Breaking Noses

Susan Miller sighed looking over her papers. Madzie Lightwood-Bane, age 7, a first grader that had just started elementary school. She had been a model student up till that point, smart and hardworking, quiet but capable of interacting with the rest and making friends. And yet…

She shook her head, looking over the other expedient in his table, Bob Sullivan, second grader. They had had some problems with him but nothing major, he was an energetic kid that didn’t do well sitting still for too long but this was the first time he was involved in something like this.

Bob’s mother arrived first basically spitting fire. “I want that girl expelled,” she announced imperiously.

“Take a sit, Mrs. Sullivan,” she instructed holding her gaze with some difficulty. “Madzie’s fathers are on their way, I’m sure we can all discuss this like civilized adults.”

“What’s there to discuss?” she crossed her arms, looking like fury incarnated. “That little monster sprained my son’s wrist!”

And because that’s how Susan’s luck went, that was the moment the Lightwood-Bane’s opened his office door. “Your son had it coming,” the tallest one growled.

If she didn’t get control of the situation, this was going to end in a fist fight. “Let’s all sit down first, shall we?”

Luckily the other dad seemed to be on her side so he took his still glaring husband’s arm and forced him to sit. “Come on, Alexander, let’s listen to what happened first.”

Susan took a deep breath and reminded herself that she dealt with screaming children every day. She could do this. “So, as you are already aware there was an accident today,” she started but she was rudely interrupted by Bob’s mother.

“An accident?” she shrieked indignated. “It was an assault.”

“As a lawyer and CEO of a law firm I can say with some authority that it was self-defense.” Alexander told her coldly. “But we can take it to trial if you prefer.”

Susan threw a desperate look to the sensible dad, if she let this escalate to the point a judge was needed she could kiss her job goodbye. The man seemed amused but his eyes were as cold as his husband’s voice had been. “Maybe we should let miss Miller finish talking before we start drafting lawsuits.” He put his hand on Alexander’s leg making him relax visibly, almost as if he was under a spell.

“Thank you, Mr. Lightwood-Bane,” she said.

“Just Magnus is okay, and my husband’s Alec,” he offered her an encouraging smile.

“Like I was saying, there was a situation today,” she tried again. “Bob has been picking on Madzie for several days and while we’ve tried again and again to get him to stop, he hasn’t.” Mrs. Sullivan opened her mouth to interrupt again but Susan threw him a look she usually reserved for her worst behaved kids and, to her surprise, it worked. “Today he went to bother her again and it seems he tried to pull her hair to which Madzie reacted by twisting his arm, consequently spraining his wrist.” There was a silence in the room, three pair of eyes daring her to continue and to put the blame on one or the other kid. “I think we can all agree that they both acted poorly.”

“My son ended in the hospital!” Of course she was the first to object. “How is this in any way his fault?”

“Your son has been bullying my daughter for weeks now and since the school has tried to stop it but he hasn’t, we can only assume the problem in his education came from home,” Magnus told her firmly.

“I don’t need lessons of parenting by someone who teaches their daughter how to hurt other people,” she retorted.

“We’ve only taught Madzie self-defense techniques that rely on the attacker using force to cause harm,” Alec crossed his arms. “If your son has gotten hurt it’s purely his fault.”

At that Mrs. Sullivan's face flushed with rage, “How dare…”

“That’s enough,” Susan cut them off. “Both children have acted wrong and against this school’s policies. Bob’s treatment to Madzie is intolerable but she should have gone looking for a teacher and not taking matters in her own hands.”

“Madzie has been informing teachers of the situation since it started,” Magnus reminded her glacially. “And yet it has continued, I don’t think anyone can blame her for defending herself when some prepubescent creep tried to touch her without consent.”

So much for the sensible one, Susan sighed. “While I understand what you’re saying, she did harm another student when she had other options.”

Mrs. Sullivan crossed her arms again. “I just don’t understand what the big deal is about, so my Bob has been pulling that girl’s pigtails, that’s just him having a crush and very bad taste,” she glared at Alec.

“I can honestly say that I find less fault in Bob’s actions every time you open your mouth,” Alec said cuttingly. “After all, with such a mother it’s not surprising he doesn’t know how to act in society.”

“Excuse me?”

“No, I won’t excuse you,” Alec glared at her. “Not until you teach your son to respect other people and what consent is.”

“It’s not like he raped the girl, he was just teasing her!”

“Oh give him time, I’m sure he’ll have a brilliant future in jail, with the education he’s receiving.”

And Susan had to stop this before knives were drawn. “That’s enough. Bob needs to learn how to express his feelings without bothering people and Madzie should know that using force is not the answer, they will both be suspended for two days and I hope this will not happen again.” She saw them nod, evidently not pleased at all, but she didn’t have the energy to accept more arguments so she showed them the door. God, and she thought her kids were exhausting. She’d pick them over protective parents every day. And now she really needed to find a way to explain to Bob how to act around girls because it was clear that he wouldn’t receive that education at home.

She got up, deciding she had earned a cup of coffee when voices outside her office made her pause. Apparently the Lightwood-Bane’s were still there.

“We should go pick up Madzie, Alexander,” Magnus was saying.

“Just a minute, I don’t want her to see me this angry.” She almost didn’t recognise Alec’s voice that was now soft and careful.

“She’s safe,” Magnus reminded him gently. “And that Bob kid will think twice before trying to bother her again,” there was a vindictive tone in his voice that Susan hadn’t expected.

“Yeah, you did well to teach her those move,” Alec agreed and Susan could almost hear him smiling. “She’ll be sad to miss two days of school though.”

“It’ll be okay,” Magnus reassured him. “She’s a Lightwood after all, she breaks noses and accepts the consequences.”