Part 98

With the sun pouring its blinding light into the living room and dining room, Suki finished feeding and changing her twins. Marcus had left early to get to work on a customer's emergency repair. Nooshy and Porsha were at school.

Suki was enjoying domestic life. She liked being a mom and a housewife.

'Email! Urgent! Email!' Her computer began chirping and she groaned. She looked forward to when she could officially leave Crystal Entertainment. When she could tell the board to take their emails and shove them someplace unpleasant.

"Ugh…." She read the email from the Majestic. He wasn't interested if he wasn't getting the Clay Calloway space opera. "I'm sorry but with what happened on opening night, Out of this World is being retired after a last weekend showing in Redshore on May 20th. This is non-negotiable. We'll find someone else to sell to." She typed back.

Another email followed it, one from Olivia. She rolled her eyes again and typed. "Olivia, maybe the board should be more concerned about doing their jobs instead of commanding Porsha to do it. I'm still in charge in her place. She is in high school and that is her priority." She sighed. She hated the thought of telling Porsha that it would take longer to find a buyer. Her phone rang as she sifted through and answered more emails. "Green Residence? Yeah, I'm Nooshy's mom. Is she alright? Fighting? Suspended? Whoa. Hold on. I'm on my way down. That doesn't sound like her at all." She put the kids in the carrier and went down to the garage. "Honey, I need to go to the high school. Nooshy is in trouble for fighting."

Marcus looked up from the vehicle he was working on. "What? That's not like her at all. I'll come too. Barry, can you take over on this truck? Dad duty calls."

His brother came over. "Sure thing, Marcus. I got this."

Suki smiled. She had a feeling that he'd want to come as well. "They're talking suspension and I could hear Porsha in the background. She didn't sound happy."

Marcus sighed. "There has to be a reason. Nooshy doesn't get into fights." He helped her get the twins into their car seats.

"As far as we know. We don't know what kind of life she had on the streets. She may have had to fight to survive," Suki rationalized. "Whatever happened, we'll support her through it."

—

At East Calatonia High School, Nooshy and Porsha waited in the office. Glenn was arguing with an administrator. "You don't even know what happened, Miss. Farrell! I was there!"

The llama stood up straight. "Mr. Coleman, you need to return to class and mind your own business before you get yourself suspended too."

Porsha looked at him. "It's okay, Glenn, go back to class. We'll be alright."

He shook his head. "Guess I'm getting suspended then because I'm not leaving! If you won't listen, I'll make sure Mr. Green knows what happened." He stubbornly sat beside Porsha.

"Mr. Coleman, you are a straight A student. I know you have a full ride scholarship to Calatonia State College. You have a bright future," Miss. Farrell observed. "Are you willing to sacrifice that for these two delinquents?"

The German shepherd glowered. "In a minute." He confirmed, taking Porsha's hand.

Porsha looked at him. "Are you sure? You can't give that up for me."

"If Calatonia State would take away my scholarship over this, then I don't want to go there anyway," he hugged her. "I'm on your side."

Nooshy hugged herself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost my temper. I just couldn't take the things he was saying."

Porsha hugged her. "He was a jerk. Besides, he threw the first punch. He deserved to get thrashed."

"Nooshy! Porsha!" Marcus announced their arrival. His mouth fell when he saw Nooshy. Her left eye was swollen and her lip was bleeding. "What happened?"

The llama came over. "Are you Mr. and Mrs. Green?" She asked.

Suki ran over to Nooshy. "My goodness! Yes, we are. Now what is going on? What happened, sweetheart?"

"I can answer that," the llama continued. "I'm Vice-Principal Wilma Farrell. Your youngest daughter decided to beat up another student and her sister insisted on getting herself in trouble to try and defend her."

Marcus shot her an incredulous expression. "Seeing as my daughter's lip is busted and her left eye is almost swollen shut, I doubt that she was the provocateur."

Glenn shook his head. "No, she wasn't. Pete is just a big bully and he decided to run his mouth and try and steal Nooshy's lunch money."

Porsha nodded. "He was saying horrible things. Making fun of Nooshy for being homeless for so long and liking school. Making fun of our family too. Especially Johnny."

Nooshy nodded. "He called them the F word." She looked at the floor. "I'm sorry, I couldn't stand it."

Green eyes went wide and he glared at the vice-principal while she interjected. "We do not use violence to solve problems here. You should have told a teacher."

"I've tried!" She shrieked. "I've told my teachers and no one has done anything. They just say I need to figure it out because I'm not a kid anymore."

Suki hugged her. "It's okay, sweetie. We are not mad at you."

Miss. Farrell frowned. "We have a zero tolerance policy regarding violence. So it's a week's suspension. Porsha, if you apologize for your insubordination, you can go back to class with Glenn."

"I'm not apologizing. I'm not sorry. Nooshy is my sister and she did nothing wrong," the wolf refused the offer.

Marcus nodded. "That's my girl. And what are you going to do about this Pete? He was harassing her and he beat her. Is he getting suspended?"

"He's in the hospital in traction right now," Miss. Farrell replied. "No one else saw him allegedly harassing her or touching her until she started it."

The gorilla growled. "Then I don't think either of my girls will be back. We'll be homeschooling. My girls are entitled to feel safe at school." He looked at Glenn. "You should get back to class. We've got it from here."

"I got suspended too," he said. "Because I wouldn't let them railroad my girlfriend and her sister."

Suki smiled at him. "Thank you for standing up for them until we could get here." She'd been unsure about the dog but she was slowly warming up to him.

