“Try me, and you’ll find out just how threatening I can be.”
Their eyes locked for five Mississippis before Caden, Niko, and Lorenzo walked out of the private room in the restaurant. Caden waited until they were outside to call Dru, and she answered on the first ring with, “Caden?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed with a smile. “It’s done.”
“You’reone of my best employees, Dru, but I can’t continue to allow this. You constantly clock in late. If you leave early, you’re going to lose your job,” Shawn made clear, and while Dru understood where he was coming from, she didn’t give a fuck about that shit.
Rather than defend herself and explain she worked two jobs daily, one of which required her to stay on the clock sometimes until three in the morning, Dru remained silent. She knew a person’s compassion and empathy could only excuse so much. Shawn wouldn’t care about why she sometimes overslept. All he cared about was her sometimes being late. While she wanted her being a great employee to matter more, it was clear that wouldn’t be the case.
“I hear you, and I respect your decision. My sister’s school cannot get in touch with my mother, and I have to go get her. I don’t have time to find someone to cover my shift in the middle of this family emergency. If you want to fire me, then fire me.”
“I don’t want to fire you at all, but if you leave, I’ll have no choice.”
Standing, Dru removed her name tag and put it on Shawn’s desk. “Thank you.”
Without saying another word, she quickly stormed out of his office. The last thing she had time for was a back-and-forth session about a job she couldn’t care less about keeping, knowing something was going on with her sister. When she got the repeated back-to-back calls from Dreya’s school, Dru already knew what was up. Either Dreya was sick, or she’d gotten into a fight. As soon as she was done ringing up a customer, she rushed to the break room and called the school. She could barely hear what the principal was saying over Dreya’s screaming, and since Dreya hardly ever raised her voice, that concerned Dru even more.
Once the dust settled, Dru would lament over losing her job.
For now, the only thing she cared about was getting to her sister.
“Fuck!” she yelled when her car didn’t start. “Not now. Please not now.” With a growl, she turned her key in the ignition, and again, the car didn’t start. “Fuck!” After pounding the wheel, Dru sat back in her seat, refusing to cry. “God, please. I have to get to my sister. Please let this car start.” Dru pulled in a few deep breaths, and when she tried a third time, the car started. “Thank You, Lord,” she said with tears in her eyes before swerving out of the parking lot.
Having made it to the school in record time, Dru made a mad dash toward the principal’s office. With wide eyes and panic on her face and in her heart, she looked around until her eyeslanded on Dreya. She was sitting in the corner, leg shaking as she wiped her face of its tears. Sniffling, she plopped back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest.
Dru walked over to her, sitting down and wrapping her arm around her shoulders. “What happened, kid?” Dreya leaned against her shoulder and cried harder. “Aww, baby.” Holding her close, Dru rocked her sister as she released her feelings. The sound of her crying caused Principal Ragen to come out of her office.
“Dru, can we talk in my office?”
“In a second,” Dru replied, refusing to leave Dreya until she was composed.
It wasn’t until her sobs turned into whimpers that Dru put some space between them. As she wiped Dreya’s tears, she asked, “What happened? I want to hear it from you first.”
Sniffling, Dreya released a trembling breath as she looked into her sister’s eyes. “Some girls were talking shit and bullying me. Tina is having sex with Adrian’s daddy. Apparently, she’s supposed to be putting together some kind of sex party for him with some strippers and prostitutes. Can you believe she asked him if he wanted me there? Adrian came to school telling all her friends, and they’ve been taunting me all day, Sister.
“I tried to ignore them, but during lunch, they had the whole section laughing and talking shit about me. When I tried to walk away, Adrian pushed me and told me I’d better not come anywhere near her daddy, or her and her mama would beat my ass. I’m sorry for cursing. Even still, I told her not to put her feelings on me, and I tried to walk away. Her and her friends circled me and she pushed me again, so I swung. We started fighting, and I blacked out until some teachers pulled me off her.”
“This isn’t your fault,” Dru said, holding Dreya’s hands. “I tell you to take accountability and responsibility for your actions,but this isn’t on you. Whatever you did, you were provoked. I would never tell you to let anyone bully you or attack you and you not defend yourself. Whatever Principal Ragen says, you are not in trouble, okay?”
Dreya nodded as Dru stood. Making her way into the principal’s office, Dru tried to contain her anger. She knew all about being taunted and bullied in school because of their mother’s actions, words, and the way she dressed.
A vivid memory came back to Dru as she made her way into the office of Tina walking down the hallway before her lunch period at the start of her tenth-grade year. Her mother was dressed in a skimpy dress, hooker heels, and a thick fur coat. Dark shades covered her eyes, and her curly hair was wild and all over the place. She’d come to Dru’s school that day to confront Dru about hiding money for bills.
Tina wanted to use the money to go out of town, and she tormented and publicly embarrassed her daughter until Dru broke down and told her where she’d hidden the money. Tina left, satisfied. The only good thing about it was Tina left her and her one-year-old sister alone for two weeks.
“Close the door please,” Ragen requested, putting on her glasses. Dru closed the door, then made her way further inside the office. “Have a seat, Dru.”
Dru sat down, fully prepared to listen and defend her sister, no matter what. Now that she’d finally seen her sister, she was calmer, but hearing about the way she was treated had a different, fiercer, more protective rage simmering and ready to combust, depending on what the principal had to say.
“First, I want to make it clear that we’ve talked to a few students who said what happened in the cafeteria was not Dreya’s fault,” Ragen said, “but even with that being the case, our school has a no fighting policy. We urge our students to walk away, no matter what.”
“I’m going to have to stop you right there,” Dru said with a quiet chuckle. “My sister was cornered and physically assaulted. There’s no way you expected her to get out of that situation without defending herself.”
“She could have yelled for assistance.”
“In a loud cafeteria with hundreds of kids crowding around expecting a fight? How long do you think that would have taken?”
“I understand you wanting to defend your sister, but the fact remains, fighting goes against our policy.”
