"Mom! Where's my bag?" A voice hollered down a hall.

"I don't know, Emily. Where did you put it?" Another voice answered from the kitchen.

"Well, if I knew that I wouldn't be asking you." Emily walked into the kitchen. She was stuffing some school books into a backpack. "Is this my lunch?" She slapped her backpack on the counter and sat down on a stool.

"No. That's your dad's lunch. Yours is in the fridge, top shelf."

"Mom?"

"What?"

"Why do you always cook breakfast? Most of the time it doesn't get eaten. Do you like the smell?"

Emily's mom, Darcy, sighed. "Because, Emily, if you would stop rushing around you'd, actually, get to eat some of it. Slow down today. Eat breakfast." Darcy continued to stir up the eggs. She was making scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. A simple breakfast. But, Emily was right. It's rarely eaten in the Conners house.

Emily walked over to the fridge and opened the door. She looked up at he top shelf and seen her lunch. She snatched her lunch, slammed the fridge door shut then went back to her stool at the island.

"Are you and dad getting off work on time today?" Emily asked.

"I don't know. I'd like to. I want to. We'll have to see." Darcy threw some bread into the toaster.

Soon after, Victor walked into the kitchen. He draped his jacket over the back of the bar stool and grabbed some orange juice from the fridge.

"How's work looking for you today?" Darcy asked her husband.

"Mm." He swallowed. "Busy. Were behind schedule. I'm going to try to get off work at a decent hour today, but that'll depend on how much extra we get done today." He put his glass on the counter.

Darcy buttered the toast and served a plate for Emily.

Emily looked the food, untrusting. "I told you, mom, I'm not hungry."

"You never said that. You asked me if I liked the smell." Darcy pointed her finger and turned around. She grabbed another plate to serve Victor.

"Ah. I got to go." Victor confessed.

Darcy's head dropped and her shoulders sank. She shook her head. "No. We are all going to sit down and eat, at least, half of what I made. I don't care if we're all late. We haven't eaten dinner together all week." Darcy turned around and looked at the two of them. "We're going to eat breakfast together. And neither of you will argue." Darcy turned around and continued to serve Victor.

Victor smiled. He pulled out a stool and sat down next to his daughter. "She's right." He looked at Emily. "Are you feeling okay, Em?" He frowned and out his hand on the top of her head.

Emily nodded and looked at him like he was strange. "Yeah." She answered. "Are you okay?" Her eyebrows raised.

"You look a little pale. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Yes, dad." Emily was annoyed. "I'm fine. Why do you worry so much?"

Darcy put a plate in front of Victor and sat down with one for herself. She looked at Emily. "You're right, Vic. She is a little pale, isn't she?" It was Darcy's turn to put her hand on Emily's head.

Emily swatted both her parents' hands away from her. "What is wrong with you? I'm fine! See?" Emily fakes a wide grin. "I'm fine."

"Right. And that constipated look on your face is convincing." Victor said.

Emily's grin disappeared. "Whatever." She shook her head.

"Seriously, though. How'd you sleep?" Darcy asked, concerned.

"Not bad. Not good, either." Emily shrugged. "I was up late doing homework."

"Okay. Well, if anything changes, you let us know." Darcy said.

"All the more reason you should've had another kid." Emily grumbled.

They finished eating in silence. Emily was annoyed that her parents catered to every little thing. So what if she's a bit pale. She's not dying. Emily felt smothered. They always doted on her. She was never spoiled, just cared for.

Darcy and Victor had wanted more children. But, it was a lot of work and a lot of money to have Emily. Darcy didn't ovulate as much as she should've. It took test after test to figure out when she was ovulating. After a few years of trying, they had to have some of her eggs removed, artificially inseminated, then put back in. And even that took a couple of attempts.

They wanted another one, Darcy was in love with her pregnancy and their daughter. But, the work to acquire that pregnancy was hard on them emotionally. Neither of them knew how to manage their emotions when they learned it was successful. And their fear and excitement at the thought of a multiple pregnancy. They didn't think of that before. But, they only had the one. Emily.

Emily was a loud baby. As soon as she discovered her voice, she would scream as loud as she could for fun. She would always giggle when she screamed and her mom or dad would run into the room, frantic. That was her game.

