Jules #2
Like the words landed, but the meaning hadn't caught up yet. "What the fuck?" I muttered under my breath.
"Excuse me?" the principal said sharply.
"I'm on my way," I said and ended the call.
Juste was already looking at me. "What happened?"
"Man, the principal just called me and said they caught Julise and some more kids at school drinkin vodka out of a water bottle," I said, still trying to process the sentence myself.
Juste leaned back in his chair like he'd heard something unbelievable.
"Oh hell nawl. I'm coming wit you. We gon give her some tough love today.
Niece tripping." He stood up immediately and followed me out.
Neither of us said much getting into the car.
I started the engine and pulled out the driveway.
The ride to the school was quiet. Not tense.
Just focused. My hands stayed steady on the wheel.
Inside my chest, something had tightened, though.
When I pulled up to the school, I cut the engine and stepped out before the car had fully settled. The halls smelled like cleaning spray and cafeteria food. Same smell every school got.
I walked to the principal's office, and the secretary waved me through.
Julise was sitting in the chair when I walked in.
Her Back was straight, and her Hands were folded in her lap with a blank face, just waiting.
That almost irritated me more than if she had been crying.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. St. Jean," the principal said, standing up.
"I'm sorry we have to meet on such bad terms." I nodded once.
"As I explained, we caught them drinking out of a water bottle.
Apparently, this has been going on for a while.
We have them on camera passing the water bottle around a few days out of the week for the last eight weeks of school. "
I looked down at Julise. Her eyes stayed forward. "Have you called her mama?" I asked, still staring at her.
"Julise explained that her mom was at work in an important meeting this morning and that it would be better if we called you." That made something in me almost laugh.
"Oh yeah?" I said calmly. "Your mama at work Julise?" She turned her head away instead of answering.
"As you know, this is an extreme violation of school policy. Julise has a ten-day suspension. Five days out of school and five days in school." The principal kept talking. He started handing me packets of assignments. I took the papers and nodded once when he finished.
"Alright." We left the office without another word.
The walk back to the car was quiet. Julise walked beside me with her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. Head down but not ashamed. Once we got in the car I started the engine. "Man do you know they say your niece ass been getting drunk for the last eight weeks at school," I said.
"Damn Jul, you a young drunk?" Juste said, turning around in the seat to look at her.
She stared out the window. "This mutha fucka so slick she told the principal her mama was in an important meeting at work and they would have better luck contacting me instead," I added. "Nia don't even know this shit going on."
"You know damn well yo mama ain't got no job," He said, smacking his lips. "Ion know Ju you might need to whoop her ass. She way too out of hand." I nodded my head in agreement pulling in the McDonalds parking lot up the street. I cut the engine but left the car running.
Juste twisted around in his seat. "Be real with Unc niece.
What's going on, man? Be honest. Why you wilding out like this?
" She looked at him with the same blank expression she had in the office.
Silence stretched. "Aight," Juste sighed.
"Either you answer me, or I'm finna get on the phone and tell your Auntie Chiana what you did. And you know she gon call your mama."
Her eyes widened immediately. "Please don't call Auntie," she said quickly. First words she'd spoken since getting in the car.
"Well, you better open your damn mouth, Jul, and start talking now," I said, turning slightly in my seat.
She hesitated. Then spoke. "It started back when everything happened, when mama broke up the family.
" Juste shot me a quick side eye. "I just never stopped," she continued.
"We just kept going. We was all just trying to escape what we got going on at home.
" For a second I didn't say nothing. Just listened to the engine idle.
"First of all," Juste said, pointing at her, "becoming some young drunk ass disrespectful lil girl ain't the way to deal with the shit you going through." She looked down. "You need to talk to your parents. Hell call me. But this shit you got going, niece, it ain't the way."
She nodded slowly. "Uncle Juste, how am I supposed to talk to anybody?
" she said quietly. "Mama got her own stuff going on.
