A/N: Yo! So I've got about 30 chapters of this written. I'll try to keep posting 1 or 2 a day until my insane pace catches up with me. 😀

I noticed Nora was dragging the morning of her second day of school. She'd fallen asleep pretty early and had a tough time getting out of bed. I knocked on the bathroom door to try to hurry her along. School started in 15 minutes.

Nora finally came out and grabbed a couple Pop-Tarts from the pantry, her backpack weighing her down. "Remember, you have a doctor's appointment after school today," I said. "Vanessa will meet you at the end of the day."

"But I'm not sick," she told me.

"When was the last time you went to the doctor?" I asked her. She shrugged. "We just need you to get a check up to make sure everything's okay. It'll be no big deal."

She groaned, but didn't protest any further. Soon, she was out the door. I was out the door as well within thirty minutes, my morning filled with various meetings throughout the city. My day was going well until I got a phone call around 1:00 in the afternoon. The caller ID said Hunter College High, so I immediately picked up.

"Hello? This is Lin," I answered.

"Lin! Hey, it's Dr. Fisher here from Hunter," he said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks. What's up?"

"We're gonna need you to come in if you're available," he continued. "Unfortunately, Nora got into a bit of a physical confrontation today."

"A physical confrontation?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can fill you in on the details when you get here, but looks like Nora initiated a physical fight with another student."

I sighed out and scrubbed a hand over my face. "Okay, I'll be right there."

I hung up and apologized to the person I was meeting with. We rescheduled for another day. I hopped on the subway and was at Hunter within 10 minutes. The secretary led me back to Dr. Fisher's office, where Nora slouched in one of the chairs. She looked angry and didn't look at me.

The secretary closed the door on her way out and I took a seat.

"Sorry to have to call you in here, Lin," he began. "But we have a bit of a situation."

He pulled something up on his laptop and then turned it around so I could see. It showed security footage of a hallway, which clearly showed Nora push another girl to the ground and start to punch her. Seeing the exchange again seemed to amp Nora up more.

"Nora, what happened?" I asked her. She didn't answer.

"She's refusing to talk to me," the principal told me. "I told her if I didn't know what the problem was, I couldn't help her out. I know starting at a new school can be a hard transition. Were you having some personal issues with this girl?"

Again, she said nothing, just tapped one of her heels as she slouched in the chair. The principal sighed.

"We interviewed the other girl and she said they'd had a verbal argument before hand in which Nora used profanity. Nora's not giving me any more information."

"Nora," I said, looking at her. "Don't you want to tell your side of the story?"

She just shook her head simply, twisting her lips to one side.

"We have a very clear disciplinary policy when it comes to physical violence. It's a mandatory 3 day out of school suspension."

I nodded in understanding. It was only her second day of school and she was already getting suspended. "Will she be able to make up her work?"

"Usually not, but considering she just started, we'll cut her a little slack this time. She can turn in all her missed assignments for full credit."

"Thank you," I told him. "So, she'll be back on Monday, correct?"

"Yes, sir," he told me. We stood up and shook hands.

"Let's go, Nora," I told my daughter. She trailed behind me as I signed her out at the front desk. My afternoon plans were shot now that I would have to be home with her. On the subway ride home, I texted and called a couple of my afternoon meetings to try to reschedule. Nora sat with her headphones on, hoodie up over her head.

We wordlessly walked to the apartment and I opened the door. Nora seemed a bit weary of me – I realized she was probably expecting me to go off on her and get angry. I was annoyed, but I mostly just wanted to find out what caused her to do what she did. I sighed as I set my keys and wallet on the counter.

"Nora, go to your room for now," I told her. "I'll come to talk to you in a bit. You can get started on your homework."

I wasn't sure how to handle this situation. Growing up, my sister and I were usually pretty well behaved. I never would have dreamed of getting into a physical fight at school. If I had, I'd be terrified of what my father would have done to me. I hated that this was happening so early on in our relationship. I was still working hard to build trust with Nora, and now I was going to have to play the role of disciplinarian. Obviously, I couldn't just let this slide with a talk.

I called Vanessa and filled her in, trying to get an idea for what she thought I should do. Skateboarding and TV seemed to be the two most important things to her, so we decided I should take those away. After taking a few more minutes to compose myself, I knocked on Nora's door and walked in. I closed the door behind me and took a seat at her desk chair. She was reclined on her bed, listening to music and scrolling through her phone.

"Can you take the headphones off, please?" I asked her. She sighed and complied, folding her hands on her stomach.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed you decided to use physical violence to solve your problem today," I began. "But what I really want to know is what caused you to do it. Did she upset you somehow?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she told me.

"Why not?"

"Because I just don't!" she growled. "The video evidence is there so why does it matter? I punched her, story over."

"But why did you punch her? I'm trying to figure out how we can stop this from happening again."

"We aren't going to stop this from happening again," she informed me. "If someone insults me, I'm going to defend myself."

She was well versed in the way of the streets. It was an honor thing. If someone disrespected you and you just let it go, it left you vulnerable to more attacks. She didn't seem to understand it wasn't like that at Hunter.

"We need to figure out alternative ways of getting your point across without using violence," I told her. "If you don't learn that now, you're going to end up in prison as an adult. It's called assault."

She sat up in annoyance. "You don't get it, do you?" she told me. "When my mom gets out of prison, I'll still be living with her in Queens at least part of the time. I'm not just going to turn all wishy-washy and soft. If word gets out that someone insults me and I'm just gonna talk it out like it's Dr. Phil or something, I'm gonna be a huge target."

"Sweetheart, you-"

"Stop calling me sweetheart!" She snapped at me.

"Sorry," I said, holding up a hand. "I won't use that word. Nora. It's all about respect. You can earn other people's respect without punching them."

"Not where I come from," she quipped.

I realized this was going to be a long road. Her ways were deeply ingrained into her mind. It was going to take a lot of conditioning to get her to come around.

"Regardless," I continued. "If you choose to respond with violence, you're going to get punished at home. Vanessa and I are not going to tolerate it."

"You're going to punish me for defending myself?!" She asked, exasperated.

"If you do it with violence, yes," I told her. "So, while you're suspended from school, I'm taking your skateboard and your TV privileges. You can get them back on Monday when your suspension's over."

"You are not taking my skateboard!  I bought that with my own money," she challenged me. Truthfully, I wasn't sure what to do in that moment. I'd been a father for three years. I'd only had to deal with temper tantrums and time outs up until now, and now I had a teenager actually challenging me.

"I'm afraid I have to," I told her, standing up. She kept her skateboard by her bedroom door, so I scooped it up. "While you're suspended, I expect you to be working on homework the whole day. If you finish early, you can read. Don't think this will be a vacation."

"You're such a dick," she muttered, laying back on her bed.

"Excuse me?" I turned around, exasperated. "You need to watch your mouth, or there's gonna be more and more consequences," I warned her. She frowned and turned over on her side, facing away from me. She could pout all she wanted to. I took her skateboard to the master bedroom and went to the closet, where we had a locker-sized safe. I placed the skateboard inside to ensure it stayed where it was supposed to. Nora wisely spent the rest of the afternoon in her room and I managed to make a few phone calls. This was a day I was hoping I would not have to repeat, but somehow I knew it wouldn't be that easy.