Taking Responsibility

[Maddison]

Eight year old Maddison Lynn Harper, swung her legs while she waited in the school office with her teacher Mrs. Littlefield. The blonde haired third grader, was not particularly nervous despite the fact that she was about to have a parent teacher conference for her recent performance in school. The reason she wasn't nervous, was because Maddison knew that she didn't have a parent coming to the conference, only her older brother Connor. Connor was still in school himself, so even though his school let out a little earlier than hers, they still had to wait for him to get there.


Maddison didn't know her father, he had left when she was pretty much a baby, which was half the reason that her brother was coming to the conference instead of a parent. Maddison's mother, Anna, wasn't attending because she had left two weeks ago, to train for six months for a new job in the goverment. Anna had been struggling on her own to provide for Maddison and Connor since her father had left them. Her new job was going to eventually pay a lot more, and let her work a lot less hours, but it was going to require some extensive training. While Anna had always been busy trying to make ends meet in whatever ways she could, whenever she was at home she had always spent as much time with her children as possible and also stayed on top of them and made sure they were doing everything they were supposed to.


When the door to the office conference room opened, Maddison looked up with a bright smile and looked up at her brother with her big emerald eyes. "Hi Connor!," she said cheerfully when he entered the office and took the seat left for him at the table. "Hello Mr. Harper," Mrs. Littlefield greeted a whole lot less enthusiastically. "I'm sorry to bring you here on a Friday afternoon, and I'd much rather be speaking to your mother, but when the office tried to contact her they were told it wasn't going to be possible and that we were to speak to you instead. She assured us that you would be able to handle this situation......," Mrs. Littlefield explained making it clear that was not confident that Connor could handle things. "Maddison's performance in my classroom the last two weeks has been spiraling down rapidly, Mr. Harper." Maddie looked at her brother and rolled her green eyes while she had to listen like she wasn't even there. "Maddison has been consistently disruptive in my classroom. I often catching her talking to her friends while I am teaching or while they are supposed to be working on the assignments I have given out, and then when she is moved to a new desk or made to stop she continues to disrupt by passing notes. Having her recesses shortened or taken away entirely hasn't seemed to have fazed her yet. As a result if her behavior doesn't improve I will begin issuing her after school detention, and she will have to be picked up from school when that is over as the buses will be gone. On top of her behavior her grades have been suffering as well. She has still been doing fairly well on her tests and assignments, but she has been turning in almost none of the homework I have assigned, and that is going to bring all of her grades down significantly if it doesn't change."


Maddison crossed her arms over her chest and pouted while she listened to her teacher. She hardly called whispering and passes a few notes in class disruptive and who really cared about homework if you still passed your assignments and tests anyways? "Now Mr. Harper if you have any questions you would like to ask me or anything you would like to discuss with me about Maddison now would be the time to do so. Also if you have any problems with being able to pick her up from possible after school detention then we will need to discuss that, but it mostly like means she will have to face in school suspension. Then I will need you to sign this form, acknowledging our conversation today and agreeing that you will do what you can to get Maddison back on track. I have seen earlier this year that she CAN be quite successful if she wants to be," Miss Littlefield stated as she slid the paper over to Connor. Maddison sunk in her seat and kept her eyes away from her brother at this point.

[Lil_Angel]

Connor used his right hand to brush his messy hair out of his bright green eyes, which were currently focused on a tasking physics problem, which the class had been working on for the past half hour. He was pretty skilled with physics and maths, but he also tended to be slightly impatient and got annoyed at himself when he couldn’t work out a problem. He jumped slightly when his phone vibrated in his pocket, a few minutes later. Glancing up at the clock, he tried to leave the room as quietly as possible as not to disturb anyone else in the class. “Maddie’s school?” Connor muttered quietly as the number continued to flash on his mobile phone screen. He instantly felt a flush of panic; Was Maddie okay? Had she been hurt? He would beat the living snot out of any little thug that touched his sister. Taking a deep breath and reminding himself not to panic, he slid his finger across the screen and answered the call, quickly lifting it up to his right ear “Hello. Connor Harper speaking” Connor introduced himself “Is Maddie alright?” He found himself interrupting the rather less than pleased member of office staff who quickly assured him that she was physically fine. However, she was in a lot of trouble and that due to not being able to contact their mother, could he make his way there after class to discuss her behaviour “Of course. No problem. My class finishes in five minutes. I’m so sorry about this” Connor apologised profusely, he couldn’t understand how Maddie had managed to get herself in enough trouble to get a parent-teacher conference.

