“A suspension seems a bit harsh. Is there any way she’d be able to do an in school suspension?” mom suggests? “She’s never done anything like this before? I’m sure she’s definitely learned her lesson and this is not going to look good when colleges are considering her.”
Principal Watkins purses his lips as he looks over at me. Mom continues. “She was attempting to dissolve the situation. Do not take away her future for trying to deal with a confrontation in which should have been handled by your educators before it had a chance to escalate the way it did.”
Go, mom.
Watkins’ eyes bulge out for a fraction of a second before he rights his features. He studies my mother, and I know he knows she’s right. Maybe hearing about all the times Trish has had to bail the boys out of situations like this has rubbed off on her a bit. “I’ll consider your proposal,” he finally says. “I’ll have an answer by the end of the day. As for now, Tora, you need to return to class.” He turns to my mom. “Thank you for coming in. It was a pleasure meeting with you again.”
“Yes,” mom nods as she gets to her feet. “Hopefully, next time it won’t be under such… circumstances.”
“Yes,” he says. “I agree.”
With that, mom and I walk out of his office and pass a huge line of teenagers and their parents, Nate and Trish being a part of that. Mom stops by Trish to give her a rundown of the meeting while Nate stands and leads me out the doors. “I sent you a message,” I tell him.
“Oh,” he says. “I lost my phone in the fight. It’s probably laying in the grass somewhere.” I nod my head and look away, but he takes my chin and pulls my eyes back to his. “What happened in there? Are you ok?”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I got a suspension but mom maybe talked him down to an in school suspension.”
“What?” he demands. “That’s not fair. You were trying to break it up.”
“Come on,” I scoff. “You and I both know that what I said provoked him. If I stayed out of it, you would have been able to handle it on your own.”
“I think you overestimate my patience,” he says. “I was two seconds from beating the shit out of him. Again.”
I let out a breath as I study his eyes. “Well, at least now you have someone to go down with.”
His eyes harden. “I don’t want you going down for this,” he growls between clenched teeth. “You’re better than this. You’re supposed to be going places, not getting in trouble with me.”
“You jump. I jump.”
“Shit,” he grumbles, shaking his head. “Don’t say that. I get in far too much trouble for you to be jumping right in with me.”
“Well then,” I smile. “Maybe you should consider staying out of trouble.”
He grins, but my mother’s voice has him looking away. “Nathaniel, you should go back inside. Your mother is waiting.”
Nate nods and squeezes my hand before he takes off back through the doors to discover his fate while my mom glares at me. “Get to class,” she demands. “We’ll be talking about this when you get home.” I nod. “And don’t even think about detouring to Nate’s and coming home after dinner. The second the bell goes at the end of the day, I’ll be expecting you.”
“Ok,” I say with a slight huff. “I’ll come straight home.”
“Don’t take an attitude with me, Tora,” she demands. “I’m mortified to be called down here like this.”
“I know,” I tell her. “If I knew it would end up like that, I never would have inserted myself into it. I was trying to help.”
“You tore that boy to shreds,” she says, blankly. “I expect more from you. Now, get to class.”
With that, she turns and leaves.
Shit.
I grab my phone and check the time. It’s about ten minutes off lunch break so there’s really no point going to class, so I head to the bathroom to finally get a look at my face.
I stand in the mirror and gawk with my mouth hanging wide open. “Holy shit,” I whisper to myself. This is bad. My cheek is bruised and there’s dried blood all over my face. I mean, I look like a freaking train wreck.
I turn on the tap and do my best to clean myself up and once I decide I look good enough to face the world, I walk out with my head held high, only the bell hasn’t rung so there’s really no one here to see, so my head drops back down and I walk down to the parking lot to search through the grass for Nate’s phone.
The bell rings as my fingers curl around the cool metal of his phone. Naturally, I can’t help lighting up the screen and find a million missed calls and messages. All from me, Trish, Caden, Jesse, and the boys. I slide the phone into my pocket and make my way up to the cafeteria.