A Sweets Life-Chapter 6

Just a quiet chapter, this time.

Mrs. Jackson had decided to bring Candy home, so that she could discuss the problems with Candy’s mother. Jenna was not pleased. In fact, she was explosively emotional, perhaps even murderous. Diane Jackson bore the brunt of her anger, sitting quietly in a chair with a resolute lack of emotion. When Jenna stopped to actually breathe for a few minutes, Diane looked her in the eye.

“Ms. Mason, I can certainly understand and sympathize with your feelings. I am responsible for the truly deplorable behavior of one of my teachers, and I accept that responsibility. That said, I must tell you that I am still working on ways to protect your daughter, and we need to work together in a calm and rational way to assure this.”

Candy stepped up to her mother, very carefully.

“Mom, she already went nuclear on Mr. Weber! It isn’t really her fault!” The tears were quite obvious. “If it’s anyone’s fault it’s . . . mine.”

Dianne and Jenna both looked at Candy.

“I guess I expected it.” She said with a resigned sigh. “I knew people would have problems with me. I was warned that this was gonna be hard. It might’ve been better to just keep pretending I was Andrew. Maybe I was just . . .”

“Now that’ll be enough!” Diane stood and took Candy’s hand. “This is not a game, Candace, this is life! You were living a lie, and you needed to fix that. I’m sorry that James couldn’t respect that, but don’t forget, many people were aware of your “secret” already, and there had been no incidents. The students, in general, either don’t care, or have accepted your change.”

“They what?” Jenna asked.

“Some of the kids already figured it out.” Candy said, shrugging. “Maybe we didn’t do so hot at keeping the ‘secret”. I guess they’re cool with it, though.”

Jenna was shocked. She had expected a much more violent reaction. As part of her research, she had read a series of books, starting with “Standing Up To Life”, by Tiffany Shar. The lead character, a young boy discovered his need to be a girl, much like Andrew. In the books, she went through incredible difficulties in her struggle for acceptance. Jenna had expected Candy to face similar problems.

“I don’t think we can expect everyone to feel the same,” Diane said. “Apparently Candace has some powerful friends, though, and they will do their best to protect her. I believe the intimidation factor alone may stop a few of the less aggressive tormentors.”

“Hold on!” Jenna said, surprised. “What are you talking about? "Powerful friends"? You mean the girls?”

“Well, them and some pretty big football players!” Candy said. “Mike Bingham promised that he and some of his friends would be there to help me, and if I got hurt, they were going to make sure that the person that did it would regret it!”

“Mike Bingham? I don’t think I know him.” Jenna said, searching her memory.

“Mom, if you met Mike, you wouldn’t forget him!” Candy said, giggling.

Diane smiled. “Michael Bingham is a very large and imposing freshman that our football coach has been drooling about. He stands almost six and a half feet tall, and is nearly as wide, and is all muscle. He’s quite impressive, and seems to feel protective of Candace.”

Jenna blinked. A jock was protecting her daughter? She had feared that the jocks would be the first to attack her! Were the problems she worried about completely misguided? It seemed that most of the stereotypes in her mind weren’t working as she had expected at all. The Principal understood, the kids liked her, even knowing who and what Candy was, and the jocks were protecting her? It was almost too good to be true!

“Maybe this isn’t as big a problem as I had made it out to be.” Jenna admitted, but Diane was quick to speak up.

“I think it’s much too early to relax.” She said, and she noticed a slight grimace from Jenna. “We still need to be careful, and do our best to truly protect Candace while allowing her a normal experience at school. I will do my best, and I know there will be others, but we cannot be there at all times. You still need to be very careful, dear. You also have a life outside of school, with problems that could be completely different.”

Candy nodded, but Jenna was already feeling much better. It was such a comfort knowing that Mrs. Jackson appreciated the problems and supported Candy in her need to be herself. It was far more than Jenna had expected.

“Mrs. Jackson-“she started, but was quickly interrupted.

“Diane, please.” She smiled. “I have a feeling we are going to get to know each other quite well over the next few years.”

Jenna smiled in return. “I fear you may be more right than we know. I hope it won’t always be bad news, though. I’m Jenna, by the way, and I truly appreciate your coming here with Candy, and your support.”

“That’s just a part of my job, Jenna. I love kids, and I refuse to allow them to be bullied.” She smiled at Candy. “Even by themselves. You are a beautiful girl, Candace. Enjoy it, as much as you can. We will do our best to help you.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Jackson. We’re cool.”

Diane smiled. “See you in school tomorrow. Have a good evening.”

“Bye, Diane.”

Candy gave Jenna a quick kiss, and then ran upstairs to change. Of course, the first thing she did was to call Robin.

“Hi! How did it go?” Robin asked. “Didjer Mom freak out?”

“Well yeah, at first, but Mrs. Jackson got her calmed down.” Candy said, as slipped her school clothes off. “She’s pretty cool!”

“I was pretty scared when she jumped Mr. Weber. I thought she was going to kick his ass!”

“Oh, me too! I wonder if he’ll get fired for real?” Rummaging through her drawers, Candy found a cute blue t-shirt with a teddy bear on the front, and a pair of workout sweats. Perfect.

“I think I’d almost bet money on that.” Robin knew that once her dad heard the story, he’d be calling Candy’s mom. “So, ya wanna come over and work on our homework?”

“I don’t know if mom’s gonna let me outta the house, but I’ll try, kay?

“Cool. Maybe I’ll just come over there, ya think that’d be better?”

“I know Mom would be cooler with that, but you be careful, too!”

“Yeah, yeah, I will.” She said. “I grew up with this, remember?”

“I guess. See ya in a little while?”

“Yep. Seeya!”

Candy hung up and put her phone in her pocket. She expected to hear from Jennifer and Tina at any time, and she wasn’t disappointed. Tina called her as she was going back down the stairs. She went through a similar discussion with her, invited Tina over to work on homework, and saw Jennifer waiting in the living room.

“Jenny got here a few minutes ago,” Jenna said. “I thought you would probably have the girls over to do homework, so I made a big bowl of popcorn and set a bottle of cola and some ice on the study table.”

Candy smiled. “You’re the best, Mom.”

“I know. What, are you surprised?” They both giggled as Candy went into the living room to get Jenny, and headed back to the den to get ready for the girls.

End Chapter 6-More soon! Comments welcomed, and appreciated! How am I doing so far?