Ms. Heppler sat at her desk, grading papers. Muttering to herself as she made corrections, she used her red pen with great zeal. A brief tap at the door made her look up.

“Yes, what is it?” she called out impatiently.

“Lisa Brown’s mother is here,” a young secretary explained nervously.

“Send her in,” Ms. Heppler replied. “She’s fifteen minutes late as it is.”

“Y-yes,” stammered the secretary, “but--”

“--I said to send her in. It’s bad enough she’s wasting my time. She’s usually quite punctual.”

“That’s what I was going to tell you. She--”

“--Damn it, Penny, send her in now!”

“Fine,” Penny grumbled, shooting Ms. Heppler a dirty look; Ms. Heppler did not notice, as she had gone back to grading the test papers. “I won’t tell you, then. Let you deal with that on your own.” She stepped aside to let Tacita in and shut the door. Then, she peeked through the small glass window, eager to see what would happen.

“Ms. Foley-Cloud, I--” Ms. Heppler began, initially not looking up from the papers. She looked up briefly, then gave a start. “You’re not Ms. Foley-Cloud!”


“I’m Tacita Brown, Lisa’s biological mother,” Tacita introduced herself, folding her arms. “Sorry I’m late; there was a traffic jam. What did you want to talk about?”

“Why isn’t Ms. Foley-Cloud here? Normally, if there is an issue--”

“--I’ve been raising my daughter for the past week,” Tacita interrupted. “She has been living with me. As my daughter’s biological parent, I should be the one spoken to about anything involving my child.”

“W-well, then,” Ms. Heppler responded, not knowing what else to say. She was rather caught off-guard by Tacita. “Ms. Brown, Lisa… your daughter…”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“Well, she’s really been acting up for…” Ms. Heppler briefly consulted her notes. “…For a week, now. Not turning in homework, refusing to participate in class activities, talking to and playing with classmates when she should be doing classwork. Also, she has been falling asleep in class.”

“Well, she has been staying up late, watching those silly movies kids like,” Tacita replied. “And she always tells me she doesn’t have any homework, or that she did it all while she was at school.”

Ms. Heppler frowned, making quiet disapproving sounds. “It’s just that she doesn’t typically act this way. I mean, I’ve had to speak with Ms. Foley-Cloud a few times throughout the year, but that was for small incidents.” She checked her notes again. “One instance of forgetting her journal at home. Two instances of talking with classmates instead of playing, both at the beginning of the semester. Up until last week, the biggest repeated problem I had with Lisa was that she forgot to get her pencil sharpened when I provided time for it, and that was solved by her getting a small hand sharpener.”

Tacita looked around, looking bored. She was ignoring most of what Ms. Heppler said. Ms. Heppler cleared her throat, and Tacita jumped a little.

“The point is,” Ms. Heppler said sternly, “I think that the recent… shall we say, changes in parenting… they’ve affected Lisa’s behavior. I think some changes at home… stricter rules and guidelines… they may improve the current situation.” She pulled open a drawer and rummaged through it. “I have some pamphlets and printouts that might--”

“--You have got to be kidding!” Tacita exclaimed. “A kid goes from one living situation to another, and you don’t expect that there’s going to be some changes in the kid while she adjusts? Tell me something, do you have kids?”

“I don’t see how that is any concern of yours.”

“I bet you don’t. Look, don’t try to tell me how to raise my kid. She’s just adjusting to a new situation. I bet in a few weeks or so, she’ll be back to normal.”

“Your daughter said that she was up until four in the morning yesterday watching Pulp Fiction. That’s more than just going from one living situation to another.” Then, with a sigh, Ms. Heppler added, “I’m trying to advocate on behalf of Lisa. She needs sleep and discipline. She’s a very bright child; I don’t want to see that wasted. I want what is best for every one of my students. Don’t you want what’s best for your daughter?”


Ophelia wearily stepped into her house. “I’m home,” she called out, setting her bag down.

Cy stepped into the foyer from the living room, smiling nervously. “Sweetie,” she said. “I’ve been worried about you. So, I… please don’t get angry…”

“Why would I get angry?” Ophelia asked. “What happened?”

“I invited some of your friends over to… you know, give you support and encouragement. You’re going through a tough time, and I can’t be the only one to help you.” Cy took Ophelia’s hand and led her into the living room, where many of her friends sat.


Emily stood and hugged her. “Lia, as soon as I heard what happened, I took some time off to come visit with you. Do you need anything?”

“You were there for a lot of us when we were going through rough times,” Jade said. “So, I guess it’s time for us to do the same.”

Tiffani smiled and said, “We might have had our differences, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Look how many of your friends care about you.”

“We’re going to help you through this,” Gideon said. “All of us.”

“Is there anything we can do for you?” Charise asked.

Ophelia looked around at her friends, tears in her eyes. “…Anything I need? I… I have everything I need right here. I’ve got the best friends anyone could ever ask for, and the most caring partner ever.”

“Uh… actually, there’s one person I invited…” Cy stammered. “You might be a little angry… she’s not here yet. I mean… I know you two have had some fights, but… well…”


Just then, the doorbell rang. Ophelia hurried to answer the door; she opened it, and Mae stood there, holding several bags.

“Figured you might not be up to cooking, so I whipped together a bunch of stuff for you,” Mae said, smiling awkwardly. “Spaghetti, mashed potatoes, things like that. Stuff I remembered that you liked. I just wanted to drop this stuff off. I’ll go, if you want.”

Mae handed Ophelia and Cy the food container-filled bags, then turned to leave.

“No, wait,” Ophelia said. “Come hang out with us for a while.”