Chapter Text
-Laura POV-
“I’m sorry Mom, I really am,” Lily whispers as we sit outside of the principal’s office.
“Shut it, you’re grounded.”
“But I didn’t mean to punch the kid. He wouldn’t shut up.”
“I don’t care, you punched him and that’s the bad part.”
“Ms. Hollis, you can go in now.” The secretary says.
“Stay here, read your book,” I say to Lily as I get up and walk into the office. I sit down in front of an older, blonde woman that looks as if her “resting-bitch-face” never goes away.
“Ms. Hollis. Nice to see you, I’m Principal Smith. Now, your daughter is a straight-A student, top of her class, seventh-grade class President, and yet, is still childish in the sense of punching some boy in the face.”
“I don’t condone her punching a classmate, so I don’t want you to think it’s something that’s okay, but the child that she hit didn’t get in trouble and yet my child did, I don’t find that fair.”
“What was the young boy doing? Last I checked she did it for no reason.”
“He was tormenting her, he kept calling her names and things like that, but he isn’t here being spoken to and I am.”
“The teacher that saw the exchange should be in any moment, she’s in the middle of a department meeting.” Mrs. Smith says, leaning back in her chair. “Your daughter is a great student, don’t get me wrong. But zero tolerance is zero tolerance.” Mrs. Smith explains, looking over my shoulder and waving someone in.
“Sorry I’m late, the meeting ran over.” Someone says above me.
“This is Ms. Karnstein. Carmilla, this is Lily Hollis’ mother.”
“Laura,” I say with a smile, extending my hand for Carmilla to shake.
“You’re the mother of one of my brightest students. I must say your daughter is one of the brightest twelve-year-olds I’ve ever met. Regardless of the circumstance, your daughter shouldn’t even be in trouble for, I know she is the best student I’ve ever had and this doesn’t and shouldn’t reflect of her.” Carmilla explains with a wide smile.
“Thank you, it’s nice to hear that.”
“So, Carmilla, we’re here to discuss what happened.” Principal Smith says.
“That little shit Dominic had it coming, he kept chanting ‘Hillary for Prison’ and slamming his fist on the locker outside my classroom, Lily got fed up and punched the kid in the face. Granted it wasn’t right, but he deserved it, Maria. I don’t think you should give one of Silas’ finest anything more than lunch detention for a week.” I look over to see Maria thinking about what Carmilla had just said.
“I guess you’re right. Dominic Faro is a little shit anyway; he’s in here nearly every other week. Okay, Laura, your daughter will just be given lunch detention all next week.”
“Thank you. I mean, I know she did something she shouldn’t have, and she is going to get consequences for it at home, but at least she isn’t going to get suspended or anything like that.”
“You’re welcome Ms. Hollis. Your daughter has a lot of promise, there is no reason to discourage it, who knows, maybe she’ll be the one to shatter the glass ceiling before we know it.” Principal Smith smiles. We say our goodbyes and I leave the office with Carmilla trailing behind me.
“You never stop reading Kid,” Carmilla says to Lily when she sees her with her feet up on the bench.
“I want to get done before class Ms. Karnstein, you know that.” Lily smiles, closing the book.
“But if you keep reading the books before everyone else, it takes away from everyone else participating.”
“I know, but these books are so easy to read, it amazes me that no one else finds them as interesting as I do. I mean my mom was reading me The Catcher in the Rye when I was in fourth grade, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I know all of these stories already, that’s what makes reading them fun, they’re my favorites.”
“You read the classics to your daughter?”
“Of course, they were some of my favorites, I couldn’t wait to share them with her when I felt she was old enough.”
“Mom even read Stephen King novels to me since I was seven. The Shining is one of my favorites.” Lily says excitedly, walking over to me.
“You know who Stephen King is?” Carmilla asks, her eyes almost busting out of her head. “It’s only been a couple of months of school, I don’t expect to know a lot about you, but I thought you were just a teacher’s pet, wanting to make a good impression, but you really are a very bright kid, brighter than any other student of mine. You really should be proud of your daughter, she’s going to go places.”
“I’m very proud of the young lady she is becoming,” I say, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and kissing Lily on the side of her head.
“Now, cut down on the reading list on the syllabus. You’re nearly halfway through the list and we’re not even near winter break. Slow it down.” Carmilla says, wagging her finger in Lily’s face in mock seriousness. “And be good for your mom.”
“I will Ms. Karnstein.”
“It was nice meeting you Ms. Karnstein.” I smile, extending my hand for her to take.
“It was nice meeting you too Ms. Hollis, please call me Carmilla. Hopefully, I will see you at open house next week.”
“I should be there. But we have to get going, if we’re not home soon your grandfather will begin to worry.”
“See you tomorrow.” Lily waves as she leads the way out of the building. When we get into the car Lily looks at me and smiles.
“What?”
“Ms. Karnstein was checking you out.”
“No, she was not.”
“Yeah she was, ‘please call me Carmilla’, no teacher says that to a parent!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, shaking my head.
“You’re gonna have to get back out there sooner or later Mom, Mama moved on and now she’s getting married again.”
“You know I hate when you talk about your mother.”
“I know, but it’s happening, you have to make it happen too.”
