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“Lorraine is fine, but I can’t say the same for the young man she punched. Please arrive within the next thirty minutes if at all possible.” Every muscle in my body and thought in my head comes to a sudden halt when my brain registers what Mrs. Spears has just said. Surely she has the wrong girl. My sweet Lo would never punch anyone…right?
That one boy, Daniel what’s-his-face, has been giving her problems since the first day she started school here, but I didn’t think it was so bad that she’d punch him. It has to be him, though. I can’t think of anyone else it would be. I hope she made it count and really clobbered the guy. Wait, no, I shouldn’t be condoning this, should I? I’m the guardian here. I can no longer just be the sister. What position do I take in all of this? Do I scold her? I’m still not very good at disciplining.
On the one hand, the guy deserved a good punch in the face. But on the other hand, Lo’s probably getting suspended from school, and now the guy’s going to hate her even more.
I run back into the diner and grab my purse. I make my apologies to Hannah for having to run out on our lunch. My troubles with Jameson are completely forgotten in the wake of Lo’s drama. I speed over to the high school, praying that Jameson and I don’t get reacquainted before I can get there.
Lo and I are seated next to each other across from a woman twice my age. She’s beautiful. She looks like she could be the First Lady of the U.S. Actually no, she looks like she could be the President herself. She’s positively regal. And judging by the look on her face, she positively does not approve of me.
I know it looks bad. We’ve been in Waverly for only one month, and Lo has punched someone at school. These people know nothing about us, so all they have to go on is what we show them. We have not put our best foot forward, so to speak.
All this woman sees is a teen girl with no parents, being raised by an unqualified sister. And she’d be right in some regard. But she doesn’t know how hard we’ve worked to get where we are or how loving our home was while our father was alive…how loving it still is with just the two of us.
The woman, Mrs. Spears, clears her throat before beginning. “Mrs. Parker...”
“Oh, it’s just Miss,” I interrupt to tell her. I hold up my left hand to show her my empty ring finger. Lo grabs my hand and forces it back down with an exasperated look. “So sorry. Continue.”
“Miss Parker, I’ve already told you over the phone that Lorraine has punched someone. I’m sure you understand why this is a problem. We do not tolerate violence of any kind at this school. Lorraine will be suspended from school for the rest of the week, and I trust that you will take the time to address this issue at home as well,” she says. I nod my head as I listen.
“Um, beg your pardon, can I ask why Lo punched him in the face?”
The woman’s eyes grow wide before saying, “The why is not the issue here. The issue is that we make sure it is addressed properly and that it does not happen again.”
“I agree that we should address this properly, and to do that, we need to know why it happened. I know my sister, and I know that this is very out of character for her. I’m assuming the boy she punched is that Daniel Ashby kid?”
“I have known Daniel his entire life. He’s a straight-A student and the quarterback of the football team…”
“Yeah, yeah. I don’t care about his grades or his athletic prowess. I do care, however, that he has been bullying my sister since the day she stepped foot into this school. What are your policies on bullying?” I ask, my voice raised and starting to shake with anger.
“I was not aware that any bullying was going on. If Lorraine had come to me—”
“Did you even bother to ask what happened?” I’m practically yelling now. Calm down, calm down, calm down. Yelling is not going to help the situation. I take a deep breath to even out my heart rate.
“I asked Daniel what happened, and he told me that he was talking to her and she punched him for no reason.” The smirk on her face tells me that she believes his story whole-heartedly. Nothing we say to this woman is going to change her mind.
I grab Lo’s hand and pull her up to stand with me. Turning to the principal one more time, I say, “I can see that you’ve made up your mind to be against us, so I’ll be taking my sister now. If his behavior continues and you do nothing to help Lo, I’ll be reporting you to the superintendent. I would say that I hope you have a good rest of your day, but I try not to lie when I can help it.” I give her a snarky smile, and Lo snorts.
I pull her out of the office and into the hallway before she busts out laughing. I notice a woman standing next to a tall boy with a fresh black eye, and my mouth falls open. I look to Lo with wide eyes, and she nods her head in confirmation that he is, indeed, her tormentor.
He’s not at all how I pictured him. I thought he’d be an ogre. You know, like the bullies you see on TV. Not this almost picture of perfection standing in front of me. He’s the classic, most-popular-boy-in-school jock, which is so annoying. That smirk on his face has my hand twitching to make his right eye match the left one. I would not do well in prison, so I resist the urge and take a few calming breaths.
Lo and I walk toward the doors, past the mother-son duo, but I can’t not confront them. I turn back around and march right up to them. Lo groans behind me. The mother looks worried—as she should.
“What did you say to her?” I ask the boy. He’s a good foot taller than I am, but I stare him down like a mama bear ready to attack. Nobody messes with Lo and gets away with it.
“Excuse me? She punched him. Don’t you think you should worry about your own kid?” the woman pipes up.
“She’s my sister, and little ol’ Daniel here has been harassing her for the last month. So, no. Her behavior is not my biggest concern.”
“My son would never—” the woman starts, but she stops when her son places his hand over his face in frustration. She watches him, but he doesn’t say anything.
Lo speaks up and says, “He said I should take myself back to Harris so that he wouldn’t have to stare at my tragically ugly face all day, every day.”
“Why would you have to stare at her all day? If you don’t like her face, then look somewhere else,” I say.
“Great question. I asked the same thing. Would you like to tell them your response, Daniel? Or shall I?” Lo asks. The sharpness in her voice has all three of us wincing. Daniel shakes his head.
“He said, ‘You’re like a train wreck. You just can’t look away.’ I know it doesn’t sound all that bad, but he says stuff like this to me every time I see him. After a month of it, I just snapped.”