Emily was always moving. She'd pick a toy and carry it all over the house, taking a few play breaks here and there. And now, at 13, she was still moving. Between school, soccer, dance and homework club, Emily didn't have a lot of free time.

Everyday, after school, from 3 to 4:30 was homework club. They offered snacks. On Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7 was dance and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 7 was soccer. So dinner was always late for Emily. Friday's, she always kept for herself. She liked to hang out or watch a movie. Saturdays and Sundays sometimes had recitals or tournaments.

Emily wasn't ALL about soccer. She'd play the sport that was in season or whatever team the school set up. Last year it was tennis and ice hockey. This year it's soccer and ice hockey.

Emily went to a school on reserve. Her family took pride in it. For Emily, it was all she knew. Her parents kept her quite sheltered. They wanted her to learn as much as she could about their culture. And they didn't want her to have to deal with the racism and discrimination off reserve.

Although, they often wondered if it would've been better for her to go to a public school off reserve. She would learn about the diversity of society. She would come to realize that the native population weren't the only people suffering. She would learn how to interact. She would be better prepared for when she left for college. But they always came back to wanting her to learn her culture and being able to stand by it later, rather than having her turn her back to fit in.

Because of their indecisive attitudes about all of this, Darcy and Victor decided they would move Emily to the off reserve school in grade 10. She could spend her graduating years with the white population and discover the societal expectations. They hoped that it would properly prepare her for her adult life off reserve.

Victor was a construction worker. He partnered with the band to own his own business. One great thing about it was there was always work. If Victor and his crew wasn't building new homes, they were busy with renovations, new additions, or your basic fixings. And Victor was behind.

They were given only five months to build four new homes. Not to mention he had 10 homes that needed renovations due to mould, two needed new additions and 23 homes that needed a basic fix. Basic fixes could mean a new floor, wall patches, rail replacement, gutter cleaning, etc.

He had to hire on more people. He had a 10-man crew at the new lots building the new homes. He had a 4-man crew working on the renovations. He had a 2-man crew helping with the smaller fixes. And he would spend half the day with the new builds, half the day with the renovations and another four hours after to get as much of the house fixings done as he could.

"I think I'll just give Greg a call. Give him the itinerary for today. I'll give Brett a call too. Make sure he knows what he doing. That way I should be able to get the smaller jobs done and I can check on the houses and reno's later. I might be able to get home on time if I do it that way." Victor said.

"Well, you did hire these people. If you can't trust them, why did you hire them?" Darcy asked him.

Victor nodded as he chewed. "You're right." He said. " I shouldn't have to be on every site. I just want to make sure we get things done in the time allotted without mistakes."

"Right, so why hire people you can't depend on? Just try it that way. Give them a call, let them know your doing the small jobs today to catch up. Check on them tomorrow. See how it went. If it went well, then continue on with the small jobs."

"So, not check on them today?"

"Why? Take a day to relax a bit. Let it go for today. Tomorrow you can hold your breath and see how it went."

Victor nodded. "Alright. I can do that. And come home at a decent time so we can have dinner together tonight." He smiled at Emily.

"You forget? It's Thursday." Emily took a bite. "I won't get home until 7:30. I have soccer."

Victor looked at Darcy. "So I can check the sites tonight."

"No." Darcy wiped her mouth. "You get off at 5. You can help me with dinner. And I will make sure that I don't have to stay for another meeting today. So I can be home by 5 as well."

Darcy was the housing manager at the band office. She stayed late at work often so she could catch up on paperwork. She spent most of her day dealing with angry tenants. Darcy refused to bring her work home. If proposals had to be done or applications were due, she'd stay behind to ensure they were completed on time. She was, in fact, Victor's partner/boss. She handed him the work orders, the blueprints for the new homes and gave him the time frame.

Although, she understood the demands and restraints of time, she still wanted to have family time, and her family was busy. She was happy Emily decided to keep Friday's. She wasn't happy that not all Friday's she could be home too. She missed her family. She looked forward to her holidays. They always took two weeks off during Emily's spring break. But two weeks out of the year wasn't enough. Nor could Darcy include the family holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. It wasn't enough. But, they were getting paid well. And Darcy and Victor had put money aside for future use.

