~ Michael's point of view ~
I just came home . . . and just as I suspected, Jaden is talking to Ariana. . . crying . . . I bet he spent the last 10 minutes telling her how bad I am and how wrong I am for not wanting him to be with that woman . . . but we are not gonna take sides here . . Jaden knows it's wrong to be with a woman twice his age!! . . . there's nothing he can say or do that will change my mind. And the stuff Julianna said to me didn't quite change my mind either . . . in fact, I'm a thousand percent sure now that I will never allow this . . . ever.
I take off my jacket and without saying hi to Ariana, I grab Jaden by his arm and pull him out to the hallway. He looks at me with his wet eyes and cheeks but that's not gonna soften me . . no . . I'm mad and Jaden's gonna hear it from me.
"What on earth got into you?! . . how could drive away and leave me there? are you crazy?"
". . . well, sorry . . but you were already angry so I thought I might aswell-"
"Wow . . . and your respect for me flew right out the window, huh?!!"
"No . . . I do have respect for you . . but-"
"No!! . . . . right now I'M talking, OK?!"
"Whatever . . ."
"WHATEVER?"
I grab Jaden by his hair . . . "It's MY turn to talk now, alright?!!!"
"Fine . . . . ."
"Jaden . . . I am so over and done . . and I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm angry . . I really am so over and done with all this crap . . most of all with your behavior!!! . . you have no respect for me, Jaden . . . NONE!! . . . when I walked out of Julianna's house and saw that my car was gone, I couldn't believe it . . . you have NO RESPECT for me, Jaden . . . . and crying to mommy is not gonna change anything. I told you how I feel about the whole thing . . . you and Julianna are not gonna happpen . . END OF THE STORY!"
"Dad . . . you're being so unfair . . . you want me to respect you??! . . HOW ABOUT YOU RESPECTING ME?!! . . how about that?!!!!"
"Jaden . . before you take that word in your mouth, I want you to find out what it really means . . because obviously you have no idea!!!. . . I wanna talk to your mom for a minute . . I want you to wait upstairs, I'll be with you in a minute . . ."
"Talk about what?! . . Julianna?? . . I don't wanna hear about it!!"
"All you need to do now, Jaden is close your mouth and go upstairs!"
"Ughhh . . . . "
Jaden walks upstairs giving me the angriest look . . . Ariana is standing in the hallway looking at me, shaking her head. We sit down on the couch and start talking. On my way home I did a lot of thinking. . . and now I wanna talk to Ariana about what we should do with Jaden . . . . . 20 minutes later I walk upstairs to his room. He's on the bed watching TV. . . I walk inside and close the door behind me. Ariana and I talked about things and we're both sure that we found a good, temporary solution for this problem.
"Alright, son . . . . let's talk . . ."
"I don't wanna talk . . ."
"You have to!"
"I don't wanna hear it,dad! . . I heard enough! just leave me alone!!!"
"No . . .there's a lot more you need to listen to . . . please sit up!"
"I can hear you fine!!"
"I said SIT UP, PLEASE!"
"Alright . . . what is it?!!!!"
"I'm not gonna mention your mom now because the idea came from me . . . she tried to talk me out of it, I'm gonna be honest . . . but I think it's a good thing . . . it will help you and me . . . that I hope . . ."
"What. . . .?"
"I want you to stay at grandpa and gramda's house for a few weeks . . . "
"WHAT?! . . ."
"Yes . . . I love you son but I feel like I can't handle you . . . it hurts me to say that but it's true . . I feel like I failed . . . Jaylah's pregnant . . . you're in love with your teacher . . . I blame myself . . I must be doing something wrong here . . . . . and before things get even worse between us . . I want you to leave and spend some time with gramps and grandma . . ."
"I don't wanna stay there, dad!!! this is my room, I wanna stay here!!"
"No . . . I really want you to stay there . . I already called grandpa . . he's on his way to pick you up . . . please pack your stuff . . clothes . . . and other things . . . whatever you need over there . . . I'll call you downstairs when he's here . . . . . ."
"Dad . . . . why are you doing this??"
"Because I love you, son . . . ."
"No . . . this has nothing to do with love, YOU HATE ME, DAD!!! admit it!"
"I don't hate you . . I never did and I never will . . . but I can't deal with you right now . . . 4 or 5 weeks at grandma and grandpa's house will do you good . . and it will do me good . . . ok? . . . please start packing . . . I'm downstairs"
"Dad . . . . I'm sorry . . . ."
Jaden runs into my arms . . . I put my hand on his shoulder and give him a hug back.
"Me too . . . . the doorbell just rang, Jade . . . grandpa is here . . ."
"Dad!!!!!! . . . ."
"Jaden, please . . . . do as I say . . . pack your stuff and get ready"
Jaden lets go of me . . . . . does this hurt me? . . yes . . is my heart breaking? . . yes it is . . . but we need this . . . I need Jaden to get away for a while . . . grandpa is a strict dude and he will set him straight . . . I'm not saying I can't do that but whenever I grab him or give him a little slap, I feel so bad . . . . . I hate having to put my hands on him but sometimes I can't hold myself back . . . . that is why I want him to stay with his grandparents . . . he needs to learn how to interact . . . gain respect again . . . treat his family with respect . . . . . and most of all, I want him to learn how to respect himself . . . .
I walk downstairs . .
"Hey dad!"
"Hi son . . . where's little junior?"
"Oh, he's still upstairs . . . thanks for picking him up, dad . . ."
