GRACE

"I feel like I should prank Daddy."

Swiftly, I faced Ruby who sat still, nibbling on what was left of her cookie as if she just didn't say something about pranking her father.

We were at her ballet academy, waiting for her session to begin.

"Ruby, why do you want to prank your Dad?"

She clapped her hands to shake off the cookie crumbs, swinging her legs which barely touched the ground.

"He doesn't play with me at all. And I want him to. So, I'll prank him to get his attention."

Aww. That's weirdly... cut.

"But, do you have to prank him?"

She frowned and looked up at me. "Uh?"

"Why don't you try talking to him first? Tell him how you feel."

After looking up thoughtfully for some seconds, she faintly groaned, "I don't know. Daddy doesn't talk to me after he comes back from work." Her gloomy expression saddened me but when it briefly wore some brightness, I became intrigued. "When Fiona was here, I talked to her about many, many things. But my Daddy doesn't talk to me."

I reached for her little hand and gave it a squeeze.

"How about this? When your Daddy comes home tonight, let's talk to him about how you feel."

Her sadness disappeared without a fuss.

"Really? You will do that?" I nodded. But her face turned serious for a moment. "Daddy can be very hard to talk to."

The tone of her voice told me that the last statement was a warning.

"Well," I touched her nose, "I am very hard to ignore."

I think.

What am I doing?

Just last week Mr. Powers sternly warned me to never enter his room. And now, I am plotting how I am going to corner him when he comes back from work.

As I felt Ruby's little body crash into mine to give me a huge side hug, I prayed silently that I wouldn't lose my job after what I planned to do.

"Thank you, Grace."

"Hey, you know that you can speak to me about your worries right?"

She nodded and tightened her hold on my waist.

When I realised that she had no desire to let go of me soon, I wrapped my free arm around her. And we remained that way while the delightful French song from the dance class filled the corridor.

A few moments later, a lady interrupted our little bond and called Ruby in for her class.

Excited, Ruby ran into the room looking all cute in her uniform, leaving my body to feel a loss of warmth.

As a smile I didn't intend plastered on my lips, memories of the days I'd spent with Ruby rushed into my mind. It has been a week or so since I got this job and it has been a blast.

Well apart from the painful seven-hour lessons Ruby has from Mondays to Fridays, it has truly been a blast.

Since I was now alone in the long corridor, I took out my phone to check if anything fun was happening.

After a few strolls on Twitter and Instagram, I became tired and decided to occupy myself with another distraction.

********

After almost two hours of rigorous editing, while listening to the soft music that was coming from the room opposite me, I finally got up to have a little tour of the academy.

But before doing that, I decided to have a peek at what was going on in Ruby's class. I wanted to see the little gracious moves of the little ballerinas.

As I got to the glass window that allowed visual access into the room, I noticed a little ruckus.

Nobody was dancing, instead, they were all gathered around someone or something.

I don't know. I could hardly see shit.

But as I struggled to get a glimpse, out of nowhere, someone was pushed out of the little circle and my eyes bulged out in fear when I saw that the little figure sprawled on the floor, attempting to get up was Ruby.

I wasn't sure where the feeling came from, but my heart squeezed at that sight.

Within a second, I was already pushing the entrance door and crouching beside Ruby who was grabbing her ankle, pain etched on her face.

"Oh, my God. Ruby. What to do, what to do..." My hand dangled helplessly over her injury while I frantically searched my head for ideas.

It was then I remembered that they actually had a teacher. And I was yet to see her trying to ease Ruby's pain.

That made me search the room for the slim, kind of pale-looking woman. When my eyes landed on hers, I silently questioned her inability to do something, and that pushed her to walk toward us.

"How may I help you, ma'am?"

I almost scoffed. "How may you help me? More like, how can I help you recover your senses?" I spat.

What insolence!

A little frown appeared on her forehead. "Excuse me?"

I glanced at Ruby who had tears forming in her eyes. "She is hurt because one of your students pushed her. So, how can you just stand there and ask how you may help me? How about you help yourself out of your delusion?" I took a minute to stay calm before continuing, "I need first aid for Ruby, ma'am."

"You should have said that earlier."

My jaw dropped slightly in surprise at her obvious stupidity. But I said nothing and watched as the woman strutted off to get the first aid kit.

But my attention quickly turned to Ruby. "Darling, what happened? Why were you pushed?"

Ruby pointed in a direction that exceeded my angle of view. "She pushed me because I pushed her."

Before I looked in the direction she was pointing, I asked, "So you pushed her first?"

She shook her head quickly. "She pushed me first, twice!"

With that, I turned and landed my slightly feisty sight on the... human that hurt Ruby. She was about Ruby's size, she just had a more mature look, probably because of the smirk on her face.

I got up and walked to the girl whose pose had disgusting pride written all over it.

"So, you think it is fun to push other people, uh?"

The girl rolled her eyes to my biggest surprise. "She was about to take my position and I don't like people stealing my position."

"And, what position is that, darling?"

Oh yes. I can make the word darling sound very dreadful.

The girl flipped her hair and claimed, "I am always in the front. I belong in the front."

I nodded slowly and faced the others. "Is that true, guys?"

"No!" A voice cried beside me. "Ruby is always in the front, Bethany is just jealous!"

I faced Bethany who stomped her foot on the ground because others in the room agreed with the voice that replied to me.

"Listen to me, Bethany. If Ruby tells me that you pushed her again, I will do the same to you and you will not like a bit of it."

