Day Sixteen < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Eighteen

Jaz's day started out perfect - too bad It didn't end that way. But I digress. One thing at a time. She woke up early to do her homework, and breezed through it in plenty of time before school.

Elsewhere in the apartment, Myles was letting out some inner rage on Blarffy... (Who knew he had an inner rage?! .. perhaps he's more like Dad than he's let on....)

Braydon heads off to the kitchen to get something to eat.. and of course, the stove is broken.

Marnie is johnny-on-the-spot, though, and gets to work fixing it right away.

All the kids are off to school, and Bennie is "watching" the twins while Marnie fixes the stove. He's doing a bang-up job, though, isn't he? (And.. who's behind the dust cloud??)

... Turns out it was Braydon yet again. Bennie goes to dump his dirty plate on the table, then go watch some sports TV.

The stove is fixed, but the kitchen still needs cleaning, when all of a sudden Marnie's phone rings. Putting on her "everything is awesome" face and voice, she answers it.

"Hello?"

"Is this Marnie Malone, mother of Jazmyn Malone?" a gravelly voice says on the other end of the line.

Marnie pauses a moment to compose herself again, and responds, "Yes?"

"Jazmyn is being sent home early from school. She carries a note to explain everything, but suffice it to say, she barely avoided suspension today. She will need to be checked by a doctor as soon as possible, and to stop using so many hall passes to go to the bathroom. We have breaks between classes for a reason."

Stunned, Marnie doesn't know what to say. Of all the kids she has, getting a call from the principal about JAZ had never, ever crossed her mind.

"Jaz should be arriving home any moment now, I suggest you take some time to talk some sense into her. Also, I expect her to have seen a doctor by this time next week. Otherwise we may have to proceed with the suspension, after all. Meanwhile, I need to get back to work. Goodbye, Mrs. Malone."

The other end of the line goes dead.. and Marnie literally just stares at her phone for a moment, fuming.

Then, from outside, she hears soft footfalls on the stairs to the apartment. Jaz is home. Marnie goes to sit in the living room (where Bennie is) and calls Jaz in.

Sighing deeply, Jaz gulps nervously, clutching the offensive note in her hand. For a moment, she wonders if she can somehow play this off as some other type of offense, and just not give her parents the note. "Probably not." she thinks morosely, and goes to face the music.

Walking into the living room, Jaz hands her mother the note, and goes to sit down next to Bennie angrily. She wonders exactly what will happen to her now, because she's never really gotten in trouble before.

Marnie takes a moment to read the short note, and absolutely loses her hold on her temper.

"WHAT IS THIS??" she yells. "Why are you trying to skip class every single day, and using the bathroom as your excuse???"

"Mom... I'm not skipping class! And I DO need to go to the bathroom each day." Jaz protests.

"Of COURSE you need to go to the bathroom!" Bennie joins in, having now read the offending note for himself. "But that's what lunch and breaks between classes are for. Classes are for learning!"

"But I CAN'T go then!" Jaz wails. "There's too many people in the bathroom then!"

"WHAT ON EARTH SORT OF EXCUSE IS THAT?" Bennie yells, flabbergasted.

Sheepishly, Jaz hides her face and replies, "I can't pee with everyone else in there. I feel like they're watching me."

"Why in the world can't you?" Marnie interjects. "Don't you know how to close a bathroom stall door?"

Jaz looks confused, and replies miserably, "Of course, I can close the door. But there's still PEOPLE outside the door so I can't go."

Marnie and Bennie glace at each other, trying to figure out exactly how to handle this. Marnie finally says. "The school thinks there's something wrong with your bladder, because you go at the same time every day, in the same class. Apparently you've done this for more than two weeks straight. Either there's something wrong, or you're just skipping class, which would mean a suspension."

"I told you, I'm not skipping. I have to pee! I can't hold it all day!!" Jaz, fighting tears, gets up and storms out of the room, knowing she hasn't heard the last of this argument - but truly needing some time on her own to think things through.

