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“I—” Dillon started.
“Quiet!” Carter snapped. “We had this conversation. Why is it we’re taking your safety more seriously than you are?”
“This is your fault!” Dillon shouted.
“Youwilllower voice when you’re speaking to me.” Carter growled. “You do not like this situation, and I appreciate that. But you will not be disrespectful to anyone on my staff. If you’re having an issue with someone you come to me—we’ve discussed this. And since I cannot trust you to act like a decent person without my presence, you’re grounded.”
“What?”
“Give me your phone.”
Dillon wasn’t a fan of that, but to his credit, he saw fit not to test Carter’s temper.
“How long am I grounded for?”
“Until you’ve learned to be a decent member of society.” Carter explained. “Or I kill you. Whichever comes first. Go to your room. I need to speak with Seema.”
True to teenage hormones, he stormed out and stomped up the stairs. When we heard his door slam, I shoved my fingers into my pockets.
“Look, I don’t mean to make waves.” I told Carter. “But it makes it hard to protect him with so many of his friends around and it’s even worse when he refuses to cooperate. It was either deal with this now, or he’d need protection from me.”
Carter nodded and walked over to the window to stare out into the backyard.
“I didn’t raise him like that.” He told me. “I’ve raised him to stand up for himself and to respect those who treat him as he should be treated. I don’t know where this new attitude is coming from. He’ll behave after this. If not, he’ll be grounded forever.”
The next day, Dillon was silent.
He showed up on time to the car, belted himself in and I drove him to Eli’s place. This wasn’t a stop that I had to make, but Carter had told me that Eli was his best friend.
Since he was grounded and wasn’t allowed to use his phone, I found Eli’s address in the information Carter had given to me and picked him up.
“Good morning, Ms. Lipson.” Eli greeted me as he crawled into the backseat.
I chuckled. “No need to call me that. It’s Seema or my friends call me Wasp.”
“Wasp?” Eli asked. “Why?”
“I’m not sure.” I replied. “Strap in and we’ll get going.”
The moment we arrived at the school, something felt off.
While I wasn’t a hundred percent on what it was, I pulled up to the line of cars waiting to drop students off, while keeping my eyes on everything. Eli climbed out of the car before I could speak but I reached over and caught Dillon by the arm.
“Dillon. I want you to be extra careful today, okay.” I told him.
“Is something wrong?” Dillon leaned forward and handed him the burner phone I’d purchased after Carter took his. “I’m not sure. If you see any adults inside that you know shouldn’t be there, you hold down the nine, until you hear my voice, got it?”
“But dad doesn’t want me having a phone—remember?”
“I remember.” I answered. “But this is for your safety.”
“You have a bad feeling, don’t you?” Dillon asked.
I nodded.
“Okay.” He promised. “I’ll keep my eyes open.”
When I released him, he climbed from the car, and I watched as he and Eli disappeared inside.
