31_days | [JUNE 16th] [Original] Sweet Potato

Title: Sweet Potato
Day/Theme: June 16^th - Sweet enough to give you diabetes.
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Yamileth Reid, Maj. Ernest Reid (father-daughter)
Rating: PG 13 (some language and some violence)

Words: 1,564

Okay, this my first original fic ever. Please read and yell at me when it’s bad. Looking forward to getting your feedback. Thanks. =)

the teacher was standing in front of a roomful of bored sixth-graders. It was the first week of school after the summer and they weren’t really pleased to see him. The little girl beside him wasn’t looking too happy, either. Her dark brown eyes were darting from him at the class and back nervously. Her hands were twisting at the hem of her pink summer dress. Better get this over with quickly…

“Listen up, I want you to meet our new student”, he ushered the girl to step forward, “Everyone, this is Yamileth. She only just moved back here from Maryland with her dad.”

Silence filled the classroom for a moment. Then a snicker went through the back row, then there was silence again. The teacher sighed inwardly, “Let’s see where you can sit. Why don’t you take that desk over there, next to Amber?”

“Thank you, sir”, Yamileth muttered quietly, then went across the room to sit down. “Hi”, she greeted the girl next to her who simply overlooked her presence.

“Yam-what?” the boy sitting behind her started teasing, “Can I eat ya?”

“Yankee”, another boy hissed from her other side. Yamileth swallowed hard but she said nothing, making a mental note to take revenge at some point. They wouldn’t get through with that, not for long.

Major Ernest Reid had just come off duty and was still in full uniform as he walked into the school building. He was wondering what trouble his sweet, little girl could have possibly caused on her first day of school back at home. It had to be something bad if she needed him to bail her out like that. And, by the looks of it, it really hadn’t been some piece of cake:

Yamileth was waiting for him in front of the principal’s office. There was a long, deep red cut under her right eye and a huge bruise next to other. But Yam was grinning broadly as she saw him. “Daddy”, she jumped up and hugged him, slinging her arms around his waist. He frowned at her, “Looks like you took a little tumble, kiddo.”

She blushed, grabbing his hand, “Well, no”, she coughed meaningfully, “best that CO guy in there tells ya what happened.” She tugged at his arm.

He sighed, “You mean the principal, don’t you, Yammie?” She had definitely spent too much time on base with him.

“Yeah”, shyly she knocked on the door. It was opened by an elderly, balding man in a gray suit.

He extended his hand to the Marine officer, “You must be Major Reid.”

Reid took it with a firm grip, “Yes, sir, that’s me. Good to meet you.”

“Likewise”, with a sidelong glare at Yamileth, who was glaring back at him, the principal conducted the two of them towards his desk, “please, have a seat.”

The major sat down, beckoning Yam to do the same, but the girl remained standing between the chairs stubbornly.

“I’m glad you’re here to take that little yahoo back into your custody.” The principal was fiddling with his reading spectacles nervously.

Yamileth pulled a sour face at the man, obviously not agreeing with his opinion of her, “I ain’t no yahoo.” She pouted then jumped into her dad’s lap. Reid wondered if he should push her off there. This definitely was an odd behaviour for a twelve-year-old. But at last he allowed her to stay where she was. It showed quite some solidarity in front of that annoying tweed-pooper calling his cute little sweet potato a yahoo.

“So what has my daughter been up to then?” the major asked, raising a mocking eyebrow at the guy behind the desk.

The principle gave up fumbling with his spectacles, thrusting them into his breast pocket, “Well, Major, your little one has severely beaten up two boys from seventh grade.”

For a moment, Reid’s mouth popped open, “She did what?” His eyes travelled back and forth between Yam and the principal. His daughter did not look guilty at all. She just shrugged, bobbing her black curls stolidly. Obviously this was not quite how things had happened:

“Give me that back”, one of the boys from class had snatched her lunchbox. Yamileth dashed at him to get it back but he had already chucked it at one of his friends. Together with an older boy they were now peering inside.

“Ohh, look, the sweet potato has got cherry cobbler!” one of them exclaimed with a snarl. Angrily Yamileth dashed at him but he was a whole head taller, easily looking down on her. “Aww, did yer mommy make it?”

