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For the longest time, Aubrey hated parents. She of course hates her parents. She hated the fights they had and hates her father for leaving the family without taking her. She hates her mother for being a neglectful wreck - at best.
And oh, did she hate Sunny and Basil’s parents. Basil’s parents were pretty much nonentities. She doesn’t even remember what they looked like. As for Sunny’s, his dad was a cruel coward worse than her own father, and his mom…
Oh, she can’t forget how Sunny’s mom talked to him in the hospital.
She hated them as much as she hated her own parents, so she decided that they all had to pay. Besides, she can’t exactly get back at her own mom, so why not torment other scumbag parents?
Sunny’s mom’s car drove to the local car wash to clean up the graffiti Kim left on it. Which was a bad move, because a certain teenager with stubble worked there for a part-time job.
“Ah, the old tag and stab,” Vance said to Aubrey over the phone before the mother pulled in. “Been awhile since we did that. What’s the occasion?”
“That lady in the car is an abusive scumbag,” Aubrey snapped. “You know what to do.”
“I’m on it,” he said. He hung up his phone and waited for the car to pull in, bearing the word “SCUM” in his sister’s familiar handwriting. “Here to get your car washed, m’am?”
Sunny’s mother glanced between him and the glaringly obvious graffiti. “What do you think?”
He tried not to roll his eyes. “How about you head inside the station? I’ll have it done in a bit,” he said. Vance grabbed a hose and a sponge. And he also discretely grabbed a nail that would slowly deflate the mom’s tires. The works.
Aubrey sat back, satisfied. She was now at the park with Kim, chilling a bit, letting her rage subside. Hanging out with Kim was always a good for destressing.
“So, what’s the deal with that lady you want us to bully?” Kim asked while chewing on a piece of taffy.
Aubrey sighed. There’d be too much to explain, and she wasn’t sure if Kim had the right to know the full truth. “Well, long story short, that lady’s Sunny’s mom and she’s kinda abusive.”
“Huh, you know, I was wondering why he looked so pale and weak,” Kim quietly murmured. “What about his dad?”
“He skipped out on the family,” Aubrey said bitterly.
Kim had nothing to say. She could guess how Aubrey felt about that topic.
“And Basil’s parents too, they’re just as fucked, they deserve to get bullied too,” she said.
Kim raised an eyebrow at her. “Why are you bringing up Basil?” The Hooligans had all decided that Basil was off-limits after his hospitalization, though Kim was still confused by Aubrey’s sudden shift in focus.
“Well, me, him and Sunny had a talk at the hospital. We realized that all of our parents suck and after seeing Sunny’s mom talk to him… well, I want to fuck them all up.”
Kim chewed on another piece of taffy, nodding intently. She’s not sure how Aubrey could feasibly pull off a revenge plan against multiple adults, but she respects her energy. Nay, she admired her. Aubrey’s the boss for a reason, after all.
“I’m all in for it,” said Kim. “Buuuuut, I’m wondering something…”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you so fixated on those two?”
“Well, we’re childhood friends and they went through a bunch,” said Aubrey.
Kim grinned like a gremlin, leaning toward her. “I see that blush on your face~”
“H-huh!? What do you mean!?”
Kim pulled back, laughing. “I was lying, but I didn't think you'd blush for real. Man, I didn’t know they were your type. You like the real quiet pansy boys, huh? Was there another reason why you were bullying Basil~?”
“No - and that’s something I regret! I… I want to make it up to him, and I think terrorizing his shit parents is a good start.”
“And then you’re going to take him out on a date, huh?”
“S-shut up!”
This ribbing was way worse than what Kel did. Unlike Kel, Aubrey didn’t want to beat Kim up. Kim was good for her. She did feel like dying though.
Kim playfully slapped Aubrey on the back while she was slouched over in utter defeat. “Hey don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. So, how are we going to fuck these parents up?”
Polly was cooking when she heard a sudden knock at her door. She opened it up to see Aubrey standing there. “Oh, Aubrey, I didn’t expect visitors!”
“Well, I’ve been walking around and I decided to drop by to see how Basil’s doing.” Basil had been released from the hospital a few days ago. Her friends and Kel had been dropping by to give some well wishes, though as for Hero… well, Aubrey hoped that she didn’t need to include him in her revenge plans.
“Would you like to stay for lunch? Even with Basil eating more, I still end up making too much.”
“Sure, appreciate it.”
