The sky was clear, painted light blue all the way to the horizon with no clouds in sight. The gentle breeze was barely noticeable.

In the Davenport mansion, the teenagers gathered in the living room. Leo anxiously awaited Adam's return from his driving test. Bree was engrossed in a magazine, Harper studied history with her books and papers spread out on the table, and Chase was occupied on his phone.

"I can't believe Adam's not back from his driving test." Leo complained as he walked over to the couch. "What's taking him so long?"

Bree sighed and looked up from her magazine. "Two words: Adam. Test."

"Man, if he passes, it's good news for us and bad news for everyone on the road. Or the sidewalk." Chase joked, chuckling lightly.

"He'll do fine." Harper reassured. "I mean, no state requires you to achieve a perfect score. You can make some minor mistakes during the pre-drive portion of the test and again during the drive without necessarily failing the test."

"Well, he has to pass. I need him to drive me to that party on Saturday." Leo said.

"What party?" Chase inquired.

Leo chuckled. "The one you weren't invited to."

"I was invited too." Harper said, jotting down notes in her notebook.

"You got invited to Caroline Davis' party and I didn't?" Bree asked incredulously "I mean, Harper I get, but you?"

"Neither did I!" Chase added.

"Well, no surprise there." Bree retorted before turning back to Leo. "But why were you invited?"

"Oh, Bree, I'm climbing the social ladder. There are now three or four ladies who make eye contact with me in the hallway." Leo shared. Harper dropped her pen and stared at him with raised eyebrows. "Okay, it's two! But I'm going to the party."

"Bree, if it helps... I don't plan on going to the party." Harper confessed. "I mean, I have to study for this upcoming science test which is worth half of my grade."

"Would you like some help?" Chase offered.

Harper glanced over at him and smiled gratefully. "Yeah... that would be great. Thanks, Chase."

The front door began to open.

"He's home!" Bree exclaimed with excitement.

The four teens stood up eagerly but groaned and collapsed back on the couch when Tasha walked in.

"It's just you." Leo groaned.

"Nice to see you, too." Tasha said sarcastically.

"Sorry, mum. How's it going?"

"Great. I've had the best day. It all started when-"

Tasha was interrupted as the front door swung open.

"Save it for later, woman! Adam's here!" Leo shouted, pushing his mother aside.

Bree, Chase and Harper sprang up from the couch and hurried to the front door as it swung open to reveal Mr. Davenport. With a broad smile, he entered the mansion, and the teens eagerly awaited his announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mission Creek's newest fully licensed driver!" Mr. Davenport declared, motioning towards the doorway, but no one was there. He turned around and stepped outside. "Adam, that's you."

"Oh, right." Adam said from outside before rushing in through the front door. "Woo-hoo, I passed!"

Everyone erupted in cheers.

"He really impressed me." Mr. Davenport admitted to his wife. "He got a ninety-six on the test."

"I didn't even know scores went up that high!" Adam commented. "Oh, and get this, Mr. Davenport said if I passed, he'd buy me a car."

Tasha turned to her husband in shock. "What?!"

"Well, in my defense, I never thought he would pass." Mr. Davenport explained from the side of his mouth.

"Yeah, none of us did." Bree chimed in.

"Preachin' to the choir, people." Adam said.

"I'm so proud of you, Adam!" Harper said happily, flinging her arms around his neck. "You know, your driver's license gives you an incredible amount of independence. Like being able to go where you want. Plus, you'll always get to be in charge of the radio station, which is pretty great."

"Donald, are you sure he's ready for a car? You remember what happened when you bought him a bike?" Tasha questioned.

"Um... to be fair, honey, Adam is a lot more responsible now. He worked very hard to get his driver's license, and I think he should be rewarded." Mr. Davenport replied.

Everyone looked at Adam as he sat in a chair, pretending to drive a car and making driving noises. Suddenly, he imitated brakes screeching and an explosion.

"I don't know." Tasha said uncertainly.

"Don't worry, I promise I will get Adam the safest car available." Mr. Davenport assured.

