AN: Feel free to drop in karma suggestions for Nora (or Linnie) if anything comes up. I have a bit of trouble coming up with an idea this go around.
Nora and Linnie lingered outside the classroom; Linnie desperately trying to distract himself by staring at some of the little kiddie drawings on the wall, smiling at those that had red hearts around drawings of their family members. But as he kept looking through the drawings, his smile slowly melted back into a saddened frown as he saw a picture, of not Cosmo hugging his mommy and daddy, but rather a picture of Nora hugging a bottle of whiskey in her hand. Ironically, it was the happiest Linnie had ever seen Nora ever since they had gotten married.
"Um..Mr. and Mrs. Cosma? I'm Miss Sweetsparkle. It's a pleasure to meet both of you. Please, have a seat.", Miss Sweetsparkle, a tall woman (though not nearly as tall as Linnie) with brown hair and purple eyes smiled, leading the two inside the classroom. Nora grunted as she and her husband did as they were told, Nora slouching in her seat while Linnie sat up, nervously twiddling the ends of his velvet coat.
"Oh, thank you so much for having us, Miss Sweetsparkle. I-I look forward to what you have to say.", Linnie said softly, as Nora rolled her eyes in annoyance. Miss Sweetsparkle smiled.
"Well, aren't you a sweetheart? You know, I see where Cosmo get it from. Oh, he is just the sweetest, funniest child. He's such a delight to have in my class.", she gushed, looking up and down at Linnie, before Nora sat up, looking somewhat agitated.
"Oh, keep it in your pants! He's my husband, not yours!", Nora snarled, making Linnie squirm in his seat.
"Well Mrs. Cosma, I can assure you I don't intend on making any moves. I just called the both of you in s we could discuss Cosmo's performance. As I said, he's a delight to have in class, however, I do think he is struggling with the material.", Miss Sweetsparkle said, as she dug into her filing cabinet for papers, taking out Cosmo's last report card, along with some of his graded assignments, "I'm sure you two have received a copy of his report card, but here are some assignments that well…let's just say I think he needs some extra help."
"Oh dear..y-yes I think maybe getting his a tutor might help.", Linnie said softly, looking at all the 40s, 50s, and even a few 10s on her marks, "I um..I-I don't mean to uhm..criticize you, Miss Sweetsparkle, but has Cosmo been dealing with any problems in the classroom? H-He hadn't really said much to either of us."
"Ha! I'll tell ya what's going on. He's stupid! He's inherited your brains, Linnie. Heh, I'll tell you what. Maybe if Cosmo had my brains, he wouldn't be in this mess."
"N-Now Nora honey, I don't think that's-"
"Oh come on, Linnie? Are you fucking kidding me? I mean, this is the same fucking child that thought clouds were made from a goddamn factory."
"N-Nora I-"
"Mrs. Cosma, I would appreciate it if you didn't swear. There are other families here, you know.", Miss Sweetsparkle glared, studying the body language between Nora and Linnie. Linnie, despite being one of the tallest men that she had ever interviewed, looked so small and pathetic as he shrank himself in his seat. Nora, on the other hand, crossed her arms and tapped her stubby leg impatiently.
"There ain't no more kids in here! Besides, I'm a goddamn adult. You don't have the right to tell me what I can and can't say! I have right too, you jackass!"
"Mrs. Cosma, that's enough!", Miss Sweetsparkle snapped, looking at the pair with great disapproval, "You know what? There's actually another reason why 've called you both here today. I couldn't help but notice that the other day, Cosmo had came into school with a black eye, and a couple of scars on his arms and legs, and I was wondering if either one of you could tell me what happened?"
"Well..I…um…uh..", Linnie squeaked, stammered as he didn't know what else to say. Nora launched her body straight towards the teacher, fighting the urge not to clock her.
"He fell down the stairs! Yeah, we have hardwood stairs and we were mopping up, and little Cosmo took quite the nasty spill!", Nora laughed.
"Nora no..t-that's not what happened. W-We have carpet and um…y-you were..", Linnie mumbled, before Nora slammed her foot harshly onto Linnie's tan shoe, crushing his toes, "EEK!"
"Linnie shush!", Nora hushed quickly before turning towards the teacher, who didn't look completely convinced at all, "Haha..h-he's just joking. H-He must have been drunk when it happened."
"Really now.", Miss Sweetsparkle looked towards Linnie, crossing her arms, "You drink? Around your son?"
"N-N-No ma'am! I-I'm not a drinking. Please, I-I.", Linnie begged, before getting interrupted by Miss Sweetsparkle herself.
"Yes Mr. Cosma, that's kind of what I thought. I also noticed that you were looking at all our little drawings from last week, in preparation for the conferences. I'd say it's rather interesting that Cosmo chose to draw his mother hugging the bottle, instead of you had you been a drinker.", Miss Sweetsparkle said, before turning back towards Nora, "Now, care to tell me the truth?"
