amorous // richonne au

twenty eight - a happening

Michonne

I sat in the middle chair in the principal's office of Carl's school, Carl sitting next to me and Ron and his parents on the other side of me. When I'd gotten a call around noon telling me that Carl had been in a fight, I immediately called my mother hoping that she would be able to come and watch Andre and the girls, but she wasn't free. I then called Rick's mom, who was more than happy to watch them for me.

"Hello, Ms. Grimes. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. I'm sorry I had to drag you from your homes on this Monday afternoon, but you guys' sons got into a bit of a physical dispute.

I looked over to Carl, whose knuckles were purple. He had scratches and cuts on his face and his left eye was slightly swollen. His injuries didn't compare to Ron's, though. His right eye was black and his lip was busted, and he had purple bruises on his cheek. I sighed as Mrs. Vitti continued speaking.

"I have heard from anonymous sources that it was Carl who threw the first punch at Ron. But Ron was provoking Carl. Even still, it is no excuse for either of the boys. They will both have 3 days of in and out of school suspension. These consequences can and will be expunged from their records if they show and extensive change in their behavior over the course of the school year."

I shook my head. "Well I know my son, and I know he isn't the type to just go around punching people in their face. So do they get a chance to tell their sides of the story?"

She scoffed. "For what, ma'am? The point is that they fought. Their altercation caused a disruption in their class."

I shook my head. "It's fine. He'll talk to me about it when we get home."

She stood up, now looking over me with sinister eyes.

"Ma'am, please don't cause a scene. There's no need."

I chuckled to myself before standing and turning to Carl.

"Come on," I said, "Let's get you cleaned up."

We began making our way out of her office, and then out of the building. When we got into the car, I just looked at him.

"What really happened?"

He sighed. "It started with Sophia. He started off talking about her in bad ways, so I told him to knock it off. And then he started talking about you. And my sisters, and what happened with Dad and Lori.. Then he said something about Dad being in a coma, and I just lost it. I didn't even know what I was doing. All I saw was red, Michonne."

I nodded. "It's okay, love. We're gonna get this taken off of your record. Colleges won't even know it's there."

He smiled at me. "Thanks for understanding."

"Of course I would. Now let's go see your siblings and your Grandma."

—

When we arrived at the house, Andre was the first to arrive at the door, which was opened with the screen door locked. He had a wide grin on his face that didn't leave when Carl and I entered the house.

"Mommy! Mommy!" he jumped up on me, and I picked him up and smothered him with kisses.

"Hey, baby boy! I missed you while I was gone!"

He kissed my cheek. "I missed you, too, Mommy. And Judy did and Jada, too. And Grandma Louise, too."

I smiled when he called Rick's mother "Grandma" because it showed that he was really taking a liking to her and I couldn't be happier with it. Just as I was thinking of how much they'd gotten to love each other, Louise emerged from behind a corner with a sleeping Jada nestled in her arms.