Clementine's eyes fluttered open as the familiar screech of breaks from outside the house brought her to consciousness. She glanced out the window's partially opened blinds and saw the big yellow bus as it stopped in front of their driveway. She heard the key slip into the lock, turning. The door creaked on it's hinges briefly before it was slammed shut. Slow footsteps could be heard as they thudded down the hallway. Clementine looked up from her blankets to find AJ standing timidly at her door, usually he would run in and tackle her. Judging by his nervous eyes, something had happened at school.
"What's the matter pal?" Clementine sat up amidst the pillows, hair sticking out at odd angles, a yawn caught in her throat.
AJ shuffled into the room, dropping his backpack on the ground before crawling into bed next to Clementine. She sunk back into the pillows as he snuggled into her side.
"Rough day kiddo?" Clementine asked, AJ mumbled his reply into the sheets. "AJ?" She said a little more sternly.
AJ leaned back so that he could be heard, "My teacher wants to meet with you."
"She what?" Clementine sounded agitated. "What happened AJ?"
"ibitsomeoneatschool." He said quickly, hiding his head under the sheets again.
"Look, I'm sorry, I'm not mad, just... talk slower..." Clementine sighed, rubbing circles on her temples with her finger tips feeling the start of a headache growing.
AJ pulled the sheets away from his face, "I bit someone at school again. He deserved it though! He was being mean to some littler kids!"
"When is this meeting?" Clementine said, resigned. This wasn't the first time AJ had bitten someone at school. The last two months had been full of frowny faces on papers, notes home about talking back, fights on the playground, having to pick AJ up from the nurses office with a bloody nose.
AJ held up a note, burying his face in her stomach to avoid her gaze. Clementine took it from his hand and read through it quickly.
"3pm on Friday... I'll be there." Clementine hugged him. "You've gotta try and behave at school though AJ. I know things are... stressful right now... with Lee gone and all the custody issues... but I'm fighting for us okay? You've got to trust that I'm going to do everything I can to keep you with me."
"I know Clem... I'll try harder... I love you." AJ pulled the blankets up around them.
"I love you back." Clementine yawned, stroking AJ's hair. They laid together in silence for a few minutes. Both of their minds wandering to the hectic events of their lives lately.
"She's really pretty." AJ said suddenly, breaking the silence.
"Who?" Clementine asked, opening her eyes in curiosity.
"My teacher, she's really pretty."
"Oh yeah?" Clementine smiled at the young boy. "Do you have a crush on her?"
"NooOOOooo!" AJ giggled, "For you."
Clementine's eyes widened, "No way, I am not having my 9 year old little brother set me up!"
"But Clem, you'd really like her I think. She's so nice and she sings songs in class to help us remember our multiplication tables and she's not old like a lot of the teachers at school." AJ spoke excitedly.
"Let's go work on that homework hm?" Clementine said, deciding it was time to switch the subject off her love life.
"Okay..." AJ frowned, slinking out of the bed.
Together Clementine helped AJ do his homework. When that was finished AJ watched tv while Clementine made dinner for the two of them.
"Dinner's ready!" Clementine called setting their plates on the table.
AJ clicked off the tv and ran excitedly to the table, only to frown when he saw his plate, "Spaghetti again?" He slumped into his chair, picking up his fork.
"Sorry bud..." Clementine looked sullenly down at her small portion. Money had been tight since Lee had died, really tight.
As AJ began to eat he forgot about his disappointment in the food and excitedly told Clementine all about the rest of his day, gesticulating wildly as he described it in detail. Clementine payed close attention as he spoke. Laughing and feigning surprise at all the right moments. AJ finished his food by licking his plate clean. Spaghetti may not have been his favorite, but he was hungry enough to eat every bite.
"Time for a shower," Clementine nudged him, "go and don't touch me with your messy hands or face!" Clementine squealed as AJ leapt up and chased her around the kitchen island with his saucy red hands and face. "Don't you touch me young man!" AJ grinned as he successfully cornered the brunette, he held his hands up and wiggled his fingers around threatening. Clementine's back knocked into a stack of papers on the counter sending them toppling to the ground. "Pause!" She yelled leaning down to pick up the papers, AJ backed up, noticing as her smile drooped into a frown.
