5
The following day, Beck arrived at the School for Cat's parent-teacher conference. Cat was to wait in after-school club until it was
There was a young woman manning the phones in the front office of Cat's school as Beck walked in. When she looked up at the visitor to see who had arrived, her mouth fell open, and she quickly readjusted her hair and sitting position, before smiling adoringly up at him and stuttering her words.
"B...Beck Oliver!" She stammered. "Err... How can I help you?" As she spoke, Beck noted that her voice seemed to get higher with her excitement. Beck smiled pleasantly back at her, noting that the young woman looked like she was about to faint.
"Hi, I'm here to talk to Mrs Green about my daughter, Cat West." He told her, Mrs Green being Cat's teacher. The woman nodded enthusiastically, and it took her a moment to realise that this meant Beck wanted someone to call Mrs Green, or at least to give him directions.
"Ri...Right." She said, fumbling with a phone. "Mrs Green- Mr-" Here she paused, once more starring disbelievingly up at the film star. "Mr Beck Oliver is here to talk to you." She listened for a moment and then hung up the phone. "She'll be right out."
Beck nodded his thanks, and moved to a cluster of chairs on the other side of the office. He could feel the eyes of the woman on him as he examined the display bored of some of the Children's art.
"Mr Oliver?" Beck looked around and his eyes met with a friendly looking woman in her mid-fifties holding a pile of exercise books. Beck stood up quickly, extending a hand to the woman who struggled to shift the books in her arm to shake it. "How can I help?" She asked, once she had unloaded the books on to the reception desk.
"I'm here about Cat." Beck replied. "We missed the parent teachers' conference..."
"Ah, Cat, of course." Said Mrs Green. "Forgive me; I was expecting to meet with Mr Perry."
"Yeah, Seth had to work, and as I am her father..."
"Of course." She smiled. "Please follow me; we can talk in my class room."
The class room was just like any other. It was brightly painted and decorated with the kid's art work. Beck examined one of the displays- 'Animals of the Jungle' and found his eye was drawn to a particularly impressive, for a class of five and six year olds, painting of a giraffe and felt suddenly proud when he saw that it h ad been Cat that drew it.
"Impressive isn't it." Said Mrs Green, sitting down in her chair at the front of the room, she then gestured for Beck to take a seat in the only other adult sized seat in the classroom. "Cat really does have a great talent with her art work. Her music and acting are good too, but then given whom her parents are, I wouldn't expect any less." Beck continued to smile his proud smile as Mrs Green reached into her draw and drew out her mark book. "Now her reading and numeracy are both fairly average so there's nothing to worry about there either. All I really wanted to discuss was Cat's behaviour outside the class room."
"Is she causing problems?" Asked Beck, his smile clouding with concern.
"Not so much problems, but I have seen a marked change in her attitude from last year to this. Before she seemed to have more confidence, she was friends with almost all of her class mates and always liked to offer answers, but now she seems less eager to be in the limelight, she rarely puts up her hand in class, and seems to be more isolated from her peers. Now this isn't necessary unusual, at this age children go through a number of phases, I was just wondering if there was anything going on in her home life which could be contributing. Have you noticed any changes in her attitude recently?"
"Nothing that I've seen. She seems just as exuberant as ever." Shrugged Beck, suddenly feeling quite defensive. "What do you imagine would be going on at home to cause her to suddenly become so withdrawn in class?" Mrs Green smiled, but Beck could see there were misgivings in her eyes, she reached once more into her desk and took out a small pile of papers.
"Mr Oliver, if I might. This is a picture Cat drew of her family before the summer holidays." She turned over the first paper to show Cat's stick figure drawing of 'Mommy', 'Me' and 'Daddy Seth' standing next to a tree. "And this is a picture she drew of her family last week. Obviously a lot has changed at home in the last few months." The second picture showed slightly more fleshed out stick figures of not only Cat, Jade and Seth but now also 'Daddy Beck', 'Robbie', 'Uncle Jeromy' 'Uncle Cole' and even 'Robbie's Mommy'. "Do you really believe that meeting her dad and suddenly being featured on the news won't have any influence on her behaviour?" Beck thought about this, but surely if Cat's personality had been changing Jade or Seth would have noted it.
"I suppose but..." Mrs Green turned over the next piece of paper, revealing a cutting from a magazine. Beck needed only a brief glance to recognise the event when Cat and Jade had been cornered by the paparazzi outside their apartment building and he had made a statement to the assembled journalists announcing his relationship with Jade. "You think that this is the reason Cat is becoming more withdrawn in class?" He asked, he wanted not to believe it, but he also feared the teacher could be right.
"Look, Mr Oliver, it isn't my place to comment on personal matters, but have you spoken to Cat about all of this new attention. Having a famous parent can have an effect on a child." Beck nodded, running his fingers through his hair. Certainly this meeting had given him a lot to think about.
Xx
Jade was released from hospital the following Monday. Seth picked her up from the hospital and drove her straight home. One of her legs was still in a cast and the bruising on her face and arms was very prominent, but other than that she was deemed perfectly healthy.
"Welcome home!" Seth said when he helped her across the threshold into her apartment. After two weeks in hospital, Jade had never been happier to see the four walls of her apartment or her very inviting looking sofa and TV. Only one thing was missing.