Fifteen minutes later. Connor arrived at Maddie’s school which was conveniently placed just down the road from his own and was the school that he had attended when he was Maddie’s age. He quickly signed in at the front desk and headed towards the office, he pushed the door open and couldn’t fight the smile that tugged at his lips when he saw Maddie beaming up at him. Mrs Littlefield however was clearly not as pleased to see him as his younger sister “Hey Maddie” Connor greeted her with a small smile.

Sliding his backpack off his shoulder, he took the empty seat next to Maddie’s teacher “You can call me, Connor. Mrs Littlefield” Connor said in a friendly tone as he shook the teachers hand, however he felt that she had no intention of simply using his first name “Of course. I know that our mother would also prefer to be here. But, I promise that I will be taking it just as seriously” Connor replied quickly, he knew that most of the staff probably just saw him as a high school student but he had been looking after Maddie for some years now while their mum was trying to make ends meet. Connor blinked in surprise when he heard about Maddie’s performance, part of him wanted to jump in and defend his little sister. After all, she was a hard worker but the more that her teacher spoke, the more that Connor found himself becoming upset with Maddie. He frowned at her when she became very cheeky and rolled her eyes as her teacher was speaking “Madison” Connor scolded quietly, trying to appear stern, hoping that Maddie wouldn’t just laugh at him and not take him seriously.

“I’m incredibly sorry, Mrs Littlefield” Connor began seriously, he certainly hadn’t heard about the punishments that Maddie had been receiving already and he knew that his mother hadn’t either which meant that Maddie had purposely been mis-leading them. He started to realise that he really had to step-up as an older brother “I’m afraid to tell you that we had certainly not been told about Maddie’s punishments. I know from experience that you would have given her a paper to get signed by our parents-“ Connor paused and shifted his gaze to the eight year old sitting across from him “Which we haven’t been getting. Have we Madison?” Connor questioned firmly. He put his head into his hands when the teacher continued and explained that Maddie had also not been handing in her homework. Homework that she had assured him was being done because she even asked his help with parts of it and he had, of course, been more that happy to help her “I apologise again. I can assure you that every piece of homework past and future will be handed in, on time” Connor replied quickly, he glanced over at Maddie as he put the emphasis on the word ‘past’ because he meant it. Every piece of homework that was missed was going to be done, they had already spoke about how important school was but he was clearly talking to himself and that needed to change.

“That won’t be a problem at all. However, I do endeavour to ensure that Maddie’s behaviour will improve to the point that detentions will not be necessary” Connor answered quickly “Mrs Littlefield. I would just like to assure you that our mother will be hearing about this and Madison and I will be having a very long discussion when we get home later” Connor explained seriously, it was important that she believed him because it could become much worse for Maddie if she felt that Connor couldn’t handle it “I would ask that if anything happens with Maddie. Any kind of misbehaviour would you please phone my mobile immediately. As I can be here quite quickly and it will be dealt with” Connor asked politely, he was going to nip this behaviour in the bud, right now. He quickly read over the paper that the teacher slid over to him then picked up the pen and scribbled his name at the bottom. Part of him felt like he was sailing his sister down the river by signing the paper but she didn’t give him much else of a choice.

