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Post by Danny Maxwell on Mar 28, 2012 17:13:55 GMT -8
Danny watched her go, shutting his door with a bit of extra force. He leaned back against the door, closing his eyes just for a moment. He wanted to yell at her, to tell her it was a big mistake, because that's what it felt like. He felt like he'd been left all over again and it wasn't the type of feeling he wanted to be stuck with. After a moment, he took a breath and stepped away from the door. He hadn't forgotten that he had to deal with Tara, but it wasn't on the forefront of his mind just now. Instead, Maggie was. And this god damn feeling she left him with. He headed back through the living room and slumped onto the couch just in time for Tara to come out of her room. It was then that he remembered he still needed to talk to her, but he didn't say anything until she mentioned where she was going.
"No, you're not. Sit down." He pointed over to the chair. He didn't forget what she had done. Although he probably would have given her a little extra time before he went to get her out of her room, she had walked out and right into it. He needed to deal with it. No matter what he felt about Maggie, she was still Tara's mother and pushing her was completely out of the question. There was no way he could just let that slide.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2012 17:24:15 GMT -8
Tara really should have known that he was going to do that. She had honestly hoped that he had forgotten about her. She didn't think she was in the wrong, anyway. She hadn't wanted to be anywhere near her mother. But her mom had stood in the way and then, when she agreed to talk, started on a stupid guilt trip. Tara couldn't just stand there and take it. And when her dad told her to go to her room, she had been glad. That was where she had wanted to be. If her mother hadn't touched her, she wouldn't have been pushed. So in Tara's mind, she had done thing wrong.
He was pointing to the chair, though, so she sighed, set her purse on the floor and sat down. "So..." she looked down, fliddling with her hands, thinking of a way to take this conversation in a different way from where she knew it was going. "Chris sick?" she asked, and she was genuinely concerned. Her younger brother hadn't looked too well, from the few seconds that she had seen him.
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Post by Danny Maxwell on Mar 28, 2012 17:39:43 GMT -8
As she sat down, Danny leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs as he waited for her to get settled. He could have easily predicted it when she tried to avoid the topic. It wasn't going to change anything, of course. Because Danny wasn't born yesterday and he wasn't that easily distracted. He didn't approve of how Maggie was behaving with Tara, but that didn't give her the right to push her and he was going to make that clear. Not to mention, he also wanted to get to the bottom of her skipping school. There was a lot to talk about here, but the first was pushing her mother. And when she brought up Chris, he wasn't the least bit surprised. "Yeah, he is." He replied. "It's beating him down pretty good." He said and he would have to go check on him in a little bit. Already, he was pretty prepared for a night of grumpy, sick four year old.
"We're talking about you though." He reminded her. "I don't ever want to see you touch your mother again, do you understand that?" He asked, and he was completely serious. There wasn't going to be any pushing like that. He wanted her to talk nice with her too, but he understood there would probably be arguments and in some cases, there should be. But, nothing needed to get physical.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2012 17:48:45 GMT -8
"She wouldn't stop." she argued, looking up at him. "I was pissed off, and she wouldn't just let me go to my room like you asked," she pointed out that he had told her to go to her room, to show that she had been trying to obey him. "I don't want her touching me. Margaret needs to just leave me alone, and I'll leave her alone." She talked like it had been a fight at school, and she knew there was a difference there. But, she was upset and she thought she had a right to be.
"I thought she was actually going to talk to me. But instead it was about the petition. I'm so stupid" she shook her head, feeling pretty dumb for falling for it like that. Well, that would not be happening again. She was cutting her mother out, once and for all. "This whole day is a disaste, she muttered." It had been a long day, starting with when she found Trixie cutting in the bathroom at school. This whole day had been one big roller coaster ride that the teenager was not prepared for. And she wanted his advice on some of it.