"Now what??" Bennie asks Marnie.

"I guess we call the pediatrician. I don't think she's skipping on purpose. I mean, her grades are fine..." Marnie replies.

"How are we supposed to pay for this?!" roars Bennie, causing Jaz in the other room to cringe.

"I mean, there's obviously something wrong with her, so we should be able to find some welfare funding for it. I hope so, at least. I can ask at the doctor's office when I call."

"You'd better. Because I certainly can't afford it!" Bennie looks at his watch. "I have to go to work." he says, and stands up abruptly, leaving the apartment past a miserable Jaz.

Jaz checks in the fridge, and finds she is stuck with water and cereal yet again. Sighing, she gets her snack and sits at the table to eat it.

Marnie, still unsure what exactly is going on, picks up her phone again, and looks up the pediatrician's number. She then spends nearly two hours on the phone, trying to arrange welfare coverage for the necessary doctor visit for Jaz. Finally, she gets an appointment with both the county people and the doctor (for Jaz). She'll be able to find out more about how they'll manage to pay for it tomorrow. Exhausted, she puts down the phone, looks miserably at the still-dirty kitchen, and pulls down the murphy bed instead - the kids will just have to cope. She needs sleep.

By the time Benji arrives home, Jaz is engrossed in experimenting on the science table.

"Benji..." Jaz starts hesitantly. "Your hall pass idea didn't work. I almost got suspended today."

"What?" Benji queries, confused.

"I got sent to the office for using the hall pass to go to the bathroom every day." Jaz explains.

"Why? Did you do it all in the same class or something?" Benji asks again, still confused.

"Well, of course. Because it's right after lunch and that's when I need to pee!" Jaz replies indignantly.

Benji bursts into laughter, tries to say something, then breaks into more laughter. Finally, he manages to say, "Oh my God, Jaz. Never use hall passes in the same class every day. That's how you get suspended!!"

"You could have told me that before now." Jaz replied miserably.

Still laughing, Benji blurts out, "I never thought you'd be THAT stupid!" and leaves the room, chuckling to himself.

Jaz's eyes well up with tears again, and she tries hard to compose herself again. "I'm NOT stupid." she mutters to herself, dashing the tears away and going back to her experiments.

Just before bedtime, the doorbell rings. Okay, so they don't exactly have a doorbell. The door is so thin they don't need one, they can hear whenever anyone walks up the steps. To Jaz's surprise, it's Elsa, and Marnie allows her to greet her friend for a short while before bed.

(Apologies, these photos have been lightened, so if they look washed out, that's why. It was nearly impossible to see them without the adjustment, though.)

Elsa greets her, asking about why she got kicked out of school, and trying to find out if everything is okay. (It never occurs to Elsa that Jaz could have actually done anything wrong.)

Leaning forward. Jaz whispers the whole story to her new friend. She ends it with, "All I wanted to do was go pee! I didn't know this would happen!"

"Oh, Jaz! I'm so sorry! I didn't know. Don't be ashamed of having to pee, we all have to pee sometimes! When are they taking you to the doctor?"

"Next week." Jaz mumbles miserably. "I'm scared. I don't remember ever going to the doctor. At least, not since I was a baby.. but I definitely don't remember those visits..."

"Oh, it'll be okay," Elsa replies cheerfully, "Doctors aren't scary. Just tell them what's going on honestly, and they'll get you fixed up in no time!"

"You think so?" Jaz replies dubiously.

"Of course!!" Elsa replies, and wraps her new friend in a big hug.

Jaz looks back towards the apartment... "I better go. I don't need to be in more trouble."

"See you tomorrow in school, then, Jaz!" Elsa replies, and waves jauntily. "I'm sure everything will be okay, don't you worry!"

Jaz tries to smile back to her friend, and heads inside to go to bed. How could such a good day have gone so wrong??

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