“This will be dealt with. I assure you” Connor said seriously as he pushed himself off his seat and picked up his backpack and slung it over his right shoulder “Madison. I want you to stand up, right now. And apologise to Mrs Littlefield for your atrocious behaviour lately” Connor ordered as he crossed his arms over his chest, he knew there was a good chance that she would just refuse but he hoped that she had seen the seriousness of the situation "I'm very disappointed in you"

[Maddison]

Maddison was happy when Connor entered the room and greeted her with a smile. It wasn't pleasant, waiting alone in a room with a teacher that was upset with you after all. Maddie just immediately felt better seeing her older brother. That didn't last long however as Mrs. Littlefield immediately began to try and make it sound like she was failing and trying to bring half the class down with her. She couldn't help but catch Connor's eyes and then roll her own playfully to let him know what she thought of that. She smirked and stifled a quick giggle when he tried to scold her by using her full first name. It just didn't sound natural coming from him and she was almost sure he had to be kidding with her.


Maddison's smirk quickly disappeared though as Connor began to speak with her teacher and actually sounded serious and kind of like mom even. She winced a little as Connor mentioned that he hadn't received any of the papers her teacher had sent home about her misbehaviors. She hadn't thought that Connor would know about those, so she had been disposing of them in the school trash cans, before she even went home. She just shrugged her shoulders and quickly looked away though as Connor questioned her about the papers. It was a little unnerving hearing him being so firm, and equally unnerving to have him apologizing on her behalf. She certainly hadn't thought the school would contact Connor like this or that she would put him into such a position.


Maddison caught the look Connor gave her when he told her teacher that she would be doing all of her homework including the ones that she had already missed. She immediately shook her head at that, and gave Connor a little pout for good measure. The only thing more pointless than unnecessary homework, was unnecessary homework that was past due and wouldn't even count. Now Maddison was sure Connor was just trying to act like how he thought mom would. She pouted even more as Connor told Mrs. Littlefield that he was going to tell mom about what she had been doing and have a long discussion with her himself. She wasn't particularly worried or frightened by that, especially since Mom was across the country, but it didn't sound like much fun either. She listened as Mrs. Littlefield granted Connor's request to call him if she got into any more trouble. "Very well Mr. Harper I will phone you as soon as there is anymore trouble. However, if I don't see some tangible improvements in Maddison's behavior, then myself and the school will have to take a more hands on and severe approach ourselves, after school detention being just the beginning." Maddison watched and listened unhappily as Connor signed the paper acknowledging the conference about her performance and then assured Mrs. Littlefield that her behavior would be dealt with.


Maddison's green eyes widened in surprise when Connor instructed her to stand up and apologize to Mrs. Littlefield. She stood up quickly but she didn't even look at her teacher and instead her hands shot defiantly to her hips and she gave Connor a challenging look. She wasn't 100% sure what atrocious meant, but she didn't think her behavior had been all that bad and that both him and her teacher were now making a bigger deal out of things than it really was. She was just about to tell Connor what she thought of his suggestion when he told her that he was disappointed in her. Maddison's mouth hung open for a moment in shock, before she closed it and her lower lip began to tremble a little. Connor's approval meant the world to her, not only was he her big brother, but he was really the only constant in her life and the only one that was always there to take care of her or always there when she needed him. Maddison loved her mother but she loved and adored Connor, and what he said hurt her. She had half expected him to defend her honestly, and she couldn't recall him ever saying anything like that to her.


Maddison sucked in her lip and looked down at the floor to avoid her brother's matching green eyes. Slowly she looked up at him, saw the look in his eyes and then looked over to Mrs. Littlefield. "Sorry," she said quietly before she snatched her pink backpack and ran out of the room and out of the office before she stopped. Once she was out of sight, she took a quick look around the hall to make sure no one was out there watching her and she dabbed her eyes. She had felt a tear or two welling up and hadn't wanted anyone to see it. She took a couple of deep breathes to calm herself back down. And then she waited silently for Connor and remained silent as he exited the office and approached not long after.

[Lil_Angel]

"That won't be necessary, Mrs Littlefield. I assure you" Connor blinked and felt his heart skip a beat when she mentioned 'a more severe approach'. He wasn't entirely sure what she was aiming towards but it was enough to strengthen his resolve, he knew that himself and Maddie were already under a microscope, so to speak, because thier mother was working away often and he didn't want anyone to stick thier nose in and start questioning if Connor was able to look after Maddie. He began to feel that her teacher was being slightly harsh on them both, after all, it was only the first time that they'd spoken about this, and yes, Maddie had certainly made some mistakes but it wasn't the end of the world. However, he couldn't show this opinion to Maddie, he had to set a good example for his little sister; even if it meant keeping his mouth shut.

