Page 80 of And Then There Was Us
Brianna sighed. “Look, I don’t want Layla to be the center of attention because of Hugh’s career. She’s a six-year-old girl, and she’s here to learn and socialize, not to become a public spectacle.”
“Perhaps you should have considered that before you started dating Mr. Braden.”
Ouch.Brianna stood. “Perhaps, but since this…issue has come about, can I count on you to protect my daughter or not? That’s the only thing that matters at this point.”
“Settle down, Brianna. Sit back down, please.”
Brianna obeyed like one of Pavlov’s dogs.
“Layla didn’t seem to mind talking about her night at the theater, and she was commended for her creativity for writing her own play. We’re certainly not trying to make a spectacle of her. There was a lot of excitement this morning, as two of the children brought the newspaper into class, and it grew from there.” Principal Shue leaned across the desk.
Brianna’s heart told her to take Layla and leave the school, but her mind told her tobehaveandlisten.
“I can make certain that Mr. Braden’s existence doesn’t come into play in the daily classroom activities, but I’m not sure I can do much about what she’ll experience on the playground. But you know how these things go. Kids will forget soon enough, and life will go back to normal.”
Brianna remembered the two long years after her father left. Kids did not forget, and things did not go back to anything even close to resembling normal. And not once did any adult ask her how she felt about the name-calling or feeling left out during the special parent-child days when her mother had to work. She’d been labeledthe girl whose father left.And I’m still that girl.There’s no way she’d let Layla becomethe girl whose mother is dating Hugh Braden. Brianna’s phone vibrated.
“I’m sorry. Excuse me.” She dug her phone out of her purse to turn it off and was astonished to see three text messages from Layla’s classmates’ mothers.Now that Hugh is around, they came out of the woodwork.
“Trouble?” Principal Shue asked.
“No.” She shoved her phone back in her purse. “I guess when you date a…someone like Hugh, everyone wants a piece of him.” She hated the frustration in her voice and the way her muscles all pulled tight across her neck. Was this what their life would be like? How could she protect Layla from getting an overinflated ego or from being used?
“Brianna, take a deep breath.”
Brianna obeyed.Ugh!She hated feeling like she was back in third grade. She wondered how Layla felt. Not what Principal Shue thought was right or wrong, and not even what she thought was right or wrong.How is Layla dealing with the attention?She knew what she had to do.
“Principal Shue, I’d like to speak to Layla.” She rose to her feet and headed for the door.
“I’ll be happy to have her come down and we can speak to her.”
“No, thank you. I’d like to speak with her privately.” She walked out of the principal’s office. “Actually, I’ll go get her. I can observe through the door for a few minutes. You can tell a lot about a child’s feelings by watching and even more by listening.” A few determined strides later, she was rounding the corner to Layla’s classroom.
She looked through the glass on the door. Layla waved her hand in the air, flapping it like a flag. Brianna smiled at her enthusiasm.Maybe I overreacted.She heard Principal Shue’sclop, clop, clopechoing down the hall. She wondered if Hugh had been right and this would blow over and he’d become just “Layla’s mother’s boyfriend” after a while. Layla was talking to the teacher, and she looked happy enough. Brianna was about to walk away when Principal Shue appeared behind her.
“Aren’t you going to speak with her?” She looked down at Brianna with the same stern look she always had.
“No. I think she’s okay.”
“Brianna, speak to your daughter. She’ll appreciate that you did, and you’ll have peace of mind.”
She met the principal’s surprisingly soft gaze.
“Your mother did this same thing when you were in school. After your father left, she’d come and observe about once a week. She’d feel confident after seeing you pay attention in class, or laugh at something, and then she’d go on her way. Take it to the next step, Brianna. You were never settled, and I think if your mother had pulled you from class and let you know that she cared about how you felt during school hours, it might have made you a little more at ease.”
“Then why didn’t you tell her to do that for me?” Brianna felt her legs weakening.
“I did. She didn’t have time. She worked very hard. Two jobs, as I remember, and she’d come over on a break and have to run back to work afterward.” Her gaze softened.
“She never told me.”I wish she had.
“Many parents don’t. They don’t want to embarrass their children by making them think they were checking up on them. You were a pistol. You stood up to the kids who called you names.” Principal Shue crossed her arms and looked as immovable as a linebacker.
“You knew?”
“Of course I knew. I tried to stop it, but you know we can’t do much. We can talk to the children, suspend them for a day or two, but that’s the extent of it. You held up a brave front. You gave it right back to them.”
Brianna had no recollection of evergiving it right backto anyone. She remembered feeling alone and different. Very, very different.
