Chapter 2 A Failed Plan

"Ma'am I really, really apologize for his behaviour. I know he gets violent when he's mad, but you see I'm kind of helpless about it. Still, I'll make sure that he will never do that again." I mumbled for the third time, trying my best to sound really apologetic.

"Mommy! Don't lie to her! I will do it again if I have to!" I heard Nate whine.

~This was not the time to argue, Nathaniel!~

I wasn't feeling apologetic at all. It had become old news for me, and I always expected a phone call from my son's school, with a new complaint for a new day.

"Miss Hayes, I understand. I know being a single mother and handling such a short tempered, ill mannered son is not a child's play, but—" She continued rambling on but only one thing was going on in my mind.

~Oh no.~

She shouldn't have said that. She should've had known that the short temper was something that little guy got from me. Now that she hadn't been smart enough to keep her useless thoughts to herself, I was bubbling up with rage and what you could call a maternal defensive instinct, the same instinct that made mothers forget all the shit they had to go through for their baby.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, but what exactly do you mean by an ill-mannered child?" I hissed into the phone, too tired to raise my voice. "I am very well aware that he has a short temper, but that does not mean that my son is ill-mannered. Wasn't it the other kid who started the pissing fight? Why are you blaming Nathan?" I was probably scaring her off as I spoke harshly into the phone, the protective mother inside me wanting to rip her tongue off for calling my son ill mannered.

"Yay! Mommy!" I heard another voice pipe in, overjoyed that his mother was defending him.

This boy needed some grounding.

"I apologise, Miss Hayes, but-"

"But what, Ma'am? I understand you are a teacher and you have to ensure the safety of your students, but it doesn't mean that you would blame my son just because he knows how to throw a mean punch." I defended.

I knew my son; he never behaved badly unless it was someone harming him or someone he loved dearly.

Just like ~him.~

My son had violent tendencies - he was not a bully though - but he always believed that he did it only to protect me. He just couldn't hear a word against me.

Still, hitting someone was wrong.

It was very obvious that a single woman with a child still raised whispers among people, while they kept guessing the back story. Was she dumped? Did she dump her baby daddy? Did someone cheat? Was it a sperm donor? Even though my neighbours were extremely supportive people, there were still many who just loved gossiping and digging through dirt. Unfortunately, their children picked their words and their habits. It was all fine when Nathan didn't understand anything, but now he had grown up and he was becoming a victim of the gossip as well.

I had six years of experience when it came to hearing and dodging the whispers of the people around me. Nathan, however, was a six year old boy, too naive and immature to ignore them. And this was why I had become used to receiving phone calls from his principal and his class teachers, informing me about his involvement in small brawls. They always threatened to expel him if he didn't mend his ways, but I knew they wouldn't.

Nathan was an all-rounder. He was good at almost everything a kid should be good at.

And also, they always knew that Nathan wasn't the one to start fights.

"But he is just six years old!" The teacher nearly yelled, and, without doubt was, on the verge of pulling her hair out due to our mother-son duo.

We weren't exactly the easiest people on earth, you know.

"Ma'am, I think we should drop the discussion, for now." I sighed. "I'll come and pick him up, and then we might discuss who is at fault here." I finally said, ready to drop the topic and ready to drop anywhere on the ground, because I was that tired. I hung up and sighed ready to give up and just sleep on my desk.

I felt extremely tired. I had been to a wedding yesterday, and it had brought up all the dreams of mine that I had buried long ago. The couple had looked so much in love, and I was so full of envy. I once had everything that they had: a loving man, a beautiful, passionate love life and everything that made me happy. I had many dreams – getting married to him was one of the most important ones on the list.

But then everything had collapsed, and just the same way, I kept thinking about my lost love the entire day and night. I had always thought that distance and time would heal everything. Not having to see his face and being apart for more than six years was supposed to help me move on.

But hell would freeze over before I moved on, it seemed.

All those thoughts were making me doze off, but thankfully my phone rang. I wiped the drool that had pooled in the corner of my mouth and thanked, internally, whoever the person was, for waking me up so that I could go to Nathan's school and pick him up in time.

I glanced at the screen and a smile took over my face. It was Reece - I would like to call him a friend. He had been brought to me troubled, drunk and totally out of his mind. But some good food and my welcoming smile had gotten him talking very soon and he had turned over a new leaf within two weeks.

I hoped he was calling with good news.

"Hey doc," his warm voice came through the phone and it immediately put a smile to my face, "Long time no see?"

I chuckled, "Heya Reece. We met last month, so it hasn't been long enough." I teased, "I had gotten tired of your stupid face at the end of those two weeks. I'm glad we have all those miles to travel before we can meet."

"Well, we have crossed all those miles to come see you." He said, and I immediately felt squealed with excitement.

Oh damn, he probably brought Amelia along with him and now I would have to make them wait because I had to pick Nathan up.

"We!? Did you bring Amelia with you!? Oh my God! I still can't believe you're here!" I felt giddy alright. In some way, I did help two people reunite and watching them together would always make me happy. It was such a bummer that I had to make them wait now. "You know, Reece –"

"No, it's not Amelia with me." He cut me off before I could tell him that I had something to do. "I have a friend I want you to meet."

Oh, a friend. Well, no matter who he had brought along with him, he really needed to wait.

"Alright." I started slowly, starting to pack my things so that I could run downstairs, quickly meet Reece and his friend, and then go on my merry way.

"Tell her my name, Reece. She might recognize me." .