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Post by Danny Maxwell on Mar 28, 2012 17:57:45 GMT -8
"That doesn't make it right. This isn't some schoolyard fight, Tara. She's your mother. You don't push her. And stop calling her Margaret." He said and he knew that the fighting wasn't all of Tara's fault because she did have a right to be mad. But it didn't give her a right to push and he didn't want her disrespecting her even if Maggie may have deserved it. He still had to act as the parent here and not as the man that was disgruntled with the woman in question right now. "She's not going to leave you alone. Like I said, she's your mother. She's going to be in your life, you can't cut her out. And you shouldn't."
He sighed a little, listening to her. "Speaking of the petition, you want to explain why it was so important to skip school?" He asked, and he didn't think anything was important enough for that. Of course he wasn't happy with that either and if she really had skipped school to wander around Toronto, then, well, that was going to have to stop.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2012 18:07:13 GMT -8
Tara folded her arms. She knew that arguing wasn't going to help. "Fine," she said, but she didn't mean it. She didn't want anything to do with her. Her mother had chosen this. Now, Tara wanted her to take her perfect little life and leave them be. Tara and Danny could take care of each other, and she could take care of Chris when her dad wasn't around. She didn't need her mom.
Her dad's question about skipping cut into her thoughts, and she looked up. "I didn't," she said, and as far as she was concerned, it was the truth. "I skipped lunch to go deliver it. That's all. I mean, I left my math class to use the restroom and then didn't exactly go back, but I wasn't trying to skip. The bell rang." Well, that and she was dealing with Trixie. She didn't feel like leaving her, and she thought that a girl who was cutting was, in fact, important enough to not go back to class.
With Trixie on her mind, she looked up. "Dad? What would you do if you knew someone was cutting?" she had the knowledge for half of a day already, and still, she had no idea how to handle it. And she thought it was something that she could ask her dad for advice on. She didn't even consider that he might think she was talking about herself. "Cause I sort of know someone," she added, so he knew it wasn't just a hypothetical situation.
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Post by Danny Maxwell on Mar 28, 2012 18:21:21 GMT -8
"I mean it too, Tara." He said, even though she said fine, he wanted to get it clear to her that he wasn't going to take her going back on it. He didn't know if she meant it and honestly figured that she probably didn't. But it didn't change how he felt about the matter or that he was going to be upset if she happened to keep it up. Though, he'd be angry about it anyway, he just wanted it to stop. And hopefully she did because it would be pretty hard to force her to stop it.
When she told him that she had skipped lunch, he wasn't as upset, but he didn't look at all amused when she explained what happened. "Leaving class and not going back is skipping, Tara. I doubt you were let out only a couple minutes before the bell rang." What type of teacher let someone go to the bathroom when they were going to be out of class in just a minute. "And I'm pretty sure you'll have a detention slip waiting for you in math class tomorrow." He said and hopefully she would. Because, she didn't need to be skipping class, even if it was just the later part of it.
The next thing came as a shock to him. Immediately worry came over his face. Those hypothetical questions were rarely hypothetical. And Generally, when people mentioned someone, they were talking about themselves. He took a breath and was quiet for a moment, attempting to figure out how to approach that before he looked back at her. 'Tara. Be straight with me. Is this someone you?"
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2012 18:34:19 GMT -8
"But dad, it was an emergency. I swear, I never left the bathroom." And it was true. She had gone in, made the discovery, and was talking to Trixie until the bell rang. "It was just a substitute, anyway. I doubt he'll even remember my name." And honestly, she hoped he wouldn't. She didn't want a detention. It wouldn't be fair! She was helping someone.
She gave him an unamused when he asked if it was her. "Dad. Really? Do I need to show you my arms?" she asked sarcastically. He really should know better. Why would she ever do that? She wasn't that kind of kid. "I can't tell you her name. She doesn't know I'm asking," and really, she didn't. Tara didn't want to have her dad talk to Trixie and have the girl get all mad at her. She was trying to help, not hurt her more.
