Riley's POV
I woke up Monday morning not wanting to go to school at all. All my 'friends' proved to me last week that they weren't really my friends after all.
"Riley you have to go to school, its not good for you to just skip school."
"But da-"
"No riley you are going to school."
"NO! I DONT WANNA"
Daniel's POV
"NO! I DONT WANNA"
"Hey you need to calm down." I said trying to keep the temper down.
"I don't want to go to school. I don't like it there."
"I understand that you had a rough week last week and I talked to your teacher about what happened and the principal is going to talk to the kids who said those things to you. But you are going to have to face them sooner rather then later."
"Fine." Riley said coldly
"Riley Jones you better change that attitude of yours." I said as I raised my eyebrow at her but Riley just kept walking to the car.
The whole car ride was quiet. I don't think Riley has ever been mad at me before. But part of filling the father figure is putting your foot down and saying no.
When we got to the school we went to my coaching office to wait for school to start.
"Riley if you keep pouting like this you're going to miss your field trip tomorrow and have to go talk with Kate."
"I'm. Not. Pouting."
"Oh really. If your not pouting then how about you come sit on my lap and talk to me." This was my attempt to put her in little space for a bit because it wouldn't be good for her to be mad all day.
I could tell she was fighting little space. I leaned back in my chair waiting for her to finally give in.
"I will come over there and get you, this isn't an option Riley." I spoke in a fatherly tone.
Once she got in arms length I quickly picked her up and sat her on my lap.
"Now why are you so fussy today?"
"No school." Riley whined.
"Why don't you want to go to school?"
"No friends, no fun." Riley made a pouty face.
"Okay tell you what, if you go to class and go in with a positive attitude, and your classmates are still not being nice to you, you can spend the day with me. Deal?" I said trying to convince her to go to class.
"Mmmm deal!" Riley said as she wrapped her arms around my neck making me almost fall out of my chair.
"Careful!" I Yelped as we both started giggling, I hugged her close to me knowing she just needed some loven right now.
I sent Riley off to class and sent a text to her teacher to keep an eye on her and to let me know if she has a bad attitude.
Lunch
Riley's POV
My friends weren't being mean to me today, instead they were picking on some other girl I didn't even talk to.
I sat down at our lunch table.
"You aren't actually going to eat that are you" Lilly said as she looked at my plate.
"I don't know, why?" I asked confused.
"Well I just know that in order to stay skinny you have to stop eating. At least that's what my sister said." Lilly said.
"But what if you get hungry." I asked.
"That's what I said! But apparently if you wait long enough it goes away and you get used to it."
Mhm, I mean it makes sense. I got up from my seat and threw away my food and sat back down at our table and continued talking with Lilly and the other girls.
I was starting to get really hungry with about an hour left in school but I listened to what Lilly said and tried to wait it out.
The bell finally rang and I went to Daniel's office, he wasn't in there yet so I laid on his couch waited for him to come.
My stomach was really starting to hurt. I curled up into a ball and tried to fall asleep, maybe that'll help.
Daniel's POV
I walked to Riley's classroom to get her but she had already left. I made my way to my office to see if she was in there and sure enough she was curled in a ball asleep on the couch. I sat at my deck and did some work while I could. I closed my laptop and put everything away. I must of woke Riley up from all the noise.
"Ready to go ri" I said grabbing her bag and handing it to her.
"Yep" Riley said as she started walking out of the office.
"Daniel my stomach hurts." Riley whined.
"When did it start?" I asked.
"Well I didn't eat lunch today because Lilly said that in order to stay skinny you have to stop eating, or at least that's what she said her sister told her, but anyway she said that if I wait long enough the pain will go away if I wait long enough, but it's taking forever." Riley said.
I was disgusted. How could she already be worrying about her weight at such a young age.
"Riley, you should NEVER skip meals. I don't care what Lilly said. Do you hear me Riley Jones. Don't EVER skip a meal again." I said very sternly.
Riley stayed quiet as we left the building. I realized I should've used a different tone, I probably scared her. I put my bags in the back and before Riley got into the passenger seat...
"Riley come here." I Sighed trying to stay calm.
I slowly walked over to me.
"Did I scare you." I said kneeling down to her level.
She didn't respond.
"Come here." I said.
I pulled her in for a hug and picked her up off the ground.
"It's okay, I'm not mad at you. You didn't know any better. Sh sh sh baby. I'm never going to hurt you." I said in a comforting tone.
She had muffled cries into my shoulder but she calmed down after a few minutes.
I placed her in the car seat behind the passenger seat and drove home.
I texted Kate what happened after school and she told me it was a normal response. Riley is going to be extra sensitive to certain tones of voices because of what happened to her and the only thing I could do is help her during those times.
I kept Riley in little space the rest of the night and put her to bed early. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, for the sake of both of us.
