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Jason was pissed beyond pissed. He was filled with a seething rage as he swung his leg over his bike- pulling his helmet off as he did so and pulling the key from the ignition. He resisted the urge to either punch a wall, or throw the helmet as he walked; keys resting in the pocket of the protective leather jacket. He was going to kill one of those fucking teachers one day. He made his way into the main entrance of the school, turning himself to the receptionist; who seemed to sense his foul mood. “Can I-” she began and Jason immediately cut her off “I'm not in the mood for bullshit, where my kid?” The receptionist seemed vaguely terrified of the angry biker in front of her, and swallowed before speaking “I- what’s your child’s name?” Jason closed his eyes for a moment, gritting his teeth. He forced himself to take a breath “Ruby.”
Ruby was sat outside of the principal’s office with her arms folded angrily over her chest; a scowl matching her posture. There was a tissue balled up in her hands which Jason could see spots of blood on, and her uniform was covered in more mud than usual. Jason was going to break the arm of everyone in this building. Jason slid himself in front of her, and pulled her into a hug. Ruby reciprocated immediately; her previously angry demeaner shifting more to upset. “Are you okay Rubes?” Jason mumbled into his daughter’s ear, not ready to let her go and felt her hair shuffle against him as she nodded. Jason took in a breath again; he didn’t feel as angry now he had his daughter with him, it was difficult to pay enough attention to the angry when there was blood coming out of his kid. He released her from the hug, putting a hand at the side of her face, playing with the bits of hair that had fallen from the pony tails sitting on her head. “Am I in trouble?” Ruby queried, and Jason pulled a face of surprised confusion “why the fuck would you be in trouble?” she sniffed at him, head pressing automatically into her father’s hand “Cos I got in a fight. All the teachers are mad at me and they said you would be too.” Jason looked into her beautiful green eyes- nobody else in his family had them, she probably got them from somewhere on Tara’s side. It wasn’t something he liked to think about. “Did you think you were doing the right thing?” ruby nodded at him, “If you could do it again, would you have done something different?” Ruby sniffed again before speaking “I would’a made um miss me.” She rubbed at her nose; blood was still trickling from it. Jason smirked at her answer “Far as I'm concerned you did absolutely nothing wrong then.” He put his helmet down on the chair beside her, and took the tissue from her; patting it at her nose. “You know you’re gonna get suspended for this, don’t you?” Ruby nodded loosely, letting her dad tend to her bleeding nose. “Uncle Frank might have to have you in his office for a bit if it’s more than a couple days cuz I don’t think my boss is gonna be super happy to have you running around the parlour.” Ruby gave another loose nod. “Do you think uncle Frank’ll be mad?” Jason smiled at his daughter’s concern; she had really grown attached to frank, much to his relief. “Honestly Rubes, I think he’ll find it funny.”
Jason sat with his daughter for a while; her nose bleed eventually stopped. “Why don’t you tell me what happened, I want to hear your side.” He spoke- he didn’t trust the shitty teachers here, and whatever they told him when he walked into the office would definitely be warped. Ruby had no reason to lie to him, she knew she’d be in more trouble for lying than for doing something wrong. “I was in the playground on break and I was lookin’ for Calvera cuz I got out late because I couldn’t find my sharpies and I wanted to look like you and I promised Calvera id give her a unicorn. And so I go outside and this big boy comes up to me…well, he’s not as big as you, daddy but he was bigger than me, and he goes ‘ewh look it’s one of them girls with two dads’ and I got mad cuz I only have one daddy, and that’s you. And I says that I don’t got two daddys cuz that’s bio..biol-” Jason helped her out “Biologically?” Ruby nodded enthusiastically “YEAH! Biologically impossible, cuz you gotta have a mom but I don’t live with mine and that they’re stupid cuz they should know that cuz they're older. And the boy and his friend looked all grumpy at me, and told me I got a faggot for a dad and I know that you don’t like bein’ called that so I goes that’s not nice, and I tell um I'm gonna kick um if they don’t leave me alone anyway cuz I got stuff to do. And the boys like nu’uh cuz I'm bigger than you and I don’t listen to stupid little girls and so I kicked him and then he hit my nose and I started shoutin’ and we got in a fight and his friend was helpin’ him and I was a little scared but I know I gotta stand up for myself cuz there's nothing wrong with having a daddy who likes boys and then the teachers came and started tellin’ me I was in lots of trouble and that you were gonna be super mad and then I started crying and now I'm here.” Jason nodded as her tale ended, and kissed the top of her head “I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself, but I also want you to be safe. You know how sometimes when we’re out with Frank people shout shit at us, and we ignore them? It’s not because I don’t care, its just because I know sometimes you gotta…pick your battles. As appealing as punching people who are dicks is, sometimes it pisses them off more to just hold your head up and walk past like you don’t care. They’re doing it to get you angry so you get in trouble. I used to fight everyone who was mean to me and you remember what used to happen?” Ruby sniffed, nodded at him as she snuggled into his shoulder “You went to jail.” Jason nodded “Yeah…But I didn’t want to keep leaving you, so now I don’t fight people unless they hit me first.” Ruby looked down at her hands, fiddling with the sleeves of the cardigan tied around her waist. “Am I gonna go to jail?” Jason chuckled at her “No, rubes. Kids don’t go to jail, but you can still get in trouble at school and I can’t really stop that. I love having you at home but being suspended isn’t a good thing…” Ruby nodded her head firmly as she spoke “I’m sorry daddy. I promise I won’t kick nobody unless I gotta.” Jason smiled at her, giving her a sideways squeeze “That’s my girl. You want to get McDonalds on the way home?” Ruby sat up, clapping her hands “MCDONALDS!”
