Destiny- Byron Miller

~11~

The next day started out normal. We all woke up at the usual time. We all had breakfast together. Maisie and Bailey we're matching today. Both wearing cute little dresses with cats on them.

I did Maisie's hair in cute little pigtails and she had on her pink, light up sneakers. This was one of my favorite outfits on her. Now I get to see a miniature version of it on Bailey too.

After dropping Bailey off at the day care and Maisie at Gwen's house, I headed off to the high school.

I get fairly high grades for someone in my position. Getting a C in pre-calc is a miracle when you consider that I have 2 children to care for and a full time job when I get home. Not to mention all the other work from school.

At around 12:15 I was in English when my phone started ringing. Because I was given permission from the school to use my phone during the day in case of emergencies with either of the girls, I stepped into the hallway and answered it.

"Hello?" I said as I closed the wooden classroom door shut.

"Hi Byron, this is Amy, the vice principal of Maisie's school. I am calling to notify you of an event that happened today at recess. As you know, Maisie started getting help for her social skills today. Correct?" she said very kindly.

"Yes I am aware," I responded. At this point I was getting impatient because I was missing part of my English lesson. I already have a 68 in this class. I don't want to risk getting it any lower.

"Well, she left the classroom in the middle of a lesson in order to allow her to be more comfortable while learning her social skills. One of her classmates found out why she had to leave the classroom and started picking on her. At recess he pushed her and she scraped up her knees quite a bit on the pavement. But, the real reason I am calling is because she got up and punched the kid in the face. Twice."

"Oh my god. What do you want me to do?" I said very concerned. This doesn't sound like her at all.

"We need you to come and pick her up. I already called your school and you have permission to leave," she responded back.

"Okay I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye."

I hung up the phone and went back into my English class to grab my bag. All eyes were on me as I picked up my stuff and left. I couldn't care less. I didn't care that there would be rumors. I didn't care that my grade could possibly get lower. I didn't care about anything except finding an explanation for why Maisie would punch someone.

I drove all the way to the elementary school in record time. I wasn't sure what I was feeling. I was disappointed, but proud, but sad, but worried.

Maisie was in the nurses office getting her cuts cleaned and bandaged. Not only were her knees bleeding, but her fists were too.

When I walked into that nurses office I felt all the emotions.

My Maisie was sitting there bandaged up on one bed while the boy she punched was laying unconscious on the other bed. And she was looking at him with all the anger she could muster from within her tiny body. It was actually quite comical because there was this small girl in a cat dress who just beat up a little boy almost twice her size.

I didn't know what to say. All I could think of was, "Did you say sorry?"

"No," was all she said.

"We're going to go home and talk about this alright?"

She grabbed her backpack and left the room.

I signed out of the office and headed outside to where Maisie was sitting on the steps.

"Let's go," I said as I grabbed my keys from my pocket.

Maisie didn't move.

"Come on Maisie. I didn't take time off of school to have to drag you home from school. Now let's go."

"No." she said sternly.

"Fine. We can do this the hard way," I said as I picked her up from where she was sitting on the steps.

She started kicking and screaming as I put her in the car. Now she's really going to have a talk when we get home.

She seems to have calmed down by the time we are inside the door of our house.

She started walking upstairs toward her bedroom but I stopped her before she could.

"No no no. We're talking about this before anything else," I say as I take her backpack off her shoulders.

She sits down on the couch and I sit next to her.

"I already know what happened today. I know what you did and I hope you know that it was wrong. What I really want to know is why. Why did you think the best option was to punch him. I know he was picking on you and I know he pushed you but there are other options that are less violent."

"I did it because I had to. He was saying that I didn't know how to talk and that I didn't have a real dad or mom. He said that I wouldn't have a soulmate. Then I told him that I would hit him if he kept talking but he said that I couldn't hit him if I tried. So I punched him once to prove him wrong and I punched him twice for the things he said before that."

"Maisie, that was wrong. I know you were mad and upset but there were other options. Both you and that boy are suspended for 2 days. What am I supposed to do now? I have school, Amanda has work, but you have to stay away from school," I said frustrated.

"Can I go upstairs now?"

"No. We're not done talking. I want to know how the meeting with your school counselor went. I want to know why you don't like to talk in class. I want to know so much. Can we please just sit and talk right now?"

"The meeting was fine. And I don't like to talk in class because I don't want to make any more friends. I'm afraid they'll leave me like mom and my dad. Every time someone in my class talks to me I get really nervous and cry. Sometimes I eat lunch alone because Gwen has other friends that I don't want."

"Maisie, you need to learn trust. Having friends in school can make it so much more fun."

"Not if I don't want it."

"Angel, believe me. I know it seems scary but they want to be friends with you. They want to play with you and hang out and have fun."

"No they just want to be with Gwen. They don't actually want to be friends with me. But since I'm close with Gwen, they try to be close with me. And even if they wanted to be friends with me before, they definitely wont want anything to do with me after I punched that kid in the face,"

"I'm sure that's not true."

"You don't know anything. Just leave me alone," she said quietly.

"Don't do that, Maisie. Don't shut me out. You know you can tell me anything. But how am I supposed to know if you don't tell me?"

"I don't know! I just want to be alone! I got pushed enough today! Please!" she shouted before she ran upstairs about to cry.

I let her sit there for 20 minutes before I headed up to her room.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you over the edge," I said quietly after I opened her bedroom door.

"I'm sorry too. It's just that sometimes I feel like I can't talk. Like I have no choice. It's been like that since I got sick."

"Well then I'll take you to the doctor tomorrow just to make sure everything is okay. But for now, I'm going to drive you to Daniel's house. He's going to watch you while I'm at work today."

"Okay," she said as she got up from her bed.

Before we left she gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you Byron."