Chapter 29
The next morning, Mom did not come into my room to make sure I was awake, like she always did. She did not wait for me in the bathroom to braid my hair, like she always did. She did not stand with me in the doorway to send me off to school, like she always did.
“She left early today,” Dad told me when I came out into the living room.
I’d brushed through my hair on my own, getting all the knots out, looking at myself in the mirror as I did it. I didn’t look any different after standing up for myself, but I felt different. The change was so fundamental inside me that I would’ve sworn that it’d make an outward appearance, but no.
However, brushing my hair with no one around, I had the biggest, biggest urge to take the scissors out of the drawer and chop it all off.
“How’s your ankle feel?” Landon asked as he braked for a stop sign, glancing over at me.
I looked down at the footwell of his car, at my ballet flat that was visible, as well as the inches of exposed skin from my skirt.
I’d picked the one that I’d cut up the day I went to the bonfire at Tee’s, the skirt that gave me a connection to him.
“It still hurts a little, but it’s not that bad.
I was able to take the binding off today. ”
“You practice what you’re going to say?”
Even the mention of the confrontation that was about to go down spurred a whole new wave of butterflies.
Landon offered to drive me to school this morning so I could talk to Principal Oliphant early.
“Not really,” I confessed, shifting uneasily.
“But I’m going to tell the truth. I shouldn’t have to practice the truth, right? ”
Landon nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? To come clean about the fight?”
Landon had been insistent about coming with me, telling his truth too, but every time, I shook my head. “We’ll tackle one issue at a time,” I said now, picking at my hemline. “But I’ll let you know if it comes up.”
I tucked my hair behind my ear, thinking about Hudson and what he was doing. Was he awake? Had he already started the transfer process to another school? I hoped not. I hoped that I could get to Principal Oliphant and Superintendent Filmore in time to reverse everything.
And they’d believe me. They’d have to.
The Brentwood High parking lot was pretty empty when Landon pulled into it, since it was still almost forty-five minutes until school started.
He cut the engine, turning to look at me.
“Whatever happens with Mom and Dad, I’ve got your back, you know.
” He reached out and thumped my arm with his fingers. “You can always trust me.”
“How come you didn’t trust me?” I asked, and when he raised his eyebrows, I added, “With Lacey.”
“Lacey’s…special,” he admitted, a corner of his mouth tugging up. “When things are special, they need to be handled with care.”
Though I wasn’t totally sure what he meant by that for his situation, his words made me think of Hudson. Yeah, I thought. They do.
Landon and I parted ways inside the school, with him going toward the gym and me heading toward the offices.
It still seemed crazy to me how different things were now.
A few weeks ago, I’d been marching behind Principal Oliphant as she led me to her office, where Hudson Bishop sat slouched in a chair.
I’d been so afraid to even sit beside him.
Now, as I made that same march to her office, I realized that her buddy program had been a success.
Only one of the whispering secretaries was at her desk when I walked into the office, sipping from a coffee mug, blinking at me with surprise.
I was fully prepared to tell her that I demanded to speak with the principal, but she got her words out first. “Gemma. Your mother’s in talking with Principal Oliphant now. ”
I sucked in a sharp breath because that was the last thing I expected her to say. “My mother?” I echoed, but without waiting for a response, I darted to Principal Oliphant’s door and latched onto the handle when I heard Mom’s voice filter through.
“—my resignation as the school board president, effective immediately.”
I froze. I stared at the frosted glass of Principal Oliphant’s door, unable to make out anything but a blur of shapes beyond. That was definitely my mom’s voice, but there was no way that was what she just said.
“Naomi, what on earth?” The voice wasn’t Principal Oliphant’s—it was definitely male, deep. It took me until he spoke again to realize it was Superintendent Filmore. “You can’t be serious. Just because of all this?”
“‘All this’ is a completely valid excuse to resign,” Mom replied, her voice calm, collected. “And there’s no time like the present.”
All this—all of what? I tightened my grip on the handle.
“Who’s outside the door?” Principal Oliphant demanded, and then there was a shuffle. “Ms. June, if you’re eavesdropping again—”
The door tugged open out of my grip, revealing a bright room filled with serious faces.
