Fireproof

“I don’t want to go to school tomorrow – can I go to the store with you?” Kenzie was sitting with her legs crossed on Klaus and Dave’s bed. There was a pile of clothing next to her and she had one of Klaus’ soft skirts on her lap, she was moving it around with her hands, enjoying the silky texture.

Klaus was half inside the closet which still had a considerable amount of clothing hanging up even after he had pulled so much out. Kenzie loved looking through her mom’s closet – he had a huge variety of clothing with no particular style or type. He had suits mixed in with dresses, shawls and scarves – skirts mixed with unusual pants and some jeans. Lots of his clothing was black or purple but he also had several pieces which were of obnoxious patterns that didn’t really make any sense. Mixed in with no organization was usually random accessories pinned or tied to outfits that he was fond of already.

He tugged out a sweater and inspected it before looking up at his daughter, “Well, you know I would love that but why don’t you want to go to School? I thought you were having fun?”

She shrugged, “I just don’t wanna go.”

Klaus stumbled out of the closet, nearly spraining his ankle on a pair of heels, and he plopped down on the bed next to Kenzie. Shoving the pile away as best he could, “What’s going on? I thought you were excited to play—” He waved his hand in front of him, cursing his shitty memory, “Games… with Lily –“

“Lola.”

“Lola! Right- right, yeah, so what’s going on?”

Kenzie shrugged again, “ She’s been hanging out with Lucas and Georgia...” She looked down at the skirt in her lap.

“Okay, so it’s a guessing game… I’m great at those! Um- Do you have a test?”

She shook her head.

“Not a test… Okay – hold on – I can get this!” He shifted into a sitting position and Kenzie smiled softly.

“Did you steal something?” He pointed to her, “Because you know I told you not to steal unless you can fence it or use it, right?”

“I didn’t steal anything.”

His eyes glanced over her and his eyes landed on the horns sticking through her hair and sweeping backwards, just now beginning to point upwards, “Is everyone being nice to you?”

She bit her lip and looked away, her hands balling up the fabric. When her eyes were away he cringed outwardly and scooted closer, “Kenzie?”

“They said I looked weird!” She finally admitted, “Why won’t they leave me alone?”

She pouted and leaned into Klaus’ arm, “Can I just go to the store with you again? I can help!”

Klaus sighed, “Pumpkin, I’m sorry – I..” He pulled her hair back, unhooking a few strands away from the tips of the right horn, “Did it fall off? I can put more pins in…” He offered desperately trying to make this right.

“It doesn’t matter! They can see it anyway… Please!”

Klaus thought about it for a moment, “Is someone touching your head? I don’t understand…”

“No!” She said, starting to get frustrated at this point. She reached up and squished her face up on one side, “See!?”

He squinted at her as he tried to figure out what she was talking about, “Charades? You lost at charades?”

She groaned, “My eyes are lopsided!”

Klaus blinked a few times, “What?”

“They said my eyes are weird and in the wrong spots…”

His face twisted in confusion, “Kenzie – Your eyes are not lopsided…”

“Yes, they are!” She whined, staring up at him in frustration.

“Sweetie, I would tell you if your eyes were lopsided…”

Just then Dave came into the room, and upon hearing the last sentence he gave them a perplexed look, “What’s going on guys…”

Dave opened up a drawer and tugged off his white T shirt which was now marred with dust- he had been working on fixing a squeaky recliner that Klaus had found – pulled it apart and oiled everything, cleaning through the inside and he planned to reupholster the thing. He loved to start projects like this on the weekends, he said it was ‘relaxing’ and ‘got his mind’ off everything. Klaus didn’t get it but to each their own.

“Someone from Kenzie’s class has been teasing her for having ‘lopsided eyes’…” Klaus explained with some exasperation.

Dave tossed the old shirt into the laundry basket, “But she doesn’t even have lopsided eyes…”

“Brilliantly put, Dave – see, baby, you don’t need to worry about that.” Klaus smiled in an attempt to make the upset 6-year-old feel better.

“Then why do they keep teasing me about it!?”

Klaus closed his eyes, “Because- pumpkin – kids are dumb as hell.” He explained.

“Klaus.”

He gestured towards Kenzie, “Not her, obviously- but they’re just making stuff up! Don’t let their ridiculous, made-up, observations of you ruin your experience! As long as you’re true to who you are and express yourself honestly then nothing they say matters.”

She thought about this for a few moments while Dave carefully started to put on a plain button up T-shirt from his drawer, watching in anticipation.

“What do I do if they keep doing it?”

Her fathers responded simultaneously:

“Tell a teacher what’s going on—”

“Tell them to eat shit—”

The men exchanged brief looks then Klaus cleared his throat, “I mean – Yeah, get a teacher…”

After Dave finished buttoning the rest of his shirt he sat down on the edge of the bed, “Your mom’s right, Kenz’ – This is your school year! Don’t let what they’re saying ruin your experience or make you avoid school. That’s not fair to you. Also, keep us updated, if this keeps happening you know we’ll be there to back you up and help you resolve it, okay?”

