Jax had been dragged out of the clubhouse bright and early by Gemma. He didn’t understand why, seeing as he was suspended. All he wanted to do was sleep. Between the club, the garage, and all of the hours pointlessly spent in a classroom, he was exhausted. He was actually looking forward to this suspension but Gemma had other things in mind. By 7am he was showered and dressed to leave the house with her shadowing him at every step to make sure he wouldn’t just lay back down.

The main office was already filled with people. All of them shuffling papers or chatting about whatever was on the news or eating their breakfast. He sat down on one of the chairs and watched as his mom talked to one of the secretaries. He was so pissed he had to be there this early. Not even on a regular school day would be be here at this time.

“He’ll see us in a minute.”

Gemma walked back up to Jax. Her arms crossed firmly across her chest with her lips pursed in annoyance. He knew she hated coming to the school. It was never for any good achievements, but all she asked was that he graduate and she’d be damned if this principle would stop them.

“Mrs. Morrow, Jax, principle Myers will see you now.”

The lady behind the desk called out to them and Gemma grabbed Jax’s arm, practically dragging him to the office. When they walked in, he motioned for them to sit at the two chairs in front of his desk and they did, but they couldn’t help but stare at him. Something was off. They could see his hands practically shaking before they’re eyes caught sight of a cut along the side of his neck, it was still irritated and red. Jax cocked an eyebrow before Gemma spoke up.
“Jesus Christ, what happened to your neck?”

They watched as he froze for a moment, his hands shaking more than before. His eyes shifted between the two of them unsure of how to answer but decided to place his hand over it, and clearing his throat.

“Just cut myself shaving. Thats all.” Gemma raised an eyebrow at the obvious lie but let it go and nodded so he continued. “So, I was able to do some thinking last night, and I realized that I was being unreasonable about the whole thing. It’s unfair to keep Jax from graduating when he’s managed his way through 4 years. I was just having an off day and made an irrational decision. We’d love to have you back in class.”

The mother son pair gave each other a look at the scripted speech but it only clicked in Gemma’s head. This was the same shit Harley was spewing in the office yesterday. A sly smirk came across her face as she met eyes with the principle and he froze again. This time the fear more prominent than last. Gemma looked down at Jax and they both stood up.

“Well I’m glad you came to your senses.” She reached out to shake his hand. “See you at Graduation George.”

Jax left the office confused. He wasn’t sure what just happened back there or why his mom had a knowing smirk on her face. “What was that?”

“That was your darlin’ girlfriend.”

“What’re you talkin’ bout, Ma?” He raised an eyebrow looking at Gemma.

“You really think he got that gash shaving?”

“No, but what makes you think it was Harley?”

“I asked her about your suspension yesterday. She said those exact words. Said she’d talk to him, make him see he was being unreasonable.”

Jax felt the anger flare up in him. She never mentioned this shit. This could’ve gone horribly wrong. Did she even consider what would’ve happened if she got caught? If he’d gone to the cops? How could she not tell him this? This was bullshit.

“Calm down, Jax. Nothing bad happened.”
“But it could’ve.”

“You know Harley’s smarter than that. She did what an old lady should have.”

---

Grabbing her chemistry book from her locker, Harley slammed the locker door shut, only to see Jax standing behind it. She jumped slightly, placing her book against her chest.

“Jesus Christ.” She mumbled. “Don’t do that.”

Taking a look at him, she noticed he was mad. They hadn’t run into each other all day, nor had he texted her so she assumed he’d found out. Did she really care? No. It had to be done and he’d come to see that eventually. It’s not like she was going to sit back and let his life get derailed by something as stupid as a diploma.

“Where were you last night?” His voice was deep. Stern.

“Judging by the sound of your voice, you already know the answer to that.”

Harley pulled a loose thread from her shirt before moving around him to walk down the  hallway to their next class. Jax followed hotly. You could practically see the steam coming off of his head from her reaction. She heard him huff out a deep, aggravated breath as she opened the door to their class.

Being late as usual, the whole class stopped to stare at them as they quietly made their way to their seats. Donna tried to grab her attention and Harley looked over at her as she motioned to Jax, silently whispering ‘what’s wrong?’

Harley shrugged her shoulders and Jax immediately slammed his hands onto the desk after witnessing the exchange. “You know exactly what’s wrong.” He half yelled out at her.

She cocked her eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest. “No cause I would’ve told her if I did.”

Donna and Opie looked on wide eyed at the hostile confrontation. Jax stood up, causing the whole room to stare again. “So going behind my back is something I should be fucking happy about?!”

Leila stood, kicking her seat of from under her. “Fuckin’ right you should. Least one of us has the balls to do something other than sit back and whine!”

“Jackson! Harley!” Mrs. Miller interrupted

“What?!” they both shouted, breaking the intense eye contact to see everyone staring at them wide eyed.

Tara had her hand over her mouth in shock at the whole scene and the teacher jumped back, scared by their tones.  “Office, now!!” She yelled, pointing her finger forcefully at the door.

Jax flipped his desk over as he followed Harley out the door. The noise caused the teacher to jump as they walked out, walking silently down the hallway to the main office. When they got there, the secretary told them to head into Mr. Myers office.

