Ashton: "So what (Y/N)? He got punched in the face, what’s wrong with telling him to punch back?" Your husband retorts, chugging down his drink. You scoff, "Ashton…you’re telling our child to be a bully back to a bully. Do you know what that makes him?" Ashton nods, "A fighter. One who doesn’t let bullies get away with that kind of shit. It makes me sick. I’m not letting my son be a victim to bullying."
You can see the hurt in Ashton’s eyes. You know it’s a sensitive topic because when he was younger he was the “runt” of the school. Other boys would corner him during recess but you were always there to step between them and stand up for him. You two became best friends, and it eventually led to dating, which become where you stand today.
"Ashton, sweetheart, you know this isn’t right. Lucas is our baby, and whether you like it or not he’s growing up in a cruel world. You have to do the right thing, and sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t feel so good at first." Your husband rests his head against your shoulder in exhaustion, and you feel his tears melt into your skin.
Memories are flashing before your eyes of Ashton being backed up against the playground fence by a bunch of boys; the lump in his throat growing bigger by the second in nervousness. Sometimes it would get as bad as people throwing garbage at him during lunch. But regardless of the torment, you’d be sitting by his side, defending every nasty remark thrown his way.
"I’ll talk to the teacher tomorrow, (Y/N). I’m sorry I told him the wrong thing-." You cut him off, placing a peck on his lips, "I understand honey. I’ll be down here waiting for you two boys. Dinner will be ready in five minutes."
Out of curiosity, you follow Ashton to Lucas’ room. You peek through the slit in the door, and see Ashton on one knee in front of your bruised son. “That’s why you can’t hit him back little man. I’m sorry I gave you the wrong idea earlier. D-Daddy was hit when he was your age, but he had your mommy to protect him when she could. But things will get better, I promise.”
"How do you know?" Lucas asks, pouting.
Your husband smiles, “I ended up with your mother, didn’t I?”
When Lucas doesn’t get the joke, you grin, watching Ash continue, “Be strong now, because things will get better. It might be stormy now, but it can’t rain forever buddy. I love you, you’re my tough guy.”
CALUM: Your heart sinks as you watch your daughter clinging to her father in tears as she walks in the door. Another “incident” as school, you assume. There’s a group of girls that have been picking on your daughter for the past three months but the school hasn’t done anything about it. No matter how many meetings you go to or calls you make, your daughters sobs only get heavier and heavier as the days go on.
"We’ve got to do something about this." Calum spits angrily, and you wonder what these evil kids have done to your daughter next.
"T-They cut my hair mommy." Chloe whimpers, and she turns around to show you.
You gasp, taking her into your arms. Her tears are leaving scars on your heart. Calum is shaking his head, his hands balled in fists.
"Calum, cal-." He yells, interrupting you, making your daughter shake harder in your arms, "DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, (Y/N)! THERE ISN’T A DAY THAT GOES BY WHERE I PICK HER UP AND SHE ISN’T IN TEARS!"
"Baby girl it’s okay." You whisper against Chloe’s ear, as Calum gets down on his knees beside the two of you, "I’m sorry sweetheart, I just hate seeing you like this." Calum takes her into her arms, and asks, "How does going to a new school sound?"
For a moment, Chloe wipes her tears and says, “I like that.”
"But you have to promise us something." Calum says sternly, and you rub his shoulder in comfort, "You have to promise me that when times get rough you’ll remember that no matter what happens in your life things will get better so keep your head up and show everyone that you’re still stronger than they thought you were. Mommy and daddy love you so much honey, don’t let anyone take your beautiful smile away."
LUKE: "She won’t come out of our room, (Y/N). I-I just, I don’t know what to do…she won’t stop crying and-." You cut your husband off, "I’m leaving work now, just try to get her to unlock the door. Just stay calm, I love you." You hang up quickly and tell your boss you have a family emergency before heading home.