"What is it Clem?" AJ asked, frowning as well.
"It's nothing AJ, just... go shower okay?" Clementine said, suddenly serious. AJ nodded and scurried off to the bathroom.
Clementine flipped through the stack of letters, electricity bills, funeral expenses, lawyer fees, and sighed. The burden of being responsible for a household and child all at once weighed down heavily on her shoulders. Lee had left them some money, sure, but not enough to cover everything.
After AJ showered Clementine tucked him into bed, read him a story and sang him a song. As she clicked his light off she stood by the door, "Good night, sleep tight... "
"And don't let the bed bugs bite." AJ finished with a yawn. Clementine walked back into her room, looking sadly at the closed door across from hers where Lee once slept. She couldn't bring herself to go in there more than necessary. She looked around, pushing back the memories as she began to gather up the dirty laundry. She had to be at work in a few hours and there were a lot of things to get done before then.
At 11:00pm a knock came at the front door. Clementine ran to answer it, straightening out her work polo as she did. "Hey Duck." She greeted as her oldest friend walked in.
"No time for talking tonight, I gotta get straight t' bed." Duck said, waving a hand at Clementine. "Someone's coming to fix the plumbing at the restaurant tomorrow mornin' and I gotta be there first thing."
"I really appreciate you doing this for me Duck," Clementine hugged him quickly as he headed down the hall and to Lee's room where he slept Monday thru Thursday nights while Clementine stocked shelves at a local grocery store. "You're the best!" She called down the hallway as he disappeared into Lee's room. Clementine sat on the couch, turning on the tv, enjoying thirty minutes of calm before she had to get up and leave for her 12am to 8am shift.
It was Friday afternoon. Violet sat at her desk grading papers, she looked at her watch, 3:00, the parent should be arriving any minute. She took her glasses off and rubbed at her eyes before replacing them. Parent-teacher conferences were her least favorite part of her job. She had been teaching for two years now, but talking to parents about their misbehaving children was the worst. Usually if a kid had problems at school, they had problems at home and usually that problem was that the parent didn't discipline their child. There was nothing Violet could do about that, but it was worth a try, her student was becoming out of control and she had to try something.
Someone knocked hesitantly at the door, "Come in!" Violet yelled, sitting up straighter at her desk, trying to look as professional as possible. This was Violet's third year teaching 3rd grade which meant parents were older than her and tended to look down on her because she didn't have children of her own, thinking that just because she was young and didn't have children that she didn't know how to teach or handle discipline. Well, she knew she was an amazing teacher and everyone else could just-
A brunette walked in, not much younger than herself. Her curly hair was up in a side ponytail and her clothes looked askew, like she had rushed to get ready. Violet stood abruptly from her sitting position and held her hand out to the girl.
"H-hello Ms. Everett." Violet stuttered, taken aback by how young and attractive AJ's mom was. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."
Clementine shook Violet's hand and sat down at the seat across from her at the desk. Violet could see a weary look in the girl's eyes. Like she was carrying a burden well beyond her years. "Hi Ms. Adlon. I'm sorry that it's necessary. I just wanted to apologize on AJ's behalf and promise you that I'm trying so hard to rectify the situation."
Violet was once again surprised, parents rarely admitted the fault was with their child, preferring to blame other children or the teacher. "R-right. Thank you, parental support is so important."
"Oh, I'm not AJ's mom, well, not really." Clementine sighed, leaning forward and glancing towards the door where AJ was waiting outside, not wanting him to over hear. "I'm his foster sister and now his guardian? I guess you could say? I'm afraid AJ's acting out because all of this legal mess we're going through right now. AJ and I were in the same foster home. A man named Lee took care of us, allowed me to stay even after I aged out of the system."
Clementine was looking down, eyes gleaming, Violet could tell that she was having a hard time talking about this, "It's okay, you don't have to tell me anything. I understand if it's... too personal."
"No, it's okay..." Clementine sighed, "You're his teacher, you should know. This is not an excuse by the way. I'm not excusing his behavior... just trying to... explain it? I guess?" Violet looked directly into Clementine's eyes, they looked sincere as she spoke, Violet cleared her throat as she caught herself gazing into them.