"The safest car is the one he isn't driving." Chase remarked.

"Not true." Adam declared as he stood up from the chair. "I've caused many wrecks as a pedestrian."

"I don't care what car it is, as long as you give me a ride to Caroline Davis' party. I don't know if you heard..." Leo trailed off and turned to Bree with a smirk. "... I was invited."

"Enough!" Bree exclaimed in frustration.

••••

At school, Harper slid her tray onto the table and sat down next to Chase. She took a bite of her sandwich as Leo boasted about Caroline Davis' party.

"Take care, ladies. See you at the party." Leo called out to two girls passing by. Then he turned back to Bree and Chase. "Oh, did I tell you I was invited to the par-"

"Yes!" Bree and Chase exclaimed in unison.

"There's my little boy!" Tasha exclaimed as she entered the cafeteria. Leo's eyes widened in shock. With a wide grin, she approached the table. "Mind if I join you?"

As Tasha sat down next to Leo, the four teens were taken aback and unsure of how to react. Leo subtly gestured to Harper, Chase and Bree, hoping one of them would speak up.

"What are you doing here, Tasha?" Harper wondered hesitantly.

Tasha smiled brightly. "I'm here because I decided to run for president of the PTA."

"Oh, that's nice." Leo responded with a forced smile. "What school?! Cause I know it's not this one!"

"With Adam getting his license and you going to parties, it made me realize that you're all growing up. So, I'm going to get a lot more involved in your school lives." She explained.

"Well, Leo could definitely use a chaperon for the party this weekend." Chase suggested.

"No! No, no, no!" Leo exclaimed, pointing at Chase and jumped up from his chair. "Mum, why are you doing this!? What is missing in your life? I can pay for art classes!"

"Oh, Leo, this will be fun!" Tasha reassured, standing up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If I get elected, I will be here all the time! We'll eat lunch, gossip, I can talk you up to the gals."

"The gals?" Leo asked, looking horrified. He turned his head around to Bree, Chase and Harper. ""Get her out! Get her out!"

"Don't worry. Once the ladies see how mum rocks it, ooo! You are going to be so popular." Tasha told her son.

"You really are." Bree, Chase and Harper chimed in with a smirk.

Tasha hurried over to a table full of girls. "Hi, I'm Leo's mum. I'm running for president of the PTA, which is 'Pretty Totally Awesome', right?"

Leo shook his head. "No!"

"Be sure to tell your parents to vote for me: Tasha Davenport! T-Dav to you kids. Holler!" Tasha exclaimed, waving her arms in the air.

The girls at the table looked down in embarrassment.

"Mums... we all got 'em, am I right?" Leo awkwardly commented to the girls before returning to his table and crawled underneath it.

••••

Later in the day, Bree, Chase and Harper stood by their lockers before school ended.

Harper leaned against her locker, while Chase held cue-cards to help her study for the science test in two days.

Studying is essential for success as it helps develop our minds, increase knowledge and experience, and train us to understand and apply complex subjects practically.

"What are the two types of particles in the nucleus of an atom?" Chase questioned.

"Proton & Neutron." Harper answered.

"When you open a bottle of wine and leave it exposed to the air, the ethanol in it reacts with oxygen. This reactions forms what?"

"Ethanoic acid."

"This type of cell division results in four daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes in the parent cells. What is it called?" Chase questioned.

Harper paused for a moment. "Um... Meiosis?"

"Correct!" He cheered brightly. "Harper, I don't know why you're worrying about this. You're gonna pass."

Bree stood to the side, smirking at her brother and best friend, waiting for them to realize their feelings for each other

"Guys, get this." Tasha called out, rushing over to them. "I am the only candidate for PTA President. I'm gonna win! Car washes, bake sales, fund raisers. I'll be here all the time."

"That is great news." Bree beamed.

"Leo's gonna be so happy." Chase added.

Tasha grinned widely as she walked away from the teens. Once she was out of sight, Bree, Chase and Harper turned around to face the lockers.

