Lia's loud confrontation

With the help of Mrs. Beth, Giselle and Lia left to meet Luther and his mother.

Lia followed her mother religiously with excitement at first when they entered the tall building. Soon, from searching through the floors and passing by the apartments, Lia's enthusiasm died, and she simply tailed her mother like a duckling without losing her sight.

Their search eventually ended when Giselle finally found the correct apartment. She ran to check the number on the door, and it was same as the one mentioned by Mrs. Beth. Lia saw her mother rush and followed to reach the far end of the hallway where Luther and his family lived.

"Is this the right place?" Lia called out from fatigue.

"Yeah! This is it!" Giselle said to ask if Lia was ready to meet Luther.

The little girl nodded with a slight hesitation. Even if granted, they couldn't back out right now. Facing their fight was the only chance to find a solution and settle the issue before something dreadful befell their lives again. Giselle took a deep breath and then rang the doorbell.

The two waited outside, and every passing second felt longer than usual, because it tested their fears. Shortly, the door got answered to their relief, and Giselle finally met Luther's mom.

"Hi!"

"Hello!"

Little Lia jumped in to greet as well as Luther's mother introduced herself formally,

"I'm Mary. Mary Scott. Luther's mom. Come on inside," she invited them at once.

Mary looked far more like a typical American woman, square face with light brown freckles covered behind a light make up. She had an average build, a beautiful face, and a striking blonde hair straightened to crisp without a single curl. She exuded poise and carried an air of dignity around her. At first, Giselle thought she looked like the calm type. But entering into their abode, it seemed like there's more to this woman than just being quiet.

Mary, Luther's mom, welcomed her guests into her humble apartment. She seated them in the living room and stepped out to bring some refreshments to offer. It was a standard building structure with a compact living room and an open kitchen, along with a dining table connecting the two, and rooms that ran from its stretch. The house was spotless. Even the air inside the house radiated nothing disturbing. One look at this family, and one might think they are perfect. Pictures hung around the house to remind how much of a happy family they are. Nowhere in the place did it scream like grooming a bully, but it did to their hindsight. Unfortunately, Mary was affected by her son's conduct. It reflected in her demeanor as she bought the drinks to the coffee table.

"This is a beautiful place!" Giselle complimented with a smile to ease the atmosphere.

"Thank you."

Just as the three got settled in the living room, a rough little voice echoed as it came out to check the fuss.

"Who is it, mom?" Luther's voice arrived, along with him in person, as he joined the rest in the living room to his bafflement.

**

As soon as Luther appeared, he spotted Lia. His anger seethed to explode as he called out to his mother.

"Why is she here?" the little boy raged.

"I invited them, Luther. Come say hi!" Mary directed her son.

"Mom!" Luther yelled.

Mary had to look only once to stop the little boy from erupting heatedly. Just watching it made Giselle feel grateful that she chose to talk to this woman. It didn't look like it'd be a waste trying to settle the dispute with a personal meeting.

Luther never spoke again after that and simply stood to watch the unexpected guests at his place.

Mary's little intimidation not only scared her son but Lia as well. The little girl immediately stood up from the couch, startling both Giselle and Luther's mom at once. She didn't waste another second and sincerely apologized right away for hitting her son.

"I'm really- really sorry!" Lia confessed.

Mary received quite the shock from seeing Lia apologize to her. Honestly, she least expected it, but having to see the child take responsibility for her action impressed her. Mary's little outrage from her son's yelling faded to Lia's gesture. She forgave her while appreciating her conduct.

Seeing Lia apologize without hesitation, Luther got surprised as well. And his anger from earlier finally appeared to have calmed down.

"I apologize for my son's behavior as well, Lia!" Mary returned.

It was only polite and respect to have Luther return his apology now, or at least that's how Mary envisioned it within that short duration, which was why she wanted her son to follow Lia.

Mary turned to her son and looked at him, earnestly sending him a signal. The little boy was not dumb to mistake his mother's expectations. However, what she demanded was a little too much to hurt his pride, so he showed a lack of interest in apologizing.

Luther's mother signaled at him again, now more intensely. Even Giselle felt bad for the little boy. Nonetheless, Luther screamed he would never apologize to Lia and ran away. Mary was left speechless from her son's rude behavior. She laughed to apologize for his actions again.

The mood was killed, and Mary was feeling mortified. Lia saw her feeling bitter. The little girl left her seat to inform that she would try to talk to him. Mary didn't want her son to be rude to her again, so she didn't encourage the sentiment. However, Lia insisted. She promised to inform if something were to happen. Seeing Lia take the initiative, Giselle joined to support her idea.

