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The morning went by smoothly, and the kids all headed off to school without incident. The twins were fed, and weren't getting into trouble (yet).. so Bennie decided he might as well open up the store for a while.

He tried to be helpful, and there were plenty customers... but sales simply weren't coming in. What on Earth was he doing wrong? This store was supposed to be an easy money maker!

Upstairs, Braydon was getting his bath (with no prompting with me, go Marnie!)

His ONE sale all morning was at least worth 150 bucks profit.. but that was it. Bennie was starting to get worried about making enough at this store to support his family. But there was no way he was going to tell Marnie that.

The kids were coming home from school as Bennie closed shop.. and Jaz managed to sneak past him (with the smell, I honestly don't know how) on her way to the bathroom in the store. Today had apparently been a long day at school with her resolve to not go to the bathroom at school anymore.

Sadly, poor Jaz made it through the front door of the store.. and no further. Which meant she was going to need to clean that up ASAP before anyone found out about it. Hurrying to the cleaning closet, she stealthily filled the bucket with water and suds, and tried to figure out how the mop and bucket worked. Unfortunately, all she was doing was making a bigger mess. To her horror, through the store windows, she noticed Bennie had spotted her.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!??" Bennie roared, trying not to slip on the mess on the floor. Then, the smell hit him. "Oh my God, child, why are you peeing on the floor like a wild animal?? If you're going to do that, at least learn how to clean it up right instead of making a bigger puddle!! Go get your mother!"

Without a word, Jazmyn hurried upstairs to get Marnie, trying to stifle embarrassed tears. "Mama.. Bennie needs you."

Marnie was not happy to be interrupted while in the middle of helping Myles with his homework (again). Stomping along after Jazmyn, she just barely missed falling flat on her face in the puddle after tripping over a half full bucket of suds. Bennie was nowhere to be seen.... but he appeared just in time to see Marnie's near miss.

"Teach this cretin to clean up her own pee puddle! I thought you'd potty trained her! Perhaps she needs a refresher! Oh, and Child, when you're done - Benji had disappeared on a school night again, as a punishment, you will be the one to drag him back home. Do not come home until he comes with you. And it had better be before dark!!"

Furious, Jazmyn glanced outside. The sun was already going down. There was no way she could get Benji home in time. Sighing, she tried to listen to what her mother was teaching her.

(Meanwhile, across the street....)

Benji pulled together a club meeting, and of course, everyone was in a hurry to attend. He definitely needed some fun after a horrible day at school... so he organized a game of HORSE on the court. Cade quickly bowed out, and went upstairs to see the rest of the club members. Which left Shaylee alone with Benji.

On a whim, Benji spent some time chatting with her, and even whispered to her that he had a crush on someone at school. He was still too shy to admit to her who the crush was, though, and way too prideful to admit he was shy.

He changed topics quickly, and invited her inside to a bowling game, since it was getting dark outside.

The competition was just heating up, and little Pierce DelGato was giving him the stink-eye for making fun of him.

After Pierce hit the deck during an especially beautiful shot by Shaylee, he was mortified, and quickly cleared the area, barely taking time to take off his rental shoes.

(Back across the street...)

It was pitch black outside by the time she was finally headed over to get Benji. Sighing deeply, she tried finding Benji by peeking in windows without going inside and subjecting herself to possibly seeing any classmates in this state. Obviously, she hadn't been allowed to clean herself up much, yet... which may have been part of the punishment.

Luckily Shaylee and Benji were the only people in the bowling alley at the moment, and Jazmyn hurried to tell him he was needed at home. She, also luckily, missed the nasty comments Shaylee muttered towards her under her breath.

"Now? Oh for fuck's sake!" Benji grouched, watching forlornly as Shaylee disappeared out the door. So much for spending time with his crush.

"I gotta change my shoes." Benji said, pointing at a nearby bench. "By the way, you stink. What happened?"

Without meaning to, Jazmyn spilled everything. The fact that she'd gone into the wrong bathroom at school, the way everyone was making fun of her.. and the mess that had just happened after she had decided no more bathrooms at school.

Somehow, Benji must have been feeling especially kind, because he didn't make fun of her. He didn't give her a hug or anything (like she definitely needed), but at least he didn't make things worse. "You can't just not pee at school, Jazzy. It doesn't work that way. Ask your teachers in the middle of class for a bathroom pass or something if you don't want the other kids to see you go."

"You can DO that??" Jaz asked in amazement.

Benji shook his head at her. "Duh, small fry. That's what teachers are for. Hall passes." He finished tying his thrift store boots, and put up his bowling shoes. "Let's go home before it gets any darker."

Nodding, and realizing that she had just spilled secrets that could be used against her... Jaz just sat behind him quietly. She was still thinking to herself when - to her shock, Benji passed out right in front of her. Unfortunately, it was also right in front of his friends. Which made him the butt of the joke.

"Did you miss your nap at preschool, Benji?" laughed Cade.

"Up past your bedtime, are you, Benji? No wonder your little sister had to come get you." Jay's girlfriend snidely added.

Embarrassed and now angry, Benji shook off the cobwebs, grabbed his sister's arm, and drug her out the door and across the street.

"Say NOTHING about this to ANYONE!" he threatened. Jaz's eyes were huge, and instead of saying anything, she merely nodded. "Now, we sneak in, and hope Bennie doesn't notice." he hissed at her... and slid past Marnie making some food (probably for the twins, based on the consistency of the meal) into the bedroom to crawl into his bed.

Feeling better for being able to finally tell someone, or maybe worse because she was afraid what would come of it.... Jaz took a quick (and cold) shower, and hurried to bed, as well. Bennie didn't notice her sneak past as he put down the Murphy bed, and Marnie was busy putting the twins to bed.. so she managed to avoid any more confrontations for the day.

Marnie and Bennie's night wasn't over, though.. because one of the twins had a nightmare, and woke the entire apartment up. Bennie was furious, and went right back to sleep (as did the other kids), and Marnie sighed in frustration, getting up to give Brett a bath. So much for sleep!

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