familiarity

in my defence

*a month later*

               Christmas was great, all three siblings spent the day together and it was memorable.  But unfortunately it's the second day of school now, it's January and miserable since it's still cold but unluckily, the snow has now turned into rain.  But that wasn't the problem at the moment, oh no no no, Riley had something much bigger to worry about.

                She was sat in the principals office waiting for either jay or Will to arrive, she was really hoping for Will to walk through the door and not jay.  Will isn't as hard on her as jay is, so hopefully he won't be as mad.  She was sat about a meter away from another girl in her class and her parents, it was silent and pretty awkward.  Everyone jumped as the door opened suddenly, thank the lord for that, it's Will and not jay.  She quietly let out a sigh of relief as Will walked over to her, although he did have a rather angry look on his face, she didn't like that one bit. The principal put his pen down and sighed heavily.

"You girls should know better than this, what you two did today is not acceptable. I do not and will not allow for this kind of behaviour to be tolerated on my school grounds. Katie, you're excluded for a week, and Riley, you're excluded for a day" he sighed and shook his head. Katie shot Riley a disgusted glare so Riley shot her the same look back. She could feel wills grip on the back of her chair tightening by the second, "you're free to go" the older man waved them both out. Katie's parents wasted no time in dragging their daughter out of the office, "shut up and get out" Will whispered to his sister when he saw her mouth about to move.

"Get in the car" will held the door open. She grit her teeth and got inside but she jumped a little when he slammed the door, "geez" she mumbled to herself and threw her school bag into the back. He was still in his scrubs since he was pulled out of work for this, "what the hell Riley?" He got into the drivers side. She was about to defend herself but the redhead interrupted her, "you know more than anyone, that me and jay do not tolerate fighting. What were you thinking?" He rubbed his forehead. Riley pulled an awkward face, that is a good question Will, ask her again when she knows...

"Yeah exactly, you're speechless. Don't say a word until you're at the district" he scoffed. Riley sat up, "the district?" She asked in fear, oh no, this means she has to face jay. Will laughed in disbelief, "oh yeah, what? You're scared of facing jay? You should be" he shook his head. She sunk into her chair even further, oh lord... What has she gotten herself into?

~~~~~~~

Trudy looked up as Riley walked into the district with her school bag on her back, "hey kiddo, what're you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?" She raised an eyebrow. Riley nodded, "I kinda got sent home" she pulled a regretful look. Trudy nodded, "oh right, what'd you do?" She put her papers down in shock. "Fighting..." Riley sighed. Trudy nodded, "ohhh, well then. That's not good. You needing me to buzz you up?" She smiled weakly. Riley shook her head instantly, "uh, no thanks. I'm good down here..." she looked around. Trudy laughed a little bit, "you can't avoid him forever" she tilted her head. Riley nodded, "but I can avoid him for a little while" she grit her teeth and hissed slightly. She really doesn't want to face her brother just yet. Trudy nodded, "the office is empty" she pointed to the empty room, "thanks Sarge..." Riley sighed thankfully.

~~~~~~~

"Get your ass in the car", jay tapped the office door. Riley looked up immediately to see that he had already walked away, uh oh... She grabbed her bag as quickly as she could and practically ran out of the district, she slid into the truck and sighed, lord have mercy tonight...

               Jay joined her in the car about 5 minutes later but he said nothing, literally nothing at all, and began driving home.  She decided it was best to stay silent too and looked out of her window.  The drive home was completely and utterly awkward, no one said a word, jay didn't even put the radio on. She could hear his annoyed huffs, and from the look of his knuckles he was gripping the steering wheel a little too hard. He made it home pretty quick and they now had to face the music inside of the house. Once again, he got out of the car without saying anything and left her on her own as he walked up the pathway to the house. She took that as her sign to follow and got out of the car too.

"Room, now" jay spoke sternly yet quietly. She wasted no time and ran up the stairs, a silent jay is a scary jay and quite frankly she doesn't want to stick around long enough to hear him to yell. She closed her bedroom door and let out a sigh, here comes the dreaded hours of waiting.

At around 9pm she figured that it was maybe a good time to go and say sorry or whatever she was meant to say, she's been alone for two hours now and she was sure he maybe calmed down a bit? Oh boy, who's she kidding? She plodded down the stairs almost silently and walked into the kitchen to see jay stood over a case file, "I'm sorry..." she started but he cut her off, "sorry doesn't quite cut it Riley, I mean, fighting? Really? I'm pretty sure that's not what me and will encourage, am I wrong?" He huffed and shot her a pissed of glare. She looked down at her feet, "no..." she shook her head, "so why do it?" He snapped.

"In my defence, she deserved it..." she started, "I cannot believe you right now!" He yelled in disbelief. Riley put her hands out, "she called me an attention seeker jay, what was I meant to do? Stand by and get picked on? She was making fun of my scar..." She scoffed regretfully. Jay shot her an even more pissed off glare, "walk away Riley! You were meant to be the bigger person and walk away. You stooped to her level, what did you say back huh?" He yelled. Riley looked down again, " I called her a rat..." she shrugged. Jay laughed sarcastically, "well isn't that just great? Did you start the fight too?" He pulled a face.

"No, she started it. I just finished it" she shrugged. Riley personally doesn't think she's in the wrong but she isn't going to tell her brothers that, Katie was being horrible and she started the fight, so she had it coming. Besides, Riley walked away with a bruised cheek; Katie walked away with a bust lip and nose, a black eye and a cut on her forehead.

"That doesn't make it any better!" He threw his hands in the air. She was only stood an arms length away from him, so she flinched out of pure instinct. The way his arms flew up made her think she was going to get a whooping. She pulled her arms away from her head and avoided his stare. Jays glare softened at her reaction, "hey I wasn't gonna hit you, I would never hit you, and neither would Will..." he pulled her into a gentle hug. He was pissed and raging like hell, but he wouldn't ever want her to be scared of him like that, it broke his heart a little. She relaxed into his hug before he stepped back, the angry look was still there but he seemed more gentle with it after calming down a little.

"You're still in big trouble Riley. You're grounded for a week, no iPad and phone, you can have your laptop for school work tomorrow, but then I want it. And you're going to bed right now..." he sighed. She nodded, "okay..." she sighed. Before she could leave the kitchen she stopped at the door, "sorry..." she added. Jay frowned a little, "we'll talk about it tomorrow, night love you" he waved her off. "Love you too" she added before leaving. She ran back upstairs and got ready for bed, she may have seen this coming but that doesn't mean she's sorry for doing it. Katie was asking for it, and Riley would happily do it again. Once she was ready for bed she placed her electronics outside of her door and placed her laptop on her desk. Without a heavy sigh she flopped onto the bed and quickly fell asleep despite it only being 9:10pm. In all honesty, this was all worth it for putting Katie in her place.

~~~~~~~

A few hours later, jay walked upstairs to go to bed. He picked up Riley's phone and iPad before shaking his head sadly and walking towards his room. He locked them in the safe so he knew she couldn't sneak them whilst he was at work, and got changed for bed. This is the first time he's ever had to fully shout at Riley, and he didn't like doing it one bit, but it had to be done. He won't accept fighting, although he now realises that he probably wouldn't have walked away from the situation either, she was only defending herself. He sighed heavily and fell asleep. What a day...

*not really a sad one for a change lol*