They got close to the principal's office and the first thing David noticed was the young girl of about six or seven years old seated on the waiting seat with her head bowed.
"Nicole Madison, what did you do?" Laurel called her daughter with a cold voice.
The girl raised her head to see her mother and had remorse filled in her eyes. She quickly looked away.
"Hello Miss Madison," a middle aged stocky woman greeted and brought out her hand for a handshake which Laurel accepted.
"Mrs Lucas," Laurel acknowledged.
"You're welcome. Is this Nicole's dad?" Mrs Lucas asked and Laurel felt a lump grow in her throat.
Anyone who had good eyes would note that there was great resemblance between David and her daughter. From the hair color, the eyes (both color and shape), and even some expressions of their faces
"Nooo," Laurel replied in a high and suspicious voice. "This is actually a colleague of mine." she said almost immediately not willing to use the word 'boss', "So, what happened?"
"Please follow me to my office, Miss Madison." the woman kindly said and Laurel nodded and followed her.
David looked at the young girl that looked like a combination of himself and her mother and sat close to her on the seat.
"Nicole right?" he asked the girl who still had her head bowed. She just nodded. "Why don't you tell me what happened?" he cajoled.
Nicole just raised her head, looked at him and put it back down.
"Let me guess, you don't want to talk about it." he responded for himself and when she said nothing, he continued. "How old are you?"
"Seven," the tiny voice replied.
"I see," David said making a mental calculation of his own. "you look just as cute as your mother." this got the girl's attention as she snapped her head up and looked at him carefully.
"Are you a friend of my mother? Cos I've never seen you before." she said with scrutinizing eyes.
"Actually, we just reconnected today, we were long lost friends." he explained.
"She's never talked about you." the little girl queried, "but she's talked about all her friends from before, I've even seen some though. Not you."
"Which of her friends did she talk about?" he asked curiously.
"There's Ava and Tim, I've met them." she said innocently ,"Tim's her half brother actually. There's Esther but she was a bad friend. Mom says she'll never allow me meet her."
"I can imagine..." David drawled.
"But nothing about you." She looked through his face again, "Actually, I think I look pretty much like you than my mother." she noted, "Who are you again?" she asked with same calm composure as her mother always had.
"I'm a very memorable friend of your..." he was interrupted by the rising tone of Laurel's voice from inside the office. He looked through the open window and could see Laurel was finding it hard to calm down.
He turned to look at the girl's face and saw that she was downcast again. "It's that bad, huh?" he asked and she nodded slowly.
"But, I didn't start it though, Cody started it. I just defended myself like mummy always said."
"It's okay, I'm sure everything will be sorted out." David tried to comfort her.
"Nicole, would you come in here for a minute," her mother called and she looked over at David as if for moral support.
"You want me to go in with you?" he asked and she nodded vigorously.
They entered the office, Laurel firstly scowled at him before turning to the scared girl.
She knelt in front of her daughter, raised up her head with her index finger and said in a very calm voice, "Hey, momma is here now and I'm going to make everything right but I need to know what happened. I need to hear your own side of the story." David couldn't even believe she was the one shouting a few minutes ago.
"I'm sorry mummy, I hit her and she was bleeding." the girl said in the most tiny voice ever.
"I know that much baby, at least that's the only thing everyone is saying you said. Now, from you to mummy, what happened?" she coaxed in the most understanding way.
"I was sitting on my own mummy," Nicole finally said after a moment of silence. "and Cody mistakenly poured my chips away..." she slurred
"And that's why you hit another person that did nothing to you?" the principal chirped and Laurel flashed her a killer glare and she kept quiet.
"Go on baby," she urged
"I knew it was a mistake but he didn't apologize, I asked him to say sorry and complained to the teacher when he said 'no'. But when the teacher left, this other girl dragged my hair to the ground so I'll pick it myself. I was being jeered by Cody and others and I had to stand up for myself."
"And that's when you hit her?" Laurel asked and she nodded her head slowly.
"I'm very sorry mummy, I didn't mean to hurt her." she added almost immediately. "I wish it was Cody I hit instead." she added in an almost whisper that everyone heard.
"It's okay sweetie, we'll discuss that later." Laurel said and turned towards the principal sitting down.
"I'm sorry, but that's not enough reason to hit another kid." Mrs Lucas told her waving her head towards both sides. "And you even just heard her say she wished she'd done it to someone else. We don't accept that kind of behavior here, I'm sorry."
"You did hear when she said her hair was pulled, right?" Laurel asked with a calm voice that was dipping in anger. "And let's not forget that this Cody boy and others bully my daughter every other day. She stands up for herself once, and it's a problem?"
"The victim and her friends did not account for any hair pulling being done."
"My daughter doesn't lie." Laurel said as she was red hot with brewing anger.
"Okay," David had to intervene, "Can you..."
"Stay away from this David..." Laurel ordered but David ignored her.
"My name is David ma'am," he tried again, "David Edward," recognition dawned on the woman's face. The Edward family was a very famous name.
"So, just tell the family involved, that I'll take care of all the expenses incurred and any other damages too. We're sorry for Nicole's bad behavior and promise it wouldn't happen again, right Nicole?" he asked and the little girl nodded sheepishly.
"Are you serious right now?" Laurel asked with more anger directed at David.
"Enough, Rose!" David shunned and Nicole flashed a look at him.
"You should be grateful to Mr Edward for helping out," Mrs Lucas said to her, "else, I'd have had no choice than to expel your daughter and you'll still take care of the expenses."
"Oh, really..." Laurel fumed.
David slowly squat in front of Nicole who still had her head down. He used his index finger and brought up her cheek so she'll look at him.
"Nicole, be honest with me, will you?" he asked and she nodded, "Do you like it in this school?" he asked again and the girl thought a while before responding,
"Will I change school if I tell you the truth?" she asked in a whisper only him could hear.
"Only if you don't like it here." he whispered back but a little louder.
"I don't like it here." Nicole replied with much conviction. "There are too many bullies, and when you retaliate, you become the bad guy." she said in same whisper only he could hear.
"Now, that settles it." David said standing up, "Ma'am, send everything you'll need to this number," he said while handing her a business card "and you'd get your finances immediately. As of today, Nicole no longer schools here." he said and held the little girl's hand and turned towards the door.
"Thank you for everything, and do have a wonderful day." he said and started walking out. "Let's go." he said indicating Laurel with his other hand.
"But... Mr Edward..." the principal tried
"Have a nice day Mrs Lucas." David said again and walked out.
A quite surprised Laurel just followed behind him without saying anything more.