Mini Ruzek

Chapter 7

Adam's POV
I am really happy. I made things official with hailey. Riley is no longer being bullied. She stopped harming herself a while back. My life is going pretty great. I woke up this morning and rolled over to face hailey.

"Morning." I said.

"Good morning." She replied kissing me. I looked at the time and saw that Riley would be late if she didn't get up soon. I headed into her room and saw her still asleep.

"Riley, wake up, you're going to be late." I said softly.

"I don't want to go today." She said.

"Why?" I asked.

"I just don't want to go." She replied.

"Has the bullying started again?" I asked sitting on her bed.

"No." She said simply.

"Why do you want the day off?" I asked and she stayed silent.

"Riley, in order to consider letting you have the day off, I need a reason." I told her.

"Can I tell hailey?" She asked me.

"Yeah, I'll go get her." I said leaving her room. I headed into the kitchen to see hailey drinking a cup of coffee.

"Hey, Riley said she wanted the day off, but she won't tell me why. I told her she had to give me a reason and she asked if she could tell you." I said.

"I'll go talk to her." She said and I started making breakfast. After a few minutes, they both came out of Riley's room. Hailey came over to me and Riley went and sat on the couch.

"Let her have the day off." Hailey told me.

"Do I get to know why?" I asked.

"On Fridays, she has a different tutor because her main tutor doesn't work Fridays. She told me how last week he started being really homophobic and saying that she was a disgrace." She told me and I was shocked. I finished cooking breakfast and put our plates on the table.

"Riley, breakfast." I said and she came and sat at the table with us. Hailey and I had today off because we had no cases or paperwork. After we finished breakfast, I called Riley's school and told them she wouldn't be coming in.

"Is there a reason she isn't coming in?" The reception lady asked over the phone.

"Yes there is. The tutor she has on a Friday is homophobic and called her a disgrace." I said hanging up the phone. I joined hailey and Riley on the couch.

"What shall we watch?" I asked.

"Christmas movies." Riley replied.

"It's ages away until Christmas." Hailey said.

"It's the 30th of November, decorations go up tomorrow. It's not that far away." Riley said and we chuckled. We started watching home alone. As we were picking the next movie, I got a notification on my phone.

- Gaffney Chicago Medical Center
Riley Ruzek's appointment is today at 2pm

I completely forgot.

"Hey, don't forget your checkup is today." I said looking at Riley.

"What checkup?" She asked.

"At med." I replied and she looked really nervous. She left and headed to her room. Hailey and I shared confused looks. We followed her and saw her in her bed crying. We sat on the bed facing her.

"I don't want to go to the hospital." She said sobbing.

"Why?" I asked.

"I don't want to die." She said. We both wrapped our arms around her.

"It's just a checkup, you're fine." I told her. We comforted her for a bit and got ready to leave for her appointment. We walked into med and Natalie took us into a room.

"Okay, let's start with a blood draw." She said and I could see Riley tense up. She hates needles. Natalie drew her blood and sent it off to be tested.

"Okay, just some questions now." She said and Riley nodded.

"Are you sexually active?" Natalie asked.

"She's 12 years old." I said.

"No, I'm not." Riley replied. She asked a few more questions and the blood work came back.

"You're all good." She said and we headed home. We carried on watching Christmas movies. I wanted to watch the grinch, but the girls wanted to watch Elf. We watched a lot of movies. I wouldn't be surprised if we have seen every Christmas movie ever made. It was late and Riley went to bed. I went into her room.

"Dad, I'm growing up, I don't need you to tuck me in anymore." She said chuckling.

"I know you don't, but I'm going to anyway because you'll always be my baby." I said and she smiled. I kissed her head and left her room. Hailey and I decided to go to bed as well.