The Silence She Speaks✔

Seventeen-Foster Lady

"What?" I asked.

"Promise me you'll take me to see my Mom. I don't care if it's fifty years from now, you have to take me," Quinn demanded, her voice cracking. She looked up, and I saw how her eyes were filled with desperation.

"I promise, Quinn," I said quietly. I pulled her in or another tight hug, and she quickly latched onto me.

Quinn relaxed into my arms as she broke down into tears again. Her eyes were red and puffy from the previous tears, and her body shook from head to toe. For the longest time I just held my crying baby. When she had finally calmed, I helped her up and thanked the officers before leaving.

Back at the school, Quinn sat down in a chair in front of the principal. Mason and four kids sat in chairs as well. Mason made sure to sit between Quinn and the other four.

"Thank you all for being here today," the principal said to us adults. "As you all can see, there was a fight that broke out."

"My little Aria is an angel, sir, she could never harm somebody," a woman blurted out. Mason scoffed, folding his arms and slouching in his chair. "Excuse me?" The woman asked him, clearly offended.

Mason stood up and rolled his eyes at her. "You wouldn't think the brat is an angel if you saw what she was doing. I believe her exact words where, 'I bet she did this to herself.' She said that while ripping off my sister's bandages and showing off the burns she had received from a fire. My sister was in a burning building. She did nothing wrong, and yet your 'precious angel' decided to blame Quinn for her injuries. Newsflash! Quinn is the victim!"

Okay, talk about proud Mom moments.

The woman slapped Mason, making him stumble back and put his hand to his bright red cheek. "You dare accuse my daughter of something so cruel and inhumane!?" She screamed.

Before I could do anything, Quinn stood up quickly, her chair falling back as she did. She walked up to the woman and looked up at her, keeping eye-contact with pure confidence. Her back was straight as she stood as tall as she could, and her hands were curled into white-knuckled fists at her sides. Rage radiated off of her little body, and even I felt a bit intimidated. The woman she glared at was definitely afraid now.

"Your daughter has done nothing but be cruel and hateful towards me since the day I came to this awful school," Quinn said clearly, no hoarseness to her angered voice. "All of them have. I'm sick of their behavior, but when I saw you, I realized something. As the saying goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I can't blame them for the way they behave when they have such horrible role models. I mean, you just slapped a fourteen year old. And nobody is impressed by that, just so you know."

Quinn gave the woman a smirk, knowing that her words were laced with a venom that shook this woman up. It shook us all up. Quinn had never spoken so much before, let alone speak so harshly and unmerciful like that.

Again, proud Mom moments.

This earned Quinn a slap as well. "You brat! You're worthless! Nothing!" The woman screeched. "You caused the fight! You egged them on until they couldn't handle it and just shut you're disgusting little mouth up! I know it!" She shoved Quinn to the floor, making her wince and grab hold of her more-injured arm.

"That wasn't impressive either," Quinn joked, laughing humorlessly. The bandages came slightly undone and I saw bruising on areas of her arm that had their burns healed. She had to have been in so much pain right now.

There was another slap, but it wasn't on either of my kids. It was from me to the woman who had just attacked my babies. "I hope you feel great about yourself," I said, holding myself back from doing anything else that I most definitely would not regret. I could not risk losing Quinn, though. She's still, by law, only my foster daughter, and could be taken away at any time. "Slapping an eleven-year-old who was abused so cruelly. You should feel so amazing about yourself right now," I spat out sarcastically.

Mason grabbed Quinn and walked her to the door. He waited there, his arm tight around her little shoulders. He knew what was going to happen next, and judging by the look in Quinn's eyes, she had a good guess.

"I'll take my time to think if I should be suing the school. Ma'am, you can expect a visit from the police later," I said to both the the principal and the mother. "But, trust me, the police will be involved in all of this."

"Th-there's no need for that!" The mother sputtered.

"Yes there is." I spoke dangerously calm. That made the woman stress even more and burst into tears.

I may or may not have taken a class in psychology. And I may or may not use it to scare people like this. That's a secret I'll keep for the bone yard."

And just like that, we left. I grabbed Quinn's little hand in mine and walked her out, holding my daughter close to me.

Mason kept her other hand in his while glaring at the ground. I know he was upset with himself for letting his sister get hurt, but he should be proud of himself for protecting her the way he did.

Quinn noticed his anger as well, and leaned her head on his arm. She was too short to reach his shoulder, so it was the next best thing.

Mason smiled at her and kissed the top oh her head, letting go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulder.

It always feels like it's silence that Quinn speaks best.