Anatomy • Eddie's daughter

Trouble & Consequences

3

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"We weren't born to grow in a hurry
But it rained hard in the garden state
And we shot up like weeds"
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About a week later, the three do the same routine that they do every weekday. Eddie drops Chris off at school and then about 10 minutes later they pull up to Jo's school.

"You ever get the feeling something bad is gonna happen?" Josie says right before she's about to open the door to go to school. She looks over at her father with wild eyes but laughs when he sees the look on his face.

Eddie turns to her with a look of disbelief that she just put that on him right when he's about to go to work. "Why would you say that when I'm about to go to work?"

She chuckles and opens the door, muttering a small sorry. Before she shuts it she puts her hands together. "I'll pray for you."

Eddie rolls his eyes at his daughter but he can't help but give her a small smile. "Have a good day! Be good!" She slams the door in embarrassment because of Eddie's loud yells across the drop-off lane.

——————

The whole time during the school day, Jo is on the edge of her seat. The constant feeling of heaviness on her body, and her stomach dropping is making it very hard to concentrate, and it being her least favorite class doesn't help.

"Josephine, when did the Roman Empire fall?" Mr. Walt asks the distracted girl whose leg is bouncing up in down. She looks up at the teacher in confusion and then scratches her neck in embarrassment.

"Can you repeat the question, please?"

"When did the Roman Empire fall?" He repeats but the same confused stare lies on Josie's face.

"Umm, I don't know." She lowers her face down to her textbook in embarrassment as multiple students stifle a laugh at her.

The teacher sighs as he looks around the room. "September 4, 476 AD. Miss Diaz, please see me after class."

The girl sighs and pinches herself in her arms in frustration at her carelessness.

The class finally ends, with the bell going off. She quickly packs up her things and tries to sneak out of the room but Mr. Walts catches her.

"Josephine, I believe I asked you to stay back."

Jo rolls his eyes at his vocabulary. He's the exact epitome of a history teacher. He's bald, wears glasses, wears khaki pants with a sweater vest and a button-up underneath, and he uses vocabulary like thou, or ye. Some shit like that.

He's a little weird.

She turns around and walks over to the front of his desk with a sarcastic smile on his face. "Yes, Mr. Walt's."

"Miss Diaz, I understand that you just moved here and I understand that you might be going through something-"

Her eyes brow curl down "And what would I be going through exactly?" She snarls at him.

His gaze hardens as he looks at the teenager. "Miss Diaz, I command you to let me finish."

'Command'

The fuck.

Jo keeps her eye roll to herself and she opens her heart to the man. "It's important to pay attention in this class, you can learn a lot from it. Staring out into space will not get you anything in life except detention."