Chapter Nine
She was sitting in the principal’s office, her feet swinging back and forth. Her nose was bloody and her eye was already beginning to turn black. It was not good. She looked up when she heard a knock and her parents came strolling in. Her eyes filled with tears when her mom walked over and knelt in front of her.
“Jesus, Abbi! What happened to you?” She asked, her palm resting lightly against her daughter’s bruised cheek. She frowned when Abbi winced, sniffling.
“Mr. and Mrs. Chasez… I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me today. I’m Mr. Grandy, the principal here at Maple Elementary.”
JC took a step forward and held his hand out to shake Mr. Grandy’s.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, though I must say, not under the circumstances,” he said, glancing back to his daughter.
“Yes well… If you please will just have a seat, I have some things I’d like to discuss with you.”
Nodding, JC held out his hand for his wife. He helped her into the chair before taking a seat next to her.
“Abbi was involved in a very serious fight this afternoon. I’ve already met with the other young lady’s parents and I’m going to tell you just what I told them. I am completely shocked and appalled at the kind of behavior displayed by your daughter.”
Opening her mouth to speak, Jen was silenced almost immediately by her husband. With a scowl on her face, she glared at him before turning to glance at her daughter. Her face softened immediately when she saw the tear slide down her cheek.
“I really have no choice but to suspend her. The administration staff and I have had a very long talk with both girls and they know that this behavior will no longer be tolerated. They’re getting off very easy this time, because here at Maple, fighting is not tolerated.”
With a nod, JC looked over to his wife once more.
“I apologize sir, and I assure you, this will NOT happen again.”
~*~
“I can’t believe you, Abbi! How many times have mom and I talked to you about fighting? How many? You know better than that!” He scolded, pacing back and forth in front of the couch.
“Are you even gonna let me ‘splain?” Abbi cried, bringing her hand up to wipe her face.
“There is no possible explanation that you could give me to excuse this behavior!”
“Daddy! Let me at least ‘splain! I had a good reason for sockin’ her right in the teeth!”
Shaking his head, JC couldn’t believe the words that had come out of her mouth. She was acting so nonchalant about this whole ordeal. She knew better.
“You’re skating on thin ice, missy. Don’t you have any sort of regret for your actions?”
“Yeah, I regret gettin’ caught! I shoulda busted her teeth out after school,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
“You’re close to getting your butt busted.”
“I don’t care! You’re not even lettin’ me ‘splain!” She cried, rubbing her face.
“Both of you, chill out!” Jen interrupted. “Abbi, I want you to go upstairs and change out of those filthy clothes. I’ll be up in a minute to have a look at your injuries.”
With a nod, Abbi slid down off of the couch, sniffling pitifully. She glared back at her father before she headed up the stairs.
As soon as her daughter was out of ear-shot, Jen whirled around angrily to glare at her husband.
“I can’t believe you! She’s obviously upset and you’re sitting here grilling her without getting her side of the story!”
“I don’t care, Jennifer! She had no business getting into a fight!”
“You and I both know that Abbi has better sense than to just pick a fight for no reason! She’s your daughter; you could at least give her the benefit of the doubt!”
“I can’t believe you’re condoning this fight!”
“Did I say that, Joshua? Do you even listen to me when I speak?” She shook her head. “Whatever. I’m going upstairs to speak to my daughter, let her fully explain before I jump the gun,” she told him, glaring at him in disgust before turning to head up the stairs.
He sank down onto the couch where his daughter had sat moments earlier and turned his head heavenward.
“I hope you’re having a good laugh up there! Is there anyone in the house who doesn’t hate me?”
~*~
“So did you sock her good?”
“That’s enough, Julie!” JC chastised sternly as his eldest daughter tried once again to get the details of the fight out of her younger sister. He’d not even heard the entire story yet. His wife had been giving him the cold shoulder the entire evening. He was not used to having this kind of treatment bestowed upon him!
“Can I be ‘scused?” Abbi grumbled, looking up at her father. She’d hardly touched her food, which was completely crazy. Everyone knew that Abbi was a little piggy, devouring everything placed in front of her.
“I supp”“ She hadn’t even waited for her father to give his permission before she shoved her plate back and stood up, shoving her chair in. She looked tearfully to her mother before heading up the stairs.
~*~
“Abbi?”
“Hm?”
“Can we talk?”
“Are you gonna yell at me ‘gain, or you gonna let me ‘splain?”
“I’m going to let you explain,” he told her softly, going over to sit next to his daughter on her bed. He winced when he saw the dark circle under her eye. Even though he was against fighting, he silently hoped that his little girl had at least gotten one good punch in!
“It wasn’t my fault, daddy!” She told him. “She hit me firs’. She was pickin’ on Crystal and I told her, I says ‘Linda, you better leave her alone!’ She’s bigger ‘n me an’ Crystal put together!”
JC remembered vaguely hearing his daughter complain about a bully at school.
“Go on.”
“Well, she says, ‘You wan’ me to leave her alone, I’ll bully you then.’ So she came and shoved me, daddy! Well, Julie always said ‘don’t let no one pick on you, Abbi,’ so I shoved her back, and daddy, she hauled off and punched me!”
Narrowing his eyes, he looked over his daughter’s face, trying to determine if this story was fabricated or if she was telling the God’s honest truth. He quickly read her eyes and knew she wasn’t lying.
“She hit you first?”
“Yessir. She socked me good! And daddy, I wasn’t gonna let her get away with it, so I hit her hard right in the teeth. But she deserved it, dad! She makes Crystal cry jus’ ‘bout every day and mommy and Uncle Brandon says we should look out for family, and that’s all I was doing!” She told him, her eyes quickly filling with tears.
With a sigh, he wrapped his arms around her, cheering silently for his little girl. Even though he could never tell her, he was damned proud of her for standing up for herself. She was more like him than he thought.
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