She nodded, “I guess…”

Klaus pulled an arm around her, “As long as you feel comfortable with yourself – you’ve got nothing to worry about. Now, let’s get fancy for tonight!”

Dave smiled fondly at them, “The movie starts in an hour…”

“That’s plenty of time- Pumpkin, you want to help me pick something out?”

The child looked around, then lifted the slightly wrinkled skirt that she had been wringing in her hands. It was her favorite since it was so long and soft, she also liked the slightly off putting purple and black design. “What about this?”

“Love it!” He snatched It up and then moved towards the bathroom, “I’ll be back-“ He giggled and closed the door.

“Klaus, be careful- I left some-“

They heard a crash and a muffled, “Ouch! Motherfucker!”

“Parts to clean…” Dave smiled at Kenzie, “He’ll be okay. You want me to braid your hair real quick?”

“Yes, please!” She turned around as Dave grabbed a brush, he started pulling it through her long hair and separating it into three long sections. As he braided her hair, she looked through the pile of clothes on the bed and piled her favorites on her lap.

A few minutes later Klaus came out of the bathroom shirtless in the skirt that Kenzie picked out, he stumbled out, grumbling about breaking a toe before plopping on the bed in front of them. He and Kenzie worked through the pile that she had chosen and talked about what Kenzie was going to wear to the movies. At this rate, they would probably be late for the movie but Dave didn’t mind so much. As far as he was concerned, Sunday could last forever.

*****************************************************************

The next day

Kenzie held on tight to her lunch tray and her eyes scanned around the room. Since her little confrontation with Trent, most people gave her plenty of space even if several kids still tried to bother her or tease her. It was like they knew that she was different and everyone reacted differently, some would look at her in fear, some seemed suspicious, while others just stared at her in confusion.

As she sat down at a table, her mom’s words echoed in her head, “As long as you’re true to who you are and express yourself honestly then nothing they say matters.”

It made sense, and it had always worked for him – she had never seen anybody who dressed and acted like her mom- he had his own style which varied from day to day and he never cared about the strange looks he would get and he would just brush it off if someone said something to him.

Kenzie took a deep breath and poked at her food, she missed her mom, and uncle Ben, and Dave- she missed everyone and she hated feeling like a freak all the time. Despite this, she smiled and patted the seat next to her when Sally walked into the room, wandering around nervously with her hands wringing together.

The ghost paused then skipped forward happily to join Kenzie at the table.

Both of them glanced up as two trays slid over in front of her, two kids, a boy with short curly hair and glasses so big and cartoonishly magnified that they made his eyes look 3 times bigger and a girl with a messy bob cut and crooked nose.

“Hello!” She tried to sound confident, like her mom.

The girl responded first, waving enthusiastically “Hi- I like your hat!” She pointed to Kenzie’s head.

She instinctively reached up and touched the edge of her left horn through the beanie, “Thank you! I’m Kenzie…”

“I’m Rory! My mom loved Gilmore Girls!” She said with a proud smile, her voice was surprisingly loud.

The boy nodded in agreement- obviously, these two had been friends for a while, “I’m Trevor- I have asthma.” He said in a nasally tone.

“I like them…” Sally commented in her usual slightly croaked voice.

“This is Sally, she’s dead but she’s nice—” Kenzie stated, gesturing to her ghost companion.

The other children looked over the empty space next to Kenzie and paused. Kenzie’s heart thudded in her chest.

They waved, “Hi, Sally!”

Kenzie began to relax as they all started talking and by the end of the meal she was actually having a lot of fun. Rory and Trevor were odd kids who liked a lot of things that Kenzie had never heard of but they had so much fun talking about them that she didn’t mind - it made her excited too.

So when one of the boys got up from his table to dump his trash and squished his face to the side, pointing at Kenzie and calling her weird eyes, she decided that she wasn’t going to let him ruin her day. She would just be comfortable with herself.

She reached over and grabbed the remaining tater tots from Rory’s tray, launching them at the boy with all of her strength, “Eat shit, motherfucker!”

**********************************************************************

Principal Cunningham circled around her desk and sat down with a sigh, she took a small spoon and stirred a cup of coffee in front of her, she took a sip, “Mr. Hargreeves- Thank you for coming.”

Klaus sat across from her, his shoulders hunched sheepishly and his hands clasped together in his lap. Both Dave and Ben had snorted when they heard the situation and left him to handle this one on his own as punishment.

She smiled professionally and leaned forward, “Why do I have the feeling, Mr. Hargreeves, that you and I will become well acquainted by the end of this year?” Her voice was amused and relatively lighthearted despite the fact that Kenzie’s teacher had been less than happy about his daughter’s performance at lunch earlier that day.

Klaus exhaled and looked up, “Yeah, that’s my bad…”