Connor frowned slightly at Maddie’s small act of defiance, he quickly countered it by letting her know that he was disappointed by her behaviour but his heart almost broke when he saw the look on his little sisters face. He could tell that she was only seconds away from crying, he opened his mouth to try and comfort her but before he could even blink, she did as he asked and apologised to her teacher. He was incredibly proud of her for doing as he asked but then she grabbed her backpack and darted from the room. He instantly started to worry that he’d been too hard on the eight year old but she’d put him in quite a position.

“Thank you. Mrs Littlefield” Connor said quickly, offering her a small smile before exiting out of the office himself and searching the hallway for Maddie. Spotting her a small distance away, he slowly made his way over and knelt down one knee in front of her “Oh kiddo” Connor began with a small sigh, he had never ever wanted to make her cry, hell, he’d move heaven and earth to try and make her smile “I’m sorry. I honestly never wanted to make you upset” Connor added honestly, trying to blink back tears himself “But, why didn’t you come to me, Maddie?” Connor questioned gently, offering his arms to the youngster for a cuddle, only hoping that she would take his offer “Mrs Littlefield was pretty upset. I don’t blame her, after everything I heard. We still need to have a talk about all that” Connor tried to added in a gentle but firm tone, he didn't want to confuse her and wanted to ensure that she knew that she was still in trouble but that it was secondary to ensuring that she was okay.

“However” Connor gently moved Maddie back slightly and used his hand to tilt her head up to give her eye contact “This is extremely important and I need you to listen to me. You’re my little sister and I will always look after you. No matter what happens, I will always love you. There’s nothing you can ever do to change that. Alright kiddo?” Connor explained with a smile, he didn’t want Maddie to ever be concerned about that, especially with their dad leaving so early in her life “You’re stuck with me. Forever. Whether you like it or not” Connor added as he jokingly stuck out his tongue, hoping to get a smile from her. “So. How about we head off for an ice cream sundae before we head home, eh?” Connor offered kindly, he knew that he was probably just trying to delay the inevitable conversation that he’d have to have, just as much as she would probably want to as well.

[Maddison]

Maddie quickly looked away as Connor knelt down in front of her on one knee. She made sure her eyes were dry, and took a deep breath to make sure they stayed that way when he surprised her by telling her that he was sorry. She slowly turned to look at her big brother and almost choked up again herself when she saw that he was blinking his eyes like she was. Maddie immediately leaned into Connor's arms when he offered them to her, and practically melted her smaller body into his. Maddie shrugged as Connor asked her why she hadn't come to him. He practically answered his own question though as he told her how upset Mrs. Littlefield was and that he needed to have a talk with her about it. "I didn't wanna get in trouble," she finally answered sheepishly. She didn't add that she also thought she could get away with it since she was still passing her class and wasn't doing anything she considered to be that bad.


Maddie reluctantly allowed Connor to move her back from his warm embrace, frowning just a little, as she always enjoyed snuggling or cuddling with him. She was a little surprised, but didn't fight it either, when he gently took her chin and tilted her head up so that they were looking eye to eye. She did her best to nod her head, while he gently held her chin, and told her that he would always look after her and love her no matter what. "Ok Connor, love you too," she replied quietly. She couldn't help but giggle as he told her that she was stuck with him and then stuck his tongue out at her, like she often did to him. Slowly, a smile spread across her face. Her smile only got bigger as Connor offered to take her for an ice cream sundae. "Yeah! Ice cream!," she cheered immediately.


Maddie held her hand out to her brother, and walked with him swinging her arm a little when he took it. The excitement of getting ice cream made it much easier for her to block out that Connor wanted to have a talk with her when they got home. She was pretty sure that wasn't going to be fun, and ice cream was both fun and delicious, and therefore much easier and happier to think about. "I want lots of chocolate on mine!." she declared as she climbed into Connor's car and buckled up. As soon as they began to drive, Maddie began to play with his radio until she found a pop song, she thought her brother might find a little annoying, and then began to sing loudly along with it. She gave Connor a mischievous little grin when he looked at her, and then continued to sing.

