"If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun."

-Katharine Hepburn

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Kate sat on her bed with her back facing the window. She examined her right hand which was swollen and reddened. Her knuckles had taken the worst damage, and they stung terribly. Elena entered with their mom trailing beside, clutching a first aid kit. Their mother's brown eyes depicted a mix of anger, worry, and disbelief.

She sat down on the bed and took Kate's injured hand in hers, making her flinch.

"Violence is not the answer, Kate," Eleanor spoke seriously.

"What would I do mother? They were badmouthing about El. I couldn't hear that," Kate explained as raised her left hand to tuck a curly strand behind her ear.

"Would you go on hitting people who speak badly about you or your sister?"

When she found Kate silent, she continued, "You can't stop all the people from speaking ill. I don't think so."

"Mom--"

"Kate, there might be much more people who would think bad about you or envy you. That doesn't mean you'd know who it is."

Eleanor gingerly placed an ice pack on Kate's knuckles, watching her face contort by the cold touch, and she let out a slight shudder. She was never a person to love the cold anyway.

"Ignore such people. Don't let them see your weakness, Kate. Being violent won't aid in putting your point forth. You can do it in a gentle way as well..."

"She wasn't being weak, mom," Elena defended her sister.

"Anger is a negative side of your personality. It makes you mad, and you do things which you wouldn't do if you were calm. It changes you. How is anger, then, not a weakness?" Eleanor explained.

"I'm sorry, this won't happen again," Kate apologized.

"Apologize to the boys that you've hit, not to me. You're a strong and good person, Kate, don't let the world see your bad side," Eleanor explained and kissed her forehead. Elena joined in as the three group-hugged tightly.

Watching the whole exchange from his window was a person with a small smile on his face. However, it was masked by sadness a second later. He let out a huge sigh and shook his head.

That person was Ivan.

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Ivan sprinted out of the Astronomy class with Max hollering behind him.

"Dude, wait up, what's the hurry?" Max asked as he reached Ivan's side in two large strides.

"I've to get away before Elena finds me," Ivan answered with a groan, his baby blue eyes rolled upwards towards the roof. This received soft chuckles from Max.

"You think this is funny? Let someone annoy you when you're studying your favorite subject," Ivan commented with a huff. "Then you'll know."

"Fine, let's get to the cafeteria, I'm hungry," Max said with a brief grin.

"You're always hungry," Ivan answered, and rolled his eyes again.

"Hope your eyeballs don't get stuck," Max commented with a cheeky grin.

Before Ivan could retort, his phone starting ringing.

"Yes, mother?" Ivan's face hardened, losing its carefree attitude, and his eyes appeared as cold as Neptune.

"Yeah, it's break," he replied curtly and scratched his forehead irritatedly. An annoyed expression clearly formed on his face.

"Yeah, I know, no cafeteria food," Ivan agreed begrudgingly.

"Yeah, no junk food either," he added with a scowl, his voice monotonous.

"Okay, bye!" Ivan cut the call before his mother could say anything else.

"Again?" Max asked gingerly.

"More like every day," Ivan answered with a sigh. "I don't know what's her problem. What's the harm in eating junk food? Am not gonna die or something!"

"Chill, dude, let's go have something," Max consoled and patted Ivan's back.

They entered the cafeteria noticing everyone's stares on them. Max grinned good-naturedly and waved his hand at everyone. He then left to buy food from a nearby restaurant.

Ivan sat on his usual seat which was not in the middle. It was at the farthest corner of the cafeteria. It was mostly to avoid Ashley who stuck to him like a parasite. He had denied wanting to be in a relationship clearly, yet the queen bee hadn't understood. Or she deliberately didn't want to understand? Ivan had no clue. Thankfully, she wasn't seen in the cafeteria today, nor were her minions.

Ivan waited impatiently for Max to bring food for him. He knew that by eating junk food he would be ignoring his mother's orders. But for him, his freedom mattered the most. He would go on defying her unless she stopped imposing restrictions on him. And that ladies and gentlemen how a rebel is born.

After all, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, and many other Disney characters had rebelled. Why would their story be memorable if they had just remained as goody two shoes?

He then eyed the twins who were now standing near Jamie and Kyle's table. Kate smiled and apologized by shaking hands with both of them... even though they had wronged her.

Elena stood close to Kate, and her arm clung involuntarily around her sister's waist in support. She too smiled after the boys had mumbled their sorries. Peace was made between them.

