“That’s unfair, this isn’t my fault!” He whines, and it takes everything in me not to laugh.You’re all the same when caught, what horrible learned behavior.
“Well, from what I can see, you’re in my classroom, and if I find out that you hurt Ms. Black in any capacity, even the tiniest bruise, Garth. I will make sure that the meeting is about your aggressive behavior toward female students.” I remind him who the teacher is, and he presses his lips into a thin line.
“My dad will deal with you,” he threatens, and I finally can’t restrain myself. I laugh.
“Get to class, Mr. Robertson, before you say something that lands you in detention for the rest of the school year.”
“Ms. D,” he whines.
“It’s Ms. Drake, and I gave you an instruction.”
Garth stares me down a beat longer before throwing Daisy a dirty look and disappearing from the art room.
“Are you okay?” I ask Daisy the second he’s gone.
“Yeah, he’s a loser. I could take him,” she says, squaring her shoulders like she means it, and her confidence makes me smile.
“Listen.” I wait until she looks at me. “I know these things aren’t solved by adults, no matter what happens in that meeting. Garth probably isn’t going to stop, and neither is Carly. But this room is a safe zone, so instead of fighting him…”
“Come here.” She finishes my sentence, nodding once. “Okay.”
“Thank you, I don’t need you suspended because he’s a little douchebag.” I flick the bottom of her chin with my finger, and she smiles at me.
“Language, Ms. D,” she says quietly, mocking me with that soft expression before adjusting her bag "thank you," she adds as she shuffles out the door to her next class. By the time lunch rolls around, Kaia barges through my door with an evil grin on her pretty face.I needed that mischief today more than ever.
“Putting all vegetables on a sub should be illegal, Reaper.” Kaia stands in front of my desk with a wrap of her own and in her paramedic uniform.
“Did you put tomatoes on this?” I ask her, opening it up to double-check.
“Don’t insult me,” she snaps and slides onto the desk across from me. “You have to be quick. I left the new guy in the rig, and I don’t wanna give him the ‘baby in a hot car’ treatment, this early into our working relationship.”
“Right,” I say, as if that’s the most reasonable thing that’s come out of her mouth before.
“Daisy got hauled into the office. She’s been scrapping with this asshole of a kid for two months over something that happened with Lori.” I stop to pick off a banana pepper and toss it between my teeth.
“The best friend?” Kaia asks, nibbling on her wrap.
“Yeah, and Garth Robertson.”
Kaia snorts, “Did you see Ricky’s new campaign for a‘Better Harbor’?”she asks me. Harbor has been a mess and usually I'm not one to get involved but it's been effecting our lives too, teacher funding, the budgets for the paramedics and hospitals, they're even gunning for Cosy's shelter… It's exhausting having to fight for our town against people who are supposed to make it feel like home. Ever since the trial concluded, it's been a constant string of old white men making promises they can’t keep. I don’t trust any of them to protect Harbor; our little town deserves better.
“Yeah, pretty sure he’s still hoping that his butt buddy, Charles Shore, is going to get off scot-free and ride in on a white horse to save his mayorship,” I groan. “Anyways, I can’t do anything about it, not without getting fired.”
“Oh, please,” Kaia giggles—like I’ve just handed her a stack of cash and told her not to spend it all in one place. “Hold on.” She stops me, pulling out her cellphone, calling someone, and putting it on speaker between us. “Boonie,” she purrs when the line connects. “Reaper needs our help.”
“Yeah, Bright just stormed through the kitchen like he wanted to burn down the whole town. What the hell happened?”he asks over the sound of the Hollow in the background.
“Go outside, you nitwit. We can’t hear you,” Kaia orders, and like he could read her mind, the back door slammed louder on the other end of the phone.
“Garth Robertson—”
“Fucking Ricky’s kid!”Boone cuts me off with a loud gag noise.
“Focus,” I laugh, because I’m not any better, and Kaia rolls her eyes as if she didn’t just do the same thing when his name was mentioned. “He’s been taunting and harassing Daisy, but the school can’t do anything about it because of who he is and because she’s been retaliating how and when she can.”
“That’s my girl,”Boone hums.“What do you need from us?”
“I mean…” I look up at Kaia.