Aubrey went deeper into the house to check on Basil. The first thing she noted that was that Basil’s door was no longer there. She supposed that it was a precaution after what happened That Night.
She had a clear view of the blonde boy sitting on his bed, reading a book. He glanced over and immediately perked up. “H-hi Aubrey!”
Seeing him so excited to see her brought a smile to Aubrey's face. She strolled in, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Hey bud. I got a question for you: how do you feel about revenge?”
“Umm… that’s kinda vague…”
“How about revenge against your parents? For never being around?”
“Um…”
“Come on Basil, those assholes didn’t even bother showing up to visit you in the hospital, right?”
He was quiet for a while, eyes staring off to the side to look at nothing in particular.
Then, he looked her straight in the eye. “What do you have in mind?”
The trio of Polly, Basil and Aubrey finished up with a nice lunch of soup. Polly casually chatted the kids up, learning about Basil and Aubrey’s relationship. Basil carefully omitted parts from the last four years, though - can’t have a friendship repaired with a guardian figure worrying about it.
With all that done though, Aubrey finally decided to ask Polly some questions. “So hey Polly, how’s Basil’s hospital bills getting paid?”
“Oh, I called his parents about it and they said they’d cover it. Probably the nicest thing they did for him in years,” Polly whispered that last part harshly.
“How are they paying for it?”
“They told me to forward the bills over to them… why are you asking?”
Aubrey decided to latch onto her shared disdain for Basil’s parents. “Okay, I need their address to mess with them. Can I have it?”
Polly looked at her in confusion. She glanced over at Basil, who enthusiastically nodded.
Polly sighed. “Well, it’s their work address, I don’t want some poor intern to get caught up in things…”
Aubrey felt her enthusiasm deflate. Yeah, she wasn’t sure how she could really mess with Basil’s parents. Who the hell deals with their son through an intermediary? She’d probably screw up some poor shmuck’s life trying to punish them.
Basil’s parents seemed so distant, so untouchable. Just like her dad.
“A-Aubrey…” Basil whispered out.
Aubrey didn’t notice that she started angrily gripping the tablecloth.
“…Sorry,” she apologized.
“Hey Aubrey, I don’t know you well that much yet and I don’t know what you planned to do, but I’m grateful that you want to stick up for Basil,” Polly said gently.
“Thanks.” Aubrey sighed. “Well, maybe I can still hassle Sunny’s folks.”
“Oh, you’re trying to get revenge on them, too?” Basil seemed a bit disappointed that Aubrey couldn’t feasibly strike at his parents, but he seemed fired back up with Sunny on the line.
“Oh, fucking absolutely. You know, Sunny’s mom visited him in the hospital, and you know what she said?”
Polly had an inkling of the truth on her visits to Basil’s room. She was shocked, but after living with Basil for years, she understood that he wasn’t some unrepentant monster, and was somewhat grateful to finally have an explanation for his erratic behavior. She forgave him.
So when Polly heard what Sunny’s mom said to him, she conveniently decided to ignore the conversation and the growing anger in the two teens. If anyone asked, she didn’t hear anything.
“Aubrey… you know what would make me happy?” Basil questioned.
“Terrorizing Sunny’s parents?”
Basil just smiled at that.
“Don’t worry, I got everyone on the case.”
“Hey, mom, dad,” Kel greeted. His parents were lounging in the living room, Sally resting on her father’s stomach.
“What do you need, Kelsey?” his mom asked.
“This is, uh, kind of a weird question, but do you know… um, do you know where Sunny’s dad moved to?”
His parents shared a look with each other. His dad sat up a bit, clearing his throat.
“Well, I think I might know. He sorta wrote a few years ago to ask me for this book he lent me back. Can you believe how petty that is? But uh, I might still have the envelope,” he said.
“Yes, your father is a bit of a pack rat when it comes to documents… why do you ask?”
“Just…” Kel’s mind blanked. He did not think of a convincing lie, like what Aubrey told him to do. “…just want to see how it’s going!”
His parents looked very confused. But thankfully, they didn’t press on. Maybe they thought this was on Sunny's behalf. His dad moved Sally over to their mom before heading off to go searching.
Satisfied, Kel walked upstairs… and was face-to-face with Hero. Hero… tried his best to keep things together, but he was still clearly troubled by the truth.
“Kel… why are you asking about Sunny’s dad?”
“Listen Hero,” Kel slightly leaned over to whisper. “Aubrey’s real feral about wanting to get at Basil and Sunny’s parents right now. I didn’t ask why, but hey, gotta help a friend out, right? Do you want in on this?”