“But I’m not making it happen with your teacher, there’s some kind of law against that.”
“I don’t know if there is, and I don’t care, she was looking ta you, and you were looking at her. Pretend she isn’t my teacher.”
“If you don’t stop talking you are going to be grounded for an extra week. It’s bad enough you punched that boy, you’re lucky the principal only gave you lunch detention.”
“I know. If I wasn’t the best student the school has ever seen I would have been suspended.” Lily shrugs, reaching into her bag and pulling out her book.
“Stop reading so much, I love the fact that you enjoy reading, but there’s enough literature out there that you don’t have to fly through your reading list.
“I’m ten books in, we’re only discussing Shakespeare at the moment, I’m already past that section.”
“And that is what Ms. Karnstein is talking about, you have to cool it a little bit.”
“Fine.” Lily huffs, running into the house when we pull into the driveway.
“How did it all go?” My dad asks as soon as I get out of the car, walking over to me from where he was raking leaves.
“Lunch detention for a week. Apparently, they agreed the boy deserved getting punched, and she’s too good of a student to give a sever punishment too.”
“Anything else happens?"
“Her English teacher was who vouched for her, seeing as the incident happened outside of her classroom. Her teacher spoke very highly of Lily.”
“Good.”
“Yeah, open house is next week, so hopefully I’ll be able to see how she’s doing in all of her classes.”
“Are you going to ask Danny to go?”
“No, she barely could go to one of Lily’s soccer games, even when the games were at the field across from her house, Danny never went.” I scoff. “I’ll only tell her if Lily wants her to go, other than that, I’m not saying anything. Danny is busy starting her replacement family anyway.”
“I never liked her, I don’t know what you saw in her.”
“She was sweet in high school and college, I couldn’t help it. Then she became a jerk after Lily was born. I don’t want to talk about it. I have to get ready for work, and Danny is coming to get Lily for the weekend.”
“Okay. Your mother is inside, she’s making cookies in anticipation of the outcome of today.” My dad smiles as he starts going back to raking. I walk into the house and smile at the smell of cookies baking.
“Hey, Mom.” I smile as I walk into the kitchen.
“Hey sweetie, Lily told me what happened. Good, she didn’t get in a lot of trouble, that little brat deserved a punch in the nose.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I have to get changed for work, Danny should be here any minute.”
“Lily was told to throw a bag together for the weekend. Don’t worry. You just get ready to go to work.” My mom smiles as she walks around the island to kiss me on the cheek. “For the past thirty-seven years, you never stop making me proud.”
“Oh come on Mom, I’ve been working at the news station for years now and you say this every time I go to work.”
“Because it’s still a proud moment to turn on the TV and see my baby on it giving me the news of the day.”
“If I knew you were going to be this way, I would have just stayed working at the paper, oh wait, let me just go refer to the scrapbook you made of every article I wrote.”
“Hey, you have a daughter now, you’ll understand one say when she’s doing you proud.”
“I felt that already today, her teacher told me how bright she is and my heart swelled a bit.”
“And that feeling never goes away, not even when they’re old, the feeling of pride is still something that sticks with you.” I sigh and steal a few cookies from the plate before running upstairs. Regardless of the fact that I make more than enough money for Lily and I to have our own place, there’s something about living back home that makes me feel happier than if I were to be living in an apartment with just Lily and myself. Thankfully my childhood home was big enough for us to be able to live here comfortable, and for Lily to be able to have her own room.
“Mom!” Lily calls out.
“Yes, Sweetie?” I ask, reaching the top of the stairs.
“I have a game this weekend, does mama know that?”
“She should have the schedule. I’ll remind her when she gets here.”
“Where’s my away kit?”
“In the laundry room, Nana knows where it is, I think she washed it last.” I hear her run downstairs as I walk into my room and get changed for work. Once I was changed, like clockwork, Danny was ringing the bell as I was about to walk out the door. I sigh and open the door, forcing a smile. “Hey.”
“Hey, is Lily ready?” Danny asks as she walks through the door.
“Yeah, she’s just getting her things for soccer together.”
“She has a game this weekend?”
“Yeah, it’s the next district over. Jefferson, it’s a big game, I’ll be there to get her, but you have to bring her there. If that isn’t an issue.”
“No issue, do I just drop her off then? I have things to do.”
“You have things more important than watching your daughter’s soccer game?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I have to take care of some things and won’t have time to stay. What time does she have to be there?”
“By three o’clock tomorrow. Two-thirty would be better, seeing as she likes to be early and do her own warm up before the team gets there, but you wouldn’t know that.” I say in a hushed tone when I hear Lily coming.
“Hi, Mama.” She says, hugging Danny.
“Hey, Kiddo, ready to go?”
“Yeah.” Lily turns to me and gives me a hug. “I love you, Mom, I’ll see you tomorrow at my game.”
“I’ll be there, three-fifteen sharp, do you want me to bring you anything?”
“Extra water as usual.”
“No problem Sweetie.” I chime, caressing her cheek. “I love you.”
“Love you too.” Lily smiles, walking out of the house, Danny trailing behind her. I sigh as I watch them get into Danny’s car and drive away. Sharing a kid with someone you used to love is the hardest thing one can do.