Her coffee was cold by now, but she was used to it. Whenever she goes to the café in the morning, she hardly ever finishes the drinks she buys. It's not because she doesn't like them, but it's because she's simply too busy to even remember having the coffee. Her name was in more demand than it has ever been before. There were two upcoming books she had just submitted, but she was overthinking them now. They were so popular, the fans demanded more and soon. She was deemed 'the female Stephen King' and Stephen King himself has personally told her that he was honored to be affiliated with her name!
At the moment, though, she wasn't focused on deadlines and didn't care about her cold coffee. There was something in her life that was much more important than her books and money and pretty great labels. That something was currently beating up a kid.
"Brooklyn!" Cassie dropped her coffee and sprinted over to where her nine year old was wailing on some poor kid! She pulled up her son by his backpack and carried him to the car as he thrashed around. "Stop it!" Cassie yelled.
She made him go into the car and went to see if the other kid was okay. A teacher came out and said Brooklyn needed to go to the principal's office, which got Cassie ever more upset at her son. She called Ben and, thankfully, he was just getting out of work so he was on his way.
As they were waiting by the principal's office, Cassie was trying to compose herself. This was not Brooklyn's first time getting in trouble. The way he's gotten in trouble recently is incomparable with Ethan's record because Brooklyn was way worse.
Ben came barging into the room nearly out of breath. "Well?" He asked Cassie. She shook her head as she told him, "We haven't gone in yet." He went up to Brooklyn and just stared at him. It's a good thing the principal came out to call them in because Brooklyn gave his father an eye roll.
If his punishment wasn't going to be bad enough, it just got worse.
"Mr. Hernandez," Ben said, "I can promise you nothing like this will happen again." Mr. Hernandez smiled, taking him by surprise. "Mr. Cumberbatch," he said, "you've been saying this all school year. Oh, and last school year. Let's not forget the year before that."
Ben waved him off saying, "I get it! Look, we had an agreement that if he saw a counselor every week—." Mr. Hernandez scoffed, "He hasn't been going! Ms. Lapin has been sending home notes with him. He brings them back signed, excusing him from those sessions!"
This was the first time Cassie has seen Brooklyn scared. Usually, he really did not care. He knows he's messed up when he gets scared.
"Are you going to tell me those weren't your signatures?" Mr. Hernandez asked after the parents didn't say anything. Before they could, however, he told them, "That's it. I am abiding to the school's 'No Tolerance' rule. Brooklyn is expelled."
Ben closed his eyes and sighed. Cassie put her hand over her face.
"Let's go," Ben softly said after a long moment of silence. Brooklyn slowly got up and followed his parents. He watched suspiciously as they walked in front of him and not saying a word. Ben reached for Cassie's hand and took it. Brooklyn gulped at the sight. This wasn't going to be good.
The car ride back was completely silent. He knew not to speak to disturb the peace. He did that once before and learned to never do it again. This silence was different though. Usually, the radio is turned off so there isn't any sound except the running car. This time, Ben was fiddling with the stations and Cassie was talking about how much she loved a song.
They weren't happy conversations, but it was unusual.
When they got home, Ben took Brooklyn's backpack as he walked through the door. "You won't be needing this," he said. "Go to your room, please." Brooklyn looked to Cassie, but she didn't make eye contact.
"Okay," he softly said before going up the stairs.
Ben turned to Cassie and calmly said, "I need a drink."
Sighing, she followed him to their little mini bar. He held up a bottle of scotch, but she shook her head at it. He then held up a bottle of wine and, after a minute of hard thinking, she nodded. He opened the bottle, then handed it to her without a glass.
He poured himself the above normal amount of scotch. After each of them took a sip, Cassie asked, "Are we bad parents?" Ben was about to shake his head, then told her, "Well, considering we forgot to pick up Madison and Robby."
Cassie threw her head back and sighed. "I'll text Kim," she said. She shot off a text to her fellow school mom, then took another sip from the bottle. "How did he know to forge our signatures?" Ben asked. "He's nine."
Cassie didn't say anything, just stared at him. "Ethan," he breathed out, "right. It's moments like these when I'm glad to say this and it be a fact...he's your son." Cassie scoffed, "Oh, really? You're going to pull that card? After what he went through with Joel, you can just say that?"
That got Ben to go quiet. "Either way," he eventually said, "you need to call him and ask why in the hell he taught that to Brook. Christ, are we bad parents? I mean, Ethan and Cill turned out beautifully. So far, Maddie is fine as long as she doesn't develop abandonment issues after today. Is it something that skips a generation?"
Cassie sighed as she told him, "I don't know. Part of me really wants to ship him off somewhere." Ben snickered as he said, "Military school." Cassie thought for a moment, then said, "Actually..."
Ben's eyes widened. "Wait, really?" He asked. She waved him off as she said, "Not military school. What about Boarding School?" Ben perked up a bit at that. "Oh," he breathed out, "that could be...wow, that could be good. I went to one and let me tell you, they would not tolerate his shit. Do you have anywhere in mind?"
She shook her head as she told him, "Nope, but I want somewhere that's going to whip his attitude into shape."