"A little more"
Album: Royalty (2015)
*****
"Y'all come on! Y'all gonna be late!" I yelled up the stairs.
"I'm coming!" Cj said coming down the stairs.
"Where's your sister?" I asked.
He shrugged. "She said she was just gonna walk to school or catch a ride with somebody else."
"Ill talk to her. You need to head out before you be late."
"Alright. Love you mama." He said kissing my cheek and grabbing an apple from the table. "See you later pops."
He and Chris shared a handshake/hug and Chris proceeded into the house.
"Where's Ro?" He asked looking around.
I kissed his lips before speaking. "She's still sleep. I guess she's gonna take a ride with somebody else but I'm about to go talk to her now." I said heading up the stairs.
I knocked on the door and opened it. "Royalty Jeneé."I called.
"I'm tired ma. I been up studying and finishing my project. I can skip breakfast and home room just once." She whined.
"Girl, if you're dad was I'm here to hear you say that Gm he would slap you back to sleep. Get up and get ready for school. You begged to go to public school and we let you, so now you have to deal with the late nights and early mornings. Up." I said with my arms crossed.
She huffed and snatched the covers from her.
"And unless you wanna lose all the air you blowing out, you might wanna relax." I said before closing the door and going back downstairs.
****
"Goodmorning baby girl." Chris said to Royalty as she came downstairs.
She didn't say anything, she just went in the refrigerator.
I looked at her and waited for her response. But as she closed the refrigerator, she caught a glance at me.
"Hey dad." She rolled her eyes.
"What's the attitude for?" I asked a little irritated. "You act like you the only one who gotta get up early in the morning everyday. You get half days and we gotta work all the day time literally everyday all day. You're the one who insisted on going to public school when we suggested homeschooling. So you be mad at yourself." I fussed.
She didn't say anything she just looked at me with tears forming at the bottom of her eyes.
Chris dropped his head before speaking. "Come on Ro. I'll drop you off."
****
"What's going on?" He asked looking at her and back at the road.
"I don't know what it is, but mama is always down my damn back. It's always about how she wants me to do good and all this other stuff. I wanted to come to public school because i wanted a normal life. I wanted to interact with normal kids not saditty rich celebrity kids. She keeps pressuring me like I don't go through that already." She explained.
"Look, moms don't really mean no harm by the shit she doing. She just want you to make better decisions than we made. We were going as hell when we had you. She was 17 and she didn't get to finish school. We just want you to do better than us that's all." He shrugged. "I'll talk to her and see if I can get her to ease up a little bit. But you don't worry. I got you." He smiled as they pulled up the front of the school.
She grabbed her book bag and opened the door. "See you later." She said dryly.
Chris excitedly drove home to get back to me so that we can spend some quality time together like we always do when he has to spend majority of the night at the studio. But today I got called in to work and I couldn't make good on our normal routine.
"Baby you hear that!" He joked walking up to me.
"Yeah. It sounds like your toothbrush brushing against your teeth." I laughed.
He smacked his lips. "That's cold." He said.
"I'm just kidding baby." I said coming out of our walk in closet.
"Whoa...what the hell? I thought we were gonna chill today?"
"I know baby. But Crystal got sick and they need me to cover for her." I said.
He pouted.
"Don't pout. I'll home before you have to go to the studio."
"It's not about you being home before the studio, I thought i was gone get to tap that ass."
I threw my head back in laughter. "There'll be plenty of time for that later." I said walking up to him and kissing him.
"Can you spare 10 minutes?" He smirked.
"Nope." I said getting out of his grasp as he smacked his lips.
"Her shift started at 9:00 it's already 10. If i wanna get out early I gotta go early."
"Fine." He said making me laugh.
"What was wrong with Royalty?" I asked.
"She feels like you're hovering. And to be honest babe, you kinda are."
"I am no-"
"Just listen. You know how you and your mom were at that age, and you know how you YOU were at that age. She's not gonna go down the same path. You just gotta loosen up and bit. Stop thinking that she's gonna make the same mistakes. I mean, truth be told, she's already accomplished way more than you and I did. Aight? You just gotta loosen up just a little bit baby."
"She's just so much like me, I don't want her to make the same mistakes I made.
" I get it baby. I do. But you gotta allow her to grow."
I took a deep breath. "You're right."
He smiled. "Maybe y'all just need a heart to heart." He kissed my forehead.
"Can I drive the lambo today?"
"Since you not giving none up I guess you can." He joked.
"Shut up."
****
Chris was sleeping peacefully after i had left. It was quiet in the house and he didn't have anybody to bother him or make any noise, just how he liked it.
But of course there's always something in the way of getting sleep around here.
His phone began to ring waking him up.
He grunted and cursed under his breath as he sat up answering the phone.
