Now the jerk is the principal of my kid’s high school.
“The other boy had to go to the urgent care,” she says. “You’re lucky I convinced his parents not to press assault charges.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “No.They’reluckyI’mnot pressing assault charges, given that their kid threw the first punch, andmykid was defending himself.”
Aiden shifts in his chair next to me.
“He’s not suspended if the other kid isn’t,” I add. “And what are you going to do to keep my child safe while he’s at school? It’s obvious that boy is doing his best to get Aiden into trouble.”
Melody shakes her head. “I can’t talk about the other child with you.”
“And you won’t discuss my child’s safety with me.”
She simply holds my gaze, and I’ve never disliked someone as much as I do this woman.
“Good to know.” I stand and glance down at Aiden. “We’ll go home now.”
“School isn’t out for thirty minutes,” Melody reminds me.
“And yet you kept him in here for the last two hours, didn’t send him back to class, and you’re worried that he’s going to miss the last thirty minutes? He’ll be here tomorrow.”
She starts to say something, but I just raise an eyebrow until she nods.
“That’s what I thought. Come on, Aiden.”
He’s quiet in the car ride home. Broody. Which is nothing new where my nephew is concerned. When I park in front of our little house, he walks inside, goes through to his room, and slams his door, and I let out a gusty breath.
We have to talk. And getting this kid to talk to me these days is like pulling molars.
When I knock on his door, he ignores me.
“We have to talk about this, Aiden.”
He doesn’t reply, so I try the handle, but it’s locked. I hate that he’s started locking his door. No fifteen-year-old should be able to lock his parent out of his room.
“Open up, buddy.”
Still no response.
So I go find a hairpin and proceed to pick the lock. It’s not easy, but the door finally gives.
When I open the door, I see that my boy is lying on his bed, his back to me, with his big headphones on, listening to music. He didn’t even hear me break into his room.
“Aiden,” I call out, but he can’t hear me, so I walk over and put my hand on his ankle.
He flails, startled, and his sneaker-clad foot hits me right in the shoulder, making me fall back onto my ass.
“Ouch,” I mutter, rubbing my shoulder.
“Aunt Wills,” he says, tearing his headphones off and tossing them on the bed. “What the fuck? Why are you in my room?”
His green eyes go round when he sees that I managed to unlock his door.
“What did you do?”
“I came into the room thatI ownto talk to you about today,” I reply, climbing to my feet. “You don’t get to lock me out of here, Aiden.”
“It’s my room.”
