“Do you know why you’ve been called in today?”
“Student conduct?” I hedged, my voice cracking. I didn’t dare look at Mr. DeRosa, knowing his imposing stance and harsh stare would make it worse.
Not that the principal is much better, I noted.
“It has come to my attention that you are in a relationship with three male students. Is this correct?” There was accusation and judgement in his question, the combination making me grind my teeth. Based on what he was asking, I had a good idea where this was headed, which only served to irritate me.
“Uh, yes?” I answered, knowing there was no way I could lie about it, we’d been open about our relationship since the beginning. “I’m not sure how that affects schooling or my conduct.” There was a thread of challenge in my tone despite my best to keep it at bay. Every time I had a meeting like this with Mr. DeRosa, my fuse grew shorter.
First, my mother thinks I’m a bad daughter who requires constant supervision.
Then the jerk assistant principal thinks I’m a troublemaking student.
Now I’m sitting in front of the principal facing the same accusations as before, and the only thing keeping what I want to say at bay is me biting my tongue.
Awesome.
“What you and the boys are doing is immoral and will not be tolerated in my school,” Principal Rudley ground out, clearly angry at my challenge. “If you wish to graduate, then the four of you will cease this nonsense at once.”
I sat frozen, speechless, as I tried to process what he’d just said. Unable to graduate because of who I was dating? Because it was immoral? What kind of backwards place am I living in?
Oh yes, Nebraska.
The Good Life, my ass.
“Is that everything?” I asked quietly, incapable of coming up with anything else to say. My question seemed to surprise the principal, his eyes widening and jaw dropping for a brief moment before his expression smoothed out.
“Yes, we expect the four of you to break off whatever arrangement you have as soon as possible. You may go.”
As soon as I had the dismissal, I shot up from the chair and threw the door open. Anger pulsed through me, smothering the anxiety slightly. I was seriously growing tired of being the target of disapproval because of what the boys and I had. Nothing we were doing was wrong, we weren’t hurting anyone, and I knew there was no way in hell they could keep us from graduating. So, I did the best thing I could think of—went straight to Ms. Rogers office.
“Oh, Emma! This is a surprise,” she exclaimed when the front desk worker in the counselors’ office paged her office. “I don’t have a student, so let’s go have a chat. I’m going to assume you have something you want to discuss with me,” she continued after we stepped into her office and she closed the door. “And I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say it’s not good based on the frown.”
“No, it isn’t good,” I huffed, unable to calm long enough to sit down. I paced the small open space while Ms. Rogers watched on with surprise, everything that had happened spilling out.
“So, yeah. Now, on top of everything else in my life, I get to deal with not only Mr. DeRosa,” I couldn’t help but practically sneer his name, “but I get the unfortunate pleasure of having the principal telling me we won’t graduate because of something that doesn’t even concern them!” By the time I was done talking, I was panting and my voice had grown loud. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.” I grimaced, feeling bad I had just unloaded all my issues onto her.
“You don’t need to apologize! Sometimes we need to just get it all out. You ready to sit down now? You can keep pacing or standing if you want,” she offered, taking her usual seat at the table.
“Yeah, I’m good, it just… got really built up,” I murmured, flopping into the other chair. Now that the anger had subsided, a stomach-turning sick sensation filled me. The nausea twisted with the anxiety that flared in the anger’s absence. “I just don’t know what to do.”
“Well, as you said, it’s not against the rules to be dating multiple people. There is a clause in the handbook rules that could be twisted to maybe work, but it’s a very thin ground for them to stand on.”
“Would it be okay if I called Mr. Bell? He’s mine and Jesse’s lawyer and told me that if there were more issues with Mr. DeRosa to tell him. I think this qualifies,” I muttered defeatedly.
“Of course, I think someone needs to be informed because I can’t stand by deliberately abusing the school’s rules and policies,” she encouraged, pulling out a notepad and pen. “I’ll take notes, so there’s documentation, all right?”
“Thank you,” I told her, breathing easier than I had since I’d left Nutrition. Digging out my phone, I quickly dialed Kaleb’s cell number.
“Emma? Are you okay?” he asked immediately as soon as he answered, worry filling the line.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Well, for the most part,” I corrected, putting the phone on speaker. “There was another issue with the school administration, I’m in with my counselor Ms. Rogers and have you on speaker so she can take notes.”
“What did that damned assistant principal do now?” It was a shock to hear Kaleb cuss and be so angry, but I couldn’t blame him.
“It wasn’t just Mr. DeRosa. Principal Rudley is the main problem here,” I started, launching into another recap of what happened, albeit more calmly than when I had told Ms. Rogers.
“Ugh,” Kaleb groaned, the sound muffled, no doubt from his hand running over his face like Kingston did when he was stressed out. “Well, if it’s any consolation, Ms. Rogers is correct in the fact that they can’t do that.”
“So… what’s the plan?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“You continue exactly what the four of you are doing: dating, going to class, and getting good grades. There is no reason to change something that doesn’t affect your schooling. I’ll comb through the handbook and rules and prepare for whatever they want to try and throw at you four. They expected to bully their way through a bunch of teenagers, but they’re going to get me instead.”
“I can help, Mr. Bell, with going through the rules and policies. Whatever you need! I don’t appreciate my students being targeted by such nonsense,” Ms. Rogers added, grabbing my hand from where it sat on the top of the table and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“I would appreciate that because this has gone completely too far, and I won’t tolerate it any longer. The more people backing Emma, my son, and the others, the better. There’s no way they’ll get away with this.” I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that I wasn’t alone—or that it was just the boys and me—facing this, or the look of determination on my counselor’s face mixed with the steely tone of Kaleb on the phone, but I knew one thing for sure.
We can and we will get through this.
One step and struggle at a time.
Epilogue
Brad
The sound of the handcuffs unlocking mixed with the cold steel falling from my wrists. A triumphant grin curled my lips that I did nothing to hide. It felt good to be in my own clothes instead of the worn and itchy scrubs given to inmates, and the fact that I was staring down the door to the outside made it that much sweeter.