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Principal Welch sighed, lifted the wastebasket beside his desk, and leaned over so she could throw it away.
Instead of picking it out of her mouth and depositing the gum into the receptacle, like any good girl should, she spit it into the basket and then gave the principal one of her big toothy grins.
As if that made everything okay.
“Sorry about that. I’d forgotten I put chewing gum in my mouth before school.”
“It’s two o’clock,” Principal Welch responded.
“Can we wrap this up? My mom has a list of chores for me to do at home.”
Another lie. He’d bet his Tony Hawk skateboard on it. It took him three months of mowing lawns in the sweltering heat to earn the cash for that iconic board.
“Birdie, some of the other kids in class claim that you’ve been bullying Lucas. Again. Is that true?”
The girl didn’t flinch. “Define bullying.”
Lucas’s eyes landed on Principal Welch to see if he was going to lose it. Because for real, who talked to adults like that? Let alone the school principal?
If Lucas had said such a thing to Bernadette, there was no telling what she’d do to him later at home. Probably make him go to bed without supper, or even take him behind the shed and hit his backside with a big old wooden spoon the size of a shovel. It wouldn’t hurt. Never did. But still, it would make him feel bad and scare the bejeezus out of the other kids in the house with their noses pressed to the kitchen window.
That said, Birdie wasn’t afraid of anything or anybody.
Principal Welch continued, “Making fun of someone for not having a mother, calling them names I don’t care to repeat, and stealing their lunch three days in a row, are prime examples of bullying. What’s more, young lady, you’re smart enough to know better.”
“I am pretty smart.”
Omigod, she said that with a straight face.
Lucas couldn’t hold back any longer. For whatever reason, instead of commenting on the issue at hand, he chose to backtrack.
“For your information, I have a mom,” he said, sitting up defiantly and pointing his thumb at Bernadette. “She’s sitting right here next to me. And guess what? She loved me enough to show up today. That’s more than you can say for yours.”
Bernadette stiffened beside him and shifted her weight his direction, her palm landing softly on his knee. A silent message that indicated he was to stop. Now.
He slumped back in his chair, but not before noticing the color on Birdie’s face turn a deep red. She looked almost sad. It surprised him and made him feel bad for saying what he did.
Then she said something he really wasn’t expecting, after tilting her head, her eyes capturing his attention. “You’re probably right,” she whispered.
He blinked as she stared straight at him. This time, without attacking him with her usual fake smile or bratty comeback.
Bernadette added pressure to Lucas’s knee that he wasn’t aware was bobbing up and down, and he instantly calmed.
The principal glared at Birdie and using his deep authoritarian voice, said, “As for your punishment—”
Bernadette, interrupted, “Principal Welch, I would like to suggest something. May I?”
“Of course,” he said, sitting back in his chair and clasping his hands in front of his big belly.
“Birdie attends the after-school program?”
“Yes, I believe she does.”
The principal turned to Birdie for confirmation but she had dipped her chin, kicking the desk in front of her, and avoiding eye contact.
Bernadette continued, “I would like to invite her to come home with Lucas after school instead.”
Lucas twisted his head toward his foster mom with wide eyes, as if she had lost her mind. No. No, no, no… how did this happen? This was no longer a punishment for Birdie.
