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Oh, Gwen was absolutely positive that this had the be the utter worst day of her entire life. It had been so… Horrible! And she never wanted to go to that stupid stuck-up school ever again! Thoughts about on how unfair everything was, beggining to flood her mind. She’d just been trying to have a good day, she hadn’t done anything wrong!
She didn’t think she’d done anything wrong, so why had everyone been so mean?
The seven-year-old had simply just been trying to have a good day in school. Her week had started amazingly, because of last week her Dad’s Chef and Chris had made a deal with them, one they’d all kept their word on. The deal was that if they were able to keep the house tidy for an entire week, they could get anything they wanted.
It was hard, it was tough. But everyone had pulled their part, and the house had been clean! There were a few imperfections, of course. But everyone had put in the effort, and her Dads had rewarded them all, just like they said.
While her siblings had gotten really cool things such as remote control robots, or massive rideable toy ponies which you could sit on and would move , she’d picked something a little more… Unique.
It hadn’t been as interesting as what everyone else had got, but it made her really happy. When asked for what she would want, she said hair extensions. Not ones to make your hair longer, she was fine with short her since it was easier to brush and keep on top of. No, she wanted colored extensions. Blue ones, green ones… All of them!
Chris and Chef hadn’t been as surprised as she thought they’d be, but they were supportive and agreed. Which was so cool of them! if she’d ever asked for that with their old parents, it’d be a definite no.
She’d gotten them, and it had been just like everything she ever pictured!
It looked great, it felt great and it was so easy to put in and out! It was fun to play with and touch because it was all silky and- It was so good!
All of her siblings had agreed, they said it looked nice. And it gave her so much confidence! She’d gone to sleep that night wearing them, forgetting to take them out for how hyped up she was. Because when the day came, Gwen would be going to school with them.
Now yeah, maybe walking into school with coloured hair wasn’t allowed… But if she put them in once she’d already walked in, that was surely avoiding a loophole, right?
As her and her siblings began to walk out of the limousine, she pulled the neon hair-pieces out of her bag, clipping them into her hair once she got past the school gate.
Everything was horrible.
She thought everyone would like them, she liked them. She loved them. Her siblings had cheered her on before they were all separated to their array of different teachers. She’d started heading to her class, where she found the people incharge couldn’t give a care on what she had in her hair.
Though the students however? The second she sat down she heard laughing, she paid it no mind thinking she’d missed on a funny joke. Oh, well it was rude to listen to conversations anyway!
Though, the laughing kept going. And even though Gwen didn’t mean to listen, she didn’t really hear anyone saying anything funny. Nobody was talking actually. Whispering, maybe? She was still trying to get her work done.
The laughing continued for a lot of the class, she finally began to realize something was off when it got louder once she raised her hand for one of the questions.
She didn’t like being left out of jokes.
The second set of lessons were similar, they’d switched rooms and she began learning a new subject with different people. They were laughing too, and Gwen was beginning to get a bit of a feeling that maybe it was something to do with her.
Of course, it wasn’t always about her. She’d been told that before when she was anxious, that when she thought people were laughing at her, it might not be her.
But right now, it felt like it was.
She wasn’t sure, until break.
The first break of the day was when everything had gone poorly.
Everyone was allowed out to the playground, she spotted a few of her siblings in the distance. They all usually met up and played together, it was sort of creepy to the other kids. Oh yeah, they didn’t let anyone who wasn’t family play either. Which was why people normally didn’t mess with them.
Normally, thought not everyone was out here. Gwen silently worried in the back of her mind, because that definitely meant some of them had break time detention, or something.
No, she couldn’t really think of an excuse. They just… Weren’t there. But it was hard enough to find all of them in their own home, so she didn’t stress about it.
She was about to head on over to where she saw the group of her siblings when she heard laughing again. And she didn’t know what caused it, but she had a feeling, like she just knew they were talking about her. Whipping her head to the side, her doubts were confirmed. A group of three girls in her class laughing away while looking at her.
And once she turned they only laughed harder.
“... What? ” She snapped, but not really. She didn’t use an angry tone, more of a confused one. Why was this happening to her?
“Your- Hair.” One of the blond girls snorted, she was notorious for being known as a huge bitch. She had bright blonde hair which went down slightly past her shoulders, thick black rimmed glasses which she’d glare at anyone she was jealous of through- Losey? Lucifer? Gwen didn’t really remember her name.