The Principal opened her office door, letting the two boys and what Jason assumed was there parents out of the room; he scowled at them the entire time. Against what was probably his better judgement, he stood up and walked over to them. “Hey!” he called, prompting the adults to turn to him. “If your kids fucking look at my daughter again I will beat your ass to a bloody fucking pulp.” One of the mothers scowled at him, putting a protective hand on her son’s arm “she kicked him, I think your child is the problem. And looking at her role model I'm not surprised.” Jason gave an angry laugh “I'm not the one raising a kid who thinks it’s okay to pick on someone half their fucking size because their family isn’t the same. Maybe instead of judging someone because they like body art- and that’s what it is, by the way. Art. Maybe instead of being a judgemental little bitch you could raise your own kid with some fucking respect.” Jason matched her pissed off glare, and the principal cough, pulling her hand between them “Alright, I think that’s enough. We’re all running high right now. Maybe we could speak in my office, Mr. Donatello?” Jason let his scowl sit on the principal instead “Fine. But Ruby is coming in too, if you’re going to talk about her she's going to be present.” The principal nodded at him “Of course.”
Jason sat with Ruby on his lap; mostly because it meant he couldn’t jump over the desk and punt the principal. “Alright, so Mr.Donatello, I can tell you’re obviously upset, and I want you to know we’re taking this very seriously. However, your daughter did initiate a fight, and we can’t let that slide.” Jason kept his arms around Ruby; she took great comfort in it, and she knew no matter what happened her dad would never shout at her if she thought she was doing the right thing. She didn’t care what the teachers thought. “First of all, I'm not upset. I'm pissed off. I really don’t think you are taking this fucking seriously, because I seem to always be in this fucking building dealing with some gobby homophobic 11-year-old who thinks it’s okay to pick on a little girl. And it always ends up with her getting suspended for standing up for herself. She didn’t initiate shit. They did, as soon as they chose to antagonise her.” The principal steepled her fingers, elbows resting on her desk as she spoke “Sir, the story I have heard from both boys, is that Ruby kicked them first.” Jason blinked at her. What a stupid cow “Well, according to my daughter she warned them she would stand up for herself if they didn’t leave her alone, and they ignored the warning. Are you calling her a liar?” The principal shook her head, looking a little surprised at Jason’s level of defensiveness “No, no. Of course not, I'm simply saying we don’t know the full story. The truth likely lies in the middle.” Jason didn’t believe that for a millisecond, he was having none of her bullshit. And he was hungry. “No, you don’t know the full story. My daughter is not a liar, and I believe her. You know what, while we’re on that what the fuck gives you the right to tell her I'm going to be mad?! I'm angry at you for not doing your fucking job and protecting her from kids twice her age. I’m proud of her. She stood up for herself, and nothing you say to me is gonna change my mind so just tell me what bullshit punishment you’re giving her so we can go home.” The principal coughed, looking down at her desk before looking back to him “She is being suspended for the rest of the week.” Jason stood himself up; keeping hold of Ruby and adjusting her in his arms. “Great. We’re going to get her stuff from her classroom and leave then. Bye.” Jason turned himself round, ignoring the principal as he exited the office.
Ruby was swinging her legs happily, walking the plastic toy that came with her happy meal along the table as she munched on chicken nuggets. Jason was in a better mood now that he had a burger, he had his phone against his ear and was informing frank of the news as he smiled fondly at his daughter “Yeah, rest of the week…Probably, but not every day. I have two bookings on Thursday and one of them’s finishing a sleeve so…mhmm” Jason faded his words into noises, chewing on cheap burger meat and grease. “A burger…no we’re in McDonalds- oh fuck off, you’re just jealous.” Ruby held a greasy hand out to her dad “Can I talk to uncle frank?” Jason looked at Ruby; he didn’t really care about the state of her oil covered fingers. “Ruby wants to talk to you.” He held his phone out to his daughter, who held it to her ear with a beaming smile, nibbling on a fry and abandoning the toy to focus on Frank. “Hi uncle Frank. Are you mad at me cuz I got in a fight?” Jason loved his daughter so much; the fact that he turned himself around was entirely for her, and he had a feeling he’d be lying in a prison medbay somewhere right now if he didn’t have her. He wouldn’t have frank either, and he couldn’t really imagine that anymore. “yea, daddy said you wouldn’t be mad but I gotta check the facts…That’s okay I like being in your office cuz your chair does the swingy thing!...Alright! I love you too uncle Frank.” Ruby held the phone back out to Jason “He said he gotta talk to you.” Jason took the phone back, dipping fries in ketchup with his free hand “I’m told you wanted to talk to me…Yeah I suppose I do owe you…that’s pretty gay of you- yes I love you too. Later.” Jason hung the phone up, putting it down on the table and smiling a ruby “So, you’re cool with spending a couple hours with frank every day ‘til your suspensions over?” Ruby nodded at him, clearly unbothered by this concept. “yeah. Can I have some of your burger?” Jason let out an unsure hum, contemplating her question. “I guess so, but only because I love you.” He held the burger out, and rather than take it, Ruby leant down and took a bite from it- Jason laughed at her. “You’re so fucking lazy.” Ruby nodded happily, smiling as she chewed away. He shouldn’t be this happy she was suspended, but he really was. “I love you daddy” Ruby piped up, holding out a chicken nugget in exchange for the burger bite. Jason took the nugget from her, breaking it in half and handing her one of the pieces “I love you too Rubes.”