Melody sat upon a tall cushioned stool at the kitchen counter, phone in hand, as she listened wearily to the long list of complaints which the teacher had left on the voice mail. She was not very surprised to have gotten a call from the teacher on the chibis’ first day of school but she had not anticipated the length of this message nor the number of complaints.

She soon heard her name being called as the younger chibis descended upon the house, disturbing the rare quiet which had prevailed since they had left that morning. She was hanging up the phone when they found her in the kitchen; they surrounded their webmommie and the talkative ones chattered about their day. After quite some effort, Melody was able to get them to quiet down so she could speak to them individually.

“I was listening to a message from your teacher just now,” Melody began. “She has a few things that she wishes me to discuss with you.”

The chibis all waited with varied expressions, wondering what their teacher had said as well as what she had forgotten to say.

“First of all, Trowa, you cannot do handsprings in the school hallway.”

“I didn’t. I was doin’ back flips,” Trowa corrected her. “But there’s plenty of room to do ‘em there an’ the floor is flat. I can’t practice ‘em very well outside ‘cause the school’s on a hill,” he explained.

“Then you’ll just have to wait until you get home where the ground is level. Mrs. Meyer says that the Principal doesn’t want any lawsuits if someone gets hurt. Okay?”

Trowa nodded, with a serious look in his exposed emerald green eye, which reminded her of the teacher’s unreasonable complaint about his hair.

“And please don’t juggle items taken from your teacher’s desk,” she added before turning to Quatre.

“And Quatre, it's okay if the Maguanacs follow your bus to and from school, but they cannot spend the day in your classroom. Mrs. Meyer says that they all came into the classroom and lined up against the walls, occasionally helping you until it was time for dismissal. She said their applause every time you answered a question correctly or contributed to the class discussion disrupted the classroom. Your explanation of ‘Oh, they’re just my Mog-a-nocks’ didn’t explain who they were or why they were there and she was too nervous to ask them.”

“I’ll speak to ‘em ‘bout it,” Quatre said gravely. “They all wanted to onzerve me on the first day a school an’ to be there if I needed ‘em. They couldn’t ‘cide which ones should go with and which ones should stay home so they all went with me,” he explained. “I don’t unnerstand why teacher was nervous ‘bout ‘em ‘cause even though they’re violent an’ dang’rous they’re all really nice guys.”

Melody sighed and turned to Heero and Wufei. “Your teacher says that you two hardly participated today. Please tell me why that is.”

Wufei looked disgusted. “They want us to sing stupid songs an’ clap our hands an’ act like idiots. I didn’t know schools made kids do that stuff. I thought school was for learnin’ things. I don’t wanna go back.”

“Me neither,” Heero added in his quiet monotone voice.

“The law says you must be in school at your age so you’ll have to go back.”

“Even if we hate it?”

“Yes. Even if you have to sing all day long.”

“I still think it’s stupid.”

“Me too,” seconded Heero.

“No it’s not! We had fun!” Relena objected.

Melody ignored Relena and continued talking to Heero. She would deal with her later.

“Heero, Mrs. Meyer says that she didn’t like the way you stared at her all day. You mustn’t do that because people get frightened when you look at them like that.”

Heero nodded slightly but made no promises.

“What’d she say ‘bout me?” Duo asked, then rapidly added, “But she can’t prove it was me that took all her chalk an’ hid it in my desk.”

“That’s news to me Duo. Mrs. Meyer must have forgotten to tell me that one,” Melody said ominously. “She must have been more concerned about your constant interruptions, not staying in your seat, and contradicting her during the Reptiles class.”

“But she don’t like turtles!” Duo blurted out. “So I hadta diffend ‘em!”

“And she says you organized a hamster race during Free Time.”

“Yeah. I don’t know what her problem was ‘bout that. It was fun!” Duo didn’t look in the least bit repentant. “We hadta chase ‘em all ‘round the room to get ‘em back in their cages.” His blue eyes sparkled devilishly at the memory of the lively hamster round-up. “Mrs. Meyer got stuck under one of the desks and that was so funny! She wouldn’t let the Mog-a-nocks help her so Trowa an’ Wufei hadta go get the Princeabull to come ‘n rescue her!” His hearty laughter was joined by the smiles and laughter of his classmates.

The amusing picture his words formed in Melody’s mind struck her as funny as well but she fought the impulse to laugh along with them. After all, Mrs. Meyer surely didn’t appreciate the humor of the situation!

“She also didn’t like it when you told the class the gory details about watching that dead lizard you were keeping in a jar under your bed as it shriveled up,” Melody continued. “She said that some of the kids looked sick.”

“But it was SO COOL when the eyes—“

“I don’t think I want to hear it either, Duo.” Melody quickly stopped him before she could hear something disgusting.

“And Relena,” Melody said, looking her little girl right in the eye, extending her hand. “Hand it over.”

“What?” Relena put on her most angelic expression just as if she had placed a halo upon her head and pretended that she had no idea of what Melody wanted, but Melody knew better than to believe her.

“Now,” Melody insisted as she continued holding out her hand.

Relena reluctantly removed her pearl tiara from her backpack and sighed as she relinquished it.

“You can’t wear this at school. You know better than that. You’re not even supposed to have it. How did you find it?”

“Heero found it for me when he was lookin’ in the attic for his beam saber an’ he told me he’d tell me where it was if I didn’t bug him for the rest of the day.”

Melody threw an exasperated look at Heero. “You didn’t find it, did you?” she asked quickly. His deep scowl was her answer and she was greatly relieved.

“Relena, you cannot wear your tiara at school, you cannot write ‘HRH Princess Relena Peacecraft’ on your school papers, and you can’t insist that everyone address you as either ‘Princess Relena’ or ‘Your Highness’.”

“But I AM a princess!” Relena exclaimed. “It’s not wrong for a princess to wanna be called one.”

“No one knows that you are a princess Relena.”

“Well, then if I tell ‘em then they’ll know.”

“And you can’t use your royalty to insist that you be at the head of the line in class and get to do everything first. Being royal doesn’t mean you are any better than anyone else.”

“I think it does,” Relena sassed boldly; before she had learned of her royal heritage she would never have spoken to an adult in that manner.

“That’s enough of that attitude, young lady,” Melody said in her ‘you-had-better-straighten-up-right-now-if-you-don’t-want-to-be-punished’ tone of voice, which silenced Her Highness.

Relena had been bitterly disappointed that nothing had changed about what was expected of her since Melody, John and Tegan had been informed that she was a princess. She still had to respect her elders, she still had to behave and she still had to do her chores. It just wasn’t fair.

Melody had said all that she had needed to say so she reluctantly turned back to the phone as the chibis scattered in all directions and started tearing into the kitchen looking for an after school snack. She knew she must return the teacher’s call, and she dreaded it, wishing that John had been there to do it for her. It was bad enough to have to try to explain about Relena’s recently developed insufferable attitude since she had been told that she was a princess, and to inform his teacher that Trowa would have his hair cut when he was good and ready and not before, but it was a bit too much to have to try to explain who Quatre’s ‘Mog-a-nocks’ were, about their endless devotion to him and why they had parked their mobile suits all around the hill upon which the school was perched. She rightly assumed that the Maguanac Corps’ ring around the school would continue to be a daily spectacle until the end of the school year, come rain or shine or snow, no matter if they were able to accompany their favorite little boy to his class or not.