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32
Idon’t get to speak with the boys or Kate. One by one, we’re taken into Cal’s office to be questioned about what happened. I’m the last to be interviewed, and by interviewed I mean grilled, talked down to. The usual.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Cal asks me, his eyebrows drawn together in a scowl.
“What wasIthinking?” I roll my eyes, playing dumb, and rub absentmindedly at the bruise blooming on my arm, courtesy of Emerald who managed to get a jab in before I knocked her two front teeth out.
“Yeah. Tell me why you thought it was a good idea to get into a fight?”
“I didn’t get into anything. The witches of East Hackney came atme,” I remind him for what seems like the fiftieth time.
“Red is nursing a sore head and Emerald has lost her front teeth, Asia.”
“And what? I should have just stood there and let them fuck me up?”
He sighs, scraping a hand over his face. On his desk his mobile phone lights up with a new message which only makes him scowl.
“What?” I ask, knowing I’ve no right to pry.
“Nisha, my wife, is a little upset with me,” he explains, surprising me.
“Why is that?”
“Because I’ve taken on the role of interim principal of this school, that’s why, and she’s not happy about it. I’ve already been here long enough according to her.”
“You’re going to be acting principal…?”
“Looks that way, so I could really do with you all not fucking up so much.”
“I told you. They came at me.”
“And what about Camden? Did Bram start on him because according to the CCTV footage I’m pretty sure Camden grabbing Bram by the throat was the move that started all this bullshit.”
“I guess he did, but can you blame him after what happened to his mum? You and I both know that it was only a matter of time before he lost his shit. This is what happens when you don’t fucking act!” I respond, my voice rising.
“There’s been thousands of pounds worth of damage. Some kids have been seriously hurt today. I don’t know if I can prevent the authorities from coming here and shutting this place down,” he replies, ignoring the point I’m making.
“You think I give a shit about that? Theonlypeople I care about here are my boys, Kate and Pink. This place being shut down won’t change the fact that Pink is going to die. How are you going to fucking explainthataway?”
“She’s not going to die.”
“What, areyougoing to save her?”
Cal presses his mouth into a hard line.
“No, didn’t think so.”
“You confronted Mr Carmichael,” he says instead.
“Yes, I fucking confronted him. He’s running, Cal. Please don’t tell me you’re okay with that. Maybe you are, given you seem to be doing jack shit to stop him.”
Cal leans forward on his desk, ignoring the second text that lights up his mobile phone. He turns it face down. “We’re not doing jack shit.Trust us.”
“Trust you?” I counter, laughing bitterly. “Trusting you got Camden’s mum killed. Trusting you has led to Carmichael walking andthatmeans Pink dies. Does that just about sum this pile of steaming shit up?” Cal grits his jaw but doesn’t respond. He knows as well as I do that I’m right. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. What’s another kid’s life when all is said and done?” I spit, standing.
He’s not given me permission to leave, but he doesn’t try to stop me either.
It’s probably the smartest decision he’s made yet.
