The Heart Left Behind (Cole and Yvonne) novel Chapter 19

In the afternoon, when I was getting ready to pick Jonas up from school, I got a call from his teacher.

The teacher sounded somewhat frantic. "Mr. Joplin, please come over right now. Jonas and Xavier got into a fight."

My heart sank, and I hurried to the school.

In the office, I saw Jonas and Xavier seated on either side of the room. Both were injured.

Yvonne was already there, speaking with the teacher with a frown.

"What happened?" I walked in and asked.

The teacher sighed. "Well, during gym class, Xavier led a group of students to bully Jonas. Jonas snapped and got into a fight with Xavier."

I turned to Xavier and asked, "Why did you bully your brother?"

Xavier pouted. "He's so useless. He doesn't even know how to play basketball. Our class lost the game because of him."

I was about to speak when Yvonne chimed in, "Xavier, you can't talk about your brother like that. Apologize right now."

Xavier turned his head away stubbornly, unwilling to speak.

I crouched to meet Jonas' eye. "Jonas, tell me what happened."

Jonas wiped his tears and said while choking back on sobs, "Xavier said you divorced Mommy because I'm too stupid and useless. He said I was a burden. I… I hit him because I just couldn't take it anymore."

When I heard that, it felt as though a blade was dragging across my heart.

I got up and stared at Yvonne coldly. "So, this is how you raise your child?"

Her face paled. "Cole, you've got it wrong. I never taught Xavier anything like that."

I sneered. "Really? Then why would he say that? Yvonne, I'm warning you. Since Xavier's staying with you, raise him well. Otherwise, I'll take legal action."