For people who are on banker’s hours, the weekends are great for multiple reasons. The days named after Saturn and the sun are a break from their day to day routines. These days are used to relax from the stress of their life. These days are important to keep a good work/life balance. After having these two days people feel recharged and able to go back to the daily grind of their work. Lastly, after the break there is a reset. A restart to erase little disagreements which need no work other than time away to be amended. Tracy Armstrong was looking forward to resuming her routine of going to school so she could re-establish her friendship with Luke.

This reset of Luke and Tracy’s friendship should have been easy. So much time had passed since she teased him. A weekend was an eternity to a second grader. Kids were so forgiving. So many times Tracy had seen two of her classmates fight only to be best friends again after one said sorry. Add to that, the most important factor that Luke and Tracy were friends before Tracy aligned with Lori in the War of the Twins on Friday. Tracy and Luke would always talk at the bus stop. At school Luke would help her with spelling and she would help him with math. Yet the reunion of the two friends did not happen. Those two could not reconnect. Their friendship was too strained to be able to reform without direct action. How much Tracy picked on Luke made the ill feeling between them carry past the reset from the weekend.

Tracy said hello to Luke. When he saw the blue and white striped dress Tracy had on, the boy decided he was just going to ignore her. Before Tracy could even start talking to Luke as if Friday did not happen, her friend walked right passed her without returning her hello. Luke ignoring her, hurt Tracy. There should have been at least a hi returned by Luke. Tracy made sure there was a big smile on her face and her happiness in seeing her friend was heard in her voice. Tracy’s posture was relaxed. Tracy’s greeting was an olive branch and Luke was mean by rejecting it.

Tracy was not going to let Luke get away with slighting her. She greeted Luke again. This time the mad girl used Luka instead of Luke. If Luke was not going to be nice then Tracy was not going to also. Tracy was going to feel better about herself by making the boy who made her feel bad feel worse than she did. The mocking worked. A couple of kids laughed. Hearing her fellow classmates made Tracy feel good about herself.

Lori walked up to her ally and said “Hey Luka, Tracy is wearing your favorite dress.”

Lori’s snide comment made more of the kids at the bus stop join in the laughter. A couple of the kids repeated Lori’s statement. Lori’s classmates wanted to join in the fun. Those kids also wanted the good feeling which came along with people laughing at what you said. They did not add their own spin to making fun of Luke because they were not smart enough to come up with anything original to say.

The awkwardness Luke felt on Friday was returning. The young boy was the subject of ridicule again, and he felt like there was nothing he could do. If he answered, the kids would just not pay attention to what he said. His reply would just encourage the kids to tease him more. Not answering would then give Luke’s tormentors the go ahead to pick on him when they wanted.

Tracy made eye contact with Luke. She saw so much sadness in her friend’s eye, that right then, Tracy wished she could have a restart to the day. She understood why Luke rejected her reaching out to him. Her friend thought her choice of wardrobe was to mock him. Tracy was wearing a blue and white striped dress. She mocked Luke about being in the same dress so much on Friday that Luke jumping to that conclusion was understandable to her.

Tracy had to set the record straight. Her wearing the dress was just a coincidence, not to continue to mock Luke. Tracy went to Luke to make sure he knew she meant him no harm. The bridge she burnt down on Friday needed to be rebuilt. Before Tracy could make it to Luke she was cut off by Renee. The delay in the reconstruction of their friendship did not bother Tracy. In fact, Renee standing up for Luke made her feel good. Luke had friends who would stand with him. The girl who accidentally restarted picking on Luke, knew her friend was going to need that. The teasing was not going to just go away.

When the yellow bus was in the sight of the kids, the little bit of laughter which was still lingering, started to come to a halt. By the time Mr. Ray Ray opened the door, the kids were as well behaved as he expected from them. Luke, Matt and Tracy were all relieved. They thought the break from their classmates getting a laugh at Luke’s expense would end the teasing. Those three were wrong.

Blake was waiting for Luke when the school bus was pulling up to drop off the students. Blake wanted to make his former best friend pay for the trouble he got in on Friday. Luke should not have brought adults into the situation. Right next to Blake was Luke’s replacement, Mike Patton. Mike was quickly becoming the George Costanza to Blake’s Jerry Seinfeld. The sidekick was needling Blake on, to make sure he kept his word. Mike knew he would be cast aside once Luke and Blake made amends.

