Broken Descent (Bruno Mars)

Big Changes

Bruno sat at the piano in his house, as he'd done for months. Phil was there too, as usual.

"Bruno what are we gonna do? The label wants answers."

"Well obviously the guys at the label don't have a traumatized kid," Bruno looking over at Charlotte. "I can't think straight and make music if she's not okay."

All of the cousins were over.

"Bruno she's really a lot better than she used to be. I think she's okay now."

"Seeing her over there," Bruno looked at her, "playing alone and by herself tells me something different..."

"I don't think that's why she's by herself..."

"Oh," Bruno said a bit defensively. "Do YOU know why she is then?"

"She needs to be socialized, Bruno, and not just with her cousins and families. She needs to get out of this house. Look, everything with Ian is settled and schools around here around have a lot of famous kids...and a lot of security...Zadeh's school is very good and that way she'll already know someone."

"You want me to send her off to school?"

"Well she's at that age now..."

"I...I don't know."

Phil grinned widely. "It was tough for me and Urbana when Zadeh started, but we knew that he had to go to school. I know you don't want her to grow up, Bruno...but it's happening and you want to make sure she grows up right...right?"

"Of course...I want nothing but the best for her...nothing but the best..." Bruno continued to stutter and hesitate.

"Charlotte can be daddy's little girl and also go to school, Bruno. Then she'll come running back to you at the end of the day and be so excited to tell you about her day."

"If this is your way of forcing me to record again...maybe I'll take time off from touring and begin thinking about starting that record label we were talking about a couple of months ago."

"This isn't for you...it's for her. Either way, you can't just hide in your house all day, or come to my house and hide all day, and Charlotte can't watch you. You need to do something, ya know? So does she."

Bruno smiled. "I'll see if I can take her for a tour of Zadeh's school tomorrow and see what she thinks."

Later that night, Bruno read Charlotte's two favorite books to her before talking to her about the next day.

"Charlotte I want to talk to you about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" She asked, very confused.

"It's going to be fun. You know how Zadeh goes to school?"

"Yes," she said quietly.

"Well tomorrow we're going to visit and..."

"Am I going to the school too?"

"Well we're just going to take a tour, okay? We'll look around the school and maybe meet some teachers."

Charlotte didn't respond.

"Are you okay?"

Charlotte nodded her head wearily.

"Don't be nervous, peanut. We're just taking a look...then we'd have the whole summer to have fun and then you'd go after summer's over."

The next morning, Charlotte had become even more nervous. It made Bruno nervous too, imagining how anxious she'd be the first day. Bruno checked into the front office at the school, feeling Charlotte's tight grip of his hand.

They were led throughout the school and shown the cafeteria, the gym, and eventually the first grade hallway. One of the first grade teachers was available to talk since her class was in art class. Young an beautiful, she made Bruno a bit nervous.

"Hello," the teacher held out her hand. "I'm Miss Hunter."

He didn't introduce himself immediately.

"Mr. Hernandez?"

"Please," Bruno said, snapping out of a daze and shaking her hand. "Call me Bruno. This is Charlotte."

"Hi Charlotte," she said softly, sensing her timidity.

Charlotte waved back.

"Alright Bruno and Charlotte. The class doesn't come back for another half an hour so you can just walk around and take a look."

Bruno walked around the classroom. It very organized and colorful. The teachers were all nice and friendly, easing his uncertainty.

"Daddy look!" Charlotte said, her first words for the whole visit.

Bruno looked to where she pointed, which was a fish tank in the corner in the room. Charlotte pulled him all the way to the corner to look. Bruno looked behind to see Miss Hunter's reaction, only to see a smile.

"Charlotte," she said. "Do you like the fish?"

"Yeah. I have a lot at home."

"One of the jobs in here is to feed the fish in the morning."

Charlotte just smiled.

"Well," Miss Hunter said, "I'm going to go pick up the kids. You're more than welcome to stay a little bit longer."

Bruno looked at Charlotte for a response.

"Can we go home now?"

"Sure, Charlotte. Let's go home."

"Well it was nice meeting you," Miss Hunter said, closing the classroom door behind them and locking it.

"You too," Bruno winked, accidentally. "Maybe I'll see you in the fall."

"Yeah," she laughed a little, looking down at Charlotte. "Hopefully I'll see BOTH of you in the fall."

Bruno blushed a little. "Yes, of course."

In the car, Bruno continued to look at her through the rear-view mirror. He couldn't tell what her reaction and feelings were, even later that night.

"What did you think of the school?" Bruno asked, folding some of her clothes.

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders.

"Well did you like the teacher? Did you like the classroom? I know you liked the fish tank."

Charlotte giggled. "Yeah."

Bruno sat on the edge of her bed. "I know you're nervous, sweetheart. I know. I promise that you'll make a ton of friends. You're so smart, Charlotte. I want you to get even smarter. I want you to learn as much as you can, and do amazing things."

Charlotte watched him pick up one of her books.

"Soon you'll be able to read one of these on your own."

"Maybe I could read to you, Daddy."

"I would love that," Bruno said, kissing her head. "You can start teaching me a couple of things."

Charlotte wrapped her arms around his neck, looking directly into his eyes. She held on tight with her head on his shoulder.

"Daddy I think I wanna try school."

Bruno tightened his grip and turned his head to talk into her ear. "Sounds like a plan. I'll call them."

Bruno decided to start a new record label so he could continue working with music for a long time without the commitment of touring and traveling. Between Bruno's new label and Charlotte's new school in the fall, big changes were coming for the two of them.