During dinner that night, my father returned from work and my brother came back from a friend's house, probably Mike's, since the Party always met in his basement. My mother brought up what had happened at school earlier. I could tell she was still surprised by the outcome.
"I was called to Erica's school today," Mom began. "I had to speak to the principal and bring her home early due to… circumstances."
Dad immediately looked worried. Lucas, on the other hand, looked almost smug.
"I knew she was up to something," Lucas said, clearly holding a grudge from the morning. "I tried to warn you, but you scolded me."
I frowned at him.
"Lucas," Dad said firmly, "maybe this is serious. Now is not the time for jokes." He kept his attention on Mom, though I caught him stealing concerned glances in my direction.
"At first, I thought she was in serious trouble too," Mom continued. "The school called saying Erica had tried to publicly humiliate a teacher."
Lucas's eyes widened, clearly imagining me tormenting a poor, innocent teacher.
"However," Mom added, "after Erica explained what happened, it became clear she was actually the victim."
"Are you sure she wasn't lying?" Lucas asked. "She looks like an angel, but she's actually chaos reincarnated."
"Thank you, brother," I said sweetly. "I know you sacrificed yourself so I could inherit the angelic looks and amazing personality."
Lucas just glanced at Mom as if to say, see what I mean.
"Lucas, let me finish," Mom said sharply, clearly annoyed by his interruptions. "Initially, Erica was not completely innocent. She was distracted during the lesson. But her teacher blew it out of proportion. She tried to humiliate your sister, forcing her to stand in front of the entire class and quizzing her for most of the lesson, deliberately trying to catch her out. She even asked questions years above the curriculum, almost at a high school level."
Lucas winced, now imagining the scene more clearly. Dad, meanwhile, looked furious, as if he were already planning to storm into the school the next day.
"Erica answered every question correctly," Mom continued. "Even then, the teacher still tried to complain about her unfairly. Your daughter eventually made a rude comment about the teacher trying to assert dominance due to a lack of respect in her personal life. That is why the school called me. That teacher conveniently left out what led to that reaction when explaining the situation to the principal."
"So the teacher got angry and pulled a dirty trick," Lucas said, now clearly on my side.
"I couldn't preserve her pride at the cost of my own dignity," I added, unapologetic.
"Well done for defending yourself," Dad said proudly, lifting his hand for a high five. He immediately stopped when Mom shot him a look. "What I meant was, you had reasons, but resorting to insults was still wrong. Next time, report the teacher."
Mom ignored him and continued.
"After I understood the full story, I demanded an explanation from the school. The teacher claimed Erica was lying and said she was only trying to encourage her."
"And when I pointed out that the whole class witnessed it," I added, "she claimed the students were colluding against her and the school. She said there was no way I could be that smart. After that I could not give that mouthbreather satisfaction so I had to prove that she was wrong."
In this life, I was never bowing my head again.
"Language," Mom warned. "Anyway, Erica declared in the principal's office that she would take any test to prove it. The school created a placement test on the spot using their question bank to check her academic level. We stayed several more hours because of the situation. In the end, my daughter passed easily, and the teacher was reprimanded."
"So when she does something bad, she's mine, and when she does something good, she's yours?" Dad joked.
"Yes," Mom replied without missing a beat. "She gets the rude behaviour from you and the intelligence from me."
"So my daughter aced the test in record time," Mom added proudly.
At that, the light mood vanished. The boys' eyes widened in shock as they snapped their attention back to me in disbelief. Mom also stared at me, as if she was not entirely convinced this was real.
"I always told you I was a genius," I said smugly, flipping my hair. "You all just assumed I was overconfident."
Mom shook herself out of her disbelief.
"After the results, the school asked if Erica wanted to skip grades," she said. "She could even go straight to high school. I told them we would think about it." She turned to Dad. "Charlie, what do you think?"
Dad jumped up, grabbed me, and spun me around. "Our daughter is a genius!"
Mom and Lucas laughed warmly at the scene.
"Calm down, Charlie," Mom said. "We still need to discuss this."
"So my little sister is going to high school before me?" Lucas asked, sounding proud but also a little insecure.
"Actually, I think transitioning to high school at ten would be hard," Mom said. "I'm worried she wouldn't be able to adjust or make friends."
"Not even my terrifying sister could escape the bullying," Lucas agreed.
"So we don't let her skip grades?" Dad asked, frowning. He clearly did not like the idea of holding me back.
"I don't want to stay in elementary school," I said immediately. "It's full of crying kids. One of my classmates still eats his own snot."
"Erica," Mom said gently, "it's your decision. But I was thinking you could skip to middle school instead. You wouldn't have to deal with that teacher anymore, and the transition would be easier since you'd be with Lucas."
Dad nodded in agreement.
"What? No," Lucas protested loudly.
He clearly did not agree with his little sister being in his class.
I considered it carefully.
In the long run, this could actually be a good plan.
I would go to school with my brother and his friends, so I could keep an eye on him and protect him. My parents would not let me stay home forever anyway. Since middle school was easier than high school, it would take less effort. The environment would also be less troublesome than elementary school. Plus, by the time I finished high school, the whole Vecna situation should be over, assuming we won. That meant I could go to college anywhere I wanted instead of staying in Hawkins just to protect my family.
Given the options, this was the best choice.
"I want to do what Mom suggested," I said, smiling innocently to convince my parents and irritate Lucas even more.
"Alright," Dad said. "Tomorrow we'll contact the school and arrange the transfer. Until then, you can stay home, but only until your first day of middle school."
"Yes, I'm free," I cheered.
Mom smiled and patted my head lovingly.
"Lucas, remember to take care of your sister at school," she ordered.
"But—"
"Lucas."
"Yes, Mom," he sighed.
And just like that, it was decided.
I was going to middle school with my brother and the rest of the Stranger Things Party.