The vice principal looked at Glenn. "If you will go back to class, I will let you slide. This time."

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm suspended. And I can't wait to tell my father why. Enjoy that phone call." He shouldered his and Porsha's bags.

Marcus chuckled. He liked this boy more and more. "Miss. Farrell, I suggest you reconsider how you handle the bully. I'd hate to have to talk to his parents myself. Come with us, Glenn. I'll talk to your mother and father so you don't get into trouble."

The canine nodded. "Thanks." He was sure his parents would understand but it would help to have someone vouch for him.

—

After taking the twins to kindergarten, Ash and Tyler decided to hit the supermarket for their weekly run. "So, we definitely need more of those little oranges. They love those things." Tyler said, grabbing a bag.

"Yeah, and apples, and carrot sticks, and celery. Wow, buying for kids is intense," Ash laughed.

"Hey, at least they seem to prefer fruit and veggies to junk. Though by a narrow margin," the orangutan joked with her. He grabbed a bag of each of the items she listed.

"Why, Ash, is that you, dear?" A voice made her quills stand on end and she turned. "It is. How are you doing, sweetheart?"

Ash stared at the older female porcupine. "Mother? Since when do you shop here? I've never seen you here before."

"Oh, I saw a bunch of great coupons in the paper," she reasoned. "And who is your friend?"

Tyler saw how uncomfortable Ash was. "I'm Tyler. I was… helping her with the shopping…" he introduced himself.

He became very aware of the woman scrutinizing every inch of him. "Hmmm, and how do you know my daughter?"

"Well, um… we are friends, that much I can say," he wasn't sure he wanted to tell her much more. "But we have to finish shopping now. It was nice meeting you." He lied before leading Ash away. He wasn't sure what they were but he knew Ash wouldn't want her to know anything important.

"Ash, dear, wait," Mrs. Cohen followed them. "I haven't seen you in years. You really have nothing to say?"

"Not really. Why should I? You kicked me out as soon as you could," the younger porcupine argued. "So, please, leave me alone."

"Ash, you were 18. Our parents did the same thing to your father and I. You couldn't be dependent on us forever," she said.

Ash looked disgusted. "I couldn't depend on you at all. You did the bare minimum that a parent is legally expected to do. There's no trophy for that. If I've learned anything recently, it's that the bare minimum doesn't make someone a parent. Now, we need to get back to shopping because we only have three hours to finish before we have to pick up the kids…" She froze as she realized what she said.

Mrs. Cohen smiled. "Kids? You have kids? Please tell me he's not the father." She pointed at Tyler.

"No, not that it's your business but no. Lance was their father," Ash replied. Talking about him didn't hurt quite so much. She felt more numb about it then anything.

"Lance? Oh good. He was always a nice lad. Where is he? Does he know you're with this… person?" She asked derisively.

Ash jumped. "It's none of your business. Leave me alone!" She shouted. "Don't you get it? I don't want to talk to you!"

Tyler took her hand. "Come on, Ash. We'll have the groceries delivered." He shot a look at the woman. "Let's get out of here." They left the cart full of groceries and he led her out of the grocery store.

In his little red Celica, he drove them to Croc's. He bought both of their meals and joined her at the booth she chose. "Are you alright?"

"I haven't seen either of them in six years and, all of a sudden, she's shopping at Roc's. At the same time as us." Ash was going through it in her mind. "And that phone call… I don't understand. What do they want?"

"Ehhh, I'm guessing they found out that you're successful and want to cash in on that," Tyler shrugged. "Forget her. Forget them. You have your choice of parents in this group. Clay has obviously taken the father role. And you have like two mothers. You don't even need to worry about those assholes."

She nodded. "Thanks… I wasn't quite sure how to introduce you. I mean… what even are we at this point? And I don't want her involved anyway."

He smiled at her. "I know we're really good friends. I'd go so far as to say co-parents since I don't think I could leave those kids now. I'm too attached. I care about you, Ash. A lot. If you never feel the same way, I understand, and when you meet Mr. Right, I'll bow out. But no matter what, I am on your side." He squeezed her hand.

She smiled at him. He was so sweet to her and the twins. He was someone she could love, when she was ready. She felt so safe with him. "Well, you have to promise that… if you meet someone special… someone you love, that you'll choose them. I can't ask you to tie yourself to me when… when I'm nowhere near ready."

He chuckled. "I promise." The orangutan remembered Alphonso's warning about getting in too deep. He wanted to get in deep. He wanted to be there for Ash no matter what it meant.

—

Marcus dropped Glenn off at home, going inside with him. Nooshy sat in the back of the van, hugging her legs. "Big Mama, I don't… I want to go to school. I don't want to be homeschooled."

"Me either," Porsha said. "I was homeschooled and I hated it. Remember. I had no friends outside of the company."

Suki nodded. "We'll talk about it later, at home. Neither of you are going back to a school that won't protect you from bullies or allow you to protect yourselves." She looked back at Nooshy. "Neither of you are in any trouble. I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself. We will find a solution that lets you still go to school. I promise. Both of you."

Nooshy looked at Porsha. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin school for both of us."

"Nooshy, you didn't ruin anything. You're my sister. No one touches my sister," Porsha hugged her. "We will figure something out. Hey, we could always go to private school." She pointed out.

The Canadian lynx looked up at the gray wolf. "Yeah… yeah… we have options. Forget that place." She looked outside. "We have options…" she repeated, taking several deep breaths. She could still go to school. Just to a different school. Hopefully, one that wasn't so bigoted.

AN: This chapter was hard as I was bullied in school. Please review or comment. I'd appreciate it.