Life Is A Surprised (Laurmani) Completed

Chapter 46

Lauren's P.O.V

I think life is finally settling down. Took long enough. These past few weeks have been very tame and I have to say, I'm very thankful for it. Mani and I got a call from Sierra's school today and I'm being optimistic for once in my life but I have a gut feeling that's going to come and bite me in the ass when I walk into this school. The principal didn't discuss what we needed to come to the school for over the phone. Normani and I met in the parking lot before so we could go inside together. Once inside, we walk to the principals office and as we're making our introductions and being ushered inside, I look around for Sierra, who is nowhere in sight. Mani and I sit down and I sigh. This had better be worth it.

"Thank you both for coming in on such short notice." Principal Brown says as he sits behind his desk.

"Of course, is everything okay with Sierra? We weren't given much information over the phone." Normani says and Principal Brown sighs and folds his hands together atop his desk.

"There's been...an incident." He trails off. I knew I shouldn't have been hopeful.

"What happened?" I ask him.

"Well it seems as though, Sierra and another student have been having some issues. The teacher had been aware but she didn't expect it to go as far as it has." He says. What?

"Where the hell is my daughter?" I ask defensively. If anything happened to her...

"I assure you she's fine. Right now she's in a classroom being supervised. We had to separate her from the other student."

"Can we skip all this and you tell me exactly what happened?" Normani chimes in impatiently. Principal Brown clears his throat before speaking again.

"Sierra super glued a students hand to their face." I laugh and Mani glares at me.

"What?" I turn to Normani and say with a shrug. Mani rolls her eyes. I think it's funny.

"What happened that she would do this? Sierra is a sweetheart." She says, now turning her attention back to Principal Brown.

Principal Brown sits back and strokes his beard. Principal Brown is an older man, missing at least 90 percent of his hair and has to stand at least 6 foot, with a belly so big I'm wondering if he's having triplets or never lost the baby weight. Most of the hair he has is on his face, I guess if you can't run your hand through your hair, you stroke your chin?

" Yes, Sierra is one of our brightest students. Apparently this student in particular has been bullying Sierra for the last few months, and it seems she's had enough." He says in his deep gravely voice, which is starting to annoy me.

"Why was that even tolerated? We specifically chose this school because of its no tolerance policy." Normani says and Brown nods his head.

"You are correct. The teacher who saw the behavior and had not reported it is no longer an employee here." He says.

"Damn right. This should have been something we knew about when it started. The hell is wrong with this place? Ever look at the new lately? Seen 13 reasons why ? Kids are killing themselves over this shit!" I yell at him and he nods once more.

"I understand your frustration and on behalf of the school I do apologize that this slipped through the cracks - "

"Slipped through the cracks? SLIPPED THROUGH THE CRACKS?! You have one fucking job! One! Fucking! Job! Pay attention! If anything happens to my daughter, I'll sue you for everything you have and what you thought you could ever have!" Normani exclaims. Wow...didn't expect that. I put my hand on her arm and she turns her head towards me.

"Breathe." I say to her and she sighs heavily.

"We are doing all that we can to rectify the situation but we have more things to discuss. I've spoken with the parents of the other student and...they are considering suing."

"Excuse me?" I say.

"The child has lost some skin from their face because of the incident but I'm sure we can have this solved outside of court." He explains.

"So, their kid bullies mine, and they think I'm supposed to pay them for not teaching their kid to be a decent human being? Fuck that." I say. You're really going to sue me over.

"You are going to set up a meeting with these parents for this Wednesday at 1:30 and we'll settle this then. Send someone to get my child now, we're going home." Normani says. Principal Brown only nods then leaves the room.

"I can't believe this shit!" I say once he leaves. Normani just shakes her head.

"All these people want is money, Lo. Ugh...if it's not one thing, it's another." Normani sighs then pulls out her cell phone and begins to type furiously.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

" Asking for a favor. If they think they can scare me with a lawsuit, I'll scare them with a counter suit." She says and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"Just let me handle it." She says and I nod my head.

Mani's P.O.V

I can't believe this, the second things start to work out... That damn principal sure took his time getting Sierra. After we signed her out of school, Lauren and I decided to take her to the park to get her side of things. I'm sure whatever was going on had to be traumatic for her. Lauren is now pushing her on a swing and I'm sitting in the swing next to her.

"So Sierra?" She looks over to me and her face falls flat. The smile and joy from swinging completely erased from her features. Sierra knows when I use her full name, something happened. Lauren steps from behind her swing and sits in the one on her left.

"Do you want to talk about what happened today at school?" I ask as her swing begins to slow to a stop. Sierra looks down at the mulch under our feet and grips the chains of the swing.

"No..." She says quietly.

"Sierra." Lauren says with a sigh.

"Okay...I know I wasn't supposed to do it but she wouldn't leave me alone..." Sierra says with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"What was she doing?" Lauren asks her. Sierra's swing comes to a full stop and she sighs.

"She's mean. She kicks me at recess, and pushes me! She pulls my hair and said she'd beat me up if I told the teacher. I...I know I wasn't supposed to do it..." She trails off and I stand up and move to stand in front of Sierra. I kneel down to her level and lift her chin gently with my hand. I can see the unshed tears in her eyes and I have to take a breath to collect my emotions. It kills me to see my child so hurt.

"You don't have to hang your head. You have nothing to be ashamed of. We take responsibility for our actions right? Like a big girl?" Sierra nods her head and wipes away the tears she shook free.

"Yes...I glued her hands to her face when she fell asleep in class." Lauren is now standing beside me with a hand on Sierra's back.

"I know you felt like you had to do something but that's not for you to handle. I know she scared you but, you can always tell the teacher or if not them, then tell mama or I. You know we won't let anything bad happen to you. We always want you to be happy." Lauren says in a soft tone. Sierra looks up at her then back to me and jumps of the swing and into my arms. I pick her up and hug her close as Lauren joins us and kisses her forehead. After Sierra calms down enough, we head to get something to eat then back home.

At home, Aiden had a million questions about why Sierra wasn't at school when he went to pick her up. After explaining things to him, he calmed down but I know he probably wishes he was seven years old just so he could protect Sierra. We all sat and had dinner but by the time it's time to go to bed, I can't seem to fall asleep. Just another night for me...