“I still feel sick.” She looks down at her hands, fiddling with a button on her shirt.
“Eve, c’mon cookie.” He lets out a deep breath, like he’s not getting anywhere. “I know you’re not sick. You can’t have another day off.”
It’s the most I’ve ever heard Dave talk.
“I don’t want to go.” Her sad voice breaks my heart.
He wipes his face with his hands, then lets out a sigh. His approach isn’t getting him anywhere. The room falls quiet again and I can’t help being the busy body that I am and stay out of it.
“Big Test?” I ask her.
She shakes her head.
I nod mine.
It’s quiet a little longer, then she looks up at me under her thick black eyelashes. “A girl keeps telling me my hair is gross and she won’t let anyone play with me.”
My mouth drops open, shocked. “She what?”
Eve nods her head, and the tears begin to well again.
Furious, I look up at Dave with a scowl. “Did you know about this?”
He isn’t happy about what she said, but he nods. “Yeah.”
I keep staring, not satisfied with that answer. He looks around the room to all the boys like he missed something and then back to me.
“And you haven’t taken care of it yet?” Come on, look at him, he looks like the hulk in real life.
“The girls ten,” he says it like it explains everything. It doesn’t, so I keep staring. “What do you want me to do to a ten-year-old?”
I huff and turn my head to Eve. “I am not sure if swearing is allowed around you. So, I will try to keep this as clean as possible.”
Tommy barks out a laugh and I ignore it, because being bullied is serious business. It can screw with your insecurities for life.
“Girls…” I shake my head, needing to give it to her straight. “They can be bitches.”
She giggles, and side eyes her dad. Dave blows out a deep breath, but doesn’t stop me from talking.
“You know, when I was at school, no one wanted to play with me either.”
Her eyes grow big, and her mouth drops open. “But you’re so pretty.”
“And so are you. But sometimes that’s what makes girls bitches.”
Dave sighs again at my choice of words.
“What did you do?” She perks up, sitting forward, like I’m about to tell her the secrets of the universe.
I bite down on my lip, thinking back to me at that age. It might be best to skip my past endeavors, I don’t want to get this little sweetheart suspended. My eyes flick to Ren and somehow, he must read it on my face that I did something stupid. He looks down at his coffee, smirking.
Letting out a long breath, and going another route I turn to her and ask, “Is your dad picking you up today?”
She nods.
“Maybe if it’s ok, I can come with him?”
Her eyes brighten instantly and the smile she gives her dad is one that could melt a thousand hearts.