The next day, Lance jumped from his bed as early as possible. He had spent most of the night rethinking and regretting the manner he had challenged his mother earlier in the evening. He finally came to the conclusion that it had been crude and unnecessary, so he would wake up early and try to gauge how she felt about it and perhaps apologize before she would be off to work.

After brushing his teeth in record time, he jogged down the stairs to the kitchen. Then he remembered that the new girl might be in there with his mother. He certainly didn't want to have any conversation in her...