Pride & Persistence

“If it makes you feel better, Em isn’t coming off great in the gossip.” Anjya replied softly, now sitting up to settle back into her pillows. She picked at the seam of her uniform that she should really change out of. “It wasn’t that bad. Em looks worse than me… she fights dirty, but she isn’t trained.”

"You didn't have to do that," Ian said softly, putting his seat in as declined a position as possible. But there was an unspoken acknowledgement of the solidarity she had displayed. It had always been the two of them, so somehow her loyalty didn't surprise him. "And yeah... turns out that everything about her is dirty."

“I know I didn’t.” Anjya agreed, pulling her knees up to her chest. “But honestly, I would have attacked her myself even knowing now that it would end up in suspension. She screwed Brody- who knows for how long- I mean…” Anjya seethed out the last word , took a breath and then added. “I know it isn’t my business, but maybe you should get checked. That’s what they say to do right? Because who knows what she has if she is screwing any random guy she wants to.” She muttered angrily.

Ian cringed at the thought that he had been getting cheated on for a while without knowing it. He had briefly thought about it, then tried to dismiss it as a non-option. Was he that blind? Had he been that dumb? He sighed when his friend brought up the idea that he should get checked. He knew what she meant, and it definitely crossed s line they didn't usually cross together. But they were standing here at that line... and maybe it was one piece of his dignity he got to hold in all this. "Mmm... maybe not every guy she wants to..." he ventured slowly.

Anjya was silent as she tried to process this, not understanding at first, but then- “…Oh.” She breathed now, surprise flickering through her, but then second guessing that surprise. Ian was such a careful individual, who thought through every step he took. He didn’t make many mistakes, because he over-thought everything. “Did-“ she began then paused as she heard her mother’s voice coming from somewhere in the house. It was raised, full of anger and spoken in a rapid Greek that Anjya would only be able to follow if she was there, staring at her mother. Sometimes she wondered if even her father struggled to follow her mother when she got like this- which happened always on one of two occasions, either a special level of temper that only her Papa could calm her down out of- or Anjya’s grandmother was on the phone with her. “One second-“ Anjya murmured to Ian, straining to listen. There was barely any pauses, but every so often she heard her mother say ‘No, Salu-!’ Before firing off rapidly. “I think my dad just told my mom…” she muttered softly.

Ian didn't tell Anjya that he had been about to make the mistake. He had been about to screw everything up for himself, or at least put himself at risk. He felt like such a chump. He was saved from having to tell her anything with the distraction she offered of her parents having the discussion. "I'm guessing your parents are pretty mad?" He offered after the pause.


"Tellisie, I took care of it," Salu said again, tone calm. "And when the principal calls, I will make sure it is done," he added. He had more to say to the principal now that he knew his daughter had been threatened by a grown man. "They can't suspend her and they know it."

“How long before they called you? How long was she sitting in that school with bruises? Hm? And you say it’s handled, is it? Do we have the tape?!” Tellisie ranted as she slammed stuff around in a manner that could be defined as straightening but truly made more of a mess than it fixed. She stormed past her husband to her purse. “Better have a good lawyer, we have the best- that school will regret crossing this family- for who? An aging cop who never liked our Ian!” Her words were fast and clipped, she didn’t seem to care if Salu could follow or not- though surely by now he could follow- most of it. “You know what MY mother would have done? Razed the school to the ground, Salu! They want to play dirty, not investigate, accuse MY daughter of attacking a girl?? They have another thing coming. I am suing!” Tellisie began to type into her phone as she searched for their lawyer’s number.


“My dad is upset that I started it- you know… because I confronted Em…” Anjya admitted softly, “But he seems angrier with the school-“ She paused to listen , her brow furrowing. “I hope Papa can calm her down before she does something…” she muttered.

"There is more than one way to burn it down," Salu reminded his wife, his Greek fluent but not as quick-tongued. "They DID look at the camera, they DID release her. I know we are suing, but if we are going to sue, it won't pay to march down there and give them hell." He leveled his gaze at her, "Besides, I'm not just going after the school. I'm going for that cocky son-of-a-bastard cop, too." He folded his arms over his chest for the emphasis here. This was why he was so calm. "And I already emailed the lawyers."

Tellisie finally fell quiet, her breath seething as her eyes jolted up to her husbands. She paused for a moment before she nodded. “Good.” She agreed, but the tension in her jaw spoke of how not done she was. “She is in her room?” She demanded before turning on her heel and heading to her daughter’s room in a storm. She didn’t knock, which was usually a luxury they afforded Anjya, but opened the door with a snap. Anjya practically jumped out of her skin, even with hearing her mother’s steps she had not prepared herself. Tellisie inspected her daughter and a new wave of fury washed over her.

“Get changed, if that brat went to the hospital, so are we!” Tellisie ordered her daughter sharply, Anjya balked.

“What? Why? Mama!” She protested in Greek, moving to her feet while holding the phone to her ear.

“Get changed!” Tellisie ordered Anjya and shut the door.

Ian suppressed his laughter, mostly, as he heard Tellisie's intensity on the other side. "You're lucky they aren't killing you. I'm pretty sure my mom would kill me for getting into a fight." Becca would surely be upset about him throwing away chances for scholarships and everything else. Then she'd also try to burn the school down. "You're okay, though, right? Not broken?"


"Tellisie--" Salu called with a sigh, rubbing his face in frustration. "We do not need to go to the hospital. She is fine. I took pictures of her face," he tried to reason with his wife, but he knew he wouldn't win this part of the battle. "Let us at least wait until we get the call from the principal. I don't want to be at the doctors and have to deal with it there."

