Chapter 35
"Why couldn't I go with mommy!?" Tessa cried out from the kitchen table, kicking her feet back and forth.
Joanne shook her head from the sink, looking up from her task of doing the dishes, "I told you why Tess, you have homework to do. I already received a call from your teacher saying you haven't been handing stuff in. So now you're going to sit at the table for the rest of the night until all your homework is done."
"But it's not fair!" Tessa shrieked, "I don't want to do it! I want to be with mom."
"Well you can't always get your way." Joanne stated.
Tessa angrily grabbed her notebook, whipping it across the kitchen table. Joanne's eyes widened as it hit the wall, shocked by the sudden outburst from her youngest daughter.
"Tessa!" Joanne shouted, drying her hands, storming over to the tantrum throwing girl, "What has gotten into you tonight?"
"Nothing." Tessa whined, covering her face with her hands.
Joanne sighed, taking a seat next to her. "Is your homework too hard for you?" She asked, wondering if maybe she was having a hard time learning, which was causing this sudden fit of anger.
"No." Tessa sniffled, rubbing her watery eyes.
"Why are you acting like a baby then?" Joanne asked, starting to get short-tempered herself.
"I'm not a baby!" Tessa yelled.
Just then Maureen walked in the front door, causing Tessa's ears to perk up. She jumped off her chair and ran out of the kitchen, jumping into Maureen's arms right when she found her.
"Hey, Tess." Maureen smiled, wrapping her arms around her.
Tessa buried her face in Maureen's neck, holding onto her. Maureen, confused, walked into the kitchen finding a frustrated Joanne sitting at the kitchen table.
"I don't know what's wrong with her." Joanne said, "She just threw the biggest fit and won't do her homework."
"I don't want to do homework." Tessa muffled against Maureen's neck.
"You have to." Maureen said, "Or you won't be able to go to the fourth grade with all your friends."
"I don't care." Tessa whined.
"Look you're almost done." Joanne said picking the ruffled notebook up off the ground, placing it on the table. "We'll help you if you want, so it'll go by faster."
"I don't want help." Tessa said wiggling free from Maureen. She wiped what tears were left from her face, and settled back down in front of her homework. She sat and stared at it for a few seconds taking a few breaths to calm down, before picking her pencil up to begin.
Maureen and Joanne shared a look. Amused at how fast Tessa's little fit calmed down.
Maureen simply shrugged. "That's settled." she smiled, and headed for the living room.
She didn't even have a chance to sit down before Leah lunged at her, tackling her into a hug.
"Now what's wrong with you?" Maureen asked, stifling a giggle, since this was the second daughter in a row to come running to her crying.
"I was fired." Leah muffled into Maureen's neck. "Don't tell Mama."
"Don't tell Mama what?" Joanne asked, coming into the living room.
"Leah, it's alright it happens." Brooke said entering moments after.
"What happened?" Joanne asked.
Leah lifted her head off of Maureen's shoulder, her arms still wrapped around her mom, "Don't yell, okay?"
"I won't yell." Joanne said,
"I was fired from my job today." Leah said.
"What!?" Joanne asked, not meaning to raise her voice.
"You said you wouldn't yell!" Leah quivered, hiding her face in Maureen's neck again.
Joanne cleared her throat, this time toning her voice down a bit, "I'm mean…what?"
"The boss yelled at her because she tried selling her own brand of clothing in her store." Brooke explained, "So then Leah kind of yelled back telling her that it was a clothing store, so why couldn't she sell clothes? So then the boss got mad at the sarcastic comment and fired her."
"That's dumb." Maureen stated, "You're boss is in idiot, you don't want to work for someone like that anyway."
Joanne processed the information, "That's the reason why you were fired? That doesn't sound right."
"I know." Leah said, "I hate her. She's a bitch and I'm not going back."
Joanne quirked an eyebrow after a moment, walking closer to Leah, "Leah, when you sold your own brand of clothing did you take the money? Or put it in the store register?"
"I took it." Leah said with out a thought.
Joanne rolled her eyes, "Leah! You stole. You can't do something like that. That's probably why she fired you."
Brooke nodded, "She did mention something about taking money…"
"They were my clothes." Leah protested.
Joanne bit back a smirk. Oh God she loved her daughter, but she wasn't too bright sometimes. "You still sold them in your bosses store with out permission. And if the clothes weren't part of her stock and you were taking her money that means she's loosing money whenever you sell one of your own designs."
Leah stared at Joanne with a dumbfounded expression. She tried to understand but she was too upset to care, so she shifted her attention back to Maureen, "Mommy, can you beat my boss up for me?"
Maureen smiled, tucking a stray hair behind her ear, "Sure baby."
Joanne shook her head not wanting to even start anything, so she kept her mouth shut, deciding to be happy Leah only got fired, instead of something worse. She walked back into the kitchen, pleased when she found Tessa quietly doing her homework. As she walked over to the sink she accidentally bumped into Haley.
"Watch it!" Haley snapped.
"Hey, watch the tone." Joanne stated.
"Whatever." Haley mumbled and walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of water in her hand.
Joanne sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "These kids are crazy."
"Aren't we all a little crazy?" Brooke smiled, winking at Joanne, before grabbing a drink from the fridge and then gracefully walking out of the kitchen.
Joanne giggled, "Okay, Brooke is crazy."