A/N: I'm not getting as many reviews for this as I did before, but I'm really into writing this stuff for some reason right now! One shots are good times, what can I say. Thanks to those who reviewed, and please let me know what you think!
"You can get your little butt straight up the stairs to your room." Nick informed his eleven year old daughter Bailey sternly as soon as they got inside of their Las Vegas home in the late morning one Thursday. The fifth grader in question huffed and noticed her breath trembled slightly as it cleared her throat. She wasn't scared of her father, but she wasn't exactly happy about her situation. Bailey noticed her mother, who was currently off work sick with the flu, look over at her in question, but she definitely did not want to answer her questions. Being interrogated at the principal's office was enough for her, so she quickly bypassed her mom and headed straight up the stairs.
Nick sighed heavily after he'd almost slammed the keys onto the kitchen counter, then scrubbed a hand over his tired face. Bailey had been doing so much better in school this entire year with Mr. Falsey, but today things had taken a decisive nosedive. He'd been home taking care of his wife when the school called. It was kind of strange that when Mally was this age, he got called to school for a problem with her, and now it was the same thing with Bailey. Only this time, it wasn't so surprising. Bailey was a pro at this sort of thing.
"What happened?" Sara croaked out, then coughed several times, the deepness of it echoing in her chest, where it was staying and refusing to come out. She watched through slightly watery eyes as her husband took a seat in the recliner, letting his forehead fall towards his hand.
"Substitute. I guess Bailey thought it would be fresh meat to play trick on her, only this one didn't put up with any bullshit. She sent her to the principal, but she hid and wandered around the school for almost an hour. Her second grade teacher finally spotted her goofing around and personally escorted her down."
A disgusted grunt left Sara's mouth and she shook her head, which was sometimes all you could do with Bailey. Over the years, they'd learned to pick their battles carefully with the firecracker. Disrespect towards a teacher, even if it was a substitute, was one thing they would definitely not tolerate, on top of sneaking around school for almost an hour.
"She was doing so well." Sara commented, laying back down on her bed of cushions and blankets, clutching a hot water bottle Nick had made her just before he left. "Thought she could pull one over on a substitute?"
"She has before." Nick reminded her, thinking of the many horrifying notes they'd received over the years, about whoopee cushions, her smart mouth, leaving ketchup on the teacher's chair. Bailey had really outdone herself this time. "I'm gonna cool off for a few minutes before I deal with her. You need anything?"
Sara shook her head. "No thanks, baby. Can she go back to school tomorrow?"
"Yeah." He sighed. "And I'm sure Mr. Falsey will want to have a word with her."
Having a stricter but fun male teacher this year seemed to help out with Bailey's issues a lot. Though she was medicated, she seemed to have a natural tendency to find trouble and think up elaborate tricks. She'd be a teenager in a couple short years, and while her parents knew some of her immaturity would dwindle, they could only fear the teenage drama their middle daughter would no doubt create. Bailey was the queen of creating drama when it didn't exist; to blowing things out of proportion, and turning reasonable situations catty. In short, she would be one hell of a teenager.
About half an hour later, Nick wandered up the stairs, eerily quiet during the day with all the kids at school, except for Bailey. She knew better than to turn her stereo on when she was in trouble, lucky for her sake. Her father knocked on the door once for a courtesy and then proceeded inside, shutting the door behind him. He had some idea of what he wanted to say, but he knew that with Bailey, she could sometimes throw her for a loop. She had apparently just been laying on her bed, hopefully thinking about what she'd done wrong. Bailey sat up on her bed to face Nick. She had never been one to cower away from him when she was in trouble. Sure, he was scary when he was disappointed in her, but she had survived it all before.
Nick took a seat at her desk chair and faced his eleven year old. "I think you know what you did wrong. Am I right?" He asked her, feeling he didn't need to go into that kind of lecturing.
She nodded and sighed.
"You know why I don't like how you behaved?"
Another wordless nod.
"Tell me."
She sighed and gave him a 'Do I have to?' look, which he raised his eyebrows to in affirmation. This was the worst part.
"I already know, and you already know, so can we just skip this part?" She finally asked him. His answer was conveyed merely by crossing his arms and looking at her.
"Fine." She huffed. "I shouldn't have disrespected the sub, and wandering around the school by myself isn't a good idea, and it's dishonest."
Nick nodded his head several times in agreement with her offenses. "Good. So you know what you did wrong. Why'd you do it?"
She shrugged and picked up her Nickelodeon Magazine, sitting on her bedside table, hoping to convey to him that she was finished with this discussion. Nick cleared his throat and promptly plucked it from her hands, tossing it back on her nightstand. "That's not an acceptable answer in this house. Explain."