Even if Mike did not whisper motivation in Blake’s ear, the boy would have still gotten the encouragement to continue to push Luke further away from him. Lori was enjoying someone who Luke cared about turning on her brother. If other kids started to treat Luke as not being as important as her, then her twin brother would start to see his role. Seeing that he was only a supporting character in the drama which was Lori’s life, would go a far way for him to finally accept his role, his place outside of the spotlight.

Lori was also cunning enough to further solidify Blake being on Team Lori and to make sure Tracy was forced on her side. She knew that Tracy was feeling bad about starting the teasing of Luke at the bus stop. The diva in training walked up to Blake and loudly said “Tracy has such a nice dress on. Luke wished he looked as good in it when he wore it on Thursday.”

Blake laughed and said “Yeah Luke likes to be pretty.”

Mike was happy with Blake keeping his word. Now Mike was closer to keeping his place at his friend’s side. Being satisfied was not long lasting for Mike. One reason was Luke did not react to Blake’s taunt. The second was how Tracy reacted. The girl wanted to make a wrong right said “That is enough picking on Luke.”

Lori was not going to lose anyone, let alone one of her strongest supporters, from her camp. Lori started to pick on Tracy. “Tracy likes pretty boys.”

This move to start picking on Tracy was a risky one. Lori would either lose Tracy from her camp for good or else cement her friend’s place securely on her side. Lori saw the risk worth taking. Tracy was a sensitive girl and did not like being the object of ridicule. If Lori was right Tracy would not want to chance the kids starting to pick on her and at worse, just be quiet. There was a small chance that Tracy might try to distract attention from herself by rejoining in on tormenting Luke.

Lori’s gambit paid off in the best way possible. Tracy bit her lip and made the bad decision of backing Lori and Blake. The girl wanted to listen to her better angels. Tracy did not want to do what she felt like she had to, but did. One more little joke could not do that much more damage to her friendship to Luke. “No Lori, I just want to make sure we can have more fun later picking on Luka.”

Some of the kids laughed, but even with feeling small from being picked on, Luke did not retreat like he did on Friday. He had the support of his new friends. Them standing at his side gave Luke the strength to stay in the playground. Staying outside made Luke not feel small anymore. Renee and Matt were a buffer which muffled the sounds of Lori and her gang being mean to him. Those three were able to raise above the meanness of those four bullies.

Mike started to feel threatened when Blake mentioned that Luke was not that bad after all. He did not go to the teacher and bring them into something which did not concern them. He then talked about those two playing some four squares with Luke and Matt at recess.

There was only one course of action for Mike to take, bring the teachers into this. He was going to let Mr. Noth know, Blake was picking on Luke. Then after selling out his friend, Mike would blame Luke. He would say Mr. Noth asked him if Blake was picking on Luke. When getting in trouble, Blake would wrongly assume Luke was the one who was the tattletale. Even with Luke telling the truth Blake would not believe him.

Mike’s plan worked perfectly. Once again Blake was not allowed to go out for recess and the boy sat in his classroom blaming that no-good Luke. At the end of the day Blake confronted Luke about getting him in trouble and did not believe the truth. Walking out with his new best friend, Blake said he was done with Luke. Blake’s former friend should have taken the little bit of teasing.

On the bus ride home Tracy tried to undo the hurt and pain she gave Luke. Before the girl could give her sincere apology Luke stopped her. Right then to curtail the teasing from starting back up as to not even let it start. The best defense was a good offense. Luke informing Tracy that he did not want to talk with her, hurt. Even with Tracy being on Team Lori, Luke’s twin sister wanted to entrench Tracy even more onto her side. She egged the hurt girl to tease Luke. Tracy bit her lip and did exactly what Lori wanted her to “Fine pout like the little girl you are Luka.”

Trying to feel better was a huge mistake by Tracy. The biggest part of this was right then Luke was not going to be open to being friends with Tracy again. He knew that kids picked on other kids and sometimes did it himself. Luke also knew picking on other kids over and over about the same subject was wrong. It was more than just being a kid, those actions were not nice.

