When Rich Meets Poor

25|Too Cool For School

New York City, New York
September 17, 2018

    Falling asleep last night in Connor's arms felt like heaven. There was no more secrets, no more sneaking around. Except for the secrets about me feeding Olivia what she isn't supposed to be fed, but that's not too bad!

    Connor has a person scheduled to pick Olivia and I up at 7:00 every morning now. They will drop her off at pre school first and then take me to college.

    "Olivia are you excited about your first day of preschool?" I ask while zipping up her back pack with Paw Patrol characters on it.

     "It's too early for this," she complains and I laugh.

    "Just wait, it only gets worse from here," I tease her.

    "What if the other kids don't like me?" She whimpers.

    "You take your fist, and nail them right in the face," I joke.

   "I'm kidding, don't tell daddy I said that," I quickly add.

    The car to take us to our schools arrives, I pick Olivia up and put her in the back seat.

    "Hi, I'm Harper," I introduce myself to the driver, which to my surprise, it wasn't a guy like I thought it would be, it was a woman. Hell yeah for women in the chauffeur business.

    "I'm Juliette," she responds while smiling.

    Once we arrive at the preschool, I walk Olivia inside the building to check her in. Afterwards we are directed to her classroom.

    All the young students stare as we enter the classroom.

    "Hi! You must be Olivia!" A woman says while walking over to us.

    Olivia doesn't say a word.

    "Well Olivia, I'm Miss. Bailey, your preschool teacher," Miss Bailey puts her hand out for Olivia to shake, but Olivia doesn't budge.

   "I'll find a seat for you okay?" She says before leaving Olivia and I standing in the doorway.

   I lean down to Olivia's level.

  "So what do you think?" I ask her.

   "This place is dumb as hell," she responds.

    "Olivia!" I whisper yell while lightly hitting her.

    "What?" She questions.

    "Just don't say that," I shake my head.

    "I'm going to say it," she taunts.

    "You better not,"

    "I'm going to do it,"

    "Olivia,"

    "HELL!!!!!" She shouts at the top of her lungs.

    All the people that weren't staring at us in the beginning, are staring at us now.

    "Did she just say hell?" The teacher whispers while rushing over to us.

    "No sweetie, she said bell, because I told her that you guys have a bell schedule. Anyway, bye Olivia, have a great day, I love you!" I say before running out the door.

    The driver dropped me off at college and the only thing on my mind throughout all of my classes was Olivia. I hope she didn't get in too much trouble.

    After four long hours, Juliette picks me up before we head to retrieve Olivia.

    "I hope she didn't do anything bad," I tell Juliette as I exit the car and head up to the building.

    I pass multiple other parents leaving with their children on the way to the classroom.

    Just as I walk into the classroom I hear Olivia yell "Give me back my book bag!" Then seconds later she swung and hit a boy in the face.

    The teacher is now alert, trying to address the situation.

    "Whoops we've got to go," I say while picking Olivia up and making a bee line for the door.

    The whole ride home I don't scold Olivia for her actions,  but the second we walk through the front door I lay it on her.

    "OLIVIA WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" I shout.

    "He stole my back pack," she shrugs.

    "Next time just tell the teacher, okay?" I ask and she nods.

    Olivia works on coloring pages in her room while I sit on the couch and wait for Connor to come home.

    Hours later he comes through the front door in his usual business suit.

    "Hey, how did Olivia's first day go?" He asks me.

    "Well when I was there she shouted the word hell really loud and also punched a kid in the face," I admit while walking over to him.

   "Maybe she is more like me than I thought," he sighs.

    "Maybe," I laugh.

    After eating dinner, Connor puts Olivia to bed while I take my shower, while in the shower I hear the door open.

    "Connor if you don't get the hell out right now I will push you into a volcano!" I yell over the loud sound of running water.

    "Okay killer, I was just going to tell you that your phone is ringing and it's some girl named Jessica," he says just barely loud enough for me to hear him.

    Jessica? I haven't talked to her for weeks!

    "Ugh! Close your eyes!" I shout.

    "What?" He asks.

    "Close your God damn eyes!" I shout again.

    I open the door a crack to see if he actually has them closed, of course he doesn't.

    "Connor," I growl.

    "Okay fine!" He shouts.

    I look and see that his eyes are in fact closed. I grab a towel to cover my front half before rushing over to him and grabbing the phone from his hands while water spills all over the floor.

    "Hello," I say.

    "Hey Harper, I have something serious to tell you," she says and my face immediately falls.

Thankfully the towel covers my front parts from Connor, but I can just sense his temptation to just pull the towel down.

"What is it?" I ask, concerned.

"Your parents," she stutters.

"My parents what?!" I shout.

"They got into a really bad car accident. Your father passed away, your mother is on life support. I'm so sorry ," I can hear the pain in her voice.

Connor is no longer focused on my body and is more focused on my emotions. He pulls my wet body into his arms, not even carrying about his business suit.

"Thank you for telling me, I'll be there soon, bye, I love you," I say before hanging up.

"My father is dead and my mother is dying," I cry into Connor's chest as he rubs my unclothed back.

"Connor I have to go out there before it's too late," I mumble.

"We'll go together, it's okay," he holds me tighter.

At this point in time I'm just a bunch of broken pieces and the only thing holding those pieces together is Connor.