“This is the first one.”
He stroked his chin. “I see.”
He had the same perfectly manicured five-o’clock shadow she’d noticed on male celebrities the last time she looked atPeoplemagazine while getting her hair cut.
“But he says things too,” she added quickly. “When she’s in line in the cafeteria, and in the halls.”
“Like what?”
“It’s explicit and inappropriate.” Heat spread across her cheeks, and she wanted to shake herself. She’d testified in court more times than she could count, repeating phrases far worse than this one, out loud and under oath, for judges and juries. But these words felt different. Uglier. Dirtier. Because they were directed at her daughter.
“What does he say, Mrs. Mondello?” Mr. Vex asked again.
She cleared her throat and repeated the words her daughter had finally shared with her before leaving that morning. “He said, ‘I want to tie you up and ...’” She lowered her voice and spelled the f-word.
He raised an eyebrow. “That is explicit.”
“It’s explicit, inappropriate, and threatening.”
“It is, but unfortunately, it’s also fairly common in this day and age.” He suddenly looked much older than thirty-five, and she felt a tinge of compassion. “Thanks to the internet, boys are exposed to things they weren’t exposed to in the past, and at much younger ages.”
“And that’s unfortunate,” she said, working to keep her voice calm.
“But what are we going to do to protect our girls from the things these boys are exposed to?”
He shrugged. “Well, I can talk to this boy and ask him not to do it again.”
Her self-control evaporated. Words exploded from her mouth like shrapnel. “That’sit?”
“I can’t expel him for a first offense. But if it continues, we can talk about other interventions.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Can you at least speak to his parents so they know what’s going on?”
Once again, his expression remained neutral, but something changed in his posture. He stood up a little straighter, seemed to stiffen.
“If I feel the message isn’t getting through to the boy, then I’ll involve his ... parents.”
There it was again. An almost imperceptible pause before the wordparents.
She frowned. “Look. If my kid were doing something like this, I’d want to know.”
He gave her a weary smile. “Not everyone feels the same way. I wish they did. But many parents expect us to handle school issues at school. They don’t want to be bothered.”
“Bothered?” She inhaled sharply. “Isn’t beingbothereda fundamental part of parenthood?”
He sighed. “It used to be. I’m not sure that’s the case anymore.”
She said nothing for a moment, weighing her options. Should she argue? Push back? Demand the boy be suspended? But she could tell this man believed her and even seemed slightly sympathetic. At the moment, this appeared to be the best he could do.
It wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot. But it might be enough to scare Alex Orlov into leaving her daughter alone.
And if he didn’t, she’d come at Mr. Vex again, harder next time. And she’d talk to the boy’s parents herself if she had to.
“Okay.” She allowed her tone to convey her unhappiness. “I guess it’s a start.”
“I’m sorry I can’t do more.” His handsome face radiated sincerity. “Please keep me posted. If it continues, we’ll escalate our response.”
Was she being dazzled into acquiescence just because he looked like a young George Clooney?
