Twins Under the Christmas Tree. Marin Thomas

time. Fruit punch, crackers and small boxes of raisins were doled out to each kid. Miguel stuffed his face, eating everything in front of him and asking for seconds of the punch. Javier didn’t touch his food—or rather he didn’t have a chance to, because the red-haired bully had stolen his box of raisins and Javier hadn’t protested.

      By the time recess arrived, Conway was spitting mad that the teacher hadn’t noticed what was happening right under her nose. He followed the kids outside and Javier raced to the swings while Miguel veered off toward the monkey bars and a group of gossiping girls.

      When the bullies closed in on Javier, Conway made his move. “Mind if I join you guys on the swings?”

      The freckle-faced boy crossed his arms over his chest. “We were playing here first.”

      Insolent bugger.

      “Yeah.” The chubby kid kicked dirt at Javier. “He’s on our swing.”

      “This is your swing? You brought this from home?” Conway asked.

      Javier giggled then sobered quickly when the bullies glared at him.

      “I think you guys have got it wrong. This swing belongs to the school.”

      “Get off, stupid,” the redhead told Javier.

      Javier made a move to vacate his seat, but Conway set his hand on his shoulder. “You’ll have to wait your turn, carrottop.”

      “Says who?” the kid glared.

      “Says me, Rico.” Javier stood and faced his adversary.

      Rico laughed. “You can’t stop me.”

      “Yes, I can.” Javier shoved Rico in the chest and the kid tripped over his feet and stumbled. Once he gained his balance, Rico swung his fist, but Javier ducked and tackled the boy to the ground. Conway sent the overweight bully a stay-where-you-are glare while Javier and Rico wrestled.

      Tiny fists punched mostly air, then a student alerted the playground monitor and the woman hurried over and separated the boys. Holding each by the back of the shirt collar she spoke to Conway. “You stood there and did nothing.”

      “The boys had to settle this between themselves,” Conway said.

      “Well, I’ve never heard of—”

      “Lady, if you’d have been doing your job rather than texting on your phone, you’d know that Rico and his buddy like to torment kids.”

      The woman marched the boys into the building and Conway followed at a distance. Twice Javier peeked over his shoulder and grinned at him. Now that Rico and the other kid knew Javier could stand up for himself, they’d leave him alone.

      Conway stood outside Ms. Kibble’s office while the playground monitor explained the situation. All three boys were suspended for fighting and told not to return to school until Friday. Grinning from ear to ear, Javier followed Conway out of the school.

      “Is my mom gonna be mad at me?” Javier asked.

      “Nah.” She’s going to be mad as hell at me.

      * * *

      CONWAY HEARD ISI’S car pull beneath the carport and he braced himself. When the trailer door opened, he said, “I can explain, Isi.”

      “Explain what?” She flashed a nervous smile.

      “Didn’t the school call you?”

      The blood drained from her face. “What happened? Are the boys okay?”

      “They’re fine.” He hadn’t meant to scare her.

      She set her backpack by the door. “What’s going on?”

      He didn’t think this would be hard but the speech he’d rehearsed after the boys had gone to bed suddenly didn’t sound so clever. “Javier’s been expelled from school until Friday.”

      Isi’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

      “It wasn’t his fault. You can blame me.”

      “What did he do, Conway?”

      “He got into a fight on the playground.”

      She gasped.

      “None of the boys were hurt. I watched the whole thing and—”

      “You watched the fight and didn’t break it up?”

      “Let me explain.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I stayed at school and monitored their class. As I suspected, Javier is being bullied by two boys, one named Rico and the other one was a chubby kid.”

      “Mathew.”

      “During recess Javier got to the swings first but the bullies tried to make him get off. I told the boys Javier didn’t have to give up his swing and all of a sudden Javi shoved Rico. The boys rolled on the ground until the recess monitor intervened and took them to the principal’s office.”

      “Was Javier upset?”

      “Nope.”

      “What did Ms. Kibble say?”

      “Not a whole lot.”

      “Were all the boys suspended?”

      “Yep. You’d have been proud of Javier, Isi.”

      “I’m supposed to be happy that you taught my son to solve his problems by fighting?”

      “I didn’t teach him to fight. I taught him to stand up for himself.”

      “Do me a favor and don’t offer my sons any advice, okay? I’m their mother. I’ll handle their problems.” Isi walked down the hall to check on the twins and Conway made a hasty escape before he got suspended from his babysitting job.