"They are classmates, so I guess it's okay!" She appealed.

Unable to turn down their suggestion, Mary eventually agreed.

Lia thanked her before marching to Luther's room.

"She is so sweet!" Mary remarked about Lia and how the little girl was so kind.

Giselle couldn't hide her smile from hearing a compliment about her daughter.

"Lia has always been like that!" she admitted.

"You must be so proud!"

"I am!"

Mary wearily sighed.

"Having a boy sounds rough?" Giselle guessed.

"Trust me! But I do love him so much!"

"I can see that!"

Both the ladies smiled and laughed while talking about their kids. Mary started to feel better from before. Ever since she got the phone call from Mrs. Beth about Giselle wanting to meet her, she had been nervous. Despite agreeing to the proposal, Mary was feeling anxious. Seeing how gentle both Giselle and Lia appeared, her apprehensions vanished to her ignorance.

Mary suddenly realized through their conversation that she missed something and asked Giselle about the woman who accompanied Lia to school back then to the vice-principal's office.

"That- that's Lillian Grey. She- She is my partner!" Giselle admitted.

Although it came out with hesitation, Giselle felt a little reluctant to reveal it. Also, it was Mary's first time meeting with a gay couple. Despite her husband's insults and hatred, she never had an opinion or actively participated in criticizing. Therefore, she remained calm to let Giselle feel comfortable.

"Oh, I see! Ah- I apologize for my husband's behavior towards your- partner that day. It was rude of him to say those things. I heard she is a famous author."

"Yeah, she went by her pen name for years, and ever since she revealed herself to the public, she became a topic of interest to so many people," Giselle explained what caused the buzz around that school recently.

"I see! It must have been tough."

It became easier to communicate with Mary since she never expressed any judgment after Giselle admitted her relationship with another woman. Giselle knew she was being considerate of her presence. And she respected her kindness.

"You bet! Ever since we agreed to live together, I had to leave for a work trip. That's why Lillian was taking care of Lia- by dropping her to school and picking her up."

"So that's how the rumor got spread around the school?"

"Yeah, and Lia ended up getting targeted by-"

Giselle paused herself before finishing the sentence, knowing well how it related Luther.

"Lia got bullied by my son," Mary grasped.

Both exchanged awkward glances for a moment, before looking away. Giselle could see Mary struggled to process the news about her beloved son.

"It's-"

Giselle wanted to say it was alright, but what Lia had experienced wasn't something trivial to admit as fine. Lia was bullied because her mother was in a homosexual relationship. Giselle didn't know how to respond, but she couldn't remain silent forever.

"I understand- everything, Mrs. Scott. That's why I'm here to- do something! If it makes any sense. I don't want my daughter to get bullied again. Or that she becomes a victim to such treatment by anyone at school," Giselle declared.

"Mrs. Scott. I'm here to make sure Lia would return to school happily and not just get expelled because her mother is a lesbian," she added lastly.

"Call me Mary, Giselle! And I know. My husband- he just went crazy after that day. He's been yelling at Luther nonstop, and I wanted to do somethings as well. I- Giselle," Mary paused herself to grab Giselle's hands to comfort and then continued, "I will try to do everything to make sure that Lia will not get expelled. Not after I met her today. She's so sweet!"

Mary's authentic words made Giselle smile in relief.

***

Meanwhile, Lia has unexpectedly decided to follow Luther, who ran away after admitting that he would never apologize to his classmate. It wasn't that difficult to find Luther's room as it had several stickers of comic heroes stuck on it along with the sign spelling, "Do not enter."

Lia entered voluntarily after knocking on the door a few times and receiving responses such as 'don't disturb me, mom,' 'I won't come out, mom," etc. Lia got tired of letting Luther assume that it was his mother. So, she stopped knocking at once and opened the door.

Luther flared, thinking it was his mom, but all he saw was another short figure enter his room.

Lia stepped inside shyly. It was the first time she was in a classmate's room, let alone a boy's. She could guess her father's reaction already. Still, she was anticipating telling him and teasing him. Ever since she started living with Lillian Grey, Lia picked up the habit of enjoying teasing her loved ones. The kind of teasing that would make one blush out of embarrassment, not anywhere near to hurting their feelings. Lia had been in the receiving state of getting teased by Lillian during their time together which she ended up picking up for herself.

Lia forced herself out of imagining her father's funny reaction, and tried to focus on her classmate.

Luther's room reflected pretty much what he liked clearly. The whole room was decorated with images of Batman. From posters, to bedsheets and even his pillow covers had Batman's picture on them. Amongst the Batman loving craze, Lia spotted an interesting item.

