The Fight In Her

CHAPTER 17-THE INTERVIEW

Brock's cell phone rang. He walked into the next room to answer. Seconds later, he shouted "What!" immediately catching Teicee's attention.

"Ok, I'll be down shortly. I'm on my way." he barked into the phone.

Teicee stepped back from the front door and closed it behind her. "What's wrong?" she asked, growing concerned.

Brock narrowed his eyes "That was the school. Your son has been caught stealing. I've told his lil' ass over and over again to keep his hands-off other people shit. I got a muthafuckin business to run but I gotta stop what I'm doing to go down to the school for his little thieving ass!"

Teicee lowered her eyes. "What did he steal?"

Brock paused his rant, turned and glared at her "Does it matter?"

Brock slid on a pair of Gucci slides that were sitting by the front door. "What the hell would posess this boy to steal money out of his teacher's purse? I'm gonna kill him!"

Teicee looked away. She didn't dare say anything. She would be a downright hypocrite. It was only a few days ago that he was stealing for her, from his teacher, from Pam, and maybe even from Brock. Brock always left money lying around the house and he wouldn't notice it if it came up missing and Teicee knew the entire time, all about it. Brock grabbed his keys and headed towards the front door.

"Can I come?" Teicee asked.

He held the door open for her and waved her forward. "Yea, let's go."

They jumped into Brock's car and he raced the slick black Mercedes down to the school in a matter of minutes. They walked into the student affairs office and saw that there were two police officers already there, waiting inside. Teicee watched them out of the corner of her eye, wondering if they were there for her Butter. Brock walked up to the desk and let the staff know that he was Brock Stephens Jr's father. A woman seated behind the desk stood and escorted Brock and Teicee to Mr. Conyers, the Assistant Principal's office. She waved her hand in the air to get the officers' attention and the officers stood and walked in behind them. They all sat around Mr. Conyer's desk. Mr. Conyers turned to Brock and explained that Brock Jr. had gone into his teacher's purse and stolen her rent money, totaling 943 dollars. Unfortunately, since it totaled over five hundred dollars, this was considered a felony offense. Butter sat in the corner with his head down trying to avoid Brock's glare.

"What in the hell were you thinking, boy?" Brock asked him.

Butter continued to look down and didn't say a word.

"Did you hear me?" Brock asked, louder.

Butter looked up at him. "Because......I wanna buy my mama a house, so I can go live with her!" he yelled, shakily as tears begin to form in his eyes.

"Oh baby!" Teicee said, as she stood to run to his side.

Brock stuck out his arm, blocking her path. "Oh, baby my ass! I know damn well you not going to let him play you like that!"

Teicee slowly sat back down in her seat and looked sideways at Brock for speaking to her in the tone he did but remained calm with the officers' present. One of the officers spoke up. The tall officer explained they would have to file a report and someone from the district attorney's office would be in contact with them. Brock thanked the officer and the principal for their time and apologized for the inconvenience. He sent his apologies to the teacher Butter had stolen from then the three of them headed to the car. The ride home was in total silence and seemed to take much longer to get back than it took to get there. Once they arrived back at the house and pulled into the driveway, Butter hopped out of the car and ran inside and straight to his room. Brock jumped out of the car and immediately pulled off his belt as he walked inside. Teicee sat in the car. She didn't want to hear or witness what was about to happen, so she sat there and waited. She looked at the clock on the dash. It was 11:07. She still had another four hours before her interview for a receptionist position downtown. She pulled out a cigarette, leaned back in the chair and puffed on it until the clock read 11:15. She reluctantly stepped out of the car and walked back inside the house. Up the stairs, she saw Brock walk out of Butter's room, breathing heavily.