Chapter 33
CHAPTER 33
ALEC
“Y ou’re starting fights in school now, Alec?” Mom cried in Principal Vaughn’s old office.
Dean Sanatora sat in the large, cushioned chair across from us, gently tapping her fingers on the wooden desk and probably wondering how she had gotten stuck with this job after Vaughn passed away unexpectedly .
I ran a hand through my hair and stood up to pace the room. I had told her more than once in the past fifteen minutes that I hadn’t started the fight, that Oliver had come at me while I attempted to calm Maddie down.
“Mom, stop!” I shouted, causing them both to jump in their chairs. “Listen to me.”
Tears lay heavily in her eyes, and she shook her head. “I am listening to you, but how can I believe you? I love Maddie, but since you’ve been seeing her?—”
My entire body froze. Maddie hadn’t wanted anyone to know about our relationship, and as much as I wanted to tell everyone, I wouldn’t have opened my mouth about it to anyone. So, how the hell did she know?
“How do you know I’ve been seeing her?” I asked.
She arched her brow. “Come on. It’s obvious. I’m surprised Oliver didn’t see it sooner.”
I crossed my arms and pressed my lips together. “Did you see us?”
“She was at our home,” Mom said. “Stop trying to trying to?—”
“I didn’t start the fight with him, Mom,” I said again, knowing that she was about to bring the conversation back to where it had been since she had arrived at the principal’s office.
Oliver had gotten off with a detention, but I couldn’t afford that.
“You’ve been acting so differently,” Mom said. “Maddie has been changing you. If your father finds out that you’ve been skipping games and now fighting, what the hell is he going to think? We’ve worked so hard for you to be seen by professional hock?—”
“ I have worked so hard,” I growled, gritting my teeth. “I’m the one going to multiple practices a day, working out in the gym for hours, even in the off-season, making sure my grades exceed all expectations. You’ve done nothing but have the money for me to buy my equipment. You act like you’ve done all the work, but you don’t even know about what’s happening in my life! You haven’t even asked.”
Which was a lie. I realized it as I spoke it.
She had asked if something was wrong, but I had been—and still was—too nervous and felt too guilty to tell her. Still, if she had really wanted to know and if she had really cared, then she would’ve asked Coach or Maddie.
Mom stared at me with tears in her eyes. “I’ve tried hard to get you to talk to me, Alec.”
I wanted to tell her so badly, but I couldn’t get myself to do it. I didn’t know how she would react, especially because I didn’t know the first thing about who it was. I expected her to react worse than Coach because he had been more of a parent figure to me throughout the years. Mom was so much closer to me than Dad was, but still …
They both felt so distant.
Someone knocked on the door, and I collapsed back into my seat and rubbed a hand over my face. If this was Dad, I was about to get chewed out, grounded, forced to practice nonstop for the next twenty-four hours.
“You called Dad?” I asked Mom with venom in my voice.
“No, I didn’t.”
Dean Sanatora peered at us, blew out a low breath, then said, “Come in!”
Coach opened the door and walked into the room, peering briefly at Mom, then at me. He shut the door behind himself and leaned against the desk with his arms crossed over his chest. “I heard you and Oliver got into a?—”
“I didn’t start it,” I said.
“I know.”
When the words left his mouth, I finally relaxed against the chair and slumped my shoulders forward. Even if it was something as small as a fight, I was so relieved that someone besides Maddie believed me without me having to explain myself.
Mom stiffened. “But he?—”
“He didn’t start the fight,” Coach said. “Why would he?”
I forced myself not to roll my eyes at Mom, but, damn, she really was attempting to defend Oliver in any way that she could, huh? I let out a low breath, blowing some hair off my forehead, and slumped even lower in my seat.
“If you’re going to give me detention too, just assign it, so I can find Maddie,” I said.
It would look shitty as hell with the recruiters sitting in on practice and games this week, but if that was what it took to get me out of this damn principal’s office and to find Maddie—because she was a fucking wreck—then I would take it.
Dean Sanatora and Coach shared a glance, and then she finally sat up and cleared her throat. “You have a clean record, Mr. Wolfe. You will not be assigned detention today, but I expect that you will be on your best behavior for the rest of the year, which means no fighting on school grounds.”
I stood up and nodded. “Thank you.”
Once she finally dismissed me while Mom fumed inside the room for some reason or another, I hurried into the hallway and headed straight for the parking lot. I needed to get to Maddie’s place—or at least find her.
I didn’t know if she would be home, but I?—
When I turned the corner, I slammed right into Piper. Her books scattered everywhere, and she bent down to pick them up.
“Sorry,” she muttered, then peered up at me, brow furrowed. “Oh, hey.”
After picking up some books, I handed them to her and grimaced. “Sorry about that.”
She tucked some hair behind her ear. “Have you seen Maddie?”
“I’ve been stuck in the principal’s office. Have you?”
“Yeah, she left about fifteen minutes ago,” Piper said, frowning. “Sobbing.”
“Where’d she go?”
“Probably her house,” Piper said. “But I hope she got in safely. When I last saw her, she was a mess. Vera left her with me while she grabbed some tissues from the restroom, and Maddie just ran off to her car. She was in no shape to drive?—”
“Fuck,” I growled, rushing through the exit door and heading straight for my car.
“Wait up!” Piper shouted, hurrying after me. “I can?—”
But before she could finish her sentence, I slipped into my car, slammed the door closed, and sped out of the parking lot to find my girl.