Four Weeks Later
After a long day at Clothes Over Bros, Brooke ascended the steps to her home, unlocked the door, and called for Sam as she entered her home. Brooke hated coming home so late in the evenings. She preferred to be home soon after Sam arrived home from school. Most days, Sam was home from school by 3:00 and Brooke by 4:00, leaving Millie to tackle the final hours and close up the store. However, this week, Millie was in New York taking meetings for Brooke. Brooke wasn't quite ready to leave Sam for an extended trip so far away from home.
"Sam!" Brooke called once more, but received no response. Brooke headed up the stairs and toward Sam's room. Brooke smiled to herself as she saw Sam curled up on her bed, asleep. She stood in the doorway of her room and was just about to grab a blanket to cover her up when she heard a small sniffle come from Sam. More little sniffles followed. Concerned, Brooke gently questioned, "Sam?" Sam turned her face toward Brooke. Brooke was startled to see silent tears running down Sam's face on top of a mess of already dried tears.
"Sam, honey, what's wrong?" Brooke asked softly. At Brooke's loving question, Sam began to cry harder. Brooke sat on the bed beside Sam and gathered her into her arms. "Shhhh. Let it out. I'm here. Talk to me when you're ready." Brooke rubbed Sam's back to soothe her and held her tightly. Not sure what was going on, Brooke's breath caught in her throat and her breathing became shallow. Brooke wondered to herself, "Is this what it means to be a mom?" She found herself to be constantly worried. Worried that she was doing well as a mom. Worried that Sam felt loved enough. Worried that Sam had enough structure. Worried that Sam was healthy. And on and on her worries went.
Finally, Sam began to speak. "I just had a really bad day at school." As Sam turned her face up to look at Brooke, Brooke wiped the tears that were falling down Sam's face and said, "Ok. What happened to make it a bad day?" Sam took a deep breath, "It was Mr. Bennett, my algebra teacher. He solved a problem incorrectly when he was showing us how to do something. It confused me, so I raised my hand to ask him about it. It made him so mad that he started yelling at me and saying that I was disrespectful and rude. He told me to get out of his class because disrespectful, insolent students are not allowed in his classroom. He said I had to go to the office and he would let them know I was coming."
Brooke took a deep breath as Sam sat up on the bed. Sam got up and walked toward her backpack and took out a paper and handed it to Brooke. She began crying hard all over again and she could barely choke out, "I got suspended for three days." Brooke gently took the paper from Sam and looked at the comments: "Student was willfully defiant and disrespectful during classroom instruction. Samantha made comments toward her instructor that were both rude and out of line. Samantha was then willfully dishonest about the entire situation."
Sam said, "I am so sorry, Brooke. I'm sorry! I've been trying so hard to do good, but I just always get into trouble no matter what I do."
Brooke took Sam's hand and guided her to sit back down on the bed. She took a deep breath before beginning, "Sam. I am choosing my words very carefully right now because I am angry. But I am NOT angry with you. If what you are telling me is the entire truth of what happened, Mr. Bennett is 100% at fault and you have done NOTHING wrong." Sam's eyes grew wide with disbelief. "You mean...you believe ME?!" Brooke's heart broke "Yes, Sam. I will ALWAYS believe what you tell me. ALWAYS...unless you give me a reason to ever believe otherwise."
Sam was stunned. She had never experienced a grown-up taking her side in any situation. Grown-ups never believed her. To most, she was just a problem child caught up in the system. They always believed HER to be the problem.
"Sam, tell me again exactly what happened. I am asking because I WILL be going to the school tomorrow to meet with Principal Turner." Sam recounted the entire debacle in more detail this time. She included the fact that Mr. Bennett always treated the kids that came from "good" homes well and the kids that came from "problem" homes poorly. He seemed to even change his tone of voice when speaking to kids whom he perceived to be a "problem." Sam told Brooke that she was confused, though, because she had an A in his class and was always attentive and participating and the only reason why she asked her question was because she felt confused and wanted to clarify for her own understanding. Sam even told Brooke of how Mr. Bennett lied to Principal Turner and told him that she had yelled and called him an "idiot teacher." Sam looked Brooke in the eyes and said, "I didn't say any of those things, Brooke. And I didn't raise my voice one bit. I had no reason to. I simply asked Mr. Bennett why the answer wouldn't have been 47.4 instead of what he had. When he realized that 47.4 was the answer, he flipped."
Brooke took both of Sam's hands and said, "Sam, you are NOT in trouble and you will not be over this. Mr. Bennett is the one who should be in trouble, and I will see to it that his actions are corrected. I will not sign this suspension slip, but I will bring it with me when I go to see Principal Turner tomorrow. I am actually very PROUD of you, Samantha. You handled yourself well. I'm assuming that since the slip says you were dishonest, you spoke for yourself and told the true story of what happened...and THAT makes me proud! You know how to remain respectful while still standing up for yourself. You are a GEM, Samantha, and I am so glad that you are mine." With that, Brooke pulled Sam's head to hers and kissed the top of it.
Sam felt overwhelmed. To experience someone standing behind her and believing her was a new feeling and it almost did her in. She knew that Brooke would be able to fix it and she took a deep breath and felt like everything was going to be ok.
Brooke broke Sam out of her thoughts with, "Well...kiddo, it's getting kind of late and we haven't had dinner yet. How about you go jump in the shower and I'll whip up some tacos while you're in there. It will be ready when you come out." "Ok!" Sam smiled. Tacos were her favorite and Brooke certainly made the best.
Sam made her way into the bathroom and Brooke, exhausted and angry, called Julian. She had to talk him down from the ledge of wanting to find where Mr. Bennett lives and have a chat with him right away. "Julian, I will take care of it tomorrow," sighed Brooke. Julian responded, "Yeah, but does he know how fragile Sam is? Does he know what she's been through? Does he know how much he has HURT her?" Brooke felt her pulse quicken and a bit of rage welled up in her, "I know, Julian, I know. Trust me, I am full of mama bear rage and Mr. Bennett will feel the wrath of Brooke Davis tomorrow." "Ohhhhh," said Julian, "I think I am turned on…" "Julian Baker!" chided Brooke with a giggle.
"Well...it's true," remarked Julian. Brooke smiled a big smile to herself. "Hey...plan to have dinner with Sam and I tomorrow!" "You got it, Brooke Davis!" "I love you, Julian Baker." "I love you more, Brooke Davis." And with that, the two ended the conversation. Brooke made a mental note to herself to lighten the mood with Sam by steering clear of the situation at hand. Tomorrow would be a day to deal with that, but for now, tacos followed by ice cream to end the night sounded just right.