Chapter 5: Being Schooled

Cade was accustomed to waking up early in the morning from so many years of being in prison. Two weeks was not a long enough time to break him of the habit. His back ached from the poor quality of the mattress and he wondered how his grandfather had ever managed to sleep on that mattress, but he reasoned it probably wasn't quite as rotten and old at the time his grandpa had been alive.

Callie rolled over when Cade got out of bed. She was still naked and she was also ornery from sleeping on such an uncomfortable mattress. She watched as Cade lit a cigarette and then she took one for herself. "It's so fucking early," she moaned. She could still feel the soreness from the strapping he had given her the night before.

Cade sighed. "I've got to get that truck working so we can get a second hand mattress or something. This mattress is horrible."

"Would you rather be back in the city with Annie and Seth?" Callie teased and then she rolled her eyes as she thought of Seth's house.

Cade was not ready to have sex with her again, not yet, so when she attempted to touch him playfully, he pulled away and quickly tugged on his Levi's and headed out the door to wake up the kids. "Get up!" he called as he entered their rooms.

"No!" Jessica answered in an ornery voice.

"What?" Cade whipped his head around and looked at her with amusement and she quickly jammed her hands in her nightgown and began tugging on it nervously.

"I'm tired," she answered in a very soft voice.

Cade rushed toward her and grabbed her out of bed, nearly giving her a heart attack as he began to tickle her. "You're tired!" He smirked at her as she wiggled and laughed.

"Stop it," she screamed, "I need to pee."

When he heard those words he immediately stopped tickling her and put her down, watching her run downstairs to the bathroom. Harley walked into the bedroom and smiled at his dad. "Are you gonna go out and work on the truck again today?"

"I'm going to work on the truck and you're going to go to school," Cade informed him.

"Shit!" Harley said, without thinking.

Cade raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Harley swallowed and Cade looked at him sternly before reaching out and ruffling the top of his hair. "Don't swear. Now go take a bath before breakfast."

Ashley grimaced when she heard her dad say they would be going to school. She couldn't make herself get out of bed without a lot of effort.

Callie was not the domesticated type and fixing breakfast for everyone each day was getting old after only two weeks. At least now she could use the stove, but all she wanted to do was take the easy way out and fix the kids cold cereal every morning. She began to get out the bowls for cereal when Cade reached up and stopped her. "The kids are going to school today, how about you fix them something hot, like pancakes."

"You fix them that shit," Callie said bitterly, taking a long drag from her cigarette.

Cade raised his brows, "Do you want to go over the table again?"

She slammed the bowls back into the cupboard and began to find the pancake mix.

"That's more like it," Cade smiled when he saw the pancake mix.

Jessica rushed out to the table and sat down with enthusiasm. "What's for breakfast?" She loved it when her mother made breakfast every day; she was growing fond of it.

"Go upstairs and get dressed first; you're going to school today," Cade informed her.

Jessica frowned. "I don't want to go to school."

Cade snickered, "Upstairs you go young lady."

"God dammit!" she retorted.

"What?" Cade did a double take and grabbed her by the arm. "What did you just say?"

"God dammit," she repeated sheepishly.

"You can't say that in this house. If I hear those words come out of your mouth again I'm going to spank you." Cade warned.

Jessica's eyes got big and she rushed up the stairs, "Guess what Harley, guess what," Cade heard her yelling. "We can't say 'God dammit' no more."

"Of course we can't," Harley informed her. "That's a swear word."

"It is?" Jessica said, "I didn't know."

Ashley laughed at Jessica's ignorance. She was very nervous about going to school and she shook with fear from head to toe. Attending school had never been her favorite thing, except it had taken her away from her Grandparents home for a short time each day when they were still living in the city, but that was the only good thing she could say about it. The other children usually made fun of her. She had terrible memories of school. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and Cade watched as she came down the stairs sucking nervously on a small strand of her hair. Cade reached over and yanked the strand of hair out of her mouth. "Go brush your hair and pull it out of your face," Cade instructed.

Ashley frowned. She didn't want to do that. She wanted to hide behind her hair and let it hang in her face, but she didn't dare argue; she didn't have that much gumption. She sighed and went into the bathroom and found a hair band and pulled her hair back into a pony tail. Callie was busy cooking pancakes and didn't have time to help the children get ready for school. She hated cooking breakfast.

After breakfast was over, Cade drove the kids to school and went inside with them to register. They all three would be attending the local elementary school and Cade was informed there was a bus that could transport them to and from school every day, if they waited out by the main road before a certain time each morning. It was fall and the school year had just begun.

Harley was hesitant about joining his class at first, but he quickly got over it when a kid sitting in the back smiled at him. Jessica hung back for awhile as well, because she had never been to school before; but after some coaxing from her teacher, she eventually agreed to give school a try and she took her seat in the classroom.

Ashley, on the other hand, hung back with a terrified look in her eyes as they approached her classroom. The principal looked at her impatiently and deferred to Cade. "Go ahead," Cade said and yanked her forward.

"No dad," she pleaded.

"Ashley!" Cade said. Ashley burst into tears and Cade looked up at the Principal who shrugged and didn't seem to know what to do. "Will you excuse us a minute?" Cade asked the Principal.

"Certainly," The Principal said and backed away, but the principal was still too close for Cade's comfort. Cade noticed a door leading outside near where they were standing and he pulled his daughter outside where they could be completely alone. "What's wrong?"