[Lil_Angel]

Connor felt his entire body relax when Maddie accepted his cuddle and melted into his arms, he cuddled her tightly and nodded, trying to squash his chuckle when she answered his question "I get that, Maddie" Connor replied honestly, she was only eight years old, after all, getting into trouble was probably the worst outcome she could imagine without realizing that it wouldn't just go away "Well, next time-" Connor paused and thought carefully about how to word his sentence "Not that I expect there to be a next time" Connor finished firmly. he knew that it certainly wouldn't be the last time that they would have this discussion but he didn't want her to think he was condoning it either "If there is. I promise you i'll understand. You will be in trouble. However, you will be in a lot less trouble than you are now. Does that make sense?" Connor explained gently, he pushed Maddie away slightly to reassure her that he still loved her and everything would be okay, chuckling when she replied that she loved him too.

His face lit up when he heard her giggle and saw a smile spread across her face as he suggested ice cream, he stood up and cheered alongside her; earning him a smile from the staff at reception before taking her hand and heading towards his car. "A lot of chocolate?" Connor repeated questioningly, pretending to think about it seriously as he unlocked the car, threw his and Maddie's backpacks into the backseat and climbed in the front alongside Maddie, he ensured that she was buckled up safely before buckling up himself and putting his key in the ignition, carefully pulling out of the school carpark. He had dropped Maddie off at school earlier that morning and decided to leave his car there, walking up the hill to his own school as he often did; rather than trying to fight for a parking space at the high school. "You can have as much chocolate as you want, Maddie. As long as it's a bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce and not a bowl of chocolate sauce with some ice cream" Connor replied teasingly, he had a slight cheek to tease her because he was just as bad with caramel sauce but the ice cream parlour served the most amazing sauce and quite a good array of ice cream choices.

Connor watched Maddie fiddle with his radio out the corner of his eye, he quickly checked that she was still wearing her seatbelt before he chuckled as she started singing along to a pop song; it wasn't exactly his cup of tea and he couldn't wait to arrive at the ice cream parlour but he wasn't going to complain as she was behaving. They arrived at the ice cream parlour around ten minutes later, admittedly with a small headache and he quickly parked the car and hopped out "Maddie. Remember to wait for me" Connor said quickly, they had to head through the car park in order to get to the entrance and he didn't want her getting hurt by people speeding to get a parking space, he opened the back door and reached into his backpack to fish out his wallet before ensuring that Maddie was out of the car and locked it.

[Maddison]

Maddie nodded when Connor told her that he understood that she didn't want to get into trouble. She listened closely as he told her that he hoped it never happened again but if it did she would be in a lot less trouble than she was in now if she told him right away. Maddie frowned when she heard that as Connor had also basically said she was in a whole lot of trouble. "Ok Connor," Maddie slowly agreed as she nodded her head against his chest.


Maddie giggled as Connor also cheered for getting ice cream. "Your silly!," she told him with a smile on her face as he took her hand and they headed for the car. "Uh huh, lots and lots of chocolate!" Maddie looked at Connor curiously as he looked like he was going to try and decide if he was going to allow that or not. "Well I'm not gonna make it so I can't help that!," Maddie teased back. She then began to play with the radio and sing loudly along to some songs she thought might annoy him. She got a chuckle out of him, which made her smile, and surprisingly he just let it go after that. Maddie enjoyed her little karaoke performance until they arrived at the ice cream parlor and she hopped out of the car with Connor.


Maddie frowned when Connor told her to wait for him. "Connorrrrrrrrr, I'm in the third grade and I'm eight not four!," she pouted. "I know how to cross a street dummy," she complained but she waited in place as Connor fished his wallet out from his backpack. She didn't take Connor's hand this time just to let him know that she was a little displeased by his insinuation that she couldn't safely navigate a carpark, but she walked with him and was quickly smiling again as they reached the entrance of the parlor. Maddie skipped right up to the counter once they got inside. "I'd like lotsssss of chocolate sauce please oh and some vanilla ice cream sundae to go with it!," she said with a giggle that earned her a bit of a strange look from the man behind the counter. But Maddie didn't notice as she looked back at Connor for a moment with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. It wasn't long before Maddie and Connor had their ice cream, and Maddie picked a table for them to sit down and enjoy it together.

