The Substitute Teacher (The Sequel)

Sequel Part 43 ~ The Value of a Woman's Heart

I'm rushing home as fast as I can. What's going on with Leah? . . why is she crying? That girl is a bundle of emotions. I park the car and walk inside. Ariana is sitting on the couch. . she gets up walking over to me. "She's upstairs crying her eyes out . . . but before you go up there I really wanna know what you were doing at Carli's house. ."

I take off my coat and shoes and open a bottle of beer first. I'm really not in the mood to argue with Ariana right now . . but the look on her face tells me that I couldn't dodge this conversation with her, even if I tried. "Tell me!" She continues, looking right at me, waiting for an answer. "I will check on Leah first if you don't mind" I say, heading towards the staircase. . Ariana stops me from going up there. She's holding on to me, giving me that look. I turn to her. "Sweetheart, there is no reason for you to get upset, ok? I went there for Corey . . . why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"I don't know! . . I'm confused, ok?! . . I'm sorry for what I said about Corey . . of course I want him to come with us . ."

"Are you serious?" I ask, feeling relieved. 

"Yea . . . I mean . . I still have a lot of warming up to do but . . . of course I'm ok with it, he's your son . . I'm sorry I got crazy"

"It's ok . . ."

"But I don't like the fact that you went over to Carli's house . . . ."

"Ariana . . . why are you acting so jealous?"

"I'm not acting jealous . . . I just wanna know . . ."

"I went there for Corey . . . not for Carli . . . get that through your pretty head, alright? . . I love you! there's no need for you to worry . . . but I am worried about Leah right now . . ."

"Yea . . . she's a mess . . . I have no idea what's going on with her . . . she came down crying out of nowhere, asking for you . . . I tried to talk to her but she wouldn't tell me a thing"

"Alright . . . I'm gonna talk to her . . . I love you . . . you know that right?" I say, looking at Ariana, waiting for her to form a smile. "I love you too, Michael" I give her a kiss and run upstairs to Leah's room. I can hear her crying. I open the door and walk inside. She's on the bed, hugging her pillow. "Princess? . . I rushed home for you . . what's the matter? why are you crying?"

"Anthony broke up with me, dad . . ."

"I'm . . . I'm so sorry to hear that, Leah . . ." 

I take a seat on her bed . . she's crying so hard. . her mascara is running. I take her in my arms and give her a kiss on the top of her head. "I really loved him, dad . . I did! I trusted him! . . you know what he did?? . . he went out with that whore Cassandra . . . Cherelle told me . . she saw them together at the mall . . . I confronted Anthony over the phone . . I called him and asked him why he was with Cassandra . . . he got really mad at me and hung  up . . . I called him back asking him why he hung up on me and that's when he told me didn't love me anymore and broke up with me . . . ."

"I'm so sorry, baby girl . . . . but there will be other boys . . there's plenty of fish in the sea"

"But I want Anthony! . . . I loved him, dad!" Leah says, hugging me. 

"I know you're hurting . . . a break up is always a painful thing to go through . . . but now you have time to focus on yourself. You don't need a boyfriend to be happy, ok? . . boys come and go . . it's your family that's always gonna be by your side . . . when you're old enough, you will find the right person to share your life with . . . Anthony wasn't the one . . . but that's ok . . . because there will be other boys . . ."

"I don't want anyone else . . . I want Anthony . . ."

"Now you say you love him but that's gonna change, I promise you . . . one day you will wake up and ask yourself why you even fell in love with him in the first place . . . a human heart is very sensitive . . . take care of it, ok? . . love yourself for a change . . . be a good girl . . do good in school and when you are happy, good things will happen to you"