Harper cleared her throat, and Leo, who had been hiding at his locker beside them, slammed it closed and turned to face them. He was wearing a long brown wig and a purple jacket tied around his waist.

"We have to stop her." Leo declared.

Chase scoffed. "Uh, we? What's in it for us?"

"Oh, come on! I'm desperate!" Leo cried, taking off the wig.

"Well, you could get us into your cool party." Bree suggested with a smirk.

"Oh, Bree. That's cute. But at the end of the day, I am who I am, and you are who-" Leo began, but he stopped when Bree and Chase started walking away. "All right, fine. I'll get you into the party!" The bionic siblings walked back to him with a satisfied smile. "Just tell me how we're going to get rid of my mum."

"Easy. We just have to find someone to run against her and win." Chase said.

"Right." Bree agreed. "Someone who's power hungry and ruthless and enjoys crushing other people's dreams."

"Go home, maggots!" Principal Perry barked, exiting her office with chains slung over her shoulder. "It's 3:30 and I wanna chain up!"

Harper smirked. "Looks like we found our candidate."

••••

Back at the Davenport mansion, everyone sat on the living room couch, eagerly awaiting Adam's return from the car dealership with his new car.

"And, just like I promised, I got Adam a very safe and practical car." Mr. Davenport announced as he sat next to Tasha on the couch.

"Look, I know equations. Adam plus safe doesn't exactly work." Chase remarked. "So, where is he?"

"Maybe he forgot how to get home... again." Bree suggested bluntly.

Mr. Davenport chuckled. "Come on, four times in one week? What are the odds?"

Harper sighed and stood up from the couch. "You guys grab the stapler. I'll go get the 'Lost Adam' flyers."

Everyone groaned and got up from the couch.

"Guys! Check out my new ride!" Adam's voice echoed from the outside.

"He's here!" Leo exclaimed with excitement.

Harper and the others hurried to the front, but were taken aback when they saw Adam in a monster truck. Harper's jaw dropped as Adam stood next to the driver's door.

"Isn't it awesome? And I only had to fill the tank twice on the way home!" Adam called out.

••••

The next day at school, Bree, Leo and Harper sat on the bench in the center of the hallway. Chase was gathering information about the PTA, while Harper was engrossed in her textbooks.

Harper was immersed in reading about the Neurobiology of sleep and found that sleep-promoting nuclei are GABAergic and are located in the preoptic area, brainstem and lateral hypothalamus.

"Guys, guess what?" Chase called out as he rushed towards them from Perry's office.

Leo quickly closed the book he was holding, revealing his disguise of glasses and a fake mustache. "What?"

"Leo!" Chase sighed, giving him a pointed look.

"No." Leo replied in a deep voice. "I'm the new chemistry teacher, Mr. Tate."

Harper sighed, turned to Leo and removed the fake mustache from his face. His eyes widened and he let out a high-pitched scream.

"So, get this. I checked the PTA election rules and you don't have to be a parent to run for President." Chase informed them. "Principal Perry is totally eligible."

"Well, that's great!" Bree exclaimed, getting up from the bench. "And you know that if she runs, she's gonna cheat and make sure she'll win. You can always count on that woman to do the wrong thing."

"But how do we convince her to run?" Leo wondered.

Harper nodded. "Leo's right. I mean, the only things that motivate that woman are revenge, rage, and kitty calendars."

Chase shrugged. "Well, then we just have to find a way to make her mad at Tasha and then trick her into doing it."

"How?" Leo inquired.

"Maybe a little bionic vocal manipulation is in order." Bree suggested. She turned to Leo with a bright smile and perfectly imitated Tasha's voice. "There's my little bug-a-boo. Come give mummy some sugar."

Leo took off his glasses and cleaned them. "Okay, that never stops being weird."

••••

Harper and Chase were assigned to retrieve Principal Perry, while Bree and Leo monitored Tasha.

After successfully locating Perry, they escorted her to the cafeteria.

Perry sighed. "This better be important, shrub head and cinnamon."