“The longer we wait the longer it seems like it wasn’t emergent!” Tellisie called back as she went to their room.

“Uhm, yeah, I am fine-“ Anjya waited a second before she poked her head into the hallway, watching her mother disappear before looking over to her father with wide eyes.

“Papa, do I really have to go?” She asked in English, still holding her phone up to her ear.

"Call the doctor and get an appointment for tonight, then," Salu called after Tellisie. "We don't need to wait in the ER for hours!" He sighed as he looked to his daughter, "If we don't give her this, we will be on our way to the school," he pointed out, then slowly headed for the bedroom himself. "Tell Ian he needs to talk to his parents. I can't sit on this for long," he added as he passed by and saw her phone out. He was closing the bedroom door before she could respond, though.

Anjya cringed to both her father’s points. “Uhm..” she pulled back into her room. “My dad is going to have to talk to your mom- because of everything- and I… I had to tell him why everything happened…” she confessed to Ian, her stomach turning.

Ian groaned, covering his face with his arm. "Yeah. I thought so," he assured her. He couldn't imagine that Salu wouldn't have pressed for the whole story, or that he wouldn't tell Becca when he found out. What a fun conversation that would be... going home was going to suck. He had managed to avoid his family pretty much all weekend since his parents were busy with the girls' gymnastics. Looked like that ended now. "Glad you're okay," he told her after a minute.

“Sorry, Ian… if it makes you feel better, I might be suspended for the rest of the year, so my parents will probably decide to skin me.” Anjya walked over to her dresser and began to change out of her uniform. “And I quit the pep squad about two seconds before I was kicked out.”

"They won't suspend you for the rest of the year. Both your parents would go in there with everything they have," Ian reasoned. "And I'm pretty sure that would be enough for all of the principals to crap their pants," he laughed a little at the thought. "Pep squad didn't deserve you. I heard all the girls tried to throw you under the bus. They're just jealous that you're so much better than them," he shrugged a shoulder.

“I don’t think jealousy is a part of it.. Em is the captain, of course they stood by her…” Anjya muttered and tugged on a sweatshirt. “I have to go. My mom wants to take me to the hospital because I guess Em’s parents took her… my dad is trying to convince her to just take me to a doctor.”

"Yeah... okay. Keep me updated?" Ian didn't want the end of the conversation to come because that meant he would have to go home and talk to his parents about everything that had happened. "Thanks, by the way. Suspended or not, it was pretty cool." He smiled even as he hung up and sealed his impending fate.

Ooc skip to Ian coming home?

OOC: Sure!

BIC: Ian sighed as the door closed behind him, the final click feeling like a final nail being hammered into the coffin of his humiliation. He set his backpack down and took off his shoes, then turned and looked around. The house was quiet still, which meant the girls were at gymnastics or a friend's house. That meant that Ian had a little time before the chaos. Just enough time for the conversation he needed to have. "Mom? Dad?" No use putting it off... it would only make it harder.

“Kitchen!” Roger called back, his voice practically seeming to carry the scent of chicken fried rice. It was one of the rare days where Roger and Becca found themselves alone in the house, so of course they were together. Roger was currently chopping up leftover vegetables to be tossed in with the dinner, while Becca read the news on a tablet on the counter.

“I think that bill is going to be passed… morons.” Becca announced to Roger in a soft murmur, tucking her readers on top of her head.

“Don’t ruin your good mood.” Roger chuckled as he chopped.

“I’m not, calling people morons is fun for me.” Becca insisted with a smirk. She looked unnervingly soft, her hair was down and loose which was usually out of place, except Mondays and Thursdays. Flight days. Becca trained pilots trying to become certified. Any day that Becca had been in the air meant a happy Becca.

Ian felt instant relief when he heard his father's voice. Thankfully the man was home. Surely he could prevent this conversation from getting out of hand. As he followed the smell of cooking food into the kitchen, he couldn't help but listen to the part where his mother was in a good mood. Ian wasn't so sure that was a good thing for the conversation. ... but... here went nothing. "Hey guys," he greeted them slowly. "Uhm... you guys have a few minutes to talk?" He had stopped in the entry of the kitchen and was leaving against the doorframe, as if he was uncertain about joining them fully.

Roger looked over to his son and gave a chuckle. “Come in, kiddo. I am about to start on the beef-“

“Rog, turn the stove off.” Becca had lifted her gaze from the tablet and was frowning Ian’s way. Roger frowned as he caught his wife’s sudden shift of mood, turning to click the stove off. “What is wrong? What happened?” Becca asked of her son, her own frown appearing as she slid her tablet aside.

Ian looked down to his feet as his mother immediately picked up on something being wrong. "You can keep cooking," he insisted to his father. "Please," he added. Having both his parents' full attention was a little too much, but he doubted that he was going to not have it now. Some days he hated how intuitive his mother was. He helped himself to a chair at the table, sitting across from his mother. "So... you're probably going to get a call from Uncle Salu later," he told them both. "Anjya got into a fight at school today." That was probably the craziest thing he could have said. Anjya wasn't exactly a fighter-- not this kind, anyway.

Becca’s eyes searched her son’s face. A call from Salu. She kept her questions held on the tip of her tongue, arching a brow expectantly his way when Anjya was brought up.

“Anjya? A fight? With who?” Roger questioned, looking utterly flabbergasted.

“Let Ian tell it.” Becca waved Roger quiet, for once switching roles with her husband.