The room erupted into protests.
“You can’t do that!”
“Raiding the school during homecoming week is tradition!”
“My dad is the superintendent. You’re gonna get fired!”
“Coach is gonna freak!”
“I hafta be there! I’m on homecoming court!”
“You’ll be missing the best three players on the team. You can’t do that!”
He whistled sharply. Once the students were quiet again, he glared at each of them in turn. “I can, and I did. I don’t care who your parents are, how the coach feels, or if you’ve been named the King or Queen of America. You do not get to disrespect this school and then face no consequences for your actions.”
He continued, “When you leave this room, you will report directly to in-school suspension. We will call your parents or guardians to come in today to discuss what has just been laid out, but we will not succumb to their squawking, if there is any. Check your emails for homework from your teachers. Each of you can also expect to receive a ticket in the mail from the police, and a court date to determine any additional fines or consequences.”
Ryker stood up, puffing his chest in an attempt to make himself look bigger and badder. “You may not care who my father is, but you will not get away with this. He will not let you do this to me. And just so you know, I’m not spending one minute in in-school suspension, and I won’t be missing the game on Friday night either.”
He turned on Elyxandre, his finger pointing at her, stabbing the air in her direction. The boy had appeared angry from the get-go, but now, he seemed unhinged. His whole body was so tight, his words so clipped, that he seemed to vibrate. “And you. You stupid bitch! You think because you’re a woman and you’re new that you can do whatever you want? Fuck you! You’re going to regret that you messed with me. You didn’t know who I was, but you will now!” With that, he rounded the table and slammed the door as he left.
There was a pause as the other students looked around at each other, then one by one, the disgruntled teens left and took a right to the room at the end of the hallway. One of the boyspatted Kennedy on the back, whispered something to her, and tears fell from her eyes.
“Well, despite the fact that that wasn’t quite the plan we discussed, it could have been worse.”
He gave off a huff of frustration.
She threaded her fingers in front of her on the table and leaned on her forearms. “Dr. Vaughn, there is no point in having a police liaison in the school if you’re not going to follow her advice. Tickets are always a last resort, as are fines and legal court proceedings. Those don’t motivate offenders, unless maybe they're faced with jail time, and even then, it’s not a given.”
“Your plan was too lenient. They need to learn that there are things they can and cannot do, and that there are penalties for breaking the rules.”
“We discussed this earlier. What changed?” She studied him. Then it dawned on her. The grumpy look on his face when she passed his office. He mentioned an email he needed to deal with. “You got an email. Let me guess. Superintendent Sealy heard his son was involved and gave you some sort of ultimatum? Was that why you looked so angry in your office? News sure does travel fast here.” Although, that didn’t explain his tacking on suspensions, tickets, and court dates.
“No, although I’m sure that phone call is coming, given how Ryker left the room. The email was from the school board president, reminding me of my duty to the taxpayers, and the board wanted to be assured that the students involved would be held accountable in a manner that they would find acceptable. Although, who knows how he’s going to react when the superintendent calls him, but that’s not my problem right now.”
Puzzled, she asked, “Will Superintendent Sealy be pro-Ryker or pro-school?”
“Oh, he’ll most definitely call and try to get me to reverse all the consequences for Ryker, and then he’ll push for me to drop the consequences for any of the others who are athletes, which I will not do.”
“So then why did you veer off the plan and tell them we would suspend them and issue tickets?”
He sighed, running a hand down his face. “I didn’t plan to. I was pissed as hell that the president thought he could dictate to me how I would run the school. While I get that I’m answerable to the board, I at least wanted the privilege to make my own mistakes before someone told me how to do things. That was me unable to hold back my temper, and unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to rein it in.”
“Well, you laid down the law, so now we have to live with it.”
Lucas slid into one of the chairs at the foot of the table, leaned on his elbow, and rubbed his forehead. “They did do an extensive amount of damage to the building. They should have to serve as an example to the students as to what happens if they choose to hurt the school.” She could hear the petulance in his voice, but she knew it was more defensive than anything.
“Tell me something,” she began. “Was there a prank at the end of your senior year?”
“What?”
“Did your classmates do a senior prank at the end of the school year?”
“I don’t understand why that’s relevant.”
“Humor me and answer the question.”
He huffed again and folded his arms over his chest, his tweed jacket pulling tight across his body. “The boys in the auto shop took apart a car and put it back together in our commons area. They rigged it so the headlights flashed on and off nonstop, the radio blasted heavy metal music you couldn’t turn off, and the horn went off periodically.”