The two teens stopped Perry when they saw Leo and Tasha sitting at a table. Leo signaled that his mother had the headphones on.

"We just thought that maybe you'd like to hear what our future PTA president is saying behind your back." Chase said.

"I am shocked." Bree began, mimicking Tasha's voice from under a nearby table. "At the lack of professionalism around this school. And it all starts with that tyrant Principal Perry."

Principal Perry scoffed. "Well, that's obvious."

"When I'm president I'm gonna make it my mission to get her fired!" Bree added, while Leo reacted to make it appear as if Tasha was talking to him.

"Fired?! She can't do that!"

"Technically, as PTA president, she can." Harper explained.

Chase nodded in agreement and picked up the rule book from the table. "It's right here in the rule book."

"Let me see that!" Perry demanded, snatching the book from Chase.

"Oh, one more thing, I hate cats." Bree added.

Principal Perry gasped in anger. "The claws are out now!"

"You know, maybe you should run against her." Chase suggested.

"Against her? I'm gonna run over her!" She exclaimed, slapping the book into Chase's chest before storming over to Tasha. Leo quickly removed the headphones from his mother's ears. "Hey!"

Confused about the situation, Tasha smiled. "Oh, hi, Principal Perry! Did you hear? No one is running against me. I'm gonna be PTA president."

Principal Perry shook her head. "Not in this lifetime, Mitzy Von Minivan. I'm in the race now, and around here, the only thing PTA stands for is Putting Tanya Away."

"My name is Tasha." She corrected.

"Still starts with a 'T'!" Perry exclaimed before storming out of the cafeteria.

••••

That night Harper stood with Bree, Chase and Leo at the PTA meeting in the gym, Principal Perry approached the podium, grabbed the microphone, and cleared her throat, which turned into a moment of choking before she recovered.

"Vote for me, I know where you live." Perry declared confidently before nodding and stepping away from the podium as the audience applause. She approached Tasha. "Good luck with that, Mum jeans. This election's mine."

Tasha walked up to the podium to present her platform. "Before I lay out my platform, I spent some time going through the school's accounting records-"

Perry interrupted Tasha by clearing her throat and quickly grabbed the microphone. "I withdraw!"

"What are you doing?" Leo demanded, stepping towards their principal.

"Saving a fortune in legal fees!" Perry explained.

"Wait, hold on!" Chase called out. "According to the rules, it is past the deadline to withdraw."

Harper nodded. "He's right! So, we still need to hear final speeches and then vote."

Perry rushed to the podium and grabbed the microphone. "No speech. I vote Tasha. Tasha! Tasha! Tasha!"

Bree, Chase, Leo, and Harper defeated as the audience clapped and cheered for Tasha.

It took a moment for the chanting to subside, allowing Tasha to deliver her long and tedious speech. Harper groaned softly as she stretched her arms.

"And once I'm president, Mission Creek will run as smoothly as my very own happy family." Tasha concluded, gesturing towards the four teenagers, who were hiding their faces.

Then all of a sudden, something crashed through the wall behind Tasha, causing chaos in the gym. The audience screamed and fled as debris scattered around. Chase grabbed Harper's hand and pulled her to safety.

After the dust settled, Bree, Chase, Leo, Harper and Tasha saw Adam and Mr. Davenport emerging from the monster truck that had crashed through the wall.

"Quick! Back up before she sees us!" Adam urged, though Tasha had already spotted them.

"Donald!" Tasha screamed.

"Vote for Tasha." Mr. Davenport insisted, honking the horn.

Mr. Davenport and Adam climbed down from the monster truck and joined the others in front of it. Tasha appeared furious and upset as she surveyed the debris around her.

"Well, thanks to you I totally lost the election! No one person voted for me!" Tasha announced.

"Yes!" Chase, Harper, Leo, and Bree cheered together.

Tasha shot them a look.

"You will get 'em next year, mum." Leo reassured before the four of them dashed out of the gym.

________________
PUBLISHED: 17.02.23
DEDICATIONS: Peters_suit_lady