Mommy, the thought was hurting her. She had none. Growling she snatched back her lunch from him. “My granny did, and she’s gonna give ya a whupping when ya touch it.”

The big boy went over to his friend. Together they returned, taking her into their middle, “Look, Jeb, Yam the Yank is hiding behind her granny”, he pushed her.

Jeb smirked at her, “Aw, ain’t she got no mommy? No apron strings to hang on to?” He shoved her back into his buddy.

Yamileth could feel the fury sizzling inside her. Now she was really angry. “Shut up”, she punched Jeb hard, to no effect.

He chuckled at her, “Hey Wayne, the potato just punched me. That so hurt”, he faked a sniffle.

“My name is Yamileth”, she yelled into his face.

“What? Did ya say something?” Wayne pulled at her dress, “Just thought I heard some white noise there…”

Yamileth had enough. She could hardly calm down anymore. These guys were annoying the hell out of her. It was time to teach them a lesson. In her head she went through the moves. Suddenly her foot came dashing forward and she felled the boy. Surprised he tumbled to the floor. Her sneaker stepped on his chest and her fist found his face, “My name is Yamileth”, another punch thundered home, “Delaney”, another hit, “Reid”, the last punch drew some blood, cracking open skin. Yam bent over, shouting into the boy’s face, “and I am no bloody Yankee!”

Trying to help his friend, Jeb pulled her away from behind, “Where’re ya from then, missy? Kansas City, huh?”

She pulled away, yelling at him too, “Hell yeah, bastard.”

“Bad luck”, he kicked her and she fell. His fist struck her cheek hard, “This is St Louis and we don’t like ya.”

Yam’s nails clawed into his wrist. He yelped, “You ugly cow.” He hit the other cheek and she felt how it burned, “If you had a mommy, she’d teach ya some manners.”

“Quiet”, he was galling her even more. Yamileth jumped up and rammed her head into Jeb’s tummy.

He seemed quite unfazed by it, “Ugly Yankee cow.”

“I’m sweet”, she stepped on his foot, then slapped at his solar plexus till his lights went out. Her dad’s self-defence handbook had really helped her now. A little exhausted she sat down on top of Jeb. He’d never call her an ugly Yankee cow again.

“I’d say your daughter overreacted badly”, the principal scowled at Yamileth, “she’ll be on detention for the next two months. I wouldn’t find it fair to suspend her on the first day in. Maybe she just needs some time to acclimatize.”

“Does she?” Reid winked at his daughter secretly.

Yam just shrugged again, whispering, “If he says so.”

“What was that?”

Her dad snorted, “She says, she’ll try.”

“Are you taking this seriously?” the man in gray frowned at the major.

“Yes, sir, of course”, Reid replied, giving Yamileth a nudge, “is there more we need to discuss?”

Fed up with the two of them the principal finally gave in, “No, I think that’s all. I’d just advise you to keep a close eye on your daughter. Big trouble usually starts out small.”

“Thanks for the warning, sir”, the Marine gripped his hand firmly, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Once outside the room, Reid sighed, kneeling down in front if his little one, “So, what exactly did these two dumbasses do to ya, honey?”

For the first time today, Yamileth sniffed away a tear, “They stole granny’s cobbler, they called me a Yank, they made fun of mommy and they said I ain’t sweet.”

Her father sighed. No wonder she freaked out on them like that. He took her hand into his, “Wanna go apologize?”

“Nah”, she blew a raspberry, “don’t want them to get hurt more.”

“Fine”, Reid walked her out of the school, “Just one thing, missus…”

“Yeah daddy?” she grinned at him.

“Next time you poke your nose into my books…”

Yam winced at his, suddenly impatient, tone of voice.

“Ask me. You seem to have missed some of the good pages.”

“Yes, sir”, they both chuckled and went into the parking lot. As they had reached the car, Yamileth gave her dad a quizzical look, “So you don’t mind I hit them?”

“Well, it was a bit messy for a little princess like you”, the major lifted up his girl and sat her into the passenger seat of his pickup. “But obviously these guys needed to learn how sweet my Yammie is.”

Her face lit up and she smiled at him, “So she ain’t no ugly Yankee cow?”

“Nah”, her daddy laughed, “She’s a sweet Missouri gal, sweet enough to give you diabetes.”