Odes To Ella.

Chapter 14: Nice to meet you.

(Clair's P.O.V...:)

I had just finished making a small file of Christopher when the phone on my desk began to ring furiously. I flipped the stray hairs from my face and picked the phone up. I used my shoulder to cradle it while I finished writing. The time on the little phone screen read 9:07 A.M.
"Psychological help, this is Clair speaking."
"Hello, I'm looking for a Miss. Williams?" I heard an older woman say. I cleared my throat and said,
"This is she."
"Miss. Williams, I'm calling about your child, Ella." I sat up in my chair, suddenly concerned. A million things ran through my head.
What happened? Is she hurt? Does she need me?!
"What is it?" I questioned. There was a brief rustling in the background.
"Well, it seems as though Ella has been misbehaving."
"Misbehaving?"
"Yes, she is talking with the counselor right now. The principal would like to have a word with you, as well as the counselor when he is through speaking with her."
"I'll be over shortly."
"Thank you." The woman hung up. I felt a pit in my stomach as I slung my bag over my shoulder.
Misbehaving? How dare she! Oh, when I get my hands on her....
I walked out and quickly opened the door to my bosses office. He looked up from his desk with surprise.
"Mr. Sampson, I know this is completely unacceptable, but an emergency came up at the school."
"I understand." He nodded and turned back to his papers.
I checked out and hopped in my car, gripping the steering wheel tightly. I weaved through traffic and pulled up to her school in less than ten minutes. Once I was parked, I got out and slammed the door, walking inside as quickly as I could. All I saw when I walked in were small children everywhere. I turned to where the office was and marched over. The Secretary told me to go into the principals office. I opened the door and walked in hastily.
"Hello, I'm Ella William's mother." The principal, an older woman with curled black hair, smiled up to me.
"Oh, hello, please take a seat." I sat down and leaned forward.
"What happened?" My hands clasped each other in a death grip. The woman leaned on her desk.
"I'm afraid that I only have the teacher's account of what happened."
"And?" I urged.
"Mrs. Wallace says that your daughter drew a non-appropriate picture of a boy in her class."
"A picture of what?" I asked, frowning. She shrugged.
"I don't know, the new counselor, Mr. Anderson, has it. He is talking to your daughter, trying to figure out why she drew-"
But a knock came to the door. The principal cleared her throat.
"Yes?" The door opened. The Secretary stood in the doorway. In front of her, Ella stood, head down.
"Mr. Anderson is ready to see you now." I looked down to Ella.
"You stay right here, Ella Williams." I got up and followed the Secretary. She took me behind the front desk into a hidden hallway. There, I saw four doors. One for the nurse, two random storage rooms, and a slightly ajar door that was labeled, 'Mr. Anderson.' Using my amazing deductible abilities, I decided that this was probably him. The lady left and I cleared my throat as I approached the door.
Wen I opened the door, I was stunned.
At first, I imagined an old, crusty man who was all bent over and bitter.
But what I saw instead was a clean, attractive man in his mid twenties. He had some stubble on his face, but it looked amazing against his straight jaw. His eyes were light blue, and his hair was dark and thick. The muscle on his frame and arms was covered in a long sleeved black dress shirt that was cuffed at the elbow. He sat typing at a computer, unware of my presence.
I decided to play it cool.
I leaned against the door frame and frowned.
"Anderson, huh?" He looked up from the computer and stared for a moment. Then, he smiled and nodded slightly.
"Yes."
"I don't know any Anderson's around here."
"Thats probably because I'm from Chicago."
"Chicago? What brings you here, away from all the excitement of the city?"
"I've had enough excitement, I just want peace and quiet."
"Oh, I see. Well, hopefully you like it here."
"Hopefully," he paused and turned to me on his spinning chair, clasping his hands together. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Yes, actually, I'm Miss. Williams, Ella's mother." I smiled. He frowned, his expression slightly shocked.
"Ella is your daughter?"
"Yes." I stated. He looked me up and down quickly, then smiled.
"I should have guessed, she looks just like you." His smile was friendly, showing his straight white teeth. I felt a little light headed.
"Thanks. It's fun chatting and all, but I'd like to see the picture she drew."
"Ok, take a seat." He turned back to his desk. I walked in and shut the door behind me. The office was smaller than mine, but he made good use of the space he had. In one corner there was a filing cabinet, in the other was a chair, and all the walls were adorned with inspirational pictures and sayings.