"Oh, don't ya worry . . . Jaden will be in good hands"
"I'm really struggling with him lately . . . thanks for doing this"
"It's ok . . . you need some time off, Michael . . . don't feel bad about it . . every parent needs some time off . . . and your mother and I would LOVE to have Jaden with us . . . there is no reason for you to feel bad, Mike . . you're not doing anything wrong and NO . . you didn't fail as a parent like you said on the phone. . . you're a great father . . . I'm very proud of you, son"
"I wish I could feel the same way . . . . ."
We sit down and have coffee . . Jaden is still upstairs . . and why do I have the feeling that he's not packing his stuff? . . I walk to the staircase but then I look at my dad . . . maybe he should go up there and talk to Jaden . .
~ Jaden's point of view ~
I can't believe dad is sending me away . . . I know I have been giving him a lot of trouble lately, but really? . . he's sending me to grandma and grandpa's house just like that?!! . . I love them but I hate staying there . . . grandpa is so strict and grandma is so . . . how should I say? . . she always hugs and kisses me like I'm a baby . . . . red lipstick all over my face . . . ugh . . . and all that for a month? . . oh hell no . . I don't want this . . . . I don't want to go to Philadelphia . . . I don't have any friends there :( . . . I can't believe dad is doing this to me.
The door opens . . .
"I'm not done packing, dad!" I yell. . . . Oh . . . it's grandpa . . . .
"Hi Jaden . . . how are ya?"
"Good . . . . ."
"Can I come in?"
"Yea . . sure . . . . ."
"Wow . . . you got a really nice room here, junior . . . I like the blue walls and the video game posters . . . you like playing video games, don't ya?"
"Yea . . . . . ."
"Jaden, listen . . . . we're doing this for your dad, alright? . . his head is filled with so much stuff right now . . . your sister is pregnant . . your mom is pregnant . . . he doesn't have the energy right now to deal with this . . . . do you understand?"
"He hates me, I get it . . . ."
"Your dad doesn't hate you . . . he loves you very much"
"THEN WHY IS HE SENDING ME AWAY TO YOU AND GRANDMA?!!!"
"He is not sending you away! . . grandma and I love to have you . . ok?! . . now please would you pack your stuff? . . . don't make it harder for your dad than it already is . . . we're gonna have a good time . . don't you worry, junior . . . I'll wait for you downstairs . ."
15 minutes later I'm done packing. I pick up my sports bag with a bunch of clothes inside, my laptop and other stuff and walk downstaris . . . mom, dad and grandpa are sitting in the livingroom having coffee . . . . I hate this . . . I hate this so much. Mom hugs and kisses me goodbye . . . and yes she's crying. Dad gives me a hug too but he's not crying . . . . of course he's not . . why would he miss me? this was HIS idea . . . Grandpa takes my sportsbag and puts it in the back of the car. I open the car door and sit down on the passenger seat. I refuse to look out of the car window . . I know they're standing at the doorstep looking at me . . . I'm not gonna look at them . . . . grandpa gets in the car and we drive away . . . . .
40 minutes later we arrive in Philly . . . why did they have to move to Philadelphia?! I hate it here . . I don't have any friends here . . . where the hell am I gonna hang out at night?! . . ugh . . and there is no chance for me to see Julianna . . . we're so far away from each other now, there is no way I can walk to her place . . . .ughh . . I hate this so fucking much!!!! . . . Grandpa parks the car . . . grandma is already waiting by the doorstep. I get out of the car and walk up to her. She hugs and kisses me.
"Hiii babyboy . . . I'm so happy to have you here, sugarbutt!"
"Hi grandma . . ."
"Come inside . . . I already made your bed . . . your room is ready!"
"Thanks . . . . ."
Those are gonna be LONG ass weeks, I already know . . .
~ Ariana's point of view ~
Gosh . . I miss Jaden already. But Michael is right . . we're doing the right thing. Jaden needs some time off and so does Michael . . . I can't almost believe what happened between Jaden and his teacher . . she admitted it!!! . . she did!!! . . I can't believe this . . . . she had sex with my boy . . . if I ever see that woman, I will hunt her down and I will rip her hair out . . . . .
Michael is all over the place . . . I can see it in his face . . . he's got tears in his eyes and I don't blame him. It was hard for him to send Jaden away like that but it's for the best . . . . my baby . . . he went through a lot the last few weeks . . . I love this man so much. He's so strong and he does everything out of love. No matter how hard it may seem . . . it is done with good intentions and LOVE.
Speaking of love . . . .
"Michael . . . . I love you so much . . . please know that you're a wonderful father . . and you did the right thing by taking some time off with Jaden. . believe me . . he needs this time off too . . . he does . . and you know it"
"Yea . . . but I wish I wouldn't feel so bad about it . . you know? . . I love that boy . . I just wish he was easier to handle . . . . the thing with his teacher is just really messing me up . . ."
"I know, honey . . . . but to be completely honest, Jaden said some really cute things about that woman . . and Us . . ."
"What did he say?"
"A lot of beautiful things . . . Michael, I really think he's in love with that woman"
"Yea . . . and now he has enough time to fall out of love with her . . . . at grandma and grampa's"
I was just gonna mention something Jaden said but I decide not to do that . . Michael is serious about this . . there is no way he changes his mind . . . I feel the same way . . I really do believe that it's wrong for Jaden to be in love with his teacher . . but let's be real here . . . I felt the same way about Michael when I was Jaden's age . . . even though I feel like I should mention all the things that Jaden told me, I feel like it's better not to. I don't wanna risk having another fight with Michael. . . .
~ to be continued ~
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No cliffhanger this time:) I know you guys hate it . . lol . . thank you all so much for reading, voting and commenting! I really hope you guys enjoyed this part :) . . . please answer the question below, I would love that! :) . . . a thousand kisses to all the readers! . . L.O.V.E . . xxx Mel
How do you feel about Michael sending Jaden away to his grandparents?