"Of course, go ahead." Violet made sure that Clementine knew she had her full attention, she clutched her hands together on her desk and kept eye contact, ignoring the quickening pace of her heart.
"Our foster dad, Lee, he died two months ago. They wanted to stick AJ back into the foster system, I'm trying to get custody, I want to adopt him. Lee left everything to me. AJ would be able to stay in the same house and go to the same school, he needs that stability. Losing Lee and all the court hearings, never knowing if they are going to tear him away from his home... he's acting out, I'm sorry. I... I'm trying my best but, I've never been a mom before, I don't know what I'm doing..." Clementine had her elbows on the desk resting her forehead in her hands, she sounded like she was going to cry.
Violet frowned at her as a tear slid down Clementine's cheek, fighting the urge to reach out and wipe it away she instead fumbled with a box of tissues and held it out for the brunette, "Need one Ms. Everett?" She asked, wishing she could do more.
Clementine looked up and gave her a watery smile, taking a tissue and dabbing at her eyes, "Thank you, and call me Clementine. Ms. Everett seems so formal."
"Uh... yeah... and you can call me Violet." Violet said, kicking herself for stumbling over her words. Clementine tilted her head and smiled, sending Violet's heart fluttering. She was finding it hard to focus, but tried to power on, "I've moved AJ to the back of the line so he doesn't have people walking behind him. I know that's a problem for him," Clementine nodded in agreement, "but I'm at a loss for what to do about the biting." Violet sighed, not wanting to dump more on the obviously over burdened girl.
"We've been talking about that, he always wants to be the protector. If he sees someone getting picked on, he's going to try and help. I've tried to talk to him about it, told him to get a teacher instead. I'll talk to him again, I promise." Clementine looked at her earnestly. "Do you think I could bring him in here, tell him that I trust you to handle the situation? Maybe if he knows that I trust you he'll be more likely to come to you instead of handling it himself?"
"That's a great idea." Violet smiled, and Clementine walked to the door, opening it fully only for AJ to come crashing into the room, he had been listening with his ear pressed to the door. Violet rolled her eyes at the boy and Clementine chuckled as she helped pick him off the ground.
AJ dusted himself off and grinned wide at Clementine, "I told you she was pretty right?" Clementine's face turned red and her eyes got wide but she was unable to stop him before he said, "Ya know, because you date boys and girls."
"We're talking about you right now AJ, not me." Clementine tried desperately to avoid looking in Violet's direction, but if she did, she would have seen that Violet's cheeks had also turned red and she was struggling to keep the smile off her face. "AJ," Clementine started, looking only at the boy, "If someone is getting bullied or is in trouble, you need to trust Ms. Adlon here, okay? Go tell her and she will make sure she protects whoever needs protecting, got it? No more biting, or hitting or fighting."
AJ nodded at his guardian that was more like a big sister, "Okay Clem, no more biting..." He frowned at his shoes, "Or hitting or fighting..."
Clementine pulled AJ into a big hug and then glanced at her watch, "Is there anything else we need to discuss? I should be getting to work." Clementine stood up.
"No, that's it. Besides those things, AJ is a wonderful student, very smart and a good listener." Violet smiled at the boy and he grinned back. "Thank you for meeting with me and for all of your support." Violet reached out to shake Clementine's hand again.
Clementine took it, noticing how soft her hands were, holding on for a little longer than what was appropriate, "Thank you, for your concern about AJ. I'll do my best to help fix the situation." Violet nodded before grabbing a piece of paper off her desk and scribbling quickly on it. She held it out for Clementine to take. The brunette looked at it quizzically.
"My phone number, my personal phone number. In case you... need to talk to me about AJ or... anything..." Violet tried to look cool but her insides were a mess, Clementine's mouth dropped open slightly at the blonde's offer. They grazed hands, sending chills down Clementine's spine as she took the piece of paper.
"Thanks Violet..." Violet's heart thudded in her chest at the sound of her name coming out of those lips, she jerked her eyes up, realizing that she was staring at her lips.
Violet could feel her cheeks warming as she followed Clementine and AJ to the door, "No, thank you Clementine." She closed the door behind them as they left, cringing at her own words and thinking that maybe conferences weren't so bad after all.