“It’s so horrible, right Lucy?” Ah Lucy, that was it. And wait-
“What’s bad about it?” She frowned, bringing her hands up to the neon parts of it, pulling on them slightly, a bit embarrassed. The girls all had grins that they were trying to hold back, they were obviously failing but there was an effort.
“What’s good about it? It looks like my cat puked on your hair and died.” That was stupid, No it didn’t! Her hair was neon green and blue , if her cat’s puke looked like that, then that was probably concerning.
“You should probably see a vet then, you’re clearly bad at looking after pets.” She pointed out, apparently the other girl didn’t like hearing that.
“What- I’m great at looking after her! You’re bad at looking after your hair , it looks like a rats been sleeping in it!” Oh wow, she didn’t like that.
The main bi- Bully of the group, Lucy had walked forward. She had an expression on her face, one that Gwen couldn’t decipher. “You know what? I’m pretty sure highlights aren’t allowed in school, right?” She was right, they weren’t. But nobody cared, except for them apparently.
As the girls approached, she only had a moment to react before it happened.
And she hadn’t moved intime.
Instantly the three girls had leaned forward and began ripping the highlights out, Gwen had clipped them in tightly and firmly so they wouldn’t fall out when she was walking around, so they struggled.
Obviously she began to shout, it hurt and they kept pulling. As she could see one of the girls full on leaning back to get it out of her hair, she did the only reasonable thing. Kicked the other girl’s leg as hard as she could.
It had worked, which was unfortunate solely because the girl who was pulling had fallen back once she’d done it. And the extensions finally came lose, along with a patch of her hair.
And then she was crying. Ow, ow! It hurt , her cool hair extensions her dads had put in were gone, her hair felt wet and part of it was probably ripped out .
Hearing the cry and seeing that they were holding the extensions, the girls laughed before running off, thinking they’d successfully gotten away with it.
Gwen just sat down and sobbed, putting a hand on her head.
Where were her siblings?
Breaktime had ended not long after that, Gwen had reached into her school bag and pulled out one of her beanies. It was black and it had little bat-wings sowed into the side, it was comfortable usually. But now it stung as the knitter material rubbed against whatever cut she had on her head.
She hadn’t seen any of her siblings. Well, she’d seen Harold and Justin in the hall at one point when going to her class, and they’d waved at each other but that was about all the interaction they’d gotten.
Break meant there were four classes and lunch left. Usually she loved lunch because all of them had their own table. Not really, they couldn’t claim a table. But when there were over twenty of them, they were pretty convincing at getting other kids to leave them alone.
The other classes sucked, she had P.E right before lunch too, which she couldn’t wear her beanie for. Only one girl had noticed her hair and asked if she was okay, that was her chance to say she wasn’t. But she didn’t, she just nodded and continued trying to catch her breath as they were forced to run fifteen laps around the field.
Lunch sucked, she joined her siblings at the table. Noah and Duncan had gotten into a fight, and Heather had said something to Courtney- Who’d blamed it on Leshawna? Or Lindsay? And of course, them fighting meant that the table was filled with arguments. And arguments drew a crowd.
A crowd of classmates. No teachers were going to intervene, because honestly? No teacher wanted to put up with twenty two siblings in detention, no way in Hell.
So as she ate her lunch silently, trying to not burst out crying right then and there, she dreaded how awful this day way. Her brand new hair, ruined . The extensions Chris and Chef had done for here were gone , she hated today.
She just wanted to go home.
So when she walked through the door, the floodgates started, and she couldn’t stop it. She’d taken longer, ‘grabbing her stuff’ when entering their house, so she walked in alone. She wanted to be alone, but at the same time she didn’t.
She didn’t want to be asked what was wrong, she just wanted them to know . That didn’t make sense, of course it didn’t. But why couldn’t it work? She just wanted to be by herself, or something…
The girl sniffed slightly, glancing down as the tears from her eyes made the fabric on her cardigan go a darker shade of blue from the wetness. As she pulled her bag tiger over her shoulder, she intentionally ignored the voice calling out to her.
“Hi Gwen! Did ya’ have a nice day at school?” That was one of her Dad’s, but she still wasn’t answering that, instead walking a little faster past and going to her room. Wasting no time sneaking into her room and burying herself within her bedsheets.