Hero remembered his brief encounter with Sunny’s mom. He won’t lie, he felt something unpleasant about her.
Maybe Sunny deserves a mom like that, he briefly thought. He shook that thought away. Maybe Sunny deserved to have his dad disown him. He shook that thought away.
He still wasn’t sure how to feel about Sunny and Basil. He’s happy for them to recover, sure, but he ain’t seeing them face-to-face like he used to.
...
Hero decided upon a stance on this current issue: he won’t help punish their parents, but he won’t stop Aubrey’s plans either.
Sunny’s parents probably punished Sunny way more than he ever could.
“No, I’m not going to help. But… just be careful you guys, okay?”
Sunny’s mother pulled into the Othermart parking lot, fuming. Her dear old car had been pelted with paint by some weird young hooligan with a pompadour - and just after she got her car washed, too! She was too embarrassed to go back to the car wash to get it clean again, so she may as well get her own cleaning supplies.
While shopping around, she passed by a weird boy in a wig. Whatever. Should she get some food for Sunny? No… he doesn’t deserve it.
She paid for her groceries and started leaving when the anti-theft alarms went off.
“Huh? I paid for all this!” She yelled at the loss prevention officer.
He crouched down to pull something shoved in the cart’s underside. “What about this?”
It was a loaf of bread from the bakery.
“Ma’am, it was awfully rude to take that,” the girl baker twin was suddenly there, staring with judging eyes.
“Yes, it’s not right to take the fruits of our labor so brazenly,” the boy baker twin said, arms folded.
“But… but I didn’t go near the bakery,” Sunny’s mother stammered, looking around. She was getting looks from a lot of the employees and customers.
In the back, Mikhail snickered. Mikhail already relayed who that woman was to the twins, and they didn’t approve of abusers, let alone one abusing one of their newest friends.
While the mother was being held up at the bakery, Aubrey and Basil were getting to work. Specifically, vandalizing the shit out of her home.
“It’ll take her forever to find buyers when we’re through with this place!” Aubrey said, splashing paint on the side of the house.
“Yeah and… maybe Sunny can stay in Faraway longer,” Basil murmured optimistically.
With that thought in mind, Basil found the energy to pick up a rock and throw it. He meant it to hit the wall and dirty it up, but he wound up tossing it through the window instead.
“Oh no! I-I didn’t mean to…” Basil cried.
Aubrey however whistled. “Damn Basil, I can make a real delinquent out of you.”
“D-delinquent?”
“Well, my friends want to hang out with you, so you have to look the part, but… eh, you don’t have to be a delinquent if you don’t wanna.”
Basil thought about it. “Actually… I think I want to be one.”
Huh. “Really?”
“Yes, well…” Basil got a bit fidgety. “I was talking to Sunny before I left the hospital and… he said that you looked pretty cute as a punk and I kinda want to be one too…”
Aubrey blushed profusely, looking away. “Hey, I’m supposed to look tough, not cute…”
She coughed, turning back to Basil. “But you. You’d be a cute punk. And if not, well…”
“Well what?”
“…You know how in movies where cool criminal guys have some girl at his side while he sits down menacingly, right?”
Basil vaguely remembered stuff like that from crime dramas he watched with his grandma. “I guess.”
“Well, we could be like, a gender flipped version of that. If you want.”
She could picture it now. Cool crime boss Aubrey sitting at the head of a table, arm draped around Basil as her eye candy. Oh, she can hold Sunny with her other arm, too. Kim won’t let her live it down… though maybe she could have Kim hugging her from behind, massaging her shoulders, maybe. Hmm…
“Aubrey?”
Basil’s voice snapped her out of her fantasy. “Huh?”
“Vandalizing the house?”
“Oh… right. Yeah, grab that paint can, let’s fuck this place up.”
Sunny’s mother finally came home after being held up at Othermart for a while, forced to pay for bread she didn’t even want. It took a bit to drive home too - maybe she should check her tires.
Well, she would be checking her tires if she wasn’t too busy being aghast at the state of her front yard. Grass torn out haphazardly, walls splotched with paint, windows broken. Why was the world out to get her?
Somebody just left the house next door. He wandered over to her. “Hello Miss Suzuki, is something wrong?”
“Henry, did you see who did this!?”
He looked over at the front yard. In truth, he had seen the process of it getting wrecked from the second floor window. He was ashamed of Aubrey and Basil for doing it.
