Anger flared, sweeping through me. I’d taught Luke better than this. Taught him to solve his problems in ways other than violence. I stared down at my son. “You broke someone’s nose?”
Luke’s back teeth ground together, causing a tic in the muscles along his jaw. “He deserved it.”
“Luke,” I snapped.
Principal Meader turned his focus to me. “This is not the kind of behavior I expect from the son of our chief of police.”
That muscle beneath my eye began to flutter.
“I didn’t ask to be the son of the chief of police,” Luke muttered.
His words hit, a harsh blow.
Hallie took Luke’s uninjured hand. “What happened?”
“I can tell you what happened,” the principal began.
“I didn’t ask you,” Hallie clipped.
Meader’s eyes widened.
Hallie ignored his reaction and turned back to Luke. “I want to hear it from you.”
Luke’s jaw worked back and forth. “I was supposed to meet Vi at her locker between classes. When I got there, Henry Cleary had her backed against the wall. He was making fun of her, the way she dresses, that she’s so freaking smart. She was crying. He made a move like he was gonna touch her, and she didn’t want that.”
Luke let out a shuddering breath. “I pulled him off her and told him to get lost. He got in my face, said some colorful things. But I don’t care about that. Then he tried to make a grab for Vi again. So, I punched him.”
That anger was back, but not at my boy. At this asswipe Henry Cleary.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for violence at this school,” Meader began.
“Good,” Hallie interrupted. “Because it sounds like Henry needs to be expelled.”
He gaped at her. “Luke is the one who punched another student. Henry didn’t hit anyone.”
“Backing a young girl up against a wall, threatening her, trying totouchher, isn’t violence?” Hallie’s whole body trembled, but not with fear. With fury.
Luke gripped her hand tightly, and I moved to her other side.
“She has a point,” I said as I took the seat next to Hallie. “I could bring the boy in for sexual harassment and assault.”
Meader’s face grew red. “And then he could press charges against your boy.”
I shrugged. “True. But if you put Violet Hooper, a pastor’s daughter, on the stand, and she says how scared she was, how upset, I doubt a single jury in this county would come back with a guilty verdict.”
“Well, this isn’t a court of law. This is a school. And I am tasked with keeping the students here safe and healthy,” the principal shot back.
“As you should,” Hallie said calmly. “Then you’ll make sureVioletfeels safe. Did you even talk to her?”
Meader shifted in his seat. “She said she felt picked on.”
“She said she was terrified. She was still crying when you got there. Had to call her dad to come pick her up,” Luke snapped.
“She was overly emotional,” Meader argued.
“I can’t imagine the school board would be happy to hear that you called a girl who’d been assaulted ‘overly emotional,’” Hallie said. “I’ll be happy to talk to Reverend Hooper about contacting them.”
Meader’s eyes narrowed. “Is that a threat?”