"Okay. Time to go, mom. I'm going to be late for school." Emily shoveled a bit in her mouth as she jumped to her feet. She ran around the kitchen island and threw her plate into the sink.

"I don't care." Darcy said. "We're spending time."

"Mom!" Emily grabbed her bag. "If I have to start walking I will be late."

"Go ahead, then." Darcy took another bite. She didn't bother to look at Emily.

Victor started laughing. "Come on, Emily. I'll take you to school today." He stood up and brought his bowl to the sink.

"I did say I didn't care if we were all late." Darcy argued.

"Come on Darcy. Realistically, we can't be late. And given the time, one of us has to drop Em off at school which makes one of us late for work." He smiled. He kissed Darcy at the side of her head.

Darcy sighed. She waved him off. She wanted to finish her breakfast before leaving.

Victor chuckled. "Let's go Em." He grabbed his lunch and walked out the door.

"You remember what your mom said, anything else goes on with you, you let us know. I don't like that you're so pale, today." Victor's reminded Emily.

Emily rolled her eyes. "I told you. I was up late. I'm fine."

They pulled up to Emily's school. Emily opened her door and unbuckled at the same time.

"Slow down, Em."

"Dad! The bells going to ring." She jumped out of the truck grabbed her bag and slammed the door.

Victor sat there for a few minutes watching Emily walk toward the school. He didn't care how many adults were there, he didn't like the idea of leaving before she walked in. He didn't feel it was safe if he left her walking on the sidewalk.

Darcy arrived at work just in time. She walked through the door as it turned to 8 o'clock. "Good morning." She smiled at the receptionist. She walked down the hallway, through a door and down an even longer hallway.

*The 'band' is a body of government, for a reserve, that is functional through the Indian Act. Generally, for each reserve, there is a chief and a certain number of counsil members that depend on the number of band members. This, they call, a 'band'. The 'band office' houses the different portions of the reserve that need to be run. Housing, health, finance, welfare, etc. *

Darcy wished the band would've built a nicer band office. Two long hallways was all you got. And the hall's were miles long. At least it felt like it. Darcy's office was near the end of the hall. She figured she got her cardio in everyday. Up and down the hall, meet tenants, make photocopies at the front desk, go for lunch, meet with more tenants, it went on. Darcy was feeling experimental one day. She brought in a stop watch and timed herself. It was 7.86 minutes of walking down to her office, one-way. That was 15.72 minutes of walking just to meet a tenant. And Darcy met with an average of 12 tenants per day, and then lunch. 204.36 minutes. That's, roughly, 3 hours and 25 minutes of cardio per day. Yeah. Darcy was satisfied. She was gone long enough, she didn't want to have to go to the gym as well. Such a stupid hallway.

"Hey Greg. Listen, I'm not coming in today. I have to catch up on the work orders." Victor said. He was still sitting in his truck in front of Emily's school. He decided to make his calls while he waited for Emily to go inside. She was taking her time, as usual.

"Finally!" Greg laughed on the phone. "Was wondering when you were going to leave me alone."

"Don't get too comfortable." Victor warned. "I'll be looking at EVERYTHING" Victor enunciated every syllable of the word.

Greg laughed. "Yeah, I'll bet you would." He sighed. "Yeah, no. Sounds good. What's the goal for today?"

"Getting the electrician to finish his job so we can finish ours. But the plumbers supposed to be coming in again."

"Why's that?"

"He wanted to give everything a fourth over. Honestly, I think he's just being nosey."

Greg chuckled. "Well, he finished last week. This would be his fourth time back. You don't think he set the place up to flood, do ya?"

"No. But he does seem overly concerned, doesn't he?" Victor frowned at the thought. "Anyway, make sure that electrician gets the job done. And don't let him leave without checking everything, at least, twice."

"Oh. Now I get it."

"What's that?"

"Why the plumber's coming back. You scared the shit out of him, telling him to check everything, ya fuckin' bully." Greg laughed.

"Why's your dad sitting there?" Piper Faulkner asked. She was looking at Victor sitting in his truck.

"He has this thing. He refuses to leave until I enter the school. I don't know." Emily shrugged. She looked at her dad. "He's weird. He did say he was going to call his work buddies. He must be on the phone with them now."