Once you get home you can hear your baby crying. She started kindergarten today and from the sounds of it, it didn’t go so good. Luke looks at you and immediate relief rushes to his face, “Oh thank god you’re home babe.” He kisses your lips quickly, before you knock on the door, “Amelia…sweetheart it’s mommy. Please open the door, we just want to talk.” You hear a loud sob, before she opens the door. Her cheeks are beat red and her dirty blonde curls are in more of a tassel than usual.
"Oh Amelia, what’s wrong?" She collapses into your arms, as you notice Luke has tears in his eyes too. It’s breaking his heart to see her like this. She’s never been this upset since the time we tricked her into going to the doctor for a check-up to start pre-school.
"O-Oliver made f-fun of my penguin bag. T-Then he p-put glue on my seat and when I sat in it my l-legs got stuck." She’s heaving between words as she whimpers, "H-He told me to go back to the zoo w-with all the other penguins."
You can see Luke getting angry as he says, “Honey, you can tell Oliver to suck a big fat-.”
You cut him off, “Glue stick because he’s a bully, right Luke?”
Luke sighs, “Yeah…a glue stick. I was thinking more of a-.”
You glare at him and he stops mid-phrase. Amelia wraps her arms around her father, and he could feel his daughters tears burning his skin. You smile, watching Luke tell his little girl, “Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not special or you deserve anything less than what you have. Without you Amelia, mommy and daddy would be lost. We love you so much sweetheart. In the morning we’re going to talk to your teacher about Oliver, okay? He won’t bother you anymore.”
She smiles gratefully, “I love you daddy, you’re my favorite penguin in the whole wide world!”
Luke kisses his daughter on the cheek, whispering against her ear, “Let your smile change the world, don’t let the world change your smile.”
MICHAEL: "I’ll pick her up today beautiful, don’t worry about it." Your husband says over the phone as you get into your car, "Are you sure Michael? I can-." He cuts you off, "Stop being adorable, I’ve got her. I’ll meet you back at home. And oh, (Y/N), I forgot to tell you…" You smile, "What babe?" He sighs admirably, "I’m so glad to be with you, you make me realize how beautiful my world is."
You’re setting up dinner an hour later when the front door opens, only to see a fuming Michael and an upset Isabelle. Your daughter runs into your arms, wrapping them tightly around your waist. “I-I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t take it out-.” You’re not sure what Michael means until you look down at your daughters brunette locks, with a wad of gum stuck in her hair. You gasp, “Oh my gosh, what happened? Who did this to you?”
Michael’s cheeks are red, “A little cun-.” You glare at him, cutting him off and holding your hands against Isabelle’s ears, “Language, Michael!”
He sighs in aggravation, “Tell mommy who did this to you Bells.”
You’ve never seen your daughter so upset. Her cheeks are red and irritated from crying so much. “I-It was this girl Ashley. S-She said my hair looked ugly and it needed color so she shoved gum in my hair during recess at the end of the day. It w-won’t come out mommy and it hurts.” You look at Michael and ask, “Did you talk to the teacher about this?”
He scoffs, “Of course I did, (Y/N). She said that she’s going to deal with the girl tomorrow but I don’t know…I don’t trust her. Maybe if I talked to her-.”
Isabelle shakes her head, “Mommy don’t let dad talk to her, he’ll only make it worse. I just want her to like me. I feel like she hates me and I never did anything wrong to her.”
You place your seven year-old daughter on the kitchen counter, and begin to pluck at her hair lightly. Tears are still in her eyes as Michael says, “That’s the thing about people these days honey. You may not do anything to hurt them, but they’ll hurt you. That’s why whenever someone hurts you for no reason, you have to give them the big middle fing-.”
"What your father means is when people hurt you for no reason you have to ignore them. Violence isn’t the answer sweetheart." You say and by the time all the gum is removed from your daughters hair her crying has let up a little.
You smile, watching Michael pull your daughter aside before she changes for dinner. He gets down on one knee and smiles, “You know Isabelle, if you could see yourself, just for one day, you’d see how everyone else sees you. And my god, you’re beautiful my angel. I love you so much.”