𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑠－𝐿𝑖𝑧𝑧𝑜

sᴇᴀsᴏɴ ᴏɴᴇ, ❝ ᴘɪʟᴏᴛ ❞

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃.

" 𝐍𝐎-"  Mornings with The Howards' were never easy, but Honey managed.  Right now, she had to deal with their family pet, Appa. Originally, he was a rescue puppy that was a temporary member of the family, but somehow the kids managed to convince Maria to keep him.

There was a strict schedule Maria liked to follow, but today Appa decided to cause havoc, at four in the morning. "I said no, Appa," Maria groaned as he continued to bite at her blanket. Her head thrown back into the pillow with a huff. Today is Bear—Maria's eldest, turn to take the puppy out to use the bathroom except the teen was asleep with his noise cancellation headphones on.

Bear suffered from the trauma he experienced when his dad died. He refused to say anything about it, even to his mom. With that, he had insomnia, which made night hard for him. He would either fall asleep at his desk or with his headphones in. Today, was headphones.

The Howard woman noticed the dog had become suspiciously silent. Looking up she saw Appa ready to lift his leg making her shoot up and shouts, "APPA, BAD DOG! NO!" Without a second thought, the woman picked the dog up at arm's length and sprinted towards the front door of the average-sized apartment.

Bacon sizzled on the stove unattended as the young woman platted her youngest daughter's hair. The little girl winced and whined as she sat trying to feed Appa the rest of her bacon. The puppy graciously accepted the treat from the small human.

"Mom, Winnie's hogging the bathroom again!" Bear shouted from an unknown area of the house. 'AM NOT' she heard a retort from her second eldest. This caused the bickering between the two to escalate. "Go put on your shoes, baby," she kissed her daughter's cheek with a sigh. August ran out of the room with Appa right behind her. "thank you, Mommy," the girl shouted.

Maria turned off the stove before going through the narrow hallway that contained an impatient Bear, banging on the door. His knocking came to a halt as he noticed his mother approaching. "Make sure your sister is putting her shoes on right." It wasn't a question, at least not to him. "Winter! Wint-" the door flew open making the mother flinch. "Hey mom, you look nice" the teen smiled innocently, cheeky.

"mhmm, why are you hogging the bathroom, Winnie? You know you have to be gone by-"  Maria checked the Apple watch on her wrists unknowingly making her eyes go wide. She whispered profanity under her breath before shouting, " ALRIGHT, TIME TO GO!" making sure to give all the kids their lunches and leave the dog sitter a note. She kissed the two teens' cheeks ignoring their protests and held the hand of her younger daughter toward her car.

"I haven't brushed my teeth yet!" Bear groaned, Maria groaned and handed him a stick of gum. His face contorted in confusion, "here, now let's go"

Miss Honey walks into Abbott Elementary with a smile on her face. August mirrored her expression when she saw her teacher's face, Mrs. Howard- who is also her grandmother. Maria squats down to August's level with a sad look.

" I'm Marie Howard. Uh..." She looked at the cameraman confused. "Oh! I teach Art, I originally applied for the guidance counselor position, but turns out the principal got rid of it?" Ms. Howard side-eyed the camera.

"remember, no hitting the other kids— or biting."  she looked to August while the girl nodded vigorously with a toothy smile. "And no calling grandma, grandma" the little girl looked at her mom confused.

"but she is grandma?" She replied, with an adorable look of confusion. Marie sighed knowing this was going to take the time she didn't have. "Not today-today, she's Mrs. Howard, okay?" Walking over to the class, you could see other parents dropping off their kids with their teachers greeting them. The younger Howard knows she sees the girl throughout the day, every day she feels sad about leaving her.

"I love you, remember what I said," she gave her two kisses on each cheek as the child beamed at her. August's gummier as she was missing her two front teeth. "If it isn't my little helper," Mrs. Howard smiled at the two girls before ushering the little one into the room.

"Now, what are you wearing?" Her mother gave a judging smile.

"I love my mom, I really do-" Honey sighed. "But she can be passive-aggressive with 'compliments'." She air-quoted, the compliments part, because is it actually a compliment?

"mom-" she was cut off by the bell ring, the kindergarten teacher mouthed 'i love you' before slamming the door in her face. Marie looked at the camera offended and then walked away.

MISS HONEY, was written on the board in red dry-erase marker. Every day since the beginning of last year the woman had it written down in different designs. Sometimes she would forget to write it but the kids would write it for her. It not only teaches them their colors but also their spelling.

"pst... she heard, looking up she saw all the children drawing and coloring until it got louder. "PST-" Everyone turns their heads to the door to see Mr. Hill, the sixth-grade history teacher.

Marie rose from her seat and then turned to her class, "continue with your project at a minimum chatter."
Jacob grinned at the woman with uncertainty, sometimes Jacob was a bit much for Marie. With his oversized personality and occasional 'black' facts. But she loved him either way.

"so, you still up for going to lunch later?" Jacob asks then continuing when he caught Marie's uncertain look. "i'll drive and, i'll buy you anything."
Marie was going to say yes regardless but if he insists.

"fine but, i have to take August for a dentist appointment."  Jacob winced at the mention of the dentist and then agreed. "okay, I'll see you at lunch."

"𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐘, 𝐆𝐔𝐘𝐒 make sure wash your hands! and have a good lunch!" Ms.Honey smiles at the children who grinned at her. "bye, Misses Honey!" her young protégés chorused running out of the room. Today, Marie didn't have to supervise lunches since she was in an extra curricular class.

Maria went to the teachers' lounge to meet Jacob when she noticed a new face in Mrs. Schwartz's classroom. "Um, hello?" She called as the man shot up from his seat startled. Maria stood awkwardly as he dropped his sandwich on the floor. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I can get you a new one. I'm Maria or Misses Howard, or Misses Honey. Sorry, sorry." she mumbled towards the end when she noticed he was just smiling.

"It's fine, I'm Gregory Eddie, I'm the substitute for Mrs. Schwartz." he shook her hand as she tore her gaze away from the sad sandwich. "didn't she fight a kid?" Maria frowned as Gregory looked at the camera,

"uh, yeah, and lost technically," they chuckled, Jacob walked passed the door then backtracked looking at the two with a raised eyebrow. "why-" he pointed to the neglected sandwich. "don't ask" they chorused.

"we have to go but, i'll get you a sandwich, any allegories? actually, i'll just get you a plain sandwich." Maria ranted before walking away.

"it was nice meeting you!" Gregory called after her before he looked at the sandwich. "man..." he mumbles crouching down to pick it up.

"𝐈 𝐏𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 SI——NG 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐄" August and Jacob sang as Maria texted Janine asking if she wanted anything. She had meant to ask Ava if she did but forgot once they left the school.

For some odd reason, the dentist gave August a lollipop after her visit. You would think they give a sticker or dental floss but, no a sugar stick. "mommy?" August called making Maria turn to her. "yes, sweet-pea," Maria asks.

"can I get some cake?" August grinned as Maria gave her a deadpan look. The girl already had two lollipops in her hand. "i'll think about it, baby" hell no, but then again—she could go into a sugar coma for an hour or two. Maria shook her head as Jacob parked his car near the restaurant.

sᴇᴀsᴏɴ ᴏɴᴇ, ❝sʏsᴛᴇᴍ ❞

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐙𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐎

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐍'𝐒 day was stressful. After the death of his brother, he inherited his restaurant and all his problems. "behind!" Sydney, the new sous-chef yelled. The lunchtime rush had passed a couple of minutes ago but that didn't stop others from coming through.

Richie's obnoxious yelling and laughing made Carmen want to bang his head on the hot stove. He felt peace in cutting the onions yet his knives were dull. "yo! Cousin! You gotta hear this story, so-"

ding! ding! DIIIIING!

Saved by the annoying ass bell. Carmen could hear the faint sound of a woman scolding a child. "stop August," who the fuck names their child August?

"is that who I think it is?! Oh shit!" Richie grinned shoving Carmy out of the way. Carmen followed him out so did Tina who had the same grin on her face. Carmen was met with the sight of one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Everything about her was beautiful.

Her smile, her fucking smile. He's sure even if it was fake, it was breathtaking. Richie shook Carmen's shoulders, shaking him out of his trance. "this is my cousin Carmen, Mikey's brother," Carmen hated being referred to as "Mikey's brother", even before his passing. The woman's eyes grew as she continued to smooth out the little girl's hair in front of her. She seemed anxious while the child smiled at him before running to the man who was sitting at the booth.

"And this is Mary," 'Mary' rolled her eyes at Richie but smiled nonetheless at Carmen.

Fuck, I'm going to pass out

"Maria, and that's August," she shook his hand as she nodded to the little girl. "Carmen uh-" he stammered once he realized she already knew his name. Tina looked at him with a "what-the-hell-face"

"How much do I owe you?" Maria cleared her throat looking everywhere but him. He noticed she did that when talking to Richie and Tina. When her eyes focused on him she looked everywhere but his eyes.

"um-" Carmen was interrupted by Tina, "it's on the house, mija," Carmen whipped around to the woman then back to the customer. "thank you!" she smiled. August ran to her mom then looked to Tina, "I learned how to count to fifty, see, one... two... three-" she paused when Richie handed her a big slab of chocolate cake.

"Richie!" Maria hissed while the man yelled, "smoke break!" walking away. Tina followed him to the back not before sending Carmen a look.

Maria rolled her eyes then glanced at Carmen, "thank you for the food," she smiled, he was homing to pass out. "no problem, I hope you enjoy." he smiled back.

Carmen watched the woman walk away as the child and man hopped to her side exiting the restaurant.

"i hope you enjoy. fucking whiny bitch," Richie mumbles in his ear making him jump. Carmen shoved Richie who went into a fit of laughter. "Cousin, I'm just fuckin' with ya!" he laughed trailing behind him.

𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐄'𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑:

you can always imagine something else.

Maria's clothes match her personality and mood, she's also anemic.

jacob and august>>>> the world

They're going to be my favorite.

I hate chocolate and August likes chocolate cake.

Carmen's already in love, and Maria's well... you'll find out next chapter.

𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃-𝟏𝟐:𝟎𝟑

𝟑:𝟐𝟔𝐚𝐦
𝟕/𝟗/𝟐𝟑

EDITED AGAIN-03/25/25