"Hey, Em. You're late." Joel Tippon said. He jumped at the girls and draped his arms over their shoulders. He looked at Victor in the truck. He smiled, nodded and waved with his index and middle fingers.

"You realize my dad doesn't think you're cool?" Emily asked.

"Who cares. He likes me. That's all that matters." Joel smiled at Emily. "Why's he still here anyway? Aren't you close enough to the door?"

"Nope. I have to be INSIDE the school." Emily rolled her eyes. She looked at her dad, again. She looked at him as if to tell him to leave.

"I'm not that mean." Victor smiled. He looked out his passenger window and seen Emily standing by the door. Piper was standing next to her and Joel was standing between them with his arms over their shoulders. He seen the look Emily was giving him. He smiled at her. "I'll let you get to work. Remember, don't fuck anything up. I'll be in to see tomorrow morning. I gotta call Brett."

"Yeah, good luck with that one." Greg laughed, again.

Victor shook his head at his phone. Greg laughed one too many times. He was far too happy that Victor wasn't coming in. He dialled another number, put the phone to his ear and looked at his daughter again. This time, Joel was leaning against the wall and Emily and Piper were beside him, leaning on the concrete planter. All their heads were down as they spoke.

"You going to go inside so your dad can leave?" Piper asked.

"Why should I?"

"Cuz it's kinda creepy that he's sitting there like a stalker." Piper said.

"Whatever." Emily frowned. "If I go inside, he'll leave, and I'll come right back out again. Seems kinda stupid."

"What's stupid is your dad's a hardcore daughter-stalker." Piper commented.

"You're just jealous cuz your dad won't do that." Emily elbowed Piper.

"I'm happy he doesn't. I'd be embarrassed."

"That's cuz your dad refuses to let his rez-rocket go." Joel laughed. "That must've been his first car."

"Shut up." Piper kicked Joel, lightly.

Joel continued to laugh at Piper. "It's old and rickety. I wouldn't trust it. How do you make it to school when he drives you? I'm surprised it hadn't turned to dust from all that rust."

"Shut up, Joel!" Piper frowned at him.

Joel laughed.

"Doesn't matter." Emily said. "At least you can drive it. What's that pile of junk in your yard, Joel?"

Joel's laugh turned into a weak giggle. He looked at Emily.

Piper laughed. "That's right! Oh, my God. I totally forgot. Don't you have, like, three, broken cars in your yard?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Joel shook his head and looked down. "What's going on with you, anyway, Em? You seem kinda pale."

Emily rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with everybody? I'm fine. I got to sleep late. That's all."

"You sure? Cuz you're more pale than just a 'lack-of-sleep kinda pale'. You're, like, really pale." Joel pointed out.

"Oh, my God! Em. He's right. You have, like, serious bags under your eyes. You NEVER looked like that before."

Emily frowned at them. She was more curious than annoyed, now. Maybe her parents were right to be worried. Emily admitted to herself that she didn't look in the mirror this morning. She got up, brushed her teeth, rinsed, washed her face, fixed her hair and ran downstairs. But she didn't LOOK at her face.

"Brett? Letting you know I won't be in today. I have to catch up on work orders." Victor said on his cell. He seen Emily and her friends all frown.

"O, ya. Okay. Sure. Yep. Uh-huh." Brett answered.

"You think you can handle the reno's on your own, today?" Victor was almost hoping he'd say no.

"O ya. Okay. Sure. Yep. Uh-huh."

"Brett?" Victor hated it when Brett answered like that. He always did that. Every family on the reserve had their own verbal etiquette. And Brett's family loved to answer with synonyms.

"What? Huh?"

Victor shook his head. "Okay. Call me if there's a problem then." He smiled. Even though he hated it, he couldn't help but be entertained by it. Victor looked at his daughter, again. This time Piper and Joel were looking at Emily like they were concerned. He figured they noticed she was pale, finally. Took them long enough.

"O, ya. Sure. Okay. Yep. Will do." Brett answered.

Victor chuckled, silently, as he got off the phone. He threw the phone down on the seat next to him. He looked up at Emily again. Was she ever going to go inside? She was anxious to dive out of the truck and now she just stood there.