A plush toy of Dory from the Disney movie- Finding Nemo.

Lia couldn't help but chuckle at that one difference.

"You love Dory?" she asked out of impulse.

"You- Stop! Why are you here? Who gave you permission to come to my room?"

"Your mom," Lia replied.

Luther was vexed and couldn't respond to that. However, he refused to let this continue any further.

"Still, this is my room," Luther exerted dominance and asked Lia to leave at once.

Lia casually refused.

"I like Batman too," she remarked indifferently again.

Constantly being yelled at by his father for getting suspended at school, Luther had a tough time at home, unlike Lia. He stayed cooped up in his room since last evening. His mother was the only person to check up on him and made sure Luther ate his dinner last night and breakfast today. Since he had already been feeling down, seeing Lia at his place made him furious again. He failed to realize that it was due to his action that Lia threw her lunchbox at him, and that's why they got suspended together.

Luther really wanted to be left alone and definitely didn't wish to see Lia.

"Why are you even here? Aren't you suspended?" the little boy asked irritably.

"Yes, I know. You were also suspended."

Luther got irked every time Lia retorted to his comments.

Lia saw him still being angry at her. So, instead of staring at him, she went around the room to look at the posters and pictures.

Following the range of Batman from different angles, Lia came to the nightstand table where baby pictures of Luther were kept.

"You look rowdy!" she commented.

"Stop it! Who gave you permission to look at my pictures? Get away! Get out. And am I the rowdy one?"

"Are you saying I'm the rowdy one? You don't even know anything about me."

"Oh yeah, I know you have two moms, for starters. And that's all enough to know about you."

Offended by his comment, Lia felt like tearing all the Batman pictures in the room, but that would be inappropriate to Batman. Lia loved heroes too. So unlike Luther, she didn't struggle to hate or stay mad. Since Luther chose to pick on her randomly until now, Lia decided to confront him directly. Besides, this was the perfect opportunity since they are outside school and at a place where Lia has the upper hand if Luther tries to bully her again.

"You got that one correct. I do have two moms. Well, I haven't started thinking about calling Lillian 'mom.' Anyways, that's my problem, but I have a father too. He may not be here with me, but he still calls me every day, and we talk every day. So, what is your problem, Luther?

Why are you teasing me at school?

What sort of fun do you get from treating people like that? Don't tell me you feel happy?

If I have two moms, then I have two moms. That's my life and my family, and I love them both. I want my mother to be happy. Do you know anything about being gay? I may not know, but all I knew that my mom went through bullying when she was my age. All because she was gay, and from what I heard, kids were more rude back then. My mother never stood up or fought back. I understand. Sometimes it's- just so- exhausting that you don't wish to fight back. You simply let it happen. You get used to it! I'm not asking for your opinion or your support. We're going to the same school and same class. Why can't you just mind your own business, Luther?

Not only you are bullying me, you have also included your friends take part in your little game. Is that what you teach your friends or even encourage them to do?"

"Sh- Shut up. What are talking so much for? Your mom is gay and gay people are disgusting."

"Who told you that?" Lia questioned. She had enough of tolerating this guy's nonsense until now. Despite sharing, Luther still chose to be a bully and that annoyed Lia.

"My- my dad. He said that gays are all disgusting. What do you have to say for that? Huh?" Luther cried as he fought back in tears.

"Being gay is not disgusting. I see your mom, and I see my mom. Does your mom love your dad?"

"Yes. She loves him and he loves her."

"And so does Lillian. My mother loves her to the moon, and Lillian loves my mom so much that I don't see any difference in your family or mine. Even I didn't know anything about gay. But my father never told me to hate people because of who they are. My dad helped me understand. It's because of him I am here to tell you that I don't care about what you think. As long as I love my mum and Lillian, that's all enough. And it should be you. You should be ashamed of yourself for bullying me. And let me tell you, I will not sit back anymore and let others tease to their wish.

Even if you feel ashamed, that's your problem. Not mine. And I'm not asking you to be my friend, so-"

Silence suddenly fell in the room as Lia has done confronted her classmate. It was Luther's first time hearing from another perspective, and he couldn't respond to that as well. Lia knew she spoke everything that kept bothering her within. But seeing how she promised to cooperate in resolving their issue, Lia felt depressed. From all that she had spit, it was clear that Luther might get angry again. However, the little girl contemplated finding the courage to speak again. Lia didn't want to leave that room without making an effort.

"I- I'm sorry again for hurting you. But I will never forgive what you said. And- lastly, I will not leave this school as well."

Just as Lia professed, Giselle knocked and entered the room, startling the kids.