I shook my head. “No. And this needs done in the next twenty minutes. Why don’t you go get him so I can speak to him?”
The older lady frowned. “That’s… that’s not possible.”
“It is,” I said. “Because you’re going to go in there and get him, and he’s going to want to see me. Trust me on this.”
Principal O’Malley was my principal once upon a time, too.
My dad had saved his life once during a traffic stop.
Needless to say, O’Malley knew me. And he would talk to me.
“Please,” I added as an afterthought.
The old lady blinked, obviously perturbed that I was making her get out of her chair to do my bidding.
But I didn’t care.
I was pissed.
After hearing all that had gone on last night from my dad, I’d decided to make a little visit by the office before heading out with Delanie. Who would be here in twenty minutes or less.
I knew that she was going to come in here and talk to the principal on her own. I just wanted to beat her to it.
The old lady disappeared down the long hallway, and I watched her shuffle along.
Long moments later, O’Malley came hurrying out, completely scooting around the old biddy who had wanted to deny me his time.
“Bourne! Booth? Shit, I can never tell y’all apart,” O’Malley said as he held out his hand.
I grinned. “Bourne. It has to do with Booth’s son, though.”
O’Malley blinked. “What’s wrong?”
I then told him everything that had happened and explained what we’d learned from Asa.
O’Malley, angry now, turned to the old lady. “Dorie, look up where Mr. Asa Pena is right now.”
Dorie did, flipping through her book. When she found what she was looking for, she typed in a number on her phone and placed it to her ear.
“Mrs. Cooper? This is Dorie from the office. Can you tell me where Asa Pena is right now? Okay. Thank you!” Dorie hung up the phone.
“He’s currently taking a test in the STAR lab,” she said.
I looked at O’Malley.
“Perfect. Let’s go see.” O’Malley jerked his chin at me and ordered me to follow him.
I did, falling into step easily.
He led me through a maze of hallways that didn’t look the least bit familiar despite my spending years here when I was younger and came to a stop outside of a room that was right next to the lunchroom.
He gestured for me to look inside, and I did.
What I saw brought my blood to a boil.
O’Malley soundlessly opened up the door, and we watched as the teacher, likely the one that Asa had complained about, stood over Asa with a ruler smacking against her thigh. Not touching him, but definitely intimidating him.
Every single time the ruler smacked against her thigh, Asa’s cheek would twitch as if he was just waiting for her to slap it against him.
I gritted my teeth and looked at O’Malley.
He nodded without once looking away.
“’Scuse me,” a young boy around Asa’s age whispered.
And before either O’Malley or I could move, he squeezed between us and walked to the spot directly across from Asa.
Only, Ms. Greeley didn’t move once from where she was standing over Asa.
“Hello, Tom,” Ms. Greeley greeted the young boy.
Tom, the young boy, grinned at the teacher and went to work.
Another student squeezed past us, his head down and his shoulders hunched.
He walked to the spot directly next to Asa and took a seat.
The boy was older. Way older. He looked to be about eight or nine years old to Asa’s five.
“Mr. Sallow,” Ms. Greeley cooed. “How surprising that you’ve come to STAR lab today. Couldn’t get your math homework done again? Are the numbers still ‘switching’ in front of your eyes?”
She said that last part as if she didn’t believe him at all.
Only, you didn’t make that shit up.
You didn’t want to have to walk out of class, especially at that age, and show any signs of weakness.
It was embarrassing.
“Yes, ma’am,” the student replied under his breath. “I just can’t…”
“Save it,” she said. “How long did your teacher say you had to take the test?”
The boy swallowed hard. “Thirty minutes.”
“Get your work done. You have fifteen minutes, go.” She snapped the ruler harder, nearly hitting Asa on the upswing, and I’d had enough.
I marched into the room, announcing my presence.
The teacher looked up as if she’d been caught, but quickly tried to slide a polite, ‘I didn’t do anything bad’ smile onto her face. It didn’t work. I was pissed before I’d entered the school. Now I was downright irate.
“Ms. Greeley,” O’Malley growled. “May we have a word outside?”
“Uncle Bourne!” Asa cried out, standing up.
I pointed at him. “Finish your test, buddy. We’re going to go to the book fair once you’re done.”
Asa nodded his head in excitement and went back to his test, leaving Ms. Greeley to walk carefully and slowly out into the hall.