"Yeah." He said.
"Hello, is this Mr. Brown?"
"Speaking. Who this?" He asked.
"Hello, Mr. Brown. I'm Mr. Taylor calling from Greensdale High School."
"Okay....? How can I help you?"
"Umm, well, we've been making phone calls to parents to the children who have been missing a few days of school. And we see that Royalty's attendance is rather concerning." He said.
"What you mean?" He chuckled. "I just dropped her off this morning."
"She hasn't been marked present for any of her classes so far this morning."
Chris took a deep breath. "Okay. Umm, what am I supposed to do? Wait until she gets home from wherever?" He said sarcastically. "I guess I'll be there in a few minutes." He said.
He hung up the phone and stood up getting ready to go.
****
"Hi, I'm here to meet Mr. Taylor." He said to the secretary.
"I'll call him down for you." She spoke.
Chris patiently waited for the principal to come in the office as his phone rang notifying him that I was calling him.
"Whassup baby?" He answered.
"Apparently, Ro has been skipping school!" I fussed.
He rubbed his forehead. "I'm at the school now baby. Calm down I'll handle it."
"Alright. I'll call you on my break." I said before hanging up.
"Mr. Brown?" Mr. Taylor spoke.
Chris stood up and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you." He said. "Let's go to my office." He said.
"So what's going on?" Chris asked.
"Well. Royalty used to have great attendance. But recently, within the last month or so, she's been falling behind in all of her classes and we're concerned about her." Mr. Taylor explained.
"I don't know what's going on. She got dropped off this morning and she takes the bus everyday. Me or my wife, we both see her get on the bus with her brother. So I don't know how this is possible. If Cj is coming to school she should be with him. You're not saying anything about Cj so he just not be having trouble."
"Actually, he's not. Which is why we're calling you. Are you guys having problems at home with Royalty?"
"With all due respect, if we were having problems anywhere, y'all would know about it. Hell, I'm a celebrity." Chris said.
Mr. Taylor chuckled. "Yeah you got a point there. Well, here's the thing. We caught her hanging out in a classroom that hadn't been used in years. We put her in ISS. She doesn't know you're here. If you could talk to her and try to figure out what's going on. We could start there."
Chris nodded. "Absolutely."
Mr. Taylor called for security to bring Royalty to his office and while they waited, Chris babbled in and on about how I stay in Royalty making sure she doesn't make decisions we made.
Soon the door was opening and Royalty was shitting bricks.
Chris stood up looking at her.
"Royalty." He said. "What the hell...."
Royalty looked down not saying anything.
"Ms. Brown gave a seat please." Mr. Taylor said. "Do you know why you were put in ISS today?"
"I'm not 11. I know why i was put in ISS."
"Okay so explain it to me then." Chris spoke.
"I was skipping class." She shrugged.
"You really gonna blow this off like it don't mean nothing? Are you serious? After you just sat in the car telling me about how you want yo mama to step back a little and you out here skipping class? You lucky she at work right now or it would've been worse than a ISS." Chris fussed.
"She's also, been having a few altercations with a few other girls as well." Mr. Taylor said.
"Is she starting them?" Chris asked looking at him.
"Well, so far that's what I've been hearing."
"Royalty." He said looking at her.
Then the tears started.
"I got into a fight with Avery and her crew."
"You fighting now Ro?" Chris asked.
"She told Cj he would be a woman beater like you. And then told me that i was the daughter of a crackhead. What the hell was I supposed to do?"
The room got silent and Chris just dropped his head.
"I'll give you two a second." Mr. Taylor said walking out.
"Baby....I didn't know you were going through that. Why didn't you say anything?" Chris said touching her leg
"So that she can make fun of me and call me a snitch and a daddy's girl?" She cried.
"You know yo mama don't play games about you or Cj either."
"You two have no idea what I go through here. Cj gets all the glitz and glam and I'm left with the crumbs! Cj don't give a fuck about me at this school!" She said. "I can't get away from hell anywhere."
Chris clenched his jaw to keep from crying. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because ma was already on my back about me begging to be in public school and now she's about to hang this over my head!"
"Look, if you wanna be here? We gone keep you here we gone figure something out, but if you wanna do home schooling then we gonna do that. Don't worry about your moms. Imma handle her. Your mental health is what's important. What do you wanna do?" He asked.
Royalty wiped her eyes and continued to look at her hands. "Imma thug it out. You didn't raise no punk. And if I don't stand my ground now, I'll never live it down."
"You sure this is what you wanna do?" He asked.
"I'm sure. But....a few days off wouldn't hurt."
Chris chuckled and shook his head. "Only way that's gone happen is if you get suspended. Cause you know yo mama ain't having that." He said.
She laughed a little and sniffed. "I guess."
