RIVER | JJ MAYBANK

EIGHTY TWO

RESPONSIBILITY

"You're lucky that he's not pressing charges, River." Reginald snapped as they sat in front of Shoupe. River just rolled her eyes in response. "Apologise."

"No." River scoffed. Her eyes flickered over to her mom, who was stood in the corner of the room with a bottle of Jack Daniels in her hands. "He was letting John B get beat by a cop."

Georgia laughed, drawing the attention to her. River was pissed off at the fact that she got called down to the station before Reginald, especially since she hadn't spoken to her mother in months.

"Protect and serve my ass." River leant back, tutting as she did so. "Also, why'd you invite the bitch." She motioned over to her mother.

"That's no way to speak to your mother, you ungrateful little-"

"Maybe try to be a mother and I won't speak to you that way." River shrugged. "Can I go now?"

Shoupe gulped down, he didn't want one of the richest men on the OBX to be pissed at him, but without a legal guardian bailing her out or signing the release forms, it would be difficult.

"Your mother needs to sign the forms." Shoupe responded, sliding the forms across the desk so that Georgia could sign them.

Georgia laughed as she stepped toward, tripping over her own feet due to how drunk she was. River was sure that she'd never seen her mother even be sober.

"That's great." River spoke sarcastically.

"Let the bitch rot." Georgia shrugged, walking out of the room, leaving Shoupe and Reginald in a state of shock.

"Can't Reggie sign?" River questioned, shaking her head slightly so that her hair wouldn't be in her eyes. She hated the fact that she was cuffed to the table, but then again it was her fault for punching Shoupe.

"He isn't a legal guardian, he doesn't have parental responsibility and until he does, I'm afraid you're stuck here." Shoupe informed the girl.

River let out a groan. She threw her head back and rolled it along her shoulders, cracking her neck. She pursed her lips before narrowing her eyes at Shoupe.

"And how long will that take?"

Reginald sucked in a deep breath, knowing that the whole process is a long one, especially since he tried to get Georgia to sign away her parental responsibility of River when she was just a baby so that he could become her legal guardian.

"A while." Reginald mumbled.

"Why?" River questioned turning to face her grandpa.

"We need your mother to sign away her parental responsibility." Reginald responded, he placed his hand on River's shoulders gently.

"Great, I'm sure she'll sign with no hesitation at all." River chuckled, she couldn't see the probably.

She was almost positive that Georgia would sign away her rights with no hesitation. It wasn't as if she had ever given a shit about her anyways.

"And your fathers." Reginald finished.

River felt like her whole world came crashing down. She had been searching for her father for months. It wasn't like he would turn up out of the blue now.

She hated her parents. Her dad wasn't ever around and her mother was awful. She wasn't ever there for her. For as long as the girl could remember, she was the one working before and after school to keep their lights on. She was the one who put groceries in the fridge and made sure that her mother got a home cooked meal.

She was the parent.

"Good luck with that. It was nice knowing you, Reggie, come visit some time." River spoke sarcastically. "Bring a pack of smokes with you too, I'll trade them for something good."

"I'll speak to Judge Thornton, see if there's a way to override the parental responsibility. You won't be in here long, pumpkin, I promise." Reginald stood up from his seat and gave River's shoulder a small squeeze. "Shoupe." He extended his hand for the man to shake.

"I'll see you out, sir." An officer spoke as the opened the door for Reginald.

Shoupe looked across to River, noticing the way that her face fell the second that he left. She felt like everyone knew, or cared about were finally walking away and leaving her.

"I'm sorry, River." Shoupe spoke up, if she didn't hit him in front of so many people, he wouldn't have even arrested her. He understood why she did what she did. He couldn't fault her for wanting to protect her friend.

"He didn't do it, Shoupe." River's voice cracked as she spoke. "He didn't kill Peterkin."

"I'll try and get you placed with John B, but no promises." Shoupe didn't want to hold the girl here.

River nodded, knowing that he was just trying to show an act of kindness in a bad situation. But all she wanted was do everything to go back to normal. She just wanted everything to be the way they were before the gold.