Karen ended up taking Will's advice and went back to working for Grace while Cailyn was in school. Unlike the last time she had worked for Grace, this time around, Karen actually did work. She somehow managed to answer the phones and fax Grace's designs at the same time. One day, Karen was sitting at her desk when the phone rang. Jack was busy organizing fabrics in the swatch room and Grace was sketching at her desk, so Karen answered the phone.
"Grace Adler Designs?"
"Hello. I'm looking for Karen Walker."
"Speaking."
"Mrs. Walker, this is Principal Haskell from the Manhattan Day School. I'm calling about your daughter, Cailyn."
Karen's heart immediately dropped. "What's happened? Is she alright?"
"Oh, Mrs. Walker, everything is fine. There was just a little, situation, at school today and I think you should come down and pick up Cailyn."
"What kind of situation?"
"Mrs. Walker, I'll explain everything in the office."
"I'll, uh, I'll be right there." Karen said as she hung up the phone. "Grace, honey? I've gotta go. Something happened with Cailyn at school today and she needs to be picked up."
"Is she alright?" Grace looked up, concerned.
"I, um, I don't know. I'll talk to you later. I gotta go." She said as she picked up her purse and ran out of the office.
"Hi. I'm Karen Walker. I'm here to see Principal Haskell." Karen said to the office secretary.
Without looking up, the secretary pointed behind her towards an office. "Through those doors. She's waiting for you."
"Okay, thanks." Karen began walking towards the office. She stopped when she saw her daughter sitting on a bench outside the office.
Karen kneeled in front of her daughter.
"Hi Mommy."
"Cailyn, honey. What happened?"
"Mrs. Walker? Please, come in."
Karen looked back at Cailyn before standing up and following the principal into her office.
"What happened? And why is my five year old sitting outside on the 'delinquent kid' bench?" Karen asked, beginning to raise her voice.
"Well, Mrs. Walker. Here at the Manhattan Day School, we have a zero-tolerance policy on violence."
"Okay. That didn't answer either of my questions, now did it?"
Principal Haskell continued her explanation. "This afternoon, Cailyn struck another student who had to be taken to the nurse's office and sent home."
"What! Why on Earth would she do that?"
"I don't know Mrs. Walker. She won't tell us why she did it. But I suggest that you find out and discipline her accordingly. I'm sorry to do this, especially to a new student, but I'm going to have to suspend her for the rest of the week."
Karen sighed and nodded her head. Getting up from her seat, she walked out to her daughter and took her hand.
"Cailyn, honey, let's take a walk, okay?"
"Okay, Mommy."
Karen and Cailyn began walking through Central Park, taking the long way home. Once they had been walking for some time, Karen and Cailyn sat down on one of the many benches that lined the pedestrian path.
"Honey, what happened? Why did you hit someone?"
Cailyn looked down at her shoes and shook her head. "I don't wanna talk about it."
"Well, you're going to. Now tell me why you hit someone today."
"She started it!"
Karen rolled her eyes. "That's not an answer, Cailyn."
"She was making fun of my drawing."
"So you hit her?"
Cailyn nodded.
"Cailyn Grace Walker, I am so disappointed in you. Why on Earth would you do something like that? What did she say that would make you do such a thing?"
"We were supposed to draw a picture of our family and then show it to the class. So I drew mine and then when I was telling the class who everyone in my family was, she started to make fun of me."
Karen sighed. "Honey, that doesn't give you the right to hit her."
"But Mommy, she's been making fun of me since school started and Dad and Daddy picked me up."
"What are you talking about?"
"She said that they had to take turns spending time with me because I was a bad daughter and didn't want to spend all their time with me."
Karen's face dropped. "Honey, did you tell the teacher?"
Cailyn nodded.
"And what did she say?"
"She didn't say anything. But then she still didn't stop teasing me. And when she made fun of me today, I hit her to make her stop. I'm sorry, Mommy."
Karen hugged her daughter. "Cailyn, why didn't you tell me that kids were teasing you?"
She shrugged. "Can we go home now?"
Karen nodded, standing up and taking Cailyn's hand. They walked back into the manse, Cailyn going directly to her room and Karen grabbing her phone.
"Information."
"Manhattan Day School, please."
"Hold please. You are now being connected to….." Karen zoned out as the recording continued on.
"Principal Haskell's office."
"This is Karen Walker. I'd like to speak to the principal immediately."
The secretary put Karen through and she wasted no time in blowing up at the principal and reading her a riot act of not stopping the other little girl's teasing. The principal was taken aback by Karen's sudden change. She didn't know the old Karen, the one who didn't step down for anybody. But this was her daughter, and she wasn't taking this lying down.