I don't like that I am speaking to a child this way, but this Bethany girl was able to get on my nerves with her annoying attitude.

"Miss Sands! How dare you threaten my student?"

"Well, freaking tell your students to stop pushing people their size."

I spat at the woman beside me, snatched the box in her hand, and walked back to Ruby.

But before I made it to Ruby, a force pressed against my back, and before I knew it, my forehead was kissing the tiled floor. My entire body felt intense pain for some seconds but I was able to get rid of the feeling after seconds.

While I swore at the person who pushed me within my soul, I managed to get up.

I maintained my grip on the nod and turned to see a huge smirk on both the teacher's and Bethany's lips.

I was more than ready to smash the box in my hand at any part of the woman's body, but a small tug on my t-shirt stopped me.

One of the girls was standing beside me. She shook her head and I took that as my sign to step back. Another tug and she pointed behind me.

When I followed her finger, my eyes landed on Ruby who was now crying.

That made me rush to her. Without hesitation, I carried her over my shoulder and it was then I realised my forehead was bleeding.

Soon, the insolent teacher and the annoying brat became a memory to me. I rushed out of the class and reached for my phone to dial David's number. Before we entered the academy's building, we met him on his way to a nearby café.

Thankfully, he picked up without a fuss and he became our ride to the hospital.

********

"Bye, David. Thank you so much."

"Bye, bye." Ruby's babyish voice followed my greeting.

"Bye, darling. Don't stress your leg too much, okay?" She nodded as I carried her in my arms. David helped me with closing the door, and he said, "Grace, make sure you don't do things to bother your injury."

I smiled in appreciation and soon, Ruby and I were moving toward the rear end of the huge building.

It was already nighttime, so it was very likely her father was back.

While I hoped that he wouldn't get too angry for not calling him about his daughter's injury, I hastened my walk and Ruby wrapped her hands around my neck for proper support.

But in my defence, I don't have Mr. Powers's phone number. So he doesn't have too many reasons to be angry at me. Besides, when he sees our bandaged injuries, I expect that he will be more considerate.

In no time, we were already on their floor.

Ruby helped to open the door and upon entering, we met her father seated very close to the door, his legs crossed, one of his feet flapping with impatience.

Since it was obvious who he was waiting for, I glanced at him and debated whether to go straight to the explanation or to put Ruby down so that she can rest. When I saw he wasn't sparing me a look, I went for the second option.

I walked past him and laid Ruby down on one of the couches. After I had made sure she was comfortable, I braced myself to have a conversation with the impatient man. But he was already behind me and I almost bumped into his chest when I turned.

When it clicked in my head that he was too close, I took a few steps back until the distance between us was suitable.

His gaze remained on me. It was hard and impatient.

My hands clasped behind me and my fingers began to play with each other as I wondered where to start my explanation from.

And, as though he saw my struggle, his deep voice asked, "Do you care to explain yourself?"

His voice was less sexy. But that is not even the point right now.

First, I have to apologise for not letting him know about his daughter's injury and then talk to him about his daughter's needs.

I just pray this doesn't blow up in my face.

"Uh... I am so sorry, sir. I should have called you when we got to the hospital..."

"Don't make stories up, Miss Sands. I just want to know why you started that fire."

Say what now?

The solemnity on my face changed to a dramatically confused one.

"F...Fire? What fire, sir? Your daughter was pushed..."

"The ballet school called," he walked a bit closer, his eyes wearing more intent, "you were the one that started the fire that occurred there today."

"Excuse me?"

"Are you seriously pretending at this point? You should be apologising right now." He was frowning at this point. "Do you have any idea how your little stunt caused an imbalance in my schedule?"

"If anyone should be apologising, it should be that school." I am not taking crap from any fucking body, you are hot or not. "One, for overlooking Ruby's injury when she needed treatment. And two, for lying against me. I am damn sure that if I started any fire, I would know."

"So, you are calling the school a liar?" Mr. Powers shook his head, halted his approaching stride, and bit into his lower lip while he raked me with his angry eyes.

"Daddy, she is not lying," Ruby butted in.

"Adults are speaking here, Ruby. Stay out of it."

"Don't speak to her that way."

I rushed to Ruby who quickly clutched her ears and stared at her father in slight fear. Feeling a strain in my chest, I hugged the girl to my side and relaxed her with encouraging words.

"Who are you, her mother?" he asked, his tone more bitter than angry.

I hugged Ruby's head to my chest.

"No. But at least I was there to take care of her when she got injured." I watched him as he took off his suit jacket and yanked it onto the floor. As he tackled his tie, I continued, "Shouldn't you be concerned about how she is doing? She was in pain today..."

"Leave."

"What?" His interruption caused anger to stir within me.

"After tucking her in, leave."

The man did not give me a chance to show him a glimpse of my fury. Within seconds, he was already on his way to his room.

"Daddy doesn't like me." Ruby's sad words made me face her.

"Oh no, darling. Don't say that. I think your Dad is not in a good mood. It's not your fault"

If it's anyone's fault, the damn teacher is the culprit. Stupid bitch! I am sure she cooked up the lie against me.

I was about to get carried away with my emotions when I realised that time was running fast and I needed to be home as early as possible.

So, I decided to get Ruby off the couch so that she can quickly find rest in her bed.

"Miss Sands!"

But as I positioned myself to carry her, that roar from upstairs stopped me.