Chapter 2
The next day, I went to pick Sophia up from kindergarten, just like always.
But something was off—she wasn't bouncing around like she usually did. Instead, she looked totally down in the dumps.
Just thinking about those school bullying stories online made my heart race.
I reached out and patted her head, trying to calm her down.
"Sophia, honey, tell Mommy the truth—has someone been picking on you?" I asked gently.
She lifted her little face, looking all serious, and shook her head like a tiny adult.
"Mommy, do you and Daddy not want me anymore?
"Is that why you're making me change schools?" she asked, her voice quivering.
I stared at her, baffled. Change schools? Wait, when did that happen? I didn't know anything about it.
Without hesitation, I called her teacher right away.
The teacher explained, "Mrs. Harris, our kindergarten has a set number of spots per class. Whenever a new student transfers in, we have to let one student go.
"Mr. Harris recently brought in a boy, so Sophia got transferred and was sent to the affiliated kindergarten next door..."
Affiliated or not, that place was a hundred times worse than this one—both the teaching and the facilities.
My heart sank at her words.
"What's the boy's name?" I pressed on.
"Lucas Reed. His mom lives in your neighborhood, too. She runs a bakery, so you must know her," the teacher replied.
I was seeing red. It was as if a switch had been flipped, flooding my system with a raw, obliterating rage.
When I got home, I saw Edward sitting in the living room, watching the news. I grabbed a glass of water and hurled it straight at his head.
"Edward, are you out of your mind? Who gave you the right to switch Sophia's kindergarten without even telling me?" I shouted.
The glass of hot water smashed against Edward's forehead, leaving a few bloody marks.
He clutched his head, shooting me a look of pure disgust and contempt.
"Linda, you're completely out of line!
"Sophia already has so much—she's got both her parents, grandparents who adore her, and she's smart. She'll be fine no matter where she goes to school!
"But Monica's boy is different. Lucas comes from a single-parent home, and he doesn't have the advantages Sophia does. He needs that kindergarten spot a lot more than Sophia ever would!" Edward snapped.
After that fight, Edward didn't come home all night, probably just trying to put me in my place.
But I held firm and didn't process Sophia's transfer.
Lucas never got the chance to transfer into her school.
Just when I thought things were finally settled, another mess popped up out of nowhere.
One afternoon, the teacher called me in a panic.
"Mrs. Harris, something's happened to Sophia at school. Could you come over right away?" the teacher said, sounding really anxious.
As I heard Sophia's heart-wrenching sobs through the phone, my heart was breaking into pieces.
I raced to the hospital, barely breathing. As soon as I arrived, Sophia, with blood streaming from her eye, threw herself into my arms.
"Mommy, my eye hurts so much..." she sobbed.
Sophia's eye was bleeding badly, her face covered in bloody tears.
After talking to the teacher, I found out that during paper-cutting class, a transfer student from another class had deliberately stabbed Sophia in the eye with a pair of scissors.
The ambulance rushed over just in time and whisked Sophia away to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Luckily, the wound wasn't deep, so her vision wouldn't be affected.
I let out a shaky breath, my whole body trembling, and turned to the caretaker who had come with us.
"Who's that damn transfer student?" I demanded, my voice shaking with rage.
"Lucas Reed. Mr. Harris gave us special instructions before that kid transferred in, so we really couldn't do anything about him..." the caretaker replied.
My nails dug deep into my palms. I couldn't believe Edward had pulled strings to get Lucas transferred in.
But I wasn't scared.
Next, I asked the teacher to pull up the kindergarten's security footage.
In the high-def video, Lucas—a chubby, tough-looking kid—shoved Sophia into the corner, grabbed her by the neck, and scratched her arms and legs with a craft knife.
He kept taunting her the whole time.
"Sophia, if you don't listen to me, my mom's gonna make your parents split up!
"Your mom will be a bad woman nobody wants, and you'll be just a kid nobody cares about!"
"No, my mom's not a bad woman, and I'm not a kid nobody cares about..."
Sophia cried until her voice was hoarse, and it tore me up inside.
After a moment, Monica walked over, her face all too familiar.