What Ivan didn't know was that Elena had caught him gazing at them openly, and she smirked at this. Along with Kate, she made her way towards his table and grabbed two empty chairs for both of them. They sat down and grinned towards him as if sitting with him was an everyday routine.

"You don't belong here," Ivan commented in a surly tone.

"We do, from today," Elena answered with an innocent smile.

"Leave," Ivan ordered, his voice clearly showing his annoyance.

"Nah," the twins commented and grinned.

"Fine, then I'll," Ivan spoke gruffly, and attempted to get up but he couldn't. He felt that he was stuck to his seat. His blue gaze returned to the twins whose identical faces sported mischievous smiles.

"His eyes... like snowflakes sparkling under sunlight," Elena mumbled and sighed dreamily.

"Can't leave now, eh Van?" Kate asked with a giggle.

"This is my table, not yours, go find somewhere else to sit," Ivan retorted irritatedly.

"I don't see your name written here, Van," Elena commented as she gave him a lopsided smile, noticing him getting riled up.

"You fight like four-year-olds," Max intervened and caught their attention as he sat down, completing the square formation. He placed a large paper bag on the table and took out the food quickly. "Kids."

He scoffed and shook his head noticing Ivan's eye roll and Elena's amused smile. Kate was quietly munching on a chocolate bar.

"Says the one who sleeps with a teddy bear and sucks his thumb," Ivan commented with a soft chuckle, making the twins grin upon hearing his laugh after so long.

Max, not even affected that Ivan had told the twins about this, continued amusedly, "Says the one who watches Disney movies and memorizes their lines."

The twins looked at each other and at Ivan, then at Max and giggled. Ivan scowled, and decided to eat the sandwiches that Max had bought.

Before he could, the ringing of his phone stopped him. He looked at the screen and scowled even further.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely.

"I was going to eat lunch," he replied.

"Yeah, from the lunch box that you've sent me," he lied, closing his eyes in annoyance.

"Don't you trust me? Do I've to name all the things that you've put?" he asked incredulously, gesturing Max to open his lunch box.

"Fine, I'll tell you!"

He shut his eyes upon hearing his mom's high-pitched voice. "Boiled broccoli, chicken, and brown bread with avocado sauce," he finished with a disgusted look as he slid the box towards Max.

"What happened to satellite?" Kate whispered to Elena.

"No idea, she was such a cool mom," Elena whispered back.

"Love you, Ivan," Mrs. Moore's muffled voice was heard through the phone.

"Yeah, whatever," Ivan muttered and cut the call.

"That was plainly rude," Elena commented with a glare.

"Who talks to their mother like that?" Kate joined in as well.

"You know my name, not my story, Russos," Ivan spat. "You don't know a thing about me. She's my mother, I'll talk to her in whichever way that I want to," he replied with an icy glare. He attempted to stand one more time but failed.

Turning his cold, blue eyes towards the twins, he frowned. "How do I get up?" he asked, his clenched jaw clearly gave away his vexed state.

Elena grabbed Ivan's hand, and Kate held their joint palms. Together, they pulled Ivan out from his "gluey seat". Max just watched this amusedly, noticing how the twins' celebrated their victory by grinning at each other. He shook his head, and sauntered away, wiping traces of avocado sauce from his lips.

"I bet you didn't even have your first kiss, Van," Elena remarked and smirked, a knowing expression on her face.

"Let's go, El," Kate urged, eyeing Ivan's startled face and dragged her twin's skinny arm.

"It's Ivan and don't you act as if you know all about me," Ivan retorted with a glare and walked away.

"Oh! But we do," the twins declared to his retreating form cheerfully.

But do they?

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Hey, everyone! 🙆 ❤💙 How are you all doing? I'm here with the 8th Episode of TAM.

So, what do you think of Ivan and his mother's relationship? Why do you think she has put restrictions on him?

What do you think of Ivan now? I know he hasn't been much in the spotlight. I find him the hardest to write about and I'm nervous as to how he appears to readers. Please do let me know what you think of him as he is a major character in TAM.

How was this update? What are your views/thoughts/opinions about it? Did you enjoy reading it? I hope you did. *grins*

Sneak-Peek of Episode 9:

And when the Sneak-Peek wants to trouble you by not loading and you've to wait till the next day to publish your new update. *Sighs*

What do you think will happen next? Comment in your thoughts and I'll hand out cookies. *Holds a chocolate chip cookie jar* Too bad I can't have them, I'm fasting as Ramadan has begun.

Keep smiling! 💕
Lots of love ❤💙
Sakina

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