Hidden Burdens (working title)

Chapter Two

He added it couldn't be constant, nor more than a day or two. "You also can't use it as an excuse to get out of a test or something like that. But, if you are genuinely overwhelmed with school, whether it's with the academics or with the other students. One or two days off wouldn't hurt. Or with court or something like that, as well."

Claudia stared at him as if impressed.

-- & --

Ben stopped by the house to grab two of their movie cups before heading to the theater to see the latest Marvel movie, a movie both of them wanted to see. Since it was early in the morning on a weekday, the theater was mostly empty, and Claudia was able to put her feet up on the chair arm in front of her.

After the movie, they grabbed an early lunch, which Ben asked about school and the bullying situation, and how long this had been going on for.

"You can always talk to me or Kayla," he said reassuringly. He thought she would talk to Kayla, at least.

Claudia just shrugged it off at her cheeseburger in her hands. "It's not that big of a deal." She took a bite. 

"Obviously it is if you're slowing things down in the morning for everyone." Ben brushed the extra salt from his fingertips off to the side.

She didn't say anything to that statement, even after Claudia finished chewing.

"I don't mean that in a bad way," he said, quickly apologizing if it came out that way. "I'm just pointing out what I'm seeing."

"You can mean it any way you like," she scoffed, trying hard to keep her walls up, from what he could guess.

Ben tried not to take things personally in times like this. This girl has been in foster care since she was eleven, throughout several foster homes and group homes, and had usually left because of fighting or talking back. Her mother wasn't in the picture anymore while her father passed away when she was very young. The only family she had left was a grandmother whom she wanted to go live with, but doesn't have a spare room, which was a requirement of the home study, and the grandmother couldn't afford a bigger place.

He took a long drink from his Dr. Pepper drink, setting it off to the side near his plate. "Kayla and I can call the school and set up a meeting to see about getting these girls to stop."

"Oh, God, no!" Claudia blurted out as if he had suggested something horrendous, dropping her cheeseburger onto her plate. She used her napkin to wipe away some sauce around her mouth. "The last thing you should do is show up at my school, going full-Karen, and making things worse for me."

Ben had picked up his cheeseburger in his hands. He stared across the table at her, confused. "What does full-Karen mean?"

The teenager rolled her eyes at his pop culture-cluelessness and filled him in on what a "Karen" was.

"Sounds like my mom," he commented afterwards, using a napkin to wipe the corner of his mouth, while still holding his cheeseburger in his other hand, adding how he would never understand some of the stuff that the kids come up with. He feared he was becoming his parents at this point in his life. "That aside, are they physically assaulting you? Because we can't just keep allowing that to happen if they are, kiddo."

Claudia had taken a bite when he asked. Pausing to push the food to one side in her cheek, she held a hand in front of her mouth to respond. "No, they just like to laugh and gossip about me."

Ben picked up a fry to dip in ketchup, folding it in half. "You sure?"

She nodded while chewing and shrugged it off some more. "It's nothing new."

He held the fry up to his mouth. "I mean, people are gonna talk about you for the rest of your life, whether good or bad. Trust me, I grew up watching my mom gossiping about what the other moms were doing, and unfortunately, that was and still is the norm." He popped the fry in his mouth, chewing it on one side. "I love that lady, but sometimes she doesn't realize everything has a behind-the-scenes she knows nothing about."

Claudia swallowed another bite she had taken. "How come we haven't met her yet?"

"My mom's not exactly on board with us being foster parents like Kayla's mom is," he explained. "She's still waiting for us to give her 'real' grandkids." Ben used air quotes with his right hand, with "real."

"And, with me being her only offspring, you can see the need she has, especially when her sister already has five from my cousins."

"Would you ever decide to have your own kids?" she asked, curious.

He shrugged. "Kayla and I talked about it, but it's just not our thing. We love having you kids around." Ben washed down a bite of cheeseburger with his Dr. Pepper.

"Would you adopt? Like, if a kid stayed with you for a long period of time and had nowhere else to go?"

He shrugged some more. "We never really considered it, but if the situation did arise, Kayla and I might. Why?" Ben then grinned. "You thinking you wanna stay with us?" Claudia's case was on the list of being adoptable when her mother surrendered her rights. Unfortunately, the older the kid, the rarest they would be adopted. 

Ben got another eye-roll. 

"Please, don't make me laugh. I plan on ditching wherever I'm at once I'm eighteen." She sounded serious, but grinned herself.

Both of them laughed, though.

"You're welcome to keep in touch, at least," he assured her. "Let us know how you're doing. If you need anything."

She shrugged. "Maybe."

The two of them continued eating their lunch and conversed for the rest of the meal, talking about nothing in particular. It was a nice change of pace. Even if it was only for a moment.