Yeah, even when they were pissed off, none of their kids ever ignored them. Well except for Duncan, Courtney, Heather, Leshawna, Eva, Noah-
“... What did you do to embarrass them this time?” Chef sighed.
“Wha- I’ve been here.”
Oh yeah, Chef had been the one to pick the kids up, because as much as he loved his husband, him driving a car was a little scary, especially one with all of their kids in it.
“Was she like this in the car?” Chef gave a shrug to the question.
“I’m not too sure, everyone was arguing with each other so I just put the divider up.” Chris snorted at that, he probably would too. Or maybe film it for Drama, it was a little funny when the children thought. Of course not now that one of them was upset- But you get the point.
SLAM
They both flinched at that, uh oh . That probably wasn’t a good sign. Chef frowned as he glanced at her door, Chris just sighed standing up. Cracking his knuckles loudly in dad fashion as he rose.
“I’ll go and talk to her.”
Why did he say he’d talk to her? Listen, they may have impulsively adopted twenty-two children, but that doesn’t make you amazingly great with kids. Sure, he knew giving them things and hanging out with them made them happy, but its was these sort of situations that the two of them were never fully prepared for.
But it was motivational speech time. He gave a glance down to his pocket. Inside it was a packet of sweets, ones which were very much banned from entering the household due to the events that happened last time.
They’d been trying new snacks, see what they’d like and Chef had been the one to discover it. It was a ridiculously sugary sweet which turned each and everyone of them into absolute unhinged animals. So yes, unless it was to rise blood pressure or something, it was banned.
But , if the cheering up didn’t work, this was a backup plan. It was like handing a literal plate of gold to them. They could also do that too probably, if the candy didn’t work.
As he stood outside the door, he was considering just walking in. But he hated that as a kid, so he gave a semi-patient knock. Maybe he should just speak to her how he wanted to be spoken too as a kid. Worth a shot, he actually had to go in there first.
“Gwen? Can I come in?” Silence, well that wasn’t good, probably.
He gave another knock on the black-painted door. It was the only black door out of the whole hallway, and as much as the two parents silently hated the random dark door, it had character.
“ Wellll, if nobody’s here I’m just gonna come in.” And with that, he opened the door, as he walked in he gave a glance around the room. It was still nice and tidy, besides the clean laundry she hadn’t been bothered to put away yet.
It didn’t take long to spot her, or what he assumed to be her. A lump on the bed, the bedsheets being some they’d found shopping. It was dark, like most of her room. It had a pattern of bats on it. Most of her room consisted of Halloween decorations actually, he wouldn’t admit this to the other kids, but this room was probably his favorite.
Sighing he sat himself down on the end of the bed in fatherly-style. Gwen hadn’t acknowledged him in the slightest, ignoring his presence. “Gwen?” He tried, the pile under the blankets stayed still.
“You okay?” He prompted, obviously she wasn’t.
“Yeah.” Bullshit.
“ Are you?”
“... Yes”.
“Nope, no you’re not. What happened?” The other had slid out of the bed slightly, he could see the top of her bat-beanie. Everyone thought she’d chucked it months ago, but apparently not.
“I’m not gonna’ leave until you tell meee.” Silence again, he was beginning to think they weren’t getting anywhere with this. Just as he was about to say something about talking when she’s ready, he heard the sound of quiet sniffing coming from under the blanket.
“Hey, hey. c'mon, what’s wrong? I’m not gonna be upset with you.” Upset with her? Nope, never. But if anyone else was involved, then maybe.
How do you even talk to children? As he was trying to plan ahead and think on what he was going to say to her next, he slipped his hand into his pocket pulling out the pink packet of flavored madness.
“Also if you stop crying and tell me I’ll give you thisssss.” As he waved the packet, it making a crinkling sound as he swayed it.
That seemed to peak her interest, she couldn’t tell whatever the mysterious thing was with her being hidden, so cautiously she pulled the blanket down and sat up, staring at the packet. And oh wow , she hadn't had that in months.
Gwen froze, or to word it better just stared in silence. Chris held the snack out once more. Honestly? Bribing your kids to stop crying with sweets was probably going to backfire somewhere along the line, and maybe telling kids to stop crying wasn’t that great either because, ‘emotions are valid’ or whatever it was he’d heard. But anyway , she didn’t have to take it.
