Familyness

Tearing Apart

Brad's POV

"Hey, do you want some breakfast?" I sit next to Jen on the bed "I just got dropped off the kids at school, you need to leave this room, babe."

"No." She shakes her head emotionless "I don't need anything."

"Jen, come on. You need something." I try to persuade her "What happened is not our fault, you're being too hard on yourself about all this."

"No. I don't need anything! She left, Brad! She fucking moved out and left us for my mother! Do you have any idea how hard this is for me? My daughter hates me! I can't just move on with my life like nothing happened. I'm a failure! All I had to do is keep my kids safe, and close, and I couldn't even stop her from moving out." She starts to cry, and I immediately pull her closer to comfort her.

Arianna got into a huge fight with us about a week ago. She has a new boyfriend, who we do not approve of, or like, for many reasons. All he has done is caused trouble and has been nothing but a bad influence for her. She decided that she can't live with us because we aren't fair, and "treat her like a child", so she moved into Jen's mom's house, which has made the rocky relationship between Jen and her mom even worse. Jen refuses to leave our room because she feels like this is all her fault.

"Look at me," I look her in the eyes "You are not a failure. You're the best mother there is, and even things like this don't change that. Arianna is a teenager, if moving out to her grandmother's house is the worst thing she does then we're doing a damn good job at this whole parenting thing."

"Fine." She pulls herself together "I guess I can't just sit here forever. I can't trust you to take care of all the others anyway."

I get her out of our room and down to the kitchen. She sits at the table looking around at the mess while I make breakfast.

"Hey, is your phone ringing?" She asks "I swear I hear something." I check the counter where I laid my phone and see that it's lit up.

"Shit." I push it over towards her so she can answer.

"Hello?"... "No, this is his wife, Jennifer. Can I ask what's wrong?" They must say something else, because she hangs up quickly and walks over to me.

"It was the school... Arianna and Logan got in trouble again. I wanted to tell them to call my mom, but I thought maybe if we go Ari will actually talk to us."

"So we have to go to the school?" I ask to clarify "Did she tell you what they did?"

"All I know is that she's facing suspension."

I follow her upstairs where we get dressed. She freaks out for a little, worried that we'll have to face her mom, who we obviously would be less than thrilled to see. I take some time to calm her down before we walk out.

"Maybe this is good." I can tell by her voice that she's trying to convince herself of this. She's very good at manipulation; something I learned every early in our relationship.

"All that matters is that we care about her, babe." I hold her hand for emphasis as we walk into the building "She might not realize that now, but soon enough she will."

"Mr. And Mrs. Pitt?" The secretary calls out. We stand up and she waves us into an office "Right this way. The principal will be in shortly."

We sit in the cold chairs watching the time. The clock ticks every second, reminding us that we're closer and closer to seeing Ari. Jen is practically standing out of excitement, hoping that they'll be able to talk, and all I can to do is hope that Ari doesn't shatter her heart again.

The principal walks in followed by Arianna. They take their seats as the tension rises. A butcher knife would not be strong enough to cut all the tension in this office right now. Ari refuses to even look in our direction and I watch as my poor wife starts to crumble from the pain of her own daughter betraying her like this. There's absolutely no excuse.

Before we know it, we're face to face with an incredibly angry principal. Her eyes stare Emily into our souls. If looks could kill, we'd both be dead by now.

Jen's POV

"Can we just get started already?" I can feel my blood boiling. Ari won't even look at me and the last thing I need is to explode on her here, in front of principal stick ass.

"I'm sorry, but we have to wait for your mother to get started." She glares across at me like I'm some sort of idiot "Arianna informed us after we called you that she is currently living with her grandmother. Legally, we need her to be here as well." I can't believe this. The last thing any of us need right now is for my mother to join us in any of this. She's just going to make the situation even worse than she already is, if that's even possible.

Seconds later, the door opens revealing my mother. If the tension wasn't already strong enough to kill in this room, it definitely is now. She walks in acting like she owns the place and sits down right next to Ari, avoiding Brad and I the whole time.

"Now that you're all here, we need to talk about Arianna's suspension." Principal stick ass finally speaks up "I have decided on 3 days based on the situation."

"That sounds fair." Brad and I agree. She needs to be punished for whatever she did, and 3 days at home with my mother should be enough. We get handed a paper of agreement and each of us sign it.

"That is not fair at all!" My mom fights "I'd like to know what happened before she gets suspended. She's going through a hard time right now with her parents turning on her and all."

"We turned on her?" I laugh, honestly finding the statement very comical "That's funny considering SHE'S the one who decided to move out. I don't remember saying anything to her about moving out." Brad reaches over to grab my hand, knowing that I need to calm down right now. After we stop, the principal chimes in again.

"Arianna and Logan Smith thought it would be a great idea to skip class. That itself is not a huge problem, and honestly does not worry me too much, however, what they did instead of class does." We all sit in silence, giving her the hint to go on "They somehow managed to get the key for the handicapped only elevator, and thought it would be a great idea to have a makeout session in the elevator. A staff member found them half-dressed while he was trying to escort an injured student to class."

"Arianna Elizabeth!" I take a few seconds to compose all of the thoughts running through my head right now "We warned you he was nothing but trouble! We told you where he would get you, and look at this now! You're getting suspended because you think you know freaking everything! I really hope this is worth it for you!" I grab Brad's hand pulling him out into the hallway. I get outside the office and break down. Brad can see that I'm not okay and reaches his arms out to comfort me, knowing that's exactly what I need right now.

"How can we let her do this?" Tears spill out of my eyes like a waterfall, and I can't even tell if they're from anger or the heartbreak of watching her go through this. He kisses my forehead pulling me closer without saying anything. His warm, welcoming arms comfort me for the time being, and help me release my feelings without regrets.

"What the hell was that, Jennifer?!?" My wonderful mother bursts through the door "You're supposed to be an adult! Not someone who acts like that to their child!"

Brad can see that I'm about to burst again, and carefully pushes me behind him and onto one of the seats. I sit there, trying to remain calm while he defends me, and our actions.

"She has done nothing but try to help Arianna! When we told her that she shouldn't date him we did it because we didn't want her to get hurt, or change who she was for him! She obviously chose not to listen and look where that got her now!"

"Arianna is old enough now that she can make her own decisions."