Florida Girls
They say history repeats itself.
For Ashlyn Harris, history repeated itself with a fish.
The day had already been a bust from the get-go. Ali had left the night before to go spend a long weekend with her brother in DC, leaving Ashlyn on single parent duty with their three children. It was bad enough that, despite moving from Florida to Pennsylvania a month ago, there were still various unpacked boxes around and their kids were still having a hard time adjusting to upstate life.
Ashlyn forgot to set the boys alarm the night before. So at seven-fifteen, the time they usually were beginning to head out the door, Kyle and Cooper were still fast asleep. Hallie had decided to unleash her full Krieger diva genes and refused to get dressed until Ashlyn had braided her hair in her "game day braid."
Kyle and Cooper got into a minior scuffle regarding who got to use the bathroom first. After pulling the fighting boys apart, Cooper had decided to pick a fight with his little sister, resulting in a bucket full of Hallie tears and an afternoon of grounding for the middle Harris-Kriger.
By the time the boys had pulled themselves together and gotten ready for school, it was seven-forty five and Ashlyn had given up any and all hopes of being on time. Thankfully, luck was on her side because the kids were perfectly quiet and didn't fight for the entire twenty minute drive to school where Ash had to personally check her group of late students into their classrooms.
Once the kids were at school, the former keeper had a chance to breathe. Ashlyn headed towards her and Ali's favorite coffee shop in State College and bought herself a venti latte and a poppyseed muffin because, why the hell not?
The drive to Penn State was spent rapping her heart out to the entirety of 808s and Heartbreak, getting out the morning's frustrations with those sweet sweet Kanye West lines. Once at practice, Ashlyn focused all of her energy on her group of college goalkeepers, practically forgetting that her morning had been crafted straight from the pits of hell.
"Hey Harris!" Carmelina Moscato, and current first assistant coach for the Nittany Lions, held up Ashlyn's phone which was currently ringing off the hook.
"Thanks Carm," Ashlyn turned to her starting keeper beside her "Madison, be confident. Direct your backline, you can see more than they can."
She jogged over to the bench, taking the iPhone from Carmelina and smiled before swiping right on the photo of Hallie, Cooper and Kyle wrapping their arms around Ali during her last birthday.
"Hey princess is everything okay?"
"Penn Academy said they tried calling you like four times" the annoyance in Ali's voice couldn't be missed by even the most dense of specimens.
"Oh shit, I was at practice. Did they tell you anything?" now Ashlyn was worried as she began packing up her gear.
The younger woman could imagine her wife wringing her hands in both anxiety and irritation as Ali explained that apparently their daughter had gotten into trouble and if one of her parents could please go down to the school and resolve the issue as well as take their troublesome kid home.
"God damn it, sorry babe. I'll go take care of it. Have fun and tell the queen I said hi" Ashlyn hung up her phone and quickly explained to the other coaches the situation.
Driving back through the lunch time traffic, Ashlyn tried to think of what kind of fuckery Hallie Blaire could have gotten herself into. For the most part, Hal was a really good kid. Her only issues academically was that she was shy and often refused to speak in front of her classmates. And although she was a loaded pistol at home with her big brothers, Hallie was generally a sweet and kind little girl who would go out of her way to help her mothers or aunts out.
Ashlyn parked her Jeep in the parents parking lot and jogged up the sidewalk to the illustrious maple tree lined private school Ali's parents insisted on paying for and sending their grandchildren to.
"Hi Ashlyn," Pam the secretary greeted as Ash made her way into the front office.
Pam Oliver was not only the secretary at Pennsylvania Academy, but she also lived across the street from the Harris-Krieger's new home.
"Miss Hallie is sitting in the nurse's room"
"Thanks Pam, are we still on for dinner next week with your wife and the boys?"
"Friday night at seven," Pam confirmed with a nod "Lindsey is excited to see Ali again, and of course Wyatt and Danny are stoked to see the boys."
"Great, see you then" Ashlyn threw a wave over her shoulder while briskly weaving through the mini maze of offices and isolation desks until she reached a small room in the back.
In the nurse's station, Hallie was sitting on the small cot with an ice pack pressed up against her eye. Ashlyn immediately felt the anger become quickly replaced with sympathy for her only daughter.
"Oh Hallie Blaire"
Her voice had startled the second grader who had been staring out into space, reducing her to tears. Hal slid off the cot amidst her tears and walked over to her Mama, wrapping her tiny little arms around Ashlyn's waist.
The keeper picked up her daughter and held her close, feeling a little guilty that she was pleased Hallie wanted to be comforted by her. Not that Hallie preferred Ali over Ashlyn, the little girl loved her parents equally, but Ash was typically who Hal turned to to play or giggle with while Ali was her cuddle buddy.
Before Ashlyn had a chance to ask her daughter about the incident that had given her a black eye, the headmaster appeared in the doorway and requested Ashlyn's presence in his office. Reassuring her daughter that she'd be right back,
Ashlyn follow Graham Penewell into the first office after Pam's desk.
"I assume your wife didn't fill you in on your daughter's infractions?"
"No sir, and I apologize for not coming sooner. I leave my phone on the bench while I coach."
Graham nodded his head, sympathetic due to his own daughter who played on the Breakers.
"I understand Mrs. Harris-Krieger and all is forgiven. But in regards to Hallie, she was caught up in a small misunderstanding over a salmon."
"A salmon?"
Graham nodded his head, trying his best to keep it together and not burst out into laughter. If he was honest, the Harris-Krieger kids were so damn charming and they reminded him a lot of his own grown children, making it hard to discipline them.
"Yes, the accelerated second grade class is learning about the swimming patterns of salmon while raising about four of the fish in the classroom. Your daughter, according to her teacher, had been conversing with another student about the differences in each of their salmon--"
At this point, Graham Penewell had now been reduced to tears of laughter, recalling the seriousness of Hallie's testimony while Ashlyn was slack jawed in her seat.
"--her classmate vehemently disagreed and Miss Harris-Krieger proceeded to grab a fish from the tank and hit the boy across the face with a sockeye salmon. Mr. Owens responded accordingly, grabbing his own fish from the tank and then smacked Hallie in the eye."
Ashlyn swore she could hear Ali's voice now: Hallie remembers a lot more than you think she does Ash. She might be biologically Krieger but our daughter is all Harris.
Damn it Hallie Blaire.
"So what's her punishment?" Ashlyn rubbed her forehead, still in shock at her eight year old.
"She already wrote a letter of apology to the student and she'll be suspended for the rest of the day but by tomorrow morning Hallie will have full privileges back. Denver Owens is recieving the same consequences as well."
"Thanks Headmaster Penewell, I'll take Hal now." she reached over the desk as she stood up and shook the principal's hand.
Graham smiled and led Ashlyn out and to the front office where Hallie had been relocated. Ashlyn shook her head at the little girl dressed in a blue polo with a khaki jumper, scuffed up Mary Janes and her Nike backpack that practically swallowed her tiny frame whole.
"Let's go Hallie Blaire."
Hallie slid off of her seat and followed her mother sheepishly out to the car. The girl studied her mother's face for what kind of mood she was in as Ashlyn buckled Hallie into her car seat. The mother and daughter pair stayed silent for the first ten minute of their drive back home before Hallie quietly spoke up.
"Mama?"
"Yes Hal?" Ashlyn looked at her daughter through the rear view mirror.
"I had to call Mommy and tell her what happened. She told me to give you a message."
"Oh? What'd Mommy say?"
Hallie's hazel eyes lit up, a familir fire of mischief set ablaze behind them.
"That you can take the girl out of Florida but you can't take the Florida out of the girl."