He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from raising his voice. The man was never going to see eye to eye with him.
“Superintendent Sealy, with all due respect, we are not going to view this the same way. I realize that Ryker’s involvement in the activities makes this all the more awkward?—”
“Yes, that is another issue we need to address. I’ve fielded several angry phone calls today. Coach Howard. Board members. Parents of other team members. All are concerned that these punishments are going to keep them from a rite of passage in a student’s senior year. They really are going to lose a lot of the perks this year that this event entails. Today, it feels like all I’ve discussed is the suspension of these three football players and several members of our homecoming court.
“Instead of them serving their punishments this week, I think it would be best if you moved them to the week following homecoming, and we reduce it to the one day out-of-school suspension they’re serving today. As for the tickets and court dates, those are unnecessary. The school can cover the cost of the repairs, and that keeps the lovely Officer Hookstead from having to waste her time documenting and issuing the citations. I think the students have gone through enough already.”
He’d had enough. “No, sir, it’s not enough, and the students have not gone through enough to understand the level of damage they’ve caused.” He thought of Kennedy, her tear-streaked face. Of Judah’s sincere concern and fear for her well-being. “We are looking at each student on a case-by-case basis and will be issuing formal in-school and out-of-school suspensions, as well as citations and cleanup duties,based on the activities each student actually took part in. If you or the school board do not like those assessments, you can address them formally, per the employee handbook’s policies on grievances. I will happily stand up to defend any decision I make.”
“And will your son be among those students punished?”
What the fuck?
“My son was not a part of the raid on the school.”
“I was told that he was there. In fact, I was informed that it was your son’s idea to spray-paint the theatre loading door.”
Lucas stood and buttoned his jacket. “Ryker told you that?”
Sealy’s chin tipped up defensively. “Actually, no. That information came from an email tip.”
“That’s interesting. Because at the time stamped on the video showing the door being spray-painted, my son was at home studying for a math test. And I have photo evidence to prove it. So why anyone would say that, I have no idea, but it is interesting that someone would throw him under the bus in that manner.” He turned and walked to the door, opened it, and left the superintendent’s office to head back to his own.
THE REVOLVING DOOR
LUCAS
At the last second,he stopped himself from slamming his office door. However, he closed it and turned his high-backed chair so that it blocked a clear view of him through the small window. While seated, he engaged in a few moments of self-pity. If he’d listened to Officer Hookstead and followed her advice, he wouldn’t be in this predicament right now.
His SRO.
Elyxandre.
Just the thought of her, of her name, was enough to distract him. He’d certainly noticed how attractive she was the first time he met her in the emergency room, and he noted it a number of times during the first few weeks of school. But ever since she arrived at school this morning in a fiery temper over the raid, her heart-shaped face popped into his head nonstop. Today, it seemed that when he wasn’t thinking about the disaster of the raid, he was thinking about her, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
He was man enough to admit that, sexist as it was, she definitely filled out her uniform nicely. He noticed that when sheturned to go into school this morning to start searching through video camera footage. He just hoped neither of the custodians standing with him had noticed his interest or his body’s reaction to the sight. He was very thankful he’d already put on his blazer and buttoned it before walking over to them.
However, he also knew he genuinely liked her as a person. She took a lot of pride in her job, and he loved how they clicked when it came to handling the kids. Empowerment for them was everything to her. Whenever he heard her dealing with a student, whether they were in trouble or it was just an everyday interaction, she walked an incredibly delicate line with them by being a police officer, but also making sure they knew they weren’t at a disadvantage just because they were kids and she was an adult.
Just the other day, he sat in on a meeting with a boy who had been caught with drugs in his locker. The school had a zero-tolerance policy for selling or using, with consequences of expulsion. Her predecessor would have made the kid feel small, belittled him, and played the tough cop, not giving a shit about him, other than having the police haul him away in handcuffs.
Elyxandre hadn’t done that. Instead, she asked questions—tried to figure out what was going on with the boy. She listened to his answers. He had a job, but his family had been displaced from their apartment, and his paycheck, combined with his mother’s, wasn’t enough. He needed money quickly to help keep food on the table and a roof over his mother and baby brother’s heads at a local dive motel. In her quiet way, she offered to help get them resources so he wouldn’t feel forced to continue on that path.
Yes, she took him to jail. But she took him herself, rather than calling the cops, and she let him have his dignity and exit the building without restraints, not placing him in handcuffs until they arrived at the police station. She also stayed with himthrough the entire booking process, making sure he understood his rights, both with the police and then later in regards to school. This was a blip, she assured him. A bad choice, but it didn’t have to mean everything was over for him.
That was probably the moment he really understood who she was. And, if he was honest with himself, it was probably the moment he tipped from the “I’ve noticed her” category to the “I’m interested in her” category.
His phone vibrated. Taking it out of his pocket, he saw a text from his son. Looking up, he saw the boy on the other side of the window, his eyes crossed, and his face mashed up against the glass, making it look like he had a pig’s snout. He couldn’t help but laugh. The kid was a total goober, and he loved him more than anything else on earth.
He walked over to the door to let him in. “Hey, champ.” He looked at his watch. “Shouldn’t you be heading to AP Literature right now?”
“Dad. Seriously creepy that you know my schedule to the minute.”
“Probably. What’s up?”
“Just checking to see that you’re okay. I looked out the window from math class and saw you hightailing it back from the administration building.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You okay? Any fallout with your friends over this morning?”