But she did, slowly reaching her hand out and taking the packet of powdered candy. She didn’t open it, simply held the packaging in her hands. She’d probably save it for later, he guessed.
Realizing that her Dad wasn’t going to leave, and that she’d also already taken the bribe she sighed, looking away. “Kids at school are mean.” Oh, Hell no.
He’d gone there thinking that the siblings had just gone and gotten in another argument, Chef said how bad they’d all been in the limo, but school children? Aka children who were not theirs? That wasn’t going to fly.
Still, he tried to play cool. Because a few of his children tended to have some sort of guilt complex about telling people when things were wrong. They definitely didn’t get that from either of them.
“Any names you can give me?” Yes, but she couldn’t. Actually, considering her Dad’s were… Well, her Dad’s , they’d find out through other methods. Like asking anyone of the other twenty one kids. Or going upto the school themselves and-
“No! Don’t do anything.” So quick to defend people she probably hated, jeez she was nice.
“Who said I’m gonna do anything?” Gwen sent the most careful-glare a seven year old could muster.
“You will.” Yeah, she was right. Because there was no chance he was just going to let this slide, that’s the dumbest thing to do. So was the advice that, ‘if its a boy it means he likes you’ or, ‘just ignore it!’ Sometimes ignoring things isn’t enough.
And yes, both Chef and Chris knew they’d be seen as the villains here if they did head to the dreaded school, for being the parents who made things worse by getting involved. But in the long run, this would either work or it didn’t. And he had no shame in fighting children, Chef? Probably, but he’d still do it.
Actually the kids being mean to her were probably also seven, so maybe that wasn’t smart. But maybe they shouldn’t have picked on her- Nope, no children fighting.
“Okay, only a little , now tell.”
Gwen slid her beanie off.
They were all in the car, Chef was driving with Chris in the passenger seat. The children in the back, all talking to each other and rambling about what they’d be doing in class. It didn’t take horribly long to arrive to the school, a few kids were waiting where the limo usually pulled up.
Those were the kids they never had a problem with, because they were either too shy or scared to even approach them in the slightest. Once they were there Chris and Chef told their kids they loved them as they each began getting out one by one. Gwen was at the very back and the last, as she began to get out Chef called out to her.
“Wait here a minute.” And the limo’s doors began closing, with her in it. She’d thought they were going to give her advice or something, because of how strange last night went- But now the doors were closed, she was confused.
She was even more confused when the car began moving. “Aren’t I meant to follow them-” That’s what she’d been taught, go in with her siblings and nobody separate from them. And now she was separated from them.
“Oh yeah, we’re going. We’re just entering through the office.” There wasn’t anything terribly wrong with that sentence, she hadn’t pieced anything together yet. All she could think was, ah yes. Nobody can bother her if she went inside that way.
It was normal, except it wasn’t. Chris and Chef had gotten out of the car with her, usually they didn’t do that. Usually once all of them were in the car, they’d wait until each and everyone of them was out and then they’d return to whatever they did during the day. Usually things like interviews, meetings and shopping probably.
They weren’t actually too sure what the two of them did during the day, maybe it was cool or maybe it was boring. Who knew? The only ones who knew were Lindsay, Leshawna and Beth. And they hadn’t spilled, no matter how much they were told. They were probably bribed or something, or didn’t want their siblings joining them.
She’d find out one day though.
They were out of the car, and they were approaching the building. Gwen began getting a slight feeling that maybe, possibly she wasn’t just simply entering the school a different way.
As the three entered the office, Chef took Gwen’s hand and lead them to one of the chairs where they sat. Chris was talking to the receptionist, and she may or may not have been eavesdropping. Overhearing the words, ‘Principal, meeting and brat’. The last one he corrected when he received a glare from one of the nice old-ladies working there.
Uh,oh, She sent her other Dad an absolutely betrayed look for the trickery, who could only look a little apologetic. But not much at all, he didn’t seem really sad. Unlike Gwen, because she didn’t want this to happen. She just wanted them to ignore it.
She pulled the beanie further down her head, which Chef simply gave her a pat on the shoulder.
Chris sighed dramatically walking over, sitting down in the waiting chairs with them. Gwen only muttered out the truth, “You guys tricked me.”