I crossed my legs and shifted in my seat. He turned back to me with a sheet of construction paper turned face down.
"Before I show you, I just want to say you shouldn't be too mad at Ella."
"And why is that?" I asked, tilting my head. He handed me the paper and said,
"She said this boy was bullying her and her friend Frankie." He sat back in his chair. My heart filled with sympathy when I heard bullying. I was ashamed at myself for being mad at her.
What happened?
I turned the paper around and looked at it. It was a blob of green with two gigantic red eyes in the middle. Underneath this weird concoction of color was the name, 'jaysom.'
I frowned and looked up to him.
"How could they even tell if this was meant to be a bad drawing? I'm not even sure what it is." I shook my head at the paper. Mr. Anderson chuckled and shrugged.
"I don't know."
"Ella isn't normally like this. I know most parents would say that about their kids, but Ella isn't a trouble maker. This jaysom boy must have done something to provoke her."
"I agree with you, Ella isn't a bad kid. And the boy's name is Jason." He corrected me, sitting forward. I couldn't help but giggle at Ella's misspellling. He smiled and nodded.
"Luckily for Ella, they should be learning to spell properly by next week."
"Thank god." I set the paper down and crossed my arms around my chest.
"Well, what happened? What did this boy do?"
"Ella wouldn't tell me." He said, shaking his head.
"Why not?" I questioned, frowning. He smiled and said,
"She told me her mother said not to talk to strangers." His statement made me smile and I looked down. He leaned back in his chair and cleared his throat.
"Well, here's the deal. Ella is obviously under good care, and from what I could tell, she wasn't trying to be mean. But the school will see her as the bully until we have her side of the story."
"I'll have her explain everything to me tonight." I assured him. He smiled to me.
"I have no doubt. When you have her side, tell her to come tell me what happened. Then I want you to come in and tell me what she told you. If the stories match up, we can get the other child's parents involved." He finished and waited for me to say anything. I stood and nodded.
"Sounds like a plan, call me whenever you need me to come in." I scribbled my number on a sticky note and smiled at him again.
"Thank you."
"We haven't been properly introduced," he said, standing up and extending his hand out to me. I was 6 feet tall, but he cleared my height by at least six inches. I tilted my head and replied,
"No, we haven't. I'm Clair." I took his hand in mine. It was calloused and his grip was firm. My hand felt awkward in his. For a brief moment, our eyes met. In that moment, he smiled to me and said,
"I'm Derek." We let go of each other's hands. I bowed my head slightly and said,
"Have a nice day, Derek." I turned away and left the office. I couldn't see my face, but I just know it had the goofiest smile in the world on it.
When I returned to the principal's office, I heard some yelling on the inside of the door. Before I went inside, I put my ear against the door. A woman who wasn't the principal started shouting,
"How could you let this happen!?"
"I-"
"How can you just let some little heathen like this trample on my poor baby's self-esteem?!" That's when I opened the door and stomped in.
"I'm afraid you have it backwards, lady!" I stepped in front of the chair Ella sat in and stared at the woman. She was about 60-70 pounds over weight and had dyed red hair with about six tons of make up. She scowled at me and turned her nose upwards.
"I presume you're this little rat's mother?"
"Who are you to call me daughter a rat, lady! It's your son who's the problem.!"
"I'm afraid we don't know that!" The principal stepped in. I turned on my heel to her and said,
"Oh, yes we do!" The principal backed down. I turned back to the other woman and pointed a finger at her.
"Dont you dare call my daughter a rat again. I don't care what you think she did, you're wrong. Ella wouldn't do this unless someone provoked her!" I looked down at Ella, then to the principal.
"I think we have waisted enough of her day with this, and I must return to work. Can we please continue this tomorrow?" After a brief hesitation, the principal nodded. I looked down to Ella and set both hands on her cheeks.
"I want you to be a good girl for the rest of the day, we'll talk when I get home, ok?"
"Ok." She got up and left. I glared at the principal and the woman one last time before I turned and left the office.

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Hope you liked it, enjoy the next one, bye! :).