“We shall,” was all she said.
“Hey, Jamie. Go on home. Tell your mom we talked, and I said ‘hi.’ We’re going to go have a brief conversation with your principal,” Kira said.
Jamie’s eyes widened. “Do you have to?”
“Jamie,” Kira started, “your principal is violating the law. I need to remind him of that. What’s the point of being a lawyer if I can’t protect people like you?”
Jamie didn’t seem convinced, but he said nothing else as he turned around and skulked away. Kira and Blayne walked back into the high school and found the main office.
The principal’s domain was an institutional gray color with a few school-spirit-type posters hanging on the wall. Blayne looked at one of them and saw a poster that read, ‘Stay Cool. Stop Bullying.’ He almost barked out a laugh but caught it before he did. Blayne nudged Kira and jerked his head in the poster’s direction.
“Yeah, like that’s going to stop anything.”
“Wow,” Kira said, letting the word hang in the air. “Pathetic. What is this, the eighties?”
“Excuse me,” a woman behind the reception desk said as she entered from a side office. “How can I help you?”
“Is Principal Reynolds in?” Blayne asked.
“Let me see if he’s available. And you are?”
“Tell him it’s Kira and Blayne,” Kira said, pasting on a fake smile.
The receptionist went around the corner, and Kira could hear her all the way out in reception.
“Tell them I’m not here,” Blayne heard the principal say.
Kira raised her voice and said, “Tell him we can hear him.”
The principal said several choice words. A few seconds later, the receptionist came back around the corner. She was in a bit of a tizzy and unsure what to make of the principal’s vulgar language.
“I’m so sorry you had to hear that. He normally doesn’t talk like that,” she said, shaking her head. “He’ll see you now.”
Blayne and Kira went through the side gate and behind the reception area to the hallway where the principal’s office was. Without waiting, Kira opened the door and walked inside. She pulled out one of her business cards and handed it to the principal.
“I’m here to talk to you about my client, Jamie Reich.”
“What has that boy done now?”
“Excuse me?” Kira asked.
“Well,” the principal started, “he’s always getting himself into trouble with the other boys. You know how it is. He provokes them by flaunting his ‘gayness’, then is surprised when they disagree with his lifestyle choices. Then he comes whining to me about it.”
“Wow,” Kira said, a look of utter amazement crossed her face. “There is so much to unpack in what just came out of your mouth.”
Kira pulled out a legal pad and wrote what the principal had said. She repeated it to him, making sure she had nothing wrong. She then spent the next twenty minutes reexplaining David’s Law and his ethical and legal obligations to his students under the law.
“You make it sound like I’ve done something wrong,” the principal responded. “I’m doing what’s best forallthe students, not just Jamie.”
“That may be your opinion,” Kira said. “But Jamie is my client, so I’m only concerned abouthissafety and wellbeing.”
“I almost feel like I should call my lawyer.”
Kira took a deep breath before staring the principal down. The man was clearly not used to being talked to in this fashion. After an awkward pause, Kira said, “I will formally send you, the Superintendent and the district’s legal representation a legal complaint tomorrow.” The principal’s mouth fell silently open as he puckered his brow.
“I think you need to leave my office, missy.”
Kira tilted her head to the side as her expression hardened. “Did you just call me ‘missy’?”