Principal Oliphant took a step away from the threshold, blinking at me in surprise, but she wasn’t the one I focused on. The next person my eyes found was Superintendent Filmore sitting stonily in his chair, a far cry from the normally cheery expression he wore when greeting students each morning.
“Gemma,” Mom said, and for the first time, I really looked at her. She didn’t have any makeup on, and her hair was only pulled back by a hair clip, not styled in its usual way. She wore a sweater and jeans, which wasn’t her usual work attire. Her voice sounded tired. “You’re here early.”
“Uh…yeah.” I glanced around at everyone, trying to find information on someone’s face that I could latch on to.
Everyone looked at me, though, like they had no idea why I’d be showing up.
Well, Principal Oliphant and Mom looked at me that way—Superintendent Filmore refused to meet my eyes. “What’s going on?”
Principal Oliphant and Mom exchanged a look, one that Superintendent Filmore didn’t seem inclined to join in on.
“We were just discussing the incident with Hudson,” Principal Oliphant eventually answered for the group, and she ventured toward her desk, easing into her seat.
“And how it was you who had the knife, not Hudson, as Superintendent Filmore initially assumed.”
“He was reaching for it, “Superintendent Filmore insisted. “And it did have his initials on it.”
“That wasn’t an excuse for yanking him around by his collar,” I retorted, half shocked by the tone of my voice.
Aside from using it on Mom last night, I’d never spoken to an adult like that before.
Especially not someone as important as the superintendent.
“Hudson’s not a bad student. He’s just so used to people not giving him chances.
So used to people judging him. To you not giving him a chance. ”
“Gemma,” Principal Oliphant began.
“The school board’s sabotaged him this entire time, didn’t look to see how they could help, only how they could get rid of a problem.” This time, I turned toward Mom, latching on to her gaze. “And it’s not right.”
“You’re right,” Principal Oliphant said, cutting into my heated speech not unkindly.
“You’re right, Hudson is used to people judging him.
To not getting chances. As a school, we should be horrified—” She shot the superintendent a look.
“—to learn that a student would feel this way within our walls.”
Superintendent Filmore coughed an agreement, nothing about his expression hinting at how horrified he was supposed to feel.
“I heard what you said,” I said to Mom, shifting on my feet. The confrontation from last night still lingered between us, creating an awkward tension. “You’re resigning?”
Mom lifted her chin. “I am.”
“Why?”
She pressed her lips together, and I thought she was going to ignore me entirely, but she ended up turning to Principal Oliphant. “Talia, can you excuse me a minute to talk to Gemma?”
Principal Oliphant nodded. “Go ahead. I’ve got a feeling that we’ll be here a while.”
Superintendent Filmore let out a sigh, settling deeper into his seat.
I followed Mom out into the main office, walking past the secretary and out into the hallway. It was still deserted since it was so early, not a single student in sight. I shifted my weight onto my good ankle, fumbling for something to say, to pick one of the many questions in my head.
“Talia’s doing a good job at holding Gene accountable for everything he’s done. For jumping the gun.” Mom reached up and pushed some of her loose curls out of her face. “She’s very persuasive. I can see how she got you to agree to mentoring Hudson.”
“She knows how to guilt trip,” I agreed, but felt too far from smiling. “Mom—”
“You know, when Landon was a freshman, that was my first year on the school board,” she said, cutting me off.
She didn’t quite look at me either—she looked just over my shoulder.
Like she couldn’t quite look at me. “I’ve always been quite the social butterfly in town, but this took it to a whole new level.
I didn’t quite realize how public I’d be. ”
I frowned a little, not seeing where she was going with what she was saying.
“There’s a lot of pressure in any sort of position, but I was ready for it.
At least, I thought I was.” She blinked a few times, almost like she was fighting a wave of tears.
Her eyes, though, seemed dry. “The first thing I thought I’d do was introduce a stricter no-bullying policy.
Brentwood was rampant with altercations when I was elected.
They had quite the social caste system, and you wouldn’t know it looking at the school now, but there used to be phone calls to police because the peer violence could be so bad. ”