Ruthless People
Chapter VIII
Kate could do nothing but hold Lucy and stroke her hair as she fought back her own tears through listening to Lucy’s turmoil, hearing how her daughters so called friends were ignoring her, spreading rumors; about the website that had been set up in order to spread vicious lies and leave comments about Lucy, and then sending links for her to see. The text messages. Learning how her soccer team were deliberately tackling her whenever they had a chance. And then there was the name calling and phone pranks. Kate had never been so disgusted as she was then.
“They’ve been calling me, all the time. They never talk, they just listen and then they laugh.”
“Is that what happened tonight?”
“No.”
“Lucy…”
“Amanda called, said she was watching me; that she’d been watching me all night, knew you were out, and that I was alone in the house. Told me that she’d get me, so I better watch my back; that it didn’t matter if I was alone or not.”
Having heard enough, Kate reached over to the coffee table for her bag and pulled out her cell phone. The first person she thought to call was Gillian, but didn’t want to burden her with this minor problem that was happening. It dawned on Kate then that Gillian must have known some of what was happening, judging by her questions at dinner about Lucy.
“Does Aunt Gilly know any of this?”
“Some. I think Natalie told her after the soccer thing. I‘m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who should be sorry, for not being around as much as I should.”
Sitting up, Lucy wrapped her arms around her knees and watched as Kate stood up, only to begin pacing round the living room in an attempt to dispel some of her nervous energy. Kate knew she was way out of her depth, and had no idea how to handle the situation. Passing the cell phone between her hands, she considered calling Dave and getting his opinion, but that would only lead to an argument which would then lead to Kate hanging up and not getting anywhere.
There was only one thing for it, but knowing their luck of late, it would only lead to more problems for Lucy, and that‘s the last thing Kate wanted. Deciding it best to sleep on it and work it all out in her mind, Kate pulled Lucy up from the sofa and after locking up the house for the night, climbed into bed next to her daughter where at least she could pretend she was able to protect her.
“I’m gonna fix this, Lucy. I promise.”
***
Kate couldn’t ignore the way her father was watching her as she stroked Kevin’s hair from his forehead as he slept. This was just another problem to add to the already catastrophic morning she’d had. Having slept in due to being up most of the night with Lucy, who was having horrific nightmares, Kate was running late for work and while doing the school run had to pull over and ease Lucy out of a panic attack. Once she got to her parents house and found Kevin fast asleep on the sofa, she was ready to give up.
“I think he and Chelsea were up past their bedtime last night watching ‘The Jungle Book‘.”
“That’s fine. Hollis called and it turns out a pipe burst last night, so I need you and mom to have the kids today.”
“Not a problem, sweetpea.”
“Thank you. I have to run, I’m already late.”
Standing simultaneously, Peter linked his arm with Kate’s and led her into the hall, so he could talk to her somewhat privately without little ears listening. He’d seen when she arrived with Lucy in tow that something was wrong, and as father and grandfather, he felt it his right to know; if Kate told him was another matter.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing, daddy. I just had a late night.”
“Caitlin, I know when you’re keeping things from me; remember Lucky?“
“How could I forget you publicly announcing that you’re daughter had herself branded. How did you even know about the tattoo?”
“Your eyes. I could see you were holding something back then, just like you are now.”
Sighing, which she realised she was doing a lot of lately, Kate took a seat on the stairs with her father following suit. Once they were both seated, she laid her head on his shoulder, not caring anymore if she was late, and began spilling her most recent worries.
“Daddy, were we ever bullied or picked on at school?”
“Not that I can think of. You and Gillian certainly fitted in. The boys, well, there were the occasional schoolyard scraps; but nothing that ever got me or your mother this worried.”
“Lucy’s been having some trouble at school, and I am so out of my depth here. I don’t know what to do.”
“You do the best you can do, Katie. That’s all there is. That’s why she’s not a school?”
“She had a panic attack on the way there. I honestly thought things would be better for us here; that we‘d be able to have a happy, normal existence.”
“You will. You just have to let these bullies know, that Mama Bear isn’t very happy and they‘ll learn not to mess with her or the family.”
“Dad…”
They sat together on the stairs in silence, Kate contemplating exactly what her father meant and how to go about it, until the alarm on Kate’s phone went off, signalling that she should seriously consider getting a move on.
On the drive to work, Peter phoned to let her know Alice-Anne had taken Lucy to school after convincing her to go in, and Kate had worked out a plan of action to go about the bullying without making Lucy’s situation worse.
Trust her father to come up with the best ideas.
***
“Doctor Kate.”
“Coach Tony. What brings you to my neck of the woods?”
“I seem to have had a minor mishap.”
Looking at the angle in which Tony DiNozzo’s foot lay, Kate could safely say it was more than a minor mishap. But at least having him as a patient gave Kate the chance to find out what was going with Lucy, from a teachers point of view.
“I won’t ask how you done this, cause I don’t think I want to know.”
“Well, when you’re coaching an all girls soccer team, and the girls may or may not have a crush on you, you tend to move fast. I just happened to have moved a little too fast and here I am.”
“Here you are. I‘ll book you in for an x-ray, and we‘ll see what the damage is.”
“I’m guessing since I am actually a patient now, dinner is really out of the question?”
“You got that right.”
Leaving Tony looking rather sorry for himself, whether it was over his injury or the fact she turned him down again she wasn’t sure, Kate was met by a nurse informing her she had an urgent call in her office. The only thought that came to Kate’s mind was that something had happened to Lucy and those thoughts didn’t bear thinking about. Taking the back stairs to her office, she was greeted by a large bouquet of flowers on her desk which reminded her, though it was rather hard to forget, that in the midst of all the chaos, she was trying to be largely involved in a relationship. She’d call him later to thank him, right now she had bigger worries.
“Doctor Todd.”
“Doctor Todd, this is Paula Cassidy.”
“Paula…”
“Lucy’s guidance counsellor.”
“Of course, yes. Is everything okay?”
“I was just calling to find out when Lucy would be returning to school, as she has a marked amount of absences for the past few days.”
“Lucy’s not been ill. And her grandmother drove her to school this morning.”
“I’m afraid she hasn’t attended any of her classes today, or for the past three days.”
“I don’t believe this. Thank you, Ms. Cassidy, I’ll make sure she’s in school tomorrow.”
Replacing the receiver, Kate placed her head in her hands and groaned. Obviously the school had no idea about what was going on and Lucy was lying to all of them. Grabbing the phone again, she called Ducky to ask if he’d cover her shift for a few hours before grabbing the bouquet and heading out to the parking lot.
Trying her best to keep a lid on her anger, Kate knew it wasn’t entirely Lucy’s fault, but that she had better have a good reason for cutting school all this time.
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