"And why the hell should I tell you, you fucking bitch! What happens in my house stays in my house! And what I said IS true. Cosmo got careless and fell down some stairs! It's not that fucking hard to understand!"
"If what you're saying is true, then why are you getting so defensive?", Miss Sweetsparkle glared, before she studied Nora some more. Some strands of the curly, cyan hair fell sloppily on her bulgy face, and her bloodshot, blue eyes gave Miss Sweetsparkle a thought, "Wait a moment…have I met you from somewhere?"
"Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about? Of course, we've met! You're my child's fucking teacher, you dumbass!"
"N-No…wait, you said your name was Nora?"
"Yeah, what the hell of it?"
"I think we went to high school together. Yeah you know what, yeah. It's all making sense to me now.", she turned to Linnie, "I remember you as well..uh..Linnie?"
"I..uhm…yes! Uh, I'm sorry I really don't remember high school super well."
"Well, I sure do. You were part of the cheerleading squad while Nora over here was quarterback. Man, I remember every day, you used to shove me into a locker, o-or give me a swirlie! And those blues eyes, remorseless. I guess not everything changes."
"Ok ok Dr. Suess! High school was years ago, get the fuck over it! We're here for fucking Cosmo anyways, so get the fuck on with it."
Miss Sweetsparkle frowned as he kept studying Nora's tense, and defensive body language, "Nora..are you hitting that child?"
"NO!"
"Linnie..", she turned towards him, Linnie shrinking again, "Is she hitting him?"
"I…I…well uhm…"
"I SAID NO I DON'T!", Nora screamed, launching herself from her seat, and pouncing on the teacher, Linnie trying to hold her back.
"Nora! Please! Stop!"
"GET OFF ME YOU FUCKING BITCH!", Nora roared, as she turned around and threw Linnie on the ground, forcing his head to hit edge of the chair hard. She then grabbed the teacher and slammed her against the wall, barely allowing her to move, "Look you stupid bitch, I don't know where you got that ridiculous idea from, but any stupid grudge you have with me in high school, it doesn't give you a fucking excuse to target me."
Miss Sweetsparkle struggled as she tried to pull Nora off of her, kicking her feet on her stomach as she forced Nora to let go and back up.
"Yes. I know. High school was years ago. But looking at you, you're just the same as you were several years ago, Nora. A bully. Heh…it's no wonder Cosmo's having trouble in school. You probably beat him with every problem he gets wrong."
'I. DO. NOT. HIT. MY. DAMN. SON!", Nora screamed as Linnie started to get up, holding his head. She pulled him towards her, and slammed him on the front of the desk, holding his back and pressing him against the edge, "HE'S THE ABUSER! NOT ME! HE'S THE REASON WHY THAT LOW LIFE, PIECE OF SHIT SON IS FAILING! IF THERE'S ANYONE TO FUCKING BLAME, IT'S HIM!"
"I love how you're saying all that as you're slinging your husband around like some toy. Heh..makes me wonder how bad you hurt your kids. You know what.", Miss Sweetsparkle grabbed the walkie talkie off the corner of her desk, pulling in to her mouth, "Security, I'm going to need you to escort Mr. and Mrs. Cosma out of room 201 please, as fast as you can. I have a woman here who's not only refusing to cooperate, but also threating the safety of other people. Thank you."
Not too much longer after he slammed the walkie talkie down, the door busted open, with three police officers surrounding the couple. Linnie started squeaking and crying out of fear, while Nora stood up, readying her fists in case someone "dared" threaten to touch her.
"Alright, both you come. Come with us.", the woman in the front said, grabbing Linnie out of his seat, before trying to grab Nora, who was punching and kicking as hard as he could. Though she was successful hitting, the guards were so tanky that they barely did anything to them, each guard having abs of steels, practically. The other officers that came with the woman hitched Nora up, using her much shorter height to their advantage, holding her up and away, forcing her to merely punch the air.
"Let! Go! Of! Me! Right now! I-I have the right to defend myself! T-These monsters have been torturing and hitting me ever since I-"
"That's enough ma'am! The only right you two have at this time, is the right to be silent! Now the both of you, get out!", the muscular woman snarled, forcing Nora and Linnie to scurry away as fast as they could, before the guards left Miss Sweetsparkle's classroom. Sighing sadly (and rubbing her temples from the headache that was developing), she pulled out a small drawer that was hidden underneath her light brown, wooden desk, revealing a small slip of paper with a number on it. She also pulled out Cosmo's profile from her filing cabinet, searching for his home address before taking her cell phone out of her dress pocket.
"Hi? Hello? My name is Miss Allora Sweetsparkle from Spellementary school, not too far from Police Station 13. Um..I'd like to report a case of child abuse.
