Cool With A "K" PART 28.5 - CHAPTER 12

I stomped into the living room, Chris following behind me quietly.
Mom looked up from a cooking magazine she was reading.
"Angie, what's wrong?" She asked.
"I hate Leo." I said.
"She hates Leo." Chris said, "And, he kind of deserves it."
Mom put down her magazine and walked over to us, "What do you mean?"
I gritted my teeth and said, "Leo is so selfish. He doesn't understand why everyone's mad at him."
"That's what I'm asking." Mom said, "Why are you mad at him?"
"He won't forgive Kathy for freaking out on Tae-Hyun at Leo's party weeks ago." Chris said.
Mom put up her hand and said, "Wait, you've said this before. Is that still going on?"
Chris nodded, "Yes, but today, Kathy came back from being suspended..."
My brother and I exchanged a grim, sad look.
Chris looked back at Mom and said quietly, "She shaved her head, Mom."
Mom looked confused, "Do you know why?"
"No, no one does." I said, shaking my head, "We have no idea what's wrong, and Mouse said this morning, Leo started yelling at Kathy in the hall for no reason."
Mom pursed her lips and said, "Well..."
Chris and I gave her a questioning look.
"It was Mouse that told you that." Mom said, "Are you sure she's telling the truth."
"Well, no." Chris said, "But it's been happening a lot."
"What has?" Mom asked.
"Leo has been freaking out on people for no reason." I said.
Mom gave us a gentle look and said, "Well, maybe Leo has something going on that's upsetting him, too."
Chris looked at me and said, "Tae-Hyun."
"Huh?" I said.
"Tae-Hyun." Chris said again, "She was mad at Leo today. Leo's totally in love with her and now she's mad at him."
I nodded, getting it, "Ohhh, okay."
Mom sat down at the dining room table and said, "So, what do you think should happen?"
Chris and I thought for a minute.
I shrugged and said, "Well, in a perfect world, Leo would apologize to Kathy, Tae-Hyun, and Chris, then Kathy would apologize to Tae-Hyun, Leo, and Jenny."
"It sounds like Tae-Hyun has been through a lot." Mom said.
"Yeah, she has." Chris said, "Wanna know the worst part? Tae-Hyun and Jenny are two of the nicest girls I have ever met and neither of them did anything wrong."
Mom looked between Chris and I, "I feel like we've had this conversation a lot lately. It's kind of going in circles."
Chris and I both propped up our chins on our hands and looked at Mom.
Mom folded her hands on the table and said, "Maybe instead of telling me about everything that's gone on at school, which I'm fine with, but maybe you should try taking some action on getting everybody back on their feet instead of trying to convince so-and-so that this is this person's fault... Do you know what I mean?"
Chris and I nodded.
"Yeah," Chris said, "You have a point."
Mom smiled and patted our shoulders, "Well, I'm going to get dinner started. Spaghetti tonight."
"Cool." Chris said.
"Yeah," I said,




"Cool."