[Lil_Angel]

"Amazingly enough. I do realize that Maddie" Connor replied quickly as he ducked his head into the back seat of the car and retrieved his wallet to pay for the ice cream sundae's. He had noticed his younger sister's tone but had been willing to let it go, after all, she just wanted to be independent and she hadn't exactly had the best day. However, when she chose to add to that sentence, he felt it would be a bad idea to simply ignore it "Maddie. If you want to speak like that then we can simply head home and have our discussion now" Connor said sternly, frowning down at his blonde headed sister, he was proud that she hadn't simply ran across the car park however "Thank you for waiting for me" Connor said smiling, a little, as they began to close the distance between themselves and the front door of the ice cream parlour "For the record. I know that you can cross the street. Actually, I have seen you be very responsible during those times. However, other people aren't, there are a lot of bad drivers out there that wouldn't even see you coming, kiddo" Connor explained firmly, he left the conversation at that and pushed the door open for Maddie to run in ahead.

He chuckled as he listened to her order her sundae "Very funny, Maddie" Connor commented, playfully rolling his eyes but he didnt correct her as he assumed that the staff would have heard the request many times before and know that it wasn't serious. He stood beside her and gazed over the selection of ice cream available, watching out the corner of his eye as they constructed Maddie's sundae, motioning for them to stop when her ice cream was drowning in sauce "I'll have cookies and cream with some caramel sauce. Although, not enough to cause a moat around my ice cream" Connor teased Maddie playfully "Thanks very much" Connor said as he held over money and picked up his ice cream in his free hand while collecting his change in the other, he noticed Maddie was already headed towards a table and decided to follow her and sit down across from her. The side of the table was covered in different toppings to customise your ice cream, he chose some M&M's and chocolate sprinkles before digging in and putting a big spoonful in his mouth which he almost instantly regretted "Owww. Brainfreeze" Connor complained laughing.

Connor waited a few minutes and sighed, knowing that they had to talk about a much less favourable topic but maybe it wouldn't be so bad over ice cream "So. How much homework have you missed, Maddie? Do you still have it all?" Connor prodded gently, continuing to eat spoonfulls of ice cream and trying to keep his expression mild, he was still trying to strike the right balance to be serious but not mean or upsetting his sister.

[Maddison]

Maddie didn't think anything of it when Connor informed her that he did in fact know how old she was but she was a little surprised when he scolded her for her response and threatened to take her home without ice cream for their discussion if she continued to speak like that. Of course she wouldn't of called her mother a dummy, but Connor normally laughed things like that off. Maddie immediately poked her lower lip out further and pouted even more as Connor frowned at her. Since when had Connor gotten so serious and strict? She nodded as he thanked her for waiting but didn't return his smile and continued to pout as they began to walk across the carpark. Maddie felt a little better when Connor explained that he knew she was responsible when it came to crossing streets and traffic but that he was still concerned about bad drivers. Imagining the yummy ice cream that was soon to come, quickly made Maddie forget about Connor's sudden firmness and his promise of their discussion when they got home. She was even smiling again by the time Connor opened the door to the parlor for her.


Maddie grinned as she heard her brother chuckle when she ordered and smirked as she turned to look at him as she saw him roll his eyes playfully back at her while he sarcastically commented about how funny she was. Maddie watched with delight as the man behind the counter made her sundae and added a lotttttttt of chocolate sauce for her. She didn't even notice Connor motioning for the man to stop, as all of her attention was on the large scoop of ice cream that was now drowning in delicious chocolate sauce. She did giggle a little though as Connor ordered and made a point of requesting not have as much caramel sauce as she did chocolate sauce. Maddie didn't care too much about the toppings, but she did grab a few M&Ms herself and put them carefully on the very top of her sundae before heading toward a table.


