I let his hand go and he dumped his backpack in the middle of the floor, just like he always did.
“Tell me the kinds of things that she does that you consider mean,” I replied gently, hoping that it wouldn’t make it seem like I was as pissed as I was.
He pointed to the counter where I kept the dog treats, and I rolled my eyes and handed him four.
He loved giving the dogs treats, and he was an amazing helper that all of the dogs just loved.
He disappeared to the kennels where he gave each dog a treat, and when he got back, I had him a peanut butter sandwich with no crusts made.
He started eating it before I reminded him of my question before he’d left.
“She doesn’t like me,” he repeated. “She’s my computer teacher. And she helps out in the STAR lab when I get sent there to take tests.”
Since Asa had skipped ahead a grade, he normally took his tests in the STAR lab to avoid any problems. I wasn’t sure why, but I wasn’t going to argue when it had my baby’s best interest at heart. At least, I thought it did.
Knowing that this chick didn’t like him made me semi-annoyed that he had to see her every day.
“What’s her name?” I asked.
“Ms. Greeley,” he answered around a bite of food.
My lips tipped up at the corner.
My father would’ve had a conniption if he’d seen one of us doing that.
I couldn’t tell you how many times we’d gotten a belt to the ass for something similar.
That was why, although it wasn’t technically showing good manners, I never corrected him.
“What does she do?” I pushed, shooting off a text to Booth.
Delanie: Has Asa ever talked to you about a Ms. Greeley?
He replied immediately.
Booth: Once. About her refusing to open his ketchup packets at lunch. Why?
“Sometimes she makes me stand up in STAR lab.” He shrugged. “And other times, she skips over me at lunch when I need help opening my ketchup. I don’t even ask for help anymore.”
Anger started to boil away inside of me.
“Is she mean to any other students?” I asked casually.
“One other student. His dad is a police officer, too.” Asa shrugged. “But he’s bigger and can get his own ketchup packets open. She does give him detention a lot, though. For talking. He never talks during lunch anymore. Neither do I. Except, Ms. Greeley was all the way across the cafeteria today when Oliver and I decided to stack our hamburgers. I didn’t think she could see.” He paused. “Last week she made me get out of line and go to the end because I was talking. We’re not allowed to talk in line.”
My hands fisted at my side as I listened to him explain more and more and more.
Once the dam was broken, he just provided us with tons of things that had me seeing red.
I looked at the clock, upset that by the time that I got all of that out of him, it was well past when I would think the teachers would still be at school.
To help cool myself down, I walked back outside and started to water my plants, hoping that would get me under control.
Except, it didn’t.
When Nico, Bourne and Booth’s father, pulled into Priscilla’s driveway ten minutes later, I marched right over to him, pissed as hell.
He saw me coming and got out, his eyebrows lowering.
“What is it?” he asked worriedly.
I looked back at the house to make sure that my son wasn’t anywhere close. Then I burst out crying.
“Someone’s being mean to my baby!”
***
Bourne
I bypassed the mom with the screaming toddler that was pissed he didn’t get a cookie at the fuckin’ book fair, then went in search of the front office.
I found my destination and marched inside.
Normally, this would be Booth taking care of this.
Actually, he was supposed to take care of this.
After we listened to everything that was being said last night that Asa had been dealing with when it came to the computer teacher from hell, Dad and I decided that Booth was likely too close.
And so was Delanie.
Which was why I found myself walking into the office that I hadn’t been in in years.
“Oh, hello,” an older, smiling woman said. “You’re Asa’s dad, right?”
Some of the perks of living in a small town was that everyone knew you. Some of the drawbacks of living in a small town was that everyone knew you.
“Um, no,” I said. “I’m Bourne, Asa’s uncle.”
Her eyes widened. “Two sets of twins. That’s amazing. Can I help you?”
I looked past her into the long hallway behind her, which was likely where the principal’s office was located.
“I’d like to speak to the principal,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Oh.” She frowned. “Well, he’s in with a student right now. Can I take a message?”