Head over Heels 3| j.b

meant for me.

On our way to the hotel I thought of all the right words to say to Audrey. This is her first incident that I've ever encountered and I felt like I set a bad example for her. What kids see, is what they do. Not long ago I've had the same situation with a paparazzi that has been harassing my family and I. Trying to get the scoop on Justin passing away, and how it made me feel. When he realized I wasn't answering him, he got upset and trashed talked him. I got upset and punched him in the face. Of course there were witnesses and of course Audrey and Issac were with me at that time. I should've handled it better, what I was trying to do was, let them know it wasn't okay to react the way I did. I got bad press for that and that kind of conflicted with my work that I was doing for veterans. I got into my car and met Derek at the hotel. Derek and I sat on the sofa, trying to figure out what to say. We were both kind of surprised by the situation but we both knew it wasn't right to do what she did.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked her.

"To my room, I know the drill."

"Come here, we want to talk to you for a sec. Come, sit." I said patting the sofa. She sighs and come sits between us.

"Am I in trouble?" She asks.

"No, baby. You aren't in trouble. We just want to talk about what happened at school today. Can you tell us how it happened?"

"It's this girl, her name is Zoey, the class was talking about career day, it's when the parents are suppose to show up and talk about their jobs. I started to think about Justin, I was just quiet in class..didn't want to say anything. The teacher noticed it I guess and called on me, asking me if any of you were going to come. And then Zoey started laughing and said that Justin was dead, he didn't have a career anymore. And you didn't either since you punched a guy in the face a couple months ago. And, she said I didn't know my real dad either, so I got up and punched her."

"Okay. Well, first off what she said wasn't cool at all. Yes, Justin is gone but that doesn't mean his legacy is gone. Everything he's done, it's still here. His music, his talent, they're all still here with us. And I should've handled it better when that guy was harassing us. I wasn't thinking, I should've set a better example for you and Issac, and I'm sorry for that. But it is not okay for someone to say that to you, but it's also not okay to hit people because of that. At first, I did tell Derek she deserved it but, I knew better. I get it, you're new to this, all of this. And I wish I could take that pain away from you but I can't. You're going to lose people. Justin died, I'm going to die one day, so will Derek. You're never going to stop losing the people you love. I wish life wasn't like the way it is but, we have to accept it. You'll understand a little bit better once you get older, you just have to be ready for it. I was ready to see my mom at peace, I pulled the plug on her. I couldn't see her suffering anymore. But I wasn't ready when Justin passed away, it happened so fast I thought I was going to end up seeing him that day. Tomorrow isn't promised, your life could be gone within a blink of an eye. I want you to grow up and do the right thing, don't try to fit in, it makes you the same as everyone else. Be unique, be different than everyone, who cares what they think. You know how to live your life, oh, and also, you didn't know Derek at first because he had to leave but now he's in your life and, I'm happy that he's apart of it. Zoey doesn't know what's going on in our family, let her talk, she's just a kid, she doesn't understand what we all have to go through. Don't make someone like that make you get out of character. That's not who you are, I know that. And you know, your dad and I would love to come to career day. That'll show Zoey."

"Really?"

"Of course. You just give us a day and we'll show up. I promise we won't try to embarrass you."