Temptation

The Note

"Mommy," Ellie slowly said, as she walked into the kitchen with her head down. Cassie looked at her curiously from where she was grading papers. "What's wrong?" She asked. 

Ellie dragged her feet as she walked over, her head hung low in shame and her hands behind her back. She stopped in front of her mom, then brought a piece of paper out from behind her back. 

Cassie carefully took it and read what was written. "Wait...what?" She asked. "Did you show her your bracelet? Did she forget?" Ellie shook her head, still not looking up at her mom. "I showed her," she mumbled. "She said it wasn't an excuse."

Reading over the letter again, Cassie shook her head and scoffed. "Baby, don't worry about this," she assured. "I'm going to talk to Mrs. Applegate in the morning. Can you tell me exactly what happened?"

She explained how she blurted out something during a test, but doesn't remember what it was. The poor girl started crying in the middle of explaining. 

"Hey, what's this?" Ben asked as he walked in. Cassie had Ellie in her lap and was hugging her as she cried into her chest. "Apparently," Cassie told him, "El's condition isn't an excuse for how she acts out. She got a note from Applegate that we're supposed to sign."

Ben snatched the note from the table and read it. "You've got to be kidding me," he said. "This is exactly what the doctor's note said would happen! No, you know what, I will be speaking with her tomorrow."

He picked Ellie up and held her against him. "You're not in trouble, baby," he assured. "Go do your homework for us, alright?" She rested her head on his shoulder and mumbled, "I already finished."

He seemed impressed. "Oh," he said. "Well, then it seems you've earned some T.V.. Go on and watch something with your brother." He set her down and watched her leave the room. 

"Ben, I will talk to Sarah," Cassie said. He shook his head as he told her, "Nope. I'm doing it. I'll go with you early in the morning and speak with her then. I'm not going to stand by and watch my daughter get bullied by a teacher for something she can't control!"

Cassie was upset about this, but this set Ben off. "Okay," she calmly told him, "I just hope she's ready for what's coming to her." That got him to crack a smile. "Oh, she sure as hell doesn't," he told her. "Mess with my daughter, my son, especially my wife...I will show no mercy."

He pulled Cassie up and pressed her against him. "You are bad, Mr. Cumberbatch," she said, running her hand down his chest. He hummed, then groped her butt. "Once the kids go to bed," he purred in her ear, "I'll show you bad."

The next morning, Ben drove himself, Cassie, Turner, and Ellie down to the school. Usually, Cassie comes down this early and Ben drops Ellie off a little later. Poor Ellie was going to be bored out of her mind for the next two hours. 

"Good luck," Cassie said to Ben as she took Turner from his arms. "And by that, I mean good luck to her." Ben had to chuckle at that and gave her kiss a cheek. "I'll only be a few," he told her, before walking towards Mrs. Applegate's classroom. 

Mrs. Applegate was a bitter old woman. She treated her classes like they were boot camp and any kid who dare speak out of turn was the child of the most irresponsible parents in her eyes. So, Cassie and Ben were definitely not on her list of responsible parents. 

Ben knew this, as he's heard Cassie complain about her numerous times since the school permanently hired Applegate two years ago. She was only supposed to come in as a substitute, but the teacher she was covering suddenly quit. Not a single teacher was happy about the decision, but what could they do?

Approaching the open classroom door, Ben softly knocked on the doorframe a few times. Mrs. Applegate and her shark-like eyes looked up from where she was grading papers. Ben gave her his ever charming smile and said, "Hello, Mrs. Applegate. How are you this morning?"

Her glasses at the end of her nose made her seem even more sinister. "Just fine, Benedict," she told him, her arms folding over her chest. He was the only parent she called by his first name, since she was Cassie's husband, but it still seemed mildly inappropriate whenever she did. 

"Great," he said, a little sharply. "Listen, I'm here about the note you sent home with Ellie yesterday. You were made aware of her condition?" Mrs. Applegate didn't show an ounce of sympathy as she said, "I was."

Ben waited for her to say something else, but it never came. So, he took a quick breath in, then said, "Right, well, if Ellie does happen to shout out something, it is because of her condition. Everything she's gotten in trouble for is because of it. She's still learning to cope with it, we're going to be getting her into behavioral therapy, but can you just...let up? She's a child with Aspergers for crying out loud."

Mrs. Applegate seemed shocked with the way Ben was speaking with her. She also did not like it. Not one bit. "So, this is where Ella gets her temperament, I see," she snootily said. "Mr. Cumberbatch, if I give her a pass on disturbing my lessons, then everyone will expect that when they do the same and I will not have my classroom run around in chaos."

Ben took a deep breath and let it slowly out through his nose. "I understand that," he calmly told her, "but none of the other kids have Aspergers, at least as far as I know, and I sure as hell hope you don't treat them like you're treating my daughter!"

His voice got a little loud at the end, but it didn't phase her. As a matter of fact, she gave him a smirk and that bothered him. "I will treat Ella just like I treat everyone in the class," she informed him. "Now, if she does not have that slip signed and turned in today, she will get a detention. Good day, Benedict."

She turned back to the papers she was grading and continued with them as if nothing happened. 

Ben was stunned! He couldn't believe the audacity of this woman! 

"Alright," he sighed, "I didn't want to do this because my wife works here and I would hate to cause anything in her workplace. However, this does involve my daughter and I will be damned if anything is going to make her life more difficult than it has to be. Now, you can either acknowledge and understand that Ella has something that is completely out of her control, or I will take this to the board."

That seemed to capture her attention, but she didn't seem worried. "Just because your wife works here, does not mean I will give your daughter the special treatment you are asking for. Signed and turned in today, or she will get a detention."

Ben stormed out of the classroom in a fury. He will not let this go. 

When he got to Cassie's classroom, she was putting out some papers on desks, while Ellie played with Turner on the floor. "Hey," Cassie gently said, as she saw the anger in his face. "I assume it went as well as expected?"

He plopped himself in one of the desks and scoffed, "She's insatiable! My God, that woman doesn't have an ounce of sympathy in her body! We need to report her." Cassie sat down in the desk next to him. "I'm way ahead of you," she told him. "I figured the talk wouldn't go well, so I wrote out an email to the board and superintendent. It's sitting as a draft and is waiting to be sent out."

"Send it," he quickly told her. "Can we get El out of that class in the meantime?" Cassie slowly shook her head. "No," she sighed. "Every teacher is given a specific amount of students to accommodate the classroom itself. Some classes have twenty kids, some have thirty-five. If they move one kid, they have to move the one who's being replaced and so on and so forth."

Ben sighed and threw his head back. "If that woman send one more note home..." Cassie rubbed at his arm and told him, "I know. I'll go send the email. In the meantime, take Turner home and try to get some rest. I'll text you when we're ready to be picked up."

He nodded, then accepted the kiss she placed on his lips. While she went to go send out the email, he picked up Turner and said goodbye to Ellie. He promised her she wasn't in trouble and that everything was going to be okay as he signed the note. 

"Nothing gets past me when it comes to my little girl," he quietly told her. She smiled at that. He gave her a wink, then a kiss on the cheek before leaving.