I mean, I was able to spend time with her a couple of weeks ago, but daddy.
.." Her voice trailed off. She glanced at me through the rearview mirror.
"Daddy just ain't around. Even when he is him, and Mama never talks. It's just weird, and I'm over it."
I kept my eyes forward. Juste didn't. "You need to quit pointing the finger in grown folks’ business," he said. "Your daddy is what broke your family up but you so busy being disrespectful to your mama you can't even consider that as a possibility."
I felt Julise looking at me now. "Is that true, Daddy?" she asked. The car was quiet. I didn't dodge it. "Yeah, it is," I said. That was the first time I'd said it out loud, and I couldn't take it back. “I started the shit that fucked up me and your mama. Shit just got out of hand."
I saw her wipe tears away quick. "I just want everything to go back to how it was," she said.
Juste leaned back in the seat. "Well baeeebbyy girl," he said slowly, "that the funny thing about life. Sometimes shit change. And sometimes shit will never be the same. But that's life. You gotta roll wit it. It is what it is."
While he was saying that to her, I was hearing it myself.
Life don't rewind. You don't get to reset houses the same way you reset business deals.
Once something cracks, the structure shifts, whether you acknowledge it or not.
I looked at Julise in the mirror again. She looked smaller than she did this morning.
Not physically, emotionally. That's when instinct hit me.
The same instinct that make you build things bigger than yourself.
Fatherhood. Sitting there in that McDonald's parking lot, my mind started spinning.
My daughter had been drinking tequila in school for eight weeks.
And I didn't see it. Didn't notice it. Because I wasn't looking.
That realization didn't come with emotion. It came with clarity.
Later that night, I was at the table eating pizza and watching Juelz and Jezel eat pizza and do their homework.
Nia had spent all afternoon raising hell with Julise, so everybody was walking on eggshells.
The house had that quiet and tight, but it wasn't in yelling or chaos.
Everybody was aware that something had been handled.
Julise had pushed Nia to her limit. She cussed her ass out good.
I didn't interrupt it either. I refused to step in this time.
Some corrections belong to a mother. And Nia handled it the way she handles most things lately, steady.
She took down Julise's hair, washed it, and put individual plaits all over her head with beads on the ends like she was eight years old.
Julise was mad as hell. She cried the whole time Nia did her hair.
But Nia never stopped talking. Her voice never rose or cracked.
She explained to Julise that she had to remind her that she was a child.
That part stuck with me. I realized, sitting there watching the scene earlier, that Julise hadn't been acting like one lately.
She been moving like somebody older. Somebody trying to outrun something.
Nia threw all of her clothes away. Every last outfit Julise had been running around in that made her look grown.
Crop tops. Tight ripped jeans. Nia bagged it up without emotion.
She didn't make a show of it; she just folded them, stacked them, and threw them away.
She left about an hour ago to stock up on khaki pants and navy-blue shirts.
Julise hadn't came out of her room since she left.
The house was quiet except for pencils scratching paper and pizza boxes rustling.
I leaned back in my chair, watching my son and daughter across the table.
Juelz had his head down over a worksheet.
Jezel was chewing slow while writing answers out.
It was normal stuff, but tonight it felt different.
"Y'all have fun at the aquarium with your mama? " I asked.
Jezel looked up immediately. "Yeah, Daddy, it was fun.
We got to see sooo many animals." She stretched the word out like kids do when they excited about something.
Her eyes lit up a little. "Sharks too?" I asked.
"Yesss," she nodded. "And jellyfish." I nodded and imagined it.
I should've been there. That realization didn't come with anything but fact.
"Where was you at?" Juelz asked without looking up from his paper.
I chuckled quietly. My boy was outspoken as hell. He never held back. "I take it you would've liked it if I was there," I said.
He kept writing. "Everybody else would've." His pencil never stopped moving. I stared at him a second longer than I meant to, just registering the statement. Jezel kicked him under the table. He frowned but didn't say nothing else.