The other reason Tracy making fun at Luke’s expense was a huge mistake, is that she said it loud enough for Mr. Ray Ray to hear her mean words. The bus driver overhearing Tracy picking on Luke quickly got the boy out of Mr. Ray Ray’s doghouse and two new tenants, Lori and Tracy. Those two must have been picking on Luke and that is what caused the outburst on Friday.

Lori ended up a resident in the bus driver’s doghouse because she was smug. Being pleased with how well her goal of getting Luke in his place was going she forgot her surroundings. She laughed loudly. As soon as Mr. Ray Ray told Lori and her ally in the War of the Twins to be quiet she knew she had made a mistake. Even with understanding that she made a blunder, Lori was not going to take the blame. Her being in trouble was all Luke’s fault. If her brother would have only taken what he deserved, being the butt of Tracy’s jokes for everyone’s amusement, then Mr. Ray Ray would not have known.

When the twins got home Lori made sure that her mom knew that Luke got her in trouble. Alice was not going to deal with those two bickering. Lori quickly told a tale of how Luke got her in trouble for nothing. Anyone who was not biased would have quickly known the truth was that Lori was trying to make her having fun at her brother’s expense, not trying to have fun with her brother.

Alice just wanted to quickly defuse the situation. She sent Luke up to his room, and when her son started to protest, Alice put a stop to it quicker than making instant rice by saying. “Your pouting Luke, just proves I was right putting you in a dress. If you tell your dad what I said, would do so also. It might even make him see the error of saying I was wrong.”

Luke instantly stop resisting what his mom told him to do. Alice was so relieved and did not think that her son took her words to heart as strongly as he did. They were said in the spur of the moment and meant to be throwaway as soon as Alice got her way. How easy Luke started to follow his mom, started a bad trend. She would use this easy way of making her son listen to her, as her go to way to stop the bickering between her kids. Unwittingly just wanting peace and quiet, led her to taking actions which helped Lori make sure that Luke saw his role in life.

**********

The rest of the school week went a lot like Monday for Luke. Lori was going out of her way to make sure that Blake and Tracy kept up on making sure Luke knew that those two did not like him. With how strong Blake and Luke’s friendship was, Mike did have to make sure the division between those two remained. Blake’s new Robin was secured in his place. Tracy was more open to joining in on picking on Luke. She was mad that her friend would not give her a chance to explain about the dress.

Then when Lori got home the Brat Princess made sure her mom saw her as the victim. Her being on Mr. Ray Ray’s bad side and her being punished were the reasons Lori wanted Luke to be in trouble at home. Alice did not want to deal with the bickering so she would then chastise Luke. She used him being in a dress as a way to get him to not talk back.

Alice’s method of bringing peace to her house worked. She found it easy, but did not know the cost of trying to give her daughter the same childhood she had on her son. Luke was learning that there was nothing he could do to stop Lori from getting her way. Not giving Luke a chance to say his side and making sure her husband did not know what was going on, started her son on the path to learned helplessness.

Even with not knowing exactly what was happening before he got home, Fred knew something was not right. Lori was too pleased with herself. Luke was becoming more withdrawn when around his mom and sister. Fred tried to get Luke to tell him, but Luke stayed silent. Luke was scared that his mom was telling the truth that his dad might take her side about Luke being in a dress.

Fred knew he had to do something special for Luke. The caring father decided that with how much fun Luke and his friends had at the bike park he would take them again this weekend. Alice objected to her husband’s plan until Lori said it would be nice to have some mother-daughter time together. When Fred called Matt and Renee’s parents they all loved the idea. They suggested that they took turns taking the kids.

Luke’s eyes brightened up for the first time when his dad informed him that Saturdays were going to be bike park day. Luke’s response brought a tear to Fred. The Father knew his son needed the time at the bike park. When the three friends talked about going there every week, Luke christened them the Saturday Morning Bike Club. Renee and Matt loved being chartered members of the new group. The three friends’ bond grew even stronger. Luke was going to need this because Lori was going to start another offensive ploy in making sure Luke knew his role.