Chris kissed her forehead. "You gone be already, baby girl."
*****
"Go ahead and go upstairs. I'll talk to your mama." He said closing the door as Royalty headed upstairs.
"Hey Baby." He said kissing my cheek.
"What happened?" I asked.
He sighed. "Baby, we need to talk. Like seriously talk." He said.
"I'm listening."
He rubbed his temples and I could tell he was obviously frustrated.
"You really need to have a heart to heart with Ro. She's been getting bullied at school. And that's why she's been distant for one, and missing school. She got into a fight with a girl at school." He explained.
"Bullied?" I said snapping my head towards him.
"They were among fun of her saying that she was the daughter of a crackhead." He choked up a little bit. "A crackhead!" He semi yelled.
"Baby-"
"Saying that Cj was gone be a woman beater like his daddy? Hell nah, It ain't even about me, I'm concerned about my kids. my daughter is hurting and going through, she feel like she don't have nobody. And I been trying to get you to see that shit and you worried about her being like you. She needs her mother!" He said walking back and forth. "You need to talk to her. I'm so happy she hasn't contemplated suicide or even acted on it if she has!"
Tears fell from my eyes as I listened to him.
He was right. Right for sure. I couldn't even argue.
I knew I needed to talk to Royalty but it was gonna take more than one conversation for us to mend our relationship.
A few hours later, I was ready to talk to Royalty. I softly knocked on her door and opened it seeing her laying on her bed.
"Hey, Ro. Can I come in?" I asked.
She looked at me and nodded.
"Look, daddy told me about what was going on. Are you okay?" I asked.
"I guess." She said shrugging.
"No, are you really okay? Look, I don't want you to think that I'm rubbing your life. I just wanna make sure you don't make the same K-Si takes I made at your age. I want you to do better than me. See stuff I didn't get to see at your age. I couldn't go to prom or my graduation. I missed out on a lot and you wanting to go to public school really made me happy because I thought I got to see you do those things. But baby, I never thought about your feelings. How it would affect you and your mentality. How you would have to deal with the feedback from it. I'm sorry." I said.
"I didn't think about that either. I wanted a normal life and I thought going to public school would do that?" She chuckled. "I'm so stupid." She said.
"Don't beat yourself up Ro. Being a celebrity kid is hard regardless of if they go to public school or not. You still have eyes on you everywhere you go. They hold you to a higher standard. And if I must say so myself, hell, you're kicking its ass! You're handling it better than I thought you were. You're a strong girl. You get that from your dad and your mom." I smiled. "If you want to do homeschool or stay-"
"I'm staying in school ma. I can't run away from Avery and let her win. Hell, this is not one of those corny high school movies where I gotta let the bullies bully me. I ain't no punk." She said making me laugh.
"You definitely get that from your dad." I shook my head. "I love you. And don't ever think otherwise." I smiled.
"I love you too." She said hugging me.
****
"Whassup dad." Cj said walking through the door.
"Aye!" Chris called out. "Come here."
Cj walked in the kitchen and sat his book bag down. "What's up dad?"
"You been acting funny with your sister at school?"
"Huh?"
"I went up to the school today to handle something with Roy and she told me that you been acting all high and might and treating her like shit."
He looked to the side before answering. "Look dad it's not like that. I mean, I'm popular cause I play football but I don't even see Roy at school. We have classes on two different sides of the building. I don't know what she does."
"You gone lie in my face? She's telling me what goes on. You sat there and you let her fight that girl?"
"She said I was gone be a woman beater. I couldn't fight her for one that would prove her right and two I can't fight no girl." He said.
"You did the right thing by not hitting her, but you shouldn't have let your sister fight her either. You need to be sticking up for your sister from now on. Don't ever let nobody disrespect her. You can stand up for her without fighting. If somebody came up in here tryna fight her you would probably kill em." Chris said. "You owe her an apology. And from now on, you two need to stick together at school." He said,
"Alright." Cj said grabbing his book bag from the counter.
****
"Whassup scrub." Cj said walking in Roy's room and watching her scroll through her YouTube feed.
"Now you know me?" She said.
"Look, dad already got on my ass, ion need you doing the same thing. I just came to apologize."
"For what?"
"For the way I act at school towards you. I know better. I don't know what I think of. I'm sorry, sis." He said.
"I guess it's cool. I mean shit, just cause we twins don't mean we gotta have the same mindset or some shit. Plus I kind of like not letting people know you're my brother. That way if shit gotta pop off you got me." She said smiling.
"Hell yeah!" He said laughing and sitting on her bed. "Yo, sis. I ain't know you had hands like that."
"I mean shit, you see who pops is?" She joked. "Wait....too soon." She said.
They both burst out laughing.
"Too soon, yo." Cj said laughing.
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