But not enough to rat them out. “As a matter of fact, I saw these strange skateboarding kids with weird shark hats rolling around.”
She grit her teeth. “Hmph, kids these days. Well, at least they can’t be as horrible as my son -“
Hero’s eyes widened in surprise.
She coughed. “Well, what I mean to say is that at least they can’t be a bad influence on my son. You’re a good influence though, Henry. I wish my son had half as much aptitude as you.”
“I’m… flattered.”
Whatever unhappiness Hero had for Sunny at that moment was brushed away by how he felt about his mom. No one deserves this. He now felt pretty good for lying, actually.
Sunny’s mom turned and started walking away, muttering. Unbeknownst to either of them, a certain pink-haired girl started to follow her.
When it came to pranks, Charlene was the least direct about things. She liked to be more sneaky about things, mainly due to her demeanor. But that sneakiness allowed her to exercise a surprising amount of cruelty that does not fit her demeanor.
“S...send him this,” Charlene said to Kel, who had been instructed to stop by Charlene’s place when he got Sunny’s dad’s address. She held a suspicious box in her hands, which was already marked with a fake sender address.
“What’s inside?” Kel asked, fingers reaching to open.
Charlene gently swatted his hand away, a smile on her face. A smile that conveyed a grave warning.
“...It’s not a bomb, is it?” Kel asked.
“Goodness no. Just… just some art supplies. And springs,” she explained.
“...Dang, didn’t know you had it in you,” the tan boy said, taking the box, now handling it with more care than he originally intended.
“Ha… me neither…” she murmured.
Aubrey had followed Sunny’s mom to the graveyard, and for the first time in a while, she was feeling sympathy for her. Of course she mourned her daughter. After all, Aubrey still mourned Mari every day.
The mother was crouched near Mari’s grave, crying. She released her sorrow for her lost daughter, in turn venting out her building stress from the day’s frustrations, murmuring quietly. Aubrey approached her quietly. Maybe… maybe she should call off the vendetta…
But as she got close, Aubrey was finally close enough to hear her say something. The mourner did not notice her approaching, so she openly and shamelessly said:
“...everyday… I wish it was him instead of you… I wish Sunny fell down those stairs instead…”
…
Aubrey wanted to bash her head in. She wanted to see the older woman bleed. She wanted to…
…
No. She couldn’t do that. Especially not in front of Mari’s grave.
…
Aubrey turned around and left, leaving the miserable person to her sorrow.
The day ended with Aubrey and Basil visiting Sunny in the hospital, fresh food in tow. Sunny was looking a lot better than when Aubrey did her solo visit all those days ago. He was less frail, and he had such a genuine smile on his face when he saw them. That smile stayed on his face while they sat around and ate as Aubrey and Basil updated him on their grand revenge tour.
“...god, the look on your mother’s face when she saw the windows was priceless!” Aubrey laughed, playfully slapping Basil on the shoulder. He looked bashful, but proud.
“Mmh, I wish I could see what dad’s face would look like when he gets that gift…” Sunny murmured.
“Yeah, I get that… I wish I could get my parents back, too,” Basil said.
“Maybe one day. I can get Charlene to prepare an extra mean package for them, if we figure out how to do it without screwing someone else up,” said Aubrey.
Basil beamed. “I’d love that.”
Aubrey cherished the smiles on her two boys’ faces and was proud that she got them smiling so sincerely. And all it took was a coordinated bullying campaign.
However, Aubrey had one more point of business. She placed her hand on Sunny’s shoulder, a serious look on her face. “Sunny. If your mom ever hurts you, tell me. I promise, I can put her through much worse if she fucks with you.”
Unexpectedly, Basil placed his hand on Sunny’s other shoulder. “I… I’ll help, too. I’m… not a fighter, and I… I don’t want to hurt anyone again but… if it’s for you…”
Despite his nervous demeanor, he was dead serious. Aubrey couldn’t bring herself to tell Sunny what his mom said in the graveyard, but she did tell Basil, and Basil’s sure letting the rage bleed through. He’ll be fine delinquent material.
Sunny shook his head. “You don’t have to. The pranks are good enough…”
“But seriously Sunny, if she ever hurts you, you know who to call.”
“...I will. Thank you.”
Things settled down. They finished their fresh Gino’s pizza. As Aubrey and Basil began to make their leave, Sunny brought up one more thing.
“...Aubrey, when are we getting your parents?”