Abby

CHAPTER ONE

Her cell phone vibrated while she was in the middle of a meeting. She peeked at it, just in case it was one of the kids. It was their school. Someone is probably sick and needs to be picked up, she thought. It could wait twenty minutes. A moment later, she felt the vibration of a voicemail. After her meeting let out, she listened to it. Good afternoon, Mrs. Demarco. This is Principal Stone from the high school. I'm calling to see if we can set up a meeting to discuss Abby's absences and her failing grades. Please give me a call back. Thank you. Jennie froze for a moment. She knew there had been a time or two that Abby was late, had left early. But Abby always did well in school. She knew nothing about failing grades. This had to be a mistake. She went to her office and immediately called the principal back.

"Hi, this is Jennie Demarco. Abby's mom." She was breathless, she tried to control her breathing, her anxiety.

"Hello, thank you for calling back so quickly. As I said in the voicemail, Abby's absences are becoming an issue." She hated to say this. She felt like the world's worst mother. But she had no choice, really.

"I wasn't aware- I don't know how to say this-." She said nervously. "I didn't think she'd missed that much school. Is there a chance this is a mistake?" She asked. There was a brief pause.

"She's missed five days in two weeks. There were days here and there before that. Also, there are tardies and early dismissals happening almost every day that she is here." Jennie's world dropped out from under her. She began to cry, but she held herself back. The principal seemed to sense that this was a shock to her. "I hate to mention this, because I didn't think this would be such a shock, but she has notes from home excusing her for most of them. For the others, she claimed to have forgotten her notes at home." Jennie was torn between crying and breaking something. She clenched her jaw and dug her fingers into her clenched hand. She continued to focus on her breathing.

"She has a couple tardies and absences that I know about, that I approved, because she said she was doing well in school."

"I hate to be the bearer of more bad news." He paused. He hated this part of his job.

"Just give it all to me right now." She begged quietly.

"She is currently failing three of her four core classes. The fourth class is a low C." She felt like the oxygen had been sucked from the air. The principal gave her time to digest all of this. "She has time to salvage the failing grades before the end of the quarter, if she can be in class. And if she's willing to make up the work." Oh she was going to be in class, and she was going to make up that work.

"Thank you for calling." Jennie said, wondering how she was going to tell her husband. Abby was his world.

"There's one more thing, and I wish we could discuss this in person, but since we're already talking..." Jennie braced for something worse than what she'd already heard. "There are rumors amongst the students and some concern from teachers that she might be experimenting with drugs and alcohol." And if what had been said wasn't already bad enough, that pushed her over the edge. She felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Wind knocked out of her. Like her entire world had just shattered.

...

They sat down to eat dinner that night like everything was normal. But Jennie saw her daughter through different eyes. She looked thinner. She'd always been small, but she'd lost some weight recently. Any other day, Jennie would have attributed it to dance. Her classes maybe being a little bit harder than before. But now, she wondered if Abby was using drugs. She looked tired and maybe a little pale. Aaron, Abby's twin brother, noticed their mother staring at her. It made him nervous. He looked to his dad who raised an eyebrow at him. Shit was about to hit the fan.