"I was bored. Substitutes are fun." She offered.
He shook his head in shame. "Bailey, people are not for your entertainment. That sub didn't need you causing a ruckus, and I'm sure you disturbed several students when you were out wandering through the halls. Tomorrow, when you go back to school, your teacher will want an explanation, and you better be more compliant than you have been with me. You will apologize to him, and write a written apology to your teacher. And I will be checking with Mr. Falsey to make sure you did."
"Are you serious?" She asked him, looking at him like he had two heads. That was so embarrassing.
"Mmmhmm." Staying in class like she was supposed to suddenly seemed much more enticing than what she would soon be facing. "You'll have plenty of time to write your letter before school ends today. You can consider this school time." He started getting out her assignment notebook and textbooks. "You need to be working or reading until 2:45, and I'm grounding you for two weeks."
She sighed and knew it wasn't wise to argue with him. "Yes, sir."
"I'll bring you lunch in a little while. Get to work."
CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI
Several hours later, Bailey was beyond bored out of her mind, having spent the remainder of the morning and most of the afternoon in her bedroom. She'd done all her homework already, and even read ahead in the novel they were discussing in class. Her dad had allowed her to keep the family laptop in her room so she could do homework, and it was beginning to look more and more tempting. She knew it was against the rules to get on instant messenger when she was grounded, but her parents weren't really checking on her that often. What harm would it do? The sound of Mari playing dress-up with her friends in her room was just torture, having to lay on her bed doing nothing.
Bailey went for it, opening up the laptop once again and eagerly anticipating its slow startup. There were so many computer games on this thing it took forever to load. Soon, it was running and Bailey started up AOL Instant Messenger. Several of her friends from school were on, asking what the heck happened to her today. Bailey grinned, liking the attention she got from the pranks she played, and answered each of them happily. However, instead of the awe she had anticipated receiving, many of her classmates seemed unimpressed. One told her she was being childish, and yet another told her to grow up. The final straw came when her friend Ashley accidentally typed at mean comment that was intended for Casey, but she'd written it in the wrong box. Bailey's box. It read Bailey is soooo imature sometimes. I wish she would get over herself.
Though she knew she could really push it sometimes, Bailey had never felt so hurt in her life. Ashley was one of her best friends, as well as Casey, and they were talking about her behind her back? And if they were her friends, what were other people saying? Bailey had always thought her stunts had been entertaining, and earned the respect of her classmates because she was so unpredictable, but today, as she sat teary-eyed, reading that sentence over and over again alone on her desk chair, she realized something vastly different had been happening. Her classmates were annoyed by her, thought she was immature, and were quite unimpressed by her efforts to entertain them. Trying to think of something purely evil to type back, she then heard heavy footsteps on the stairs, and identified them easily as her father's. If he caught her on the laptop, her evening would surely be unpleasant. Quickly closing the monitor, she hopped back onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow, hoping he'd think she was asleep and leave her alone.
The door opens slowly, and Nick pokes his head in to check to make sure his daughter isn't doing anything she shouldn't be doing. He notices she's face down on her bed, and is about to close the door, thinking she was napping, when he notices her eye blink, and thinks he hears a sniffle escape her little nose.
"Bails? You awake?" He asks her gently, but he doesn't get an answer. Somehow, Nick senses that Bailey isn't just pissed about being in trouble, it seems as though she's upset about something else. When he'd checked on her before, he'd at least gotten a glare or an angry mumble, but this time, nothing. With both Bailey and Mally, he always had to pry to get things out of them. Her complete shut-out of him told Nick that there was a problem. The experienced father, though by his own his admission regularly didn't know what went on inside Bailey's head, crossed the room silently, and stood next to his daughter's bed. She buries her face deeper and sniffles again, further confirming his suspicions that she's upset.
"Baby, what's wrong?" He asks her gently, taking a seat on the edge of her bright, flowery-printed comforter. Though Nick is disappointed in her, all that gets thrown to the wind when he sees she's been crying. When he rubs her arm in comfort, it causes the young girl to break down and start full-out crying. Bailey knows that no matter what she does, her parents will always love her, but it hurts so much to know that all her classmates apparently hate her right now. She tells him something that in all her tearfulness, he doesn't understand. "What, Bails?"
She finally turns over so she's laying on her back, clutching the teddy bear that she rarely seeks for comfort nowadays. Nick gently rubs her side as she struggles to find enough composure to tell him her problem.