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Post by Danny Maxwell on Mar 29, 2012 2:22:13 GMT -8
"An emergency? If that emergency involved not knowing the answer to a question, I'm going to make sure the substitute knows your name." Danny warned, but he would hear out what her emergency supposedly was. Honestly, he didn't know what she could have had that was an emergency that then led to her rushing off as soon as the bell rang. If that's what happened, because it sounded to him like she waited around in the bathroom and then left. Though, even that didn't make a lot of sense. It was missing pieces, obviously but he figured that he was going to get down to it.
Danny sighed when she became sarcastic. "I had to ask." If he didn't ask, what type of dad would he be? He could assume she would never do that, but it usually it was a naive parent that assumed it really could never be her. When she went on though, he believed her. It didn't sound like it was her, but he had to ask it. "You tell someone. The counselor, principal, a teacher, their parents." He said. "Because that person needs help. They might not want it, they might swear you to secrecy, but you're more of a friend telling someone that can help them than you are keeping it a secret."
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2012 13:55:02 GMT -8
Tara went quiet, listening. She didn't ask for this. But she couldn't just leave the girl, either. "A teacher?" she repeated, shaking her head. "I don't know any--" she looked at him and bit her lip. Hey, if she was stuck knowing about it, then why shouldn't he? "Hey, dad? You know the doctor-patient confidentiality thing? Do teachers have the same thing?" Because, she'd rather not have her name repeated. She looked down at her arms, brushing her fingers along them. She just couldn't imagine ever doing that.
"I stayed in the bathroom because she was bleeding, dad. I didn't want to leave her. I mean, I get how it is to be dark and broody and think about death all the time, but she's actually cutting. So how do I know that if I leave the bathroom to go back to class, she wouldn't kill herself? And how can I just see something like that and be all ok well bye have a nice day and leave?" she looked at him. "I told you it was an emergency."
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Post by Danny Maxwell on Apr 25, 2012 20:52:33 GMT -8
A frown appeared at the question. If anything he was sworn to the exact opposite of confidentiality. When he knew something, nine times out of ten, he needed to report it. Unlike doctors, lawyers and priests who got to take in secrets, Danny dealt with minors that he couldn't keep certain secrets about. And if he knew one was involved in self-harm, the idea of not reporting it so that the girl could get help wasn't one he was willing to entertain. "Tara, if someone is hurting themselves, it can't be kept confidential." He wasn't going to agree to keep it confidential if she gave him a name. But, at the same time, he didn't plan to let it go either.
As she recounted the emergency though, he couldn't say that he blamed her. Even if he didn't like the thought of her just skipping out of class and not going for help. "All right, all right. But, by that same reasoning, you need to tell someone. You can't just leave her alone with this." If she was afraid of what she might do then that was more than enough reason for her to do something about it. It wasn't set in stone that someone who cut would kill themselves; he knew the difference between it. But, that didn't mean that you didn't tell. The girl needed help.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2012 22:23:04 GMT -8
Tara listened to him, and she knew he was right. She sighed, scratching her head. She hadn't meant to get herself into all of this. She had been simply trying to use the restroom. The look of her arm, the blood--how could she ever get that out of her mind? She couldn't. Tara wasn't a dumb kid. She knew that there were people--teenagers--out there that did that sort of thing. It was just, she hadn't known anyone. In her world, cutters didn't exist. Well, they did now. Cutters and transgenders. Wow. Degrassi was really introducing her to experiences she wasn't quite sure she was ready for.
She sighed. "Okay. Her name is Rachel Brooks. Help her, dad. Just--don't tell her I told you about it, ok? I mean, I don't know if she really trusts me, but if she does, then I don't want to wreck it." she paused, watching for his expression. "Are you mad?" He was a teacher, and she knew that meant that he was completely against missing class. And, normally, she wouldn't. She hoped that he understood, and wasn't too angry with her. She really didn't want to be in trouble. But more than that, she hated the idea of him being upset with her. Tara was a daddy's girl, and always had been. If he was mad at her, she was going to cry. But, honestly, she was glad that they were talking about this, even if she had initially tried to avoid the topic by trying to go to Neveah's. And why Neveah? They weren't even speaking at the moment. She really should have chosen Audrey instead.
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