Maddie began by picking the M&M's off the top of her sundae and eating them by themselves. She laughed as Connor sat down and took a big bite right away only to quickly complain of a brainfreeze. "Everyone knows you can't take a big bite first Connor!," she teasingly scolded her big brother as she shook her head and grinned. Maddie then took a smaller bite than she normally would of, just to emphasize her point and rub it in a little. "Mmmm! Yummy!," she declared after swallowing her first bite of ice cream drowning in chocolate sauce. Unable to resist she quickly followed it with a rather large bit of her own. Immediately she began to scrunch up her face and closed her eyes for a moment. "Oww!," she laughed sheepishly as she managed to give herself a bit of a brain freeze of her own.


Maddie continued to enjoy her ice cream, without thinking about much else other than how good all the extra chocolate sauce was. She looked up however when she heard Connor sigh and frowned a little when he asked her about her homework. Instinctively Maddie just shrugged in response. "I don't know who cares? I already got a zero on it, and it's not like I'm failing. I've still been doing good on the quizzes and worksheets we get, and I'll do good on the test," she promised before taking another big bite of her sundae. She kept her eyes on Connor though as she continued to eat, wondering if that would be enough to satisfy him so she could go back to concentrating on her ice cream and not thinking about whatever Connor had in store for her when they arrived home.

[Lil_Angel]

Connor chuckled when he heard Maddie playfully scold him, he quickly swallowed the melting ice cream before playfully sticking his tongue out at her "Very true, Maddie. But-" Connor paused mid-sentence and grinned "I never thought I had much of a brain to freeze" Connor added jokingly, he rolled his eyes when she emphasized her point by eating a much smaller bite of ice cream before dipping his finger in her bowl of chocolate sauce and wiping a tiny amount on her nose "If you take bites as small as that, we'll be here way past closing time" He almost spat out the ice cream that he had in his mouth when she made the same mistake and complained of a brain freeze "Aww. That Maddie is called karma" Connor teased jokingly before continuing to eat his own ice cream although taking much smaller spoonfuls, he missed these moments with his little sister when they got time to bond and just have fun. There always seemed to be something else that had to be done, either housework, homework or something else and he made a mental note to take more time, to just have fun and bond with Maddie. He couldn't stop himself from grinning, as he watched her attempt to make her way through her sea of chocolate sauce, "Would madam like a straw instead of a spoon?"

Connor sighed as he realized that he would have to move the conversation to a slightly less cheerful topic "I care, your teachers care, mum cares and honestly Maddie. You should care too" Connor replied gently, he nodded when she spoke about her success on quizzes and worksheets in school and he felt his heart swell with pride, it was very rarely that he heard about Maddie's performance in school unless thier mum went to a parents evening; which always went extremely well but he decided that he would speak to her teacher on a more regular basis because she deserved prizes just as much as punishments.

"Well. I'm incredibly proud of you, Maddie. I'm really happy to hear that you're still passing everything in class and i'm sure that we can come up with something to celebrate that" Connor revealed smiling, he had some ideas bouncing around in his head already but he had to focus on the not so good topic of her behaviour "Homework however is very important because it reinforces everything you learned in class and it highlights anything that you might still be having difficulty with" Connor explained gently as he continued to scoop up spoonfuls of ice cream "Also, its about self disclipline, it teaches you time management, it teaches you responsilibity" Connor added "So, when we get home. We'll have our discussion, get it over with and then we'll be looking at your homework and making a plan to get it all finished, alright?"

Fifteen minutes later, Connor finished his ice cream and practically licked the bowl clean, he waited until Maddie finished too and stacked his bowl on top of her own before taking them up to the counter "Thanks! It was great" Connor said appreciatively, he walked to the door and pushed it open "Ladies first" Connor said smiling as he held the door open for Maddie and pretended to bow slightly as she went ahead, before watching the car park carefully as they quickly headed towards his car, he unlocked the car and slipped his wallet back into his backpack before slipping into the front seat and starting his car "Do you want to be the DJ for our trip home again, Maddie?" Connor offered as she pulled his seatbelt on and backed out of the car park.