The principal looked at them more in fear than anything else. He offered them a seat but neither moved from their spots on opposite sides of the room. He looked between the two of them but their eyes were staring intently into each others.

“Want to tell me what happened?”

He tried to break their focus but got nothing. Clearing his throat, he tried again. This time they both looked at him. The intense anger and hate in both their eyes causing him to freeze momentarily.

“Look.” He took a deep breath for courage before speaking up. “Why don’t you to take the rest of the day off, huh? Just to cool down. It seems like there’s a lot going on. Just please, go quietly.”

Harley looked at Myers then at Jax before walking out of the office and stormed to her locker. The nerve of him. Talking to her like that. She’d done him a favor. Something he clearly wouldn’t do for himself. Throwing her books down into the locker, she slammed it shut and walked out to her car to go to the garage.

It wasn’t long before she heard the roar of a single bike following behind her as they pulled to a stop in the lot. Gemma and Luanne were talking by the office door when they saw the two pull up in an angry rush. They made their way over, only to see Harley get out of her car and go towards the clubhouse with Jax once again hot on her trail.

“What’s going on?” Luanne tried to call out after them but the large doors of the clubhouse slammed behind them.

“GET OUT!” Jax yelled, full of rage at the few hang arounds.

The clubhouse was empty of any members, thankfully. The rest of the randoms running out of the door as quickly as they could, leaving only the infuriated couple behind. Harley looked at Jax, arms crossed, lips pursed. Her eyes burning holes in him. He returned the look, his fists clenching and unclenching by his sides as his chests heaved up and down in heavy breaths.

“Why?! Why did you go behind my back?!” He yelled, knocking over a chair.

“Because you would’ve been dumb enough to stop me! You and I both know it had to be done!”

“Did you think for once what would happen if you got caught?!”
Harley grabbed a cup from the pool table, throwing it as hard as she could but he moved out of the way. “You think I’m stupid enough to get caught?! Is that how little you think of me!? And how dare you even say that when half the shit the club does has a higher risk of getting caught!”

“That’s the club! Not you! You’re an old lady so fucking act like it!”

“Don’t you tell me how to fucking act Jackson Teller! I did my job as an old lady and SAVED your ass! Why don’t you man the fuck up instead of second guessing yourself at every turn!”
Jax stormed over, grabbing her by her arms and slamming her back against the wall, holding her pressed against it. Harley sucked in her breath, wincing at the pain but shoved him off of her. “Get the fuck off of me!” She yelled, she could feel the tears burning in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. “Don’t you fucking see that I did this for you?! I want you live YOUR dream! To be at the head of YOUR club and I’m not going to let anything stand in the way of it! I don’t give a fuck if we’re over or not, you belong at the head of that table and nothing is going to stop that from happening!”

He looked into her eyes, running both of his hands through his hair as he listened to her words. The passion behind them, the determination. Before he could control himself, he placed both of his hands on her cheeks, pinning her back up against the wall to kiss her deeply. Her tears wetting his cheeks as she returned the kiss. Her hands cupping his face as their lips devoured each other’s. His hand still down her body, grabbing her legs and wrapped them around his waist as he lifted her against him.

The doors of the clubhouse swung open and the guys walked in with Gemma and Luanne following nervously behind them trying to stall. Jax put Harley down and the two of them froze as they turned to face the members. Otto made his way to the front and saw the two.

“You son of a bitch!” He yelled, causing Jax and Harley to jump.

Otto looked ready to tackle Jax so Harley pushed him down towards the hallway. “Jax run!”

She stepped in front of Otto but he shoved her out of the way and onto the ground. She watched him grab a shotgun from their meeting room and went off running towards Jax. Juice and Tig ran over to help her up and she looked over at Clay with begging eyes. “You have to stop him.”

Clay let out a heavy sigh and nodded, motioning his head to Chibs and Opie to run after the two while the rest of them ran out the front. They saw Jax and Otto running around from the back of the clubhouse and onto the lot. Chibs and Opie not far behind.

“Otto!” Clay’s voice boomed through but Otto wasn’t having any of it.
Jax was cornered between the bikes and Otto finally got to him, pointing the shotgun right at his chest. “You piece of shit!” He screamed at him. “My own daughter!”

Everyone froze, gathered around the two. Chibs and Opie keeping their distance as to not anger Otto anymore than he already was. Gemma and Luanne stood back, hands covering their mouths knowing that they had no say in what was going to happen. Harley looked between everyone and ran over to her father, stepping between him and Jax. “Dad, please!”

“Move Harley! This asshole knew the rules, now he’s gonna get what he knew was coming!” He tried to push her out the way but she wasn’t moving this time. “I said MOVE!”

“Dad, please just listen to me!” She pleaded again but he wasn’t budging. Shaking her head, she grabbed the barrel of the shotgun, putting it against her own chest.

“Harley get out of the way!” Luanne shouted from the side but Harley’s eyes remained on her father’s.

With a shaky breath, she locked eyes with her father. “You have no idea how much I love this man, dad. If you want to kill him, you’re going to have to take this shot through me.”