasn't enough room in their old car for everyone to fit. Aaron thought it was hilarious because he had never so much as dreamed of owning a minivan before it happened.

 Keeley told him not to make fun of her car, which she dubbed Leia in honor of her love of Star Wars. Naming cars had always been a thing in her family. The Impala her dad drove when she was in high school had been named Bertha.

Aaron said she should have named it Chewbacca because it was so huge and clunky. He simply didn't know how to appreciate a useful car.

Kaleb answered her request first., shaking her free from her thoughts. Keeley had started this tradition when they were in fifth grade because trying to get them to offer information about their day was like pulling teeth the older they got. It was highly effective at keeping her in the loop about her children's daily lives.

"I made the varsity basketball team! I thought my try-out wasn't that great but I guess they still liked me. Oh! And my teacher lit a hundred dollar bill on fire in science today but it didn't burn because he soaked it in a water-alcohol mixture first. That was super cool! As for the not so good thing…I bombed a pop quiz," he finished sheepishly.

Keeley made sure to address everything he said. "I've seen that experiment done before, it is pretty cool. That's great about the basketball team! The season starts in a few weeks, right? But not so great about the quiz. Which class was it?"

"English. It was a spelling quiz and you know I suck at spelling."

This was true. Violet had essentially become his walking dictionary at home when he was working on homework. Unfortunately, he didn't have her available during class to spell things for him.

"Show me the words and I'll help you make some flash cards when we get home so this doesn't happen again," Keeley suggested. "I'll need more information about when your basketball practices start too."

Kaleb brightened immediately when he found out he wasn't in trouble and his mom would help him out. "Thanks Mom! My coach is going to email you."

She would have to check for that over the next few days. She needed to make sure she knew what was going on so she could incorporate it into their already hectic schedule.

"What about you, Vi?" she asked. 

Violet sighed. "I got the highest score on the math test out of everyone. In P.E. I learned how much I hate pushups. And some dumb boy sitting behind me kept throwing pencils at me for some reason."

"He probably likes you," Kaleb snickered.

Her eyes flashed angrily. "He does not! Throwing things at someone is not a sign of liking them!"

Keeley honestly didn't know what to think. Adolescent boys could certainly be childish when they had a crush but that also seemed like bullying to her.

Poor Violet. She always had such a hard time at school. The only thing she seemed to like about it was having the double electives of choir and orchestra.

Even though she was friendly to people in those classes and even ate lunch with them, she almost never got together with them on the weekends despite getting numerous invitations. Her logic was that she saw enough of them during the week and would prefer to spend her time with Noah or her family.  

Violet and Kaleb continued bickering all the way to the elementary school before she hopped out of the car to pick up the little ones from their classrooms. Someone had to sign them out and it was easier for one of the twins to do it so Keeley could keep the car running in the pickup zone.

When she came back, she sulked and made sure to sit as far away from her twin as possible while still being in the same car. Keeley sighed inwardly, thinking about how difficult it was having two teenagers in the house at the same time but kept a bright smile on her face as she asked the younger boys about their day.