“Nope, anyway after last night we had a pleasant conversation with your school and little miss pri-”
“Chris.”
" Unpolite asshole and her mother are currently waiting.”
Chef was not amused with the not-so-subtle word change. Gwen? She may have snorted a little, but trying not to laugh loud in case anyone heard. Because she didn’t want to get a detention when she wasn’t even in school.
Actually she was in the office, so she wasn’t sure if she could get detention or not. So she didn’t want to risk it.
Yknow, this was beginning to remind her of something.
Even though it was only the three of them, it was like the time their Dad’s took all of them to the dentists, it was chaos and it had taken a really long time.
“... This is embarrassing.”
“Oh quiet, I’ve carried you through the whole supermarket because your feet were sore.” Chef rolled his eyes.
“They were flipflops!” Gwen defended,
As the Three sat waiting, Chris pulled out his phone at the exact time someone walked through the door. Great, amazing timing.
“Mr… Sachet and McRane?” Gwen couldn’t help but laugh at the names, clearly finding the horrible mispronunciations amazing.
“Yup, that’s… Us.” Chris affirmed, rolling his eyes slightly. The three stood, beginning to follow the woman who had called them. Honestly, how could you even butcher their names that badly?
Following the woman, they began to realize how little they actually knew about the layout of their children's school. It was good in a weird sort of way, because they hadn’t been called into enough detentions to recognise it. So that was probably in need of an award or something.
Soon enough, they reached where the dreaded room would be. And they knew they were in the right place based off the looming sense of toxicity in the air. The three were absolutely not looking forward to this.
Or that’s what Gwen had assumed , in fact the only think Chris and Chef were excited to do were to rip into this poor woman and her bratty kid.
The moment they stepped into the room, the whole vibe changed and the two were living for it.
In the office shined a light coming through the window where the principal sat. On the chairs on the right side sat a woman who looked to be in her late thirties, early forties. She had ridiculously bad bleached hair, it was one that was definitely meant to be blonde but now looked more like a chihuahua had pissed on it.
The kid- Well, they just looked like a brat to be around honestly. Kids aren’t just born like that, but considering with the whole mood the mother was giving off, it was safe to say where she’d learned it from.
“Ah, hello you three!” The principal gave a smile, standing up to pull one of the smaller sized chairs out, “Take a seat.” Gwen nervously stepped forward and sat in the small chair after seeing it was okay.
Of course the woman had strategically put the chairs so that she was sitting next to Lucy, of course. The woman looked at the other expectantly, when they realized that ah yes. When she meant take a seat it meant all of them.
Once they were seated, she began.
“So, I heard of a little situation which happened the other day during breaktime.” Little- Chef knowingly put a hand on the others shoulder because as much as he dearly loved his husband- He never knew when to shut the fuck up.
She continued after giving a side glance to the pair. “Right, so what I hear happened, as told by you three. ” She glances. It’s not at all accusing, just generally pointing out. “-Is during break, Lucy and two others picked a fight with Gwen over her hair.” Wow, she’d said what was blatantly obvious… Good job.
“Now- usually , in these cases of children picking on one another.” She diverted eye-contact from both children. “We’d call them in during the day to ask them what happened, but it appears your children have already said their side of the story.” Their side- What other side’s were there?
Gwen hadn’t been doing anything , and she’d gotten part of her hair ripped out because of it.
The principal really needed to stop with this constant pausing, of course they knew it was for the children to understand- But it was only pissing the adults off further. “Now I understand you two are upset we didn’t do anything, but your daughter didn’t inform anyone it happened.”
“So It’s her fault?” Gwen frowned at that, were they blaming her?
“No-”
“You realize I had to leave set to come and be here? And my husband had to leave work? Let’s just say we settle this by expelling the girl already? And make sure that the incident goes on her permanent record.” That seemed like a fit punishment. Was it good to have a rivalry against a probable eight year old? Likely not, but this was more anger towards the other parent if anything.
After overhearing Chris’s suggestion for a punishment, the mother instantly sat taller, giving a glare which she didn’t dare face the others as she did it. Instead opting to look ahead at the principal as she began to speak. “I don’t believe that’s reasonable, I understand a good detention or two, but if anything it was a little rough housing that went too far- But explosion? And her permanent record? She’s seven.”
