Chapter 10

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Piper hadn't really told you or Billie anything about where she was or what she had been doing when she hadn't been at school, or while you were looking for her in the fear that she had done something to hurt herself.  Her excuse was that she lost track of time when she was at the library, which you and Billie knew was a lie because you could tell when all of your children were lying, and when you confronted her about not going to school she simply said; "I didn't feel like it."

"Do you have any idea what was going through our minds, Piper?" Billie said. "Any idea at all?" Piper said nothing in response him. "Damn it, we thought that you could have done something to hurt yourself. All you had to do was pick up the phone and tell us where you were." He ran his hands through his hair in despair. She continued to remain silent, this just wasn't like her but she said nothing more about the matter, ate her dinner as everyone sat in complete silence and then went upstairs to her bedroom like nothing was wrong. 

You rang and thanked Mike, Tré and Ollie for their help and everyone else that tried to find out where Piper was. That night when you and Billie were in bed, the two of you discussed this in detail. 

"Billie, there's just something that she's not telling us!" You said as Billie looked at you, his eyes widening. "You don't think she's pregnant do you?" He asked. You looked at him and sighed. "I don't know!" 

"Well, you should! You've given birth to four children, you should know the signs of pregnancy by now!" The two of you sighed before Billie pulled you into a hug and your head lay on his bare chest. "We could've lost our daughter tonight." You sobbed.

"But we didn't and we won't," Billie said as he kissed your head as the two of you settled in for a long night as you weren't able to sleep. Every sound of movement made you jump out of bed and paranoid. You were constantly checking on all of them to make sure that they were all okay.

The next morning everyone was up, dressed, fed and taken to school but no one really said anything; you could cut the tension with a knife. Just before Piper got out of the car, Billie said, "Piper, don't do what you did yesterday. Please. I'll pick you up later." She just sighed and got out of the car, so you could both drive to work. 

"How is Piper?"  Tré asked. 

"She's not really talking to us," Billie said, running his hands through his hair. He had no idea how to deal with this situation. "We don't know what to do. When you have a kid, you never expect to have to deal with something like this."

**3 Hour Jump Ahead**

Billie had just finished recording another song when your phone rang in your pocket. You took it out. "Who is it?" Asked Billie. 

"School." You sighed, answering it. "Hello?" You said, holding the phone to your ear. 

"Hello? Is this Mrs Armstrong?" A woman spoke on the other end. 

"Yes, it is." You replied. 

"I'm calling about your daughter, Piper Armstrong." You looked at Billie and mouthed 'Piper' so he stayed in the loop as much as possible. He looked concerned when you said Piper's name. "What's happened? Is she okay?" You asked, desperate for him to answer you. Your mind was racing with so many thoughts that you had to put your hand to your forehead as you looked at Billie, nervously. "Mrs Armstrong, I'm afraid that your daughter has been in a fight." 

"Excuse me?" You said. "A fight?" Billie looked at you in shock. "A fight?" He mouthed, unable to imagine the situation. "Yes." 

"That doesn't sound like my daughter." 

"Well, I'm afraid it is, Mrs Armstrong. We're going to need you and your husband to come down to the school immediately." 

"Okay, we'll be right there." You said before hanging up and Billie looked at you as if to say 'what the fuck is going on?'

"Piper's been in a fight." You reiterated with actual spoken words. 

"What?" 

"They need us down there." You said as Billie looked at his manager who told us that we could go. We rushed out to the car and jumped in. Billie drove down, his hands gripping the steering wheel. "Why did she get into a fight? Did they say?" He asked, smoke practically coming out of his ears. "No." You replied. "Oh god! What is going on?" 

Billie placed his hand on your knee. "Babe. It's going to be fine. I promise. We'll sort it."

When we arrived at the school, Piper was sat waiting for us, scratches all along her face. "Oh, Piper!" You said running up to her. "What happened?" She looked at you and Billie.                        "It wasn't me, I swear. They started pushing me about and hitting so I hit back to try and defend myself but there were loads of them. I tried to tell the teachers it wasn't me but they believe that it was and are refusing to check the CCTV footage to prove that it wasn't me." She started to cry. You looked at Billie, who was just as angry as you were. 

A teacher came out to see you. "Mr and Mrs Armstrong, I presume." He said, holding his hand out for Billie to shake. "I do apologize for dragging you out here but Piper needs to realize what she's done." Billie held up his hand to stop him from speaking. "We want to see the CCTV..." Billie said calmly and this teacher's face dropped to the floor. "Excuse me?" He stuttered.

"My wife and I would like to see the CCTV footage of the fight." He was still calm. 

"I don't believe that's nec---" 

"No, it is," Billie stopped him. "Do you have children?" He asked, tilting his head as he looked at the teacher.

"Well yes I do, but that's not the point---" 

"Yes, it is the point! If this was your child now, sat in this office in front of you claiming that a large group of people began beating her up, bleeding, and she was being accused of starting the fight by teachers in her school despite being the least violent person to ever exist, you would be in our position wanting to see the CCTV!" He began to raise his voice as he got more and more annoyed about this situation.

"Mr Armstrong!" Said the teacher, trying to get him to calm down. 

"No! You're accusing my daughter of doing something that she didn't do, so I want you to show us the footage!" 

The teacher sighed before you and Billie followed him to the room where the school was monitored and were shown the footage. It was awful, you could barely watch it. Your daughter being beaten up by large groups of people cornering her left, right and centre. You held tight to Billie's hand as tears formed in his eyes. 

You finally exited the room after discussing what was going to happen to the groups of people and Billie announced that Piper wouldn't be in until it was sorted. Piper went to the car and sat silently in the back, all the way home. She didn't want to talk about it and you didn't blame her... 

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Updated 2020

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