Doreen & One little Brother; Doreen & Jean-Paul: Bittersweet 16

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Doreen tries calling home and talks to her brother with mixed results. ((Thanks to Suzene for the socking!))

Math had never been Doreen’s best subject. And that didn’t help when always having to remember that home was four hours behind. So she ducked out of class for a bit just to call home, maybe talk to Mom and Ryan early in the day. She’d try Dad later in the day when she knew she could get him in the office but right now, locked in one of the bathrooms she dialed home at eleven here, which would make it around seven there. School wouldn’t be started quite yet, so she should be able to get a hold of at least Ryan.
Even if Mom was already at work for the day.

Ryan answered on the fourth ring.

"Hey, fuzzbutt. What's up?" He sounded sleepy, as if she'd woken him up.

“It’s almost noon – well it’s almost noon here – I hoped I’d get you before school and stuff, is Mom there?” She asked, she didn’t remind him what day this was. She’d see if he’d remember on his own.

"M'not going to school today." Dori didn't have to see her brother to know he was wearing his "I got away with it" grin. "Told mom I had I headache and she couldn't get me back to bed quick enough. I love the Swine Flu." He yawned. "Mom's at work. Why do you need to...oh. Oh, yeah. Happy Birthday and stuff, fuzzbutt."

“Ryan!” Dori squeaked, “You shouldn’t be using swine flu to get out of school!” She couldn’t believe he was doing that. But Mom would put him back in bed for a headache if it was bad enough, “And thanks I’ve already gotten some presents and stuff already! Isn’t that cool?”

"I guess." His voice had definitely cooled. "Look, Mom's not here, but I'll tell her you called."

“I know her number I’ll call her later, but… um… can I get Dad’s number again? I don’t think I wrote it down right, the new one,” she said.

"Yeah, Dori? I kinda promised Dad that I wouldn't give it out. He's real busy, you know? Really."

“But it’s me,” she returned, “Dad can’t keep this up. I mean, today’s my birthday and I know his secretary won’t patch me through and I don’t want to talk to her anyway, I don’t think she likes me.”

"He'll call when he's got a minute. He's working hard, OK?" There was a defensive edge in Ryan's voice.

“…I’ve been here over a month and he hasn’t even called,” Doreen pointed out, trying to keep the tell-tale wobble in her voice that was the portent of tears, “I mean I know he’s busy but this is kinda weird, don’t you think?”

"God, what about any of this isn't weird? You, mom and dad, and that school you get to go to...it's all part of the freak show, OK? Dad being busy isn't weird when you look at the big picture." Ryan was quiet a second, but started up again a second later. "Maybe he wouldn't have to work so much if mom wasn't spending so much to send you to mutie school, did you ever think of that?"

“What are you talking about?” Doreen returned, “Mom only had enough money for the bus ticket the school is taking care of the rest. Like a scholarship…”

"Right. Like they're going to talk to you about that kind of thing. Look, I'm going to get some sleep. Go find something to do." The line went dead.

Doreen stopped and stared at the phone. What was that? Mom couldn’t even afford their lunch money sometimes, why did Ryan think Mom was spending all of Dad’s money on this school? She was going to have to call Mom next. She had to swallow back a lump in her throat. This wasn’t going to be the birthday she wanted. Doreen had to hurry or she’d be late for class, she’d email Ryan when she had the chance.

After the phone call, Doreen runs into Jean-Paul, who offers a bit of comfort.

After a while, you got used to distracted students in the hall, and learned to identify them before collisions happened. Doreen, however, wasn't just distracted...the girl was visibly upset -- even her tail was drooping.

Jean-Paul cleared his throat as the girl walked past. "Doreen? Class is this way."

“Oh?” Doreen looked up, Monkey Joe was following at her ankles right now, the squirrel had been napping. She was okay with that. It saved him watching her try to talk to her brother, “Okay. Um… sorry, I thought… I guess I got turned around.”

"The look on your face says that you are not having a very pleasant birthday so far." Jean-Paul glanced down at his watch. "We should get to class. Walk with me?"

“Okay,” Doreen said, “It hasn’t been that bad. Julian got me a shirt and a statue of Super Man,” Doreen said, plastering a bright smile on her face. It didn’t make up for her brother hanging up on her.

"That sounds like Julian. But I doubt he was the one who put that look on your face."

Her tail drooped again, she did bend down and pick up Monkey Joe, letting her friend rest on her shoulder, “No, but it’s okay, I’ll just call back later.”

Jean-Paul hazarded a guess. "Family problems?" From what Kurt had posted -- and, really, the general trend at the school -- it seemed likely.

From the way Doreen’s cheeks puffed out, you could’ve mistaken her for storing food for a moment. Until she let out the breath she was holding, “He’s normally not such a brat. I don’t get it. He thought mom was paying a lot for me to come here… uh, my brother, I mean.”

"I assume you corrected him on that front. Or had he already decided that his assumptions were reality?" Jean-Paul shortened his stride; they'd reach their destination far too quickly at this rate.

“I tried, but he hung up on me. He’s never hung up on me like that before. I don’t get it. He just said that Mom wouldn’t tell me what was really going on, but I know what was really going on,” Doreen said, kicking at the ground, “he also wouldn’t give me Dad’s new number. I think I had it wrong earlier, I just wanted to check.”

"Did he say why?"

“Because Dad’s ‘busy,’” Doreen said, complete with finger quotes, “He’s always busy, so Ryan says.”

Playing the girl's brother against her. Jean-Paul was severely tempted to track down Doreen's father and beat better behavior into him. It likely would not alter the man's behavior at all, but it would help him feel better.

'Not about you, Beaubier.'

"Perhaps your brother misunderstood." Jean-Paul frowned. "Hopefully, he will understand where he has gone wrong in this given some time." They were practically at the classroom already; hardly the place to continue this discussion. "If you like, we can speak more after class. But it is a nice enough day outside, why do the four of us not have today's lesson outside? We can go out under the trees, in the old academic style."

“Really? That’d be great!” Doreen said. She preferred the outdoors to being stuck inside. Even more now that outside wasn’t people, smog and traffic. “I mean, class outside, and sure. We can talk… I might try to call him again later. He got out of school today by claiming Swine Flu,” the last was said dryly, in a tone of pure exasperation that one would take with a sibling.

"Hmm. At least we know he is a normal boy as opposed to a pod person, at least. And that he still will confide in you about himself." A small silver lining, but something, at least.

“Yeah. He does that from time to time. Mom lets him get away with it if she’s really busy or she’s worried about something else,” Doreen said. Like her, or money, or other things.

Jean-Paul hesitated, his hand on the doorknob of the classroom.
"Doreen, the difficulty going on in your family right now is not your fault. I hope you know that."

She smiled, “I do,” really. Well, most of the time. But it was hard not to feel like a lot of it was her fault. When you looked back and tried to pinpoint things it all did start about the same time. But there had been minor problems before, so he was right.

“We are still going to have class outside, right?” She was totally going to climb a tree.

"I do not change my mind quite that quickly. Just stay close enough to the ground that you can hear me to take notes, hmm?"

“I’ll take notes. I promise,” Doreen said with a nod. “Bottom branch.”