"I'm sorry, Daddy." She begins between her sorrowful tears. "I was bored so I got on instant messenger, and all the kids at school think I'm immature." Bailey told him her problem, which was hard to deal with, thinking back to his own elementary school days. Only the most spazzy kids were frowned upon like that, but then again, his daughter was one of a kind. He didn't doubt she'd done many things at school he wouldn't be proud of, though he only knew of a select few.
"They think you're immature?" He clarified, trying to sound understanding, though he could see perfectly well why the other kids would think that about Bailey. She replies, uh-huh tearfully, rubbing at one of her watery eyes. Nick decides to look past the fact she'd used the computer for reasons other than homework. That's not as important right now. "And why do you think that?"
A tearful hiccup. "Cause they said it on IM, and then Ashley accidentally IM'd me instead of Casey, and said she wishes I would get over myself and I'm immature."
I nod at her in understanding, thinking that was a lot for a kid to have to deal with. Above all, Nick figured, people just wanted to be liked. Some had a messed up way of trying to convey that to people, but his daughter wasn't a truly bad kid. She just wanted her classmates to think she was fun, and hadn't figured out where to draw the line at. Bailey could go too far, to put it lightly.
"Because of what you did today at school?"
Bailey nods, looking up at her father for the first time in hopes of guidance. Though she didn't always listen to him, she always knew she could count on him and her mom to know the right thing to do. Nick clears his throat and pauses momentarily to think of how to put this to Bailey and not hurt her feelings.
"Well, think about it a little. If Ashley did that sort of thing to the substitute, and you found out she wandered around the school for an hour like you did, what would you think of her?" He posed.
Bailey fingered the design of her teddy bear's little vest as she pondered the question, and knew the point her father was trying to make. If it wasn't her, she wouldn't think it was so cool either.
"I guess I'd think she's kind of crazy." She admitted softly.
"Yeah." Nick agrees softly, though his aim wasn't to make her feel worse about herself. He breathes in quickly momentarily before beginning his next sentence. "Bailey, do you think you pull stunts like this to get people's attention?"
Bailey shrugged and played with the bear's arms. "I like makin' people laugh."
Nick smiled and his eyes twinkled slightly at her admission. "And you're a funny girl. You really are. But do you think you can make people laugh without getting yourself in trouble?"
A complacent sigh. "I know you and mom want me to."
Nick nodded. "Well, it sounds like it's not working out too well for you. I bet you'd earn more respect from your classmates if you just told jokes, and didn't act up to get attention."
Bailey opens up to Nick next in a way she rarely does, and gives him the insight to get to know her even better; her mind; the way she did things; the way she weighed pros and cons in her mind. "Sometimes I want to, but I don't know what else to say. It's like I have to do something, or I'll go crazy."
"Yeah. You've just got to learn how to control that, Bailey." Nick admitted. The Aderall helped, but Bailey could still get off the wall sometimes, making Nick and Sara wonder if she was even capable of being docile. It was a simple request seemingly, but one that require the eleven year old so much work, which she was well aware of. It was so much work just to act halfway normal in school; not to want to bounce off the walls and not to have to tap her foot all day after sitting at her desk, itching to get up and run around. Suddenly, everything was all too overwhelming, so she put her hand to her face when she felt the tears stinging at her eyes. Her face contorted in sadness as she began to cry again, wishing she wasn't such a spaz. Wishing she was normal, like Mally, Aidan, and Mari. Her father let out a sympathetic sound, and gently tugged her body to a sitting position so he could envelop her in a warm, fatherly hug.
Bailey cried into Nick's chest as he held her, whispering comforting things to her while he rocked her back and forth gently. This was a lot for a fifth grader to deal with, and she'd been dealing with it practically since the day she was born. All he could do was tell her it was going to be okay; that one day she'd figure out how to handle all that extra energy. He'd always be there to help her whenever she needed it.
After a long hug and multiple kisses to the head, Nick pulled Bailey back to look at her face. She looked more relieved, but still frustrated by her situation. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and looked her in the eye. "Bailey, you are a wonderful, amazing, loving little girl, who happens to have a lot of excess energy. But that does not make you a bad kid. You got that?"
She nodded and smiled just a little bit, because her dad always made that distinction. She wasn't a bad kid, she just sometimes made bad choices.
"You just need to think before you do things, Bails." He reminded her, nodding his head, as if to agree with his own point. "Let people know the real you, not the girl always pulling weird pranks. Can you do that?"
"I'll try." She whispered, her throat a bit parched from her crying, but overall, she felt ten times better. The great thing about her dad was that even if you had been in trouble with him earlier, you could still lean on his shoulder later when you needed him. It was not the first time, and definitely not the last time, Nick would advise or help his daughter from, and as she laid down to go to sleep that night after he'd tucked her in, Bailey knew that tomorrow would be a better day.