Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“It is whatever I say,” he snapped.
I held my hands up and was about to say one thing more when a loud roar passed us.
My eyes automatically went to where the biker had passed us, and my stomach started to do somersaults.
“Ghost,” I murmured.
Ghost was going so fast that I couldn’t make out his license plate, and when he passed a cop, the cop did nothing more but let him pass because there was no way in hell he would catch him.
“Shit,” Big Papa growled. “The thought of going to see the girl was lovely while it lasted.”
I rolled my eyes at Big Papa’s use of the word ‘lovely.’
“Let me know if you need anything,” I told him as I started up my bike.
In response, he gave me a half-assed salute and started his own bike.
I rode away before he did, headed straight for the school and the inevitable anger that I knew I’d be feeling shortly.
Ellen wouldn’t tell me to check my anger if I wasn’t going to be feeling it.
***
I watched the video of my son getting slapped, punched, kicked and beaten by a fucking girl, and then looked up at the principal.
“Let me get this straight,” I said carefully. “You want to suspend my son for fighting, which will result in him forfeiting his chance to play in any spring scrimmages, when he was the one who was assaulted and he didn’t lift a single finger in his own defense against this girl.”
The principal shifted in his seat.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy…” he started to say.
I held my hand up, stopping him before he could repeat the same thing he’d said over and over again for the last fifteen minutes.
“Do you know what school district we live in?” I asked him carefully.
The principal look startled.
“No.”
I grinned.
“Collerville, the next town over actually,” I said. “We pay this district over fifteen grand a year so he can come here,” I told the principal. “The reason for that is so he can graduate with an associates degree in science. He wants a leg up when he starts his college career. He doesn’t need to come here, though, like other kids do.”
I felt Ellen slip her hand into mine.
Linc and I had chosen this school when we’d first moved back here because of the school’s excellent graduation rates and the college credits they offered. Not to mention that Linc was very interested in science and technology, and this place offered advanced classes in both subjects.
“That has very little to do with what is going on here,” he said. “This fight was instigated in front of the entire football team, cheerleading squad, as well as some parents. I have no other choice but to…”
I held up my hand again.
“He did nothing wrong. You can see the entire video there.” I pointed to the cell phone. “Had my son fought back, she would be a fuckin’ pancake on the ground. But he didn’t. He let that girl hit him. Let her slap, spit, and punch. He moved away, she followed. He restrained her when she cut his face.” I stood up, placing both of my hands on the principal’s desk, and leaned over it. “You called me away from work, a job that doesn’t give me paid time off to deal with bullshit like this, and then you have the fucking nerve to tell me you’re going to suspend my kid?”
The principal’s jaw hardened.
“I have no control over…there’s a zero-tolerance policy!”
I finally smiled, letting him see the top row of my teeth. Clearly, it wasn’t a smile that anyone wanted to see aimed toward them.
“Would you like to explain to your school sponsors next semester why the state’s fucking star quarterback, my son, is at a different school?” I asked. “Because if you suspend him for something that was not his fault, then I’ll move him out of this shithole that I pay way too much for so fast that you won’t even see me coming.”
“Mr. James…” The principal, the little weasel-eyed fuckwad, started to stand.
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m taking my kid home, and tomorrow when I return him to school, if he’s not welcome to walk through those doors, then I’ll be getting his transcripts and enrolling him in Collerville before the sun finishes cresting in the sky. Do you understand that?”
I could tell that the principal didn’t believe me, but with my words said, I gestured to my son, who still had a bleeding scratch on his face, and walked out the door.
I was met with the coaches out in the parking lot.
“What’s going on?” they asked.
“What’s going on is that they’re suspending him, and that the principal doesn’t believe me when I say I’ll enroll him in Collerville tomorrow if he does,” I snapped.
The coach’s eyes widened.
“I’ll have a talk with him,” Coach King promised.