"Where's Cat?" She asked, her daughter being the thing she had missed most while in the hospital.
"Help, help!" Came a familiar male voice from Cat's bedroom. Jade smiled as she watched her little brother practically run out of the room with a look of panic on her face, holding Cat and Robbie aloft each of his shoulders. "Oh Jade, thank goodness your back!" He cried, over dramatizing every action as Cat and Robbie giggled uncontrollably. "I've got these two tiny humans growing out of my neck and I don't know what to do." With this, he pulled Cat off his shoulder, holding her aloft by her t-shirt, staring, terrified, into her hysterical face.
"Jeromy put the small children down!" Ordered Jade, using her crutches to steadily move across the room towards her brother. Jeromy rolled his eyes and dropped the kids on to the sofa, before turning his grin on Jade.
"Well now my arms are free..." He grinned, reaching out his arms to pick up Jade.
"Two broken ribs." Warned Seth, not even bothering to look up from his phone to which Lyndsey had just sent a text enquiring about Jade's health." Jeromy once more rolled his eyes.
"Spoil sport." He muttered, sticking his tongue out at Seth whilst winking at his young niece.
"Wait." Said Jade suddenly, for the first time registering who was in the room. "What's Robbie doing here? I thought Beck moved out."
"We were just leaving." Said Beck, who had just emerged from the master bedroom, holding two suitcases. "Sorry, I thought you wouldn't be back until later." The tension in the room was palpable, and even Jeromy didn't bother to lighten the mood. Cat looked curiously between her parents.
"Why is Daddy and Robbie moving out?" She asked. "I thought they live here now!" Jade smiled sadly. Making her way to the sofa to sit with her daughter wrapping her slightly less injured arm around her as she considered her next words.
"Well, Mommy and Daddy are taking a little break, but don't worry..."
"That doesn't mean they don't love you." Muttered Robbie sadly, remembering those words from when he had asked Beck and Tori a similar question. Beck felt like his heart was about to break as he observed his two children.
"Robbie, we should go." He muttered, unable to meet any of the room's eyes. Robbie sighed but didn't argue as he followed his father to the door, almost crashing into him as Beck stops in the threshold. "Jade..." He begins turning around, the beginnings of a romantic declaration of love forming in his head, but all that came out was. "I'm glad you're ok." Jade smiled weakly back, but didn't say anything. The two stared at each other for a moment, before Jade broke the gaze. Beck nodded in defeat and left.
"I'll walk out with you." Offered Seth. "Jade, if you need anything..." Jade nodded her gratitude and Seth, pausing only to give Cat a quick hug, hurried after Beck and Robbie.
"You alright?" He asked. Beck shrugged, a part of him still planning some grand re-entering into the apartment to persuade Jade to let him stay. "Beck, hey... you alright?"
"What?" Asked Beck, as Seth put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to stop. "Yeah I'm fine... well you know as fine as..."
"Yeah, I get it." He said with a sympathetic grimace. "Where are you going to stay?"
"I ughh... I have a reservation at a hotel near Robbie's school." He said, his brain slowly coming to terms with the sad reality of what had just happened.
"A hotel? Right, because that will help your custody case." Beck shrugged.
"I'm trying to find an apartment, but it's taking longer than I expected. Nowhere feels right."
"Nowhere apart from Jade's place right?" Guessed Seth. "Look, if you need a temporary apartment, use mine." He offered. "Jade owes me enough favours to let me stay with her and at least you'll have a proper address to tell your lawyers."
"Are you sure?" Asked Beck gratefully. "You do know that now me and Jade have broken up you don't have to keep being nice to me right?" He asked, only partially joking.
"Yeah I know, but I figure having a famous movie star owe me a favour might have its uses." He shrugged. "Besides if you and Jade do sort things out, I know she'd yell at me for not offering, so this saves a lot of hassle in the long run."
"I think I owe you a whole lot more than just one favour at this point." Pointed out Beck. "Do you really think there's a chance Jade and I will sort stuff out?" He asked doubtfully. Seth shrugged. Truthfully he fully believed Jade and Beck were meant to be together, and he planned to make both parties see that, but for now all he said was;
"I think New York City isn't big enough to keep the two of you apart for long. Come on, I want to get home then back here before Cat's Jeromy steels the spare room." He bent down and picked up one of Beck's suit cases and Beck followed his lead.
"Are we going to live with Mummy again?" Asked Robbie hopefully, not having paid attention to any of the conversation.
"I'm afraid not buddy. It's just going to be you and me for a while, ok." Robbie nodded, clutching harder to Rex, whom had hadn't let go off almost since they had moved into Jade's apartment, but he didn't seem as excited about the fact as the tone in Beck's voice tried to project.
As Beck, Seth and Robbie left the building, Beck found his mind wondering back to the parent teacher conference earlier in the week. Robbie's life had been more complicated than most. He wasn't even six and yet he had lost one set of parents, been adopted by a second, famous, set who were now fighting over him in a difficult divorce and now just as he was about to get a new family and sister, that too was falling apart. If Cat was affected by just these past few months of change, Robbie's attachment to Rex suddenly seemed so normal- at this point he was pretty much the only constant in his life and Beck knew that things needed to change.