Gwen tried to hold back from shooting a glare at the way the other kid looked so cocky. As if her age validated her being a prick. Why was this girl so mean anyway? She doesn’t remember doing anything bad… She’d tried to make friends with everyone , everyone that wasn’t her sibling anyway…
“Yeah, you know what else is permanent? The length of her hair from where it got ripped out .” He hissed, Chef looked at him surprised, blinking taken aback slightly. Ah, he seemed to realize. “Oh? I’m guessing that wasn’t brought up? Yeah, your little brat ripped our daughters hair out. ” The tone was venomous.
Oh God, Gwen looked away embarrassed. And wait- Permanent? He was just saying that to sound scary right? She frowned, did her hair really look that bad? She pulled the hat lower down her head. Chef’s expression was now holding one of a glare aswell. He’d come to the presumption that it was just some petty fight- Not this.
“I understand your frustration, you two but you really have no need for calling a child a br- ” The principal tried to defend. That only seemed to piss the adults off in the room further.
“You can’t let them talk about my daughter that way-!” The mother interjected.
“Oh, and Like Hell your kid can treat ours like that-?”
“Please- Everyone-”
Whilst the adults' argument got more and more toxic, The smallest child in the room grew more terrified. Not of the fighting, just… This whole thing was scary, she didn’t wanna tell anyone this had happened. A part of her was glad that this would hopefully stop but…
She saw her bully glaring at her.
She hated this, Gwen left the room.
The tension began to fizzle out when the kid, Lucy finally yelled for everyone to stop being so embarrassing. That was around the same time the two responsible-irresponsible parents had realized, Oh shit. Their kid isn’t in the room anymore. Chef simply gave a sigh and said, “I’ll go.” Leaving the room as well.
Honestly? He dealt with enough kids screaming, he didn’t need thirty year old children doing it either.
As Gwen felt herself sliding down the wall, practically burying her face in her knees, she sniffed upsettingly, just like she had in her room. Stupid , she shouldn’t have sad anything, now everyone was angry. Probably all mad at her.
Stupid school, stupid arguments. Just… Stupid everything.
“Hey Gwen, you good?” … No reply.
“Your other Dad’s dealing with it, c’mon kid, what’s up?” Pretty dumb question honestly, she was clearly upset from the shitshow that just happened. That, and the whole hair thing that he was just finding out about. Right, remind him to bring that up to someone later for hiding it, and he didn’t mean his kid.
“I don’t know. ”
“You… Don’t know?”
“...” A pause. “She’s mean.”
“I can tell.”
Gwen sighed, turning her head away from her dad. “Do I have to go back in there…?”
“Well-” He began.
“ OH, YOU FUCKIN TWAT-” Rang out through the door. Chef gave a grimace.
“...Y'know what? I think they have it covered in there. Wanna go get in the car? We’ll grab some ice cream or something.”
“What about school though?”
“Nah, don’t worry about that kid, come.”
As she looked over, she saw Chef kneeling, a hand reached out just for her.
… She took it. Ice cream sounded amazing .
A good twenty minutes later, the door to the car loudly slid open, dramatically slamming, ah so it seemed that the argument had finished between those three and the brat. “How’d it go?” Chef asked, humming with a neutral tone.
“Fuckin brilliant.” He grinned, turning to Gwen. “Hey guess what? I managed to convince them on doing some punishment. None of that fun stuff where they get expelled and miss a few weeks. Proper boring stuff like sitting in a room and writing names a thousand times.”
Oh- That did sound amazing. Because it sounded boring , and Gwen was pretty sure her bully couldn’t even write. That was… Awesome. She was practically inches from running over and hugging the two.
Chef cut the other off with a snort. “ Convinced? Jesus Christ, We caught about five seconds of the argument when we were outside, what did you say to them?”
Taking one glance at their kid he simply grinned. “Tell you later, there are preschool children present.”
“ Hey-!” She gasped.
God, this was just so- Amazing. Getting up from the seat she leant forward, practically flopping herself into the other’s arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She beamed, feeling all the stress she’d felt for the past week just… Melting.
“Mhmm. Oh- We still have like- Six hours before we have to pick up the other 21... How about I say the three of us should have a… Father Daughter day?”
This day was gonna be perfect.