Chapter 45
I’m hoping to see Ryder drive up anytime now.
I check my phone for the hundredth time, expecting to hear from him, but my good morning texts have gone unanswered.
Last night, he stayed at his house because his dad needed help with balancing invoices and matching them with purchase orders for the shop.
I decided not to go for my five-a.m. run with Julien this morning, and instead, made Hailey a special breakfast of what used to be her favorite: chocolate chip pancakes. I wanted today to be as normal and relaxed for her as I could make it, knowing she would be nervous about coming back to school.
Hailey may be held back a year since she missed the last month of tenth grade and has been gone for the first half of eleventh.
Miss Prichard, the school’s guidance counselor, is going to administer standardized tests today and tomorrow to see if Hailey is at grade level.
If she fails the tests, Hailey will be placed back in tenth grade for the rest of the school year.
It would put her a year behind where she should be, which would suck.
Hailey rode to school with me this morning and as we arrived, she saw one of her old friends.
I couldn’t remember her name, but Hailey and Brea would eat lunch with her every day at school.
With a quick hug and a tentative smile, Hailey and the other girl headed to the quad to catch up with each other before the first bell rang.
Daniel will pick Hailey up this afternoon to take her for her weekly appointment with Dr. Clairemont.
“How was your Thanksgiving?” I ask Trevor when he walks up to where I’m standing on the bottom step of the school entrance.
“A week in Florida with the fam and grandparents,” he replies, and I give him a once over.
“Nice tan.”
“I know! Florida was awesome. I’ll take waves and surfing over this cold crap any day.
“Meredith not coming?”
I don’t see her anywhere and I’m wondering what the heck is happening to everyone. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle today with the unexplained absence of both Meredith and my boyfriend.
“Darrel picked her up. They’re probably making out in his car somewhere.” He makes a gagging sound.
“I noticed you and my sister talking after the shaving cream fight.”
“She’s cool. Has she always been morbidly shy?”
I push my long hair out of my face when a gust of cold wind whips it around. “No. She’s going through some stuff. I told you a little about it,” I remind him.
I squeal when I’m lifted up from behind. Thinking it’s Ryder, I twist around and see that it’s Julien. Jayson is right behind him.
“How’s our little hot rod this morning?” Julien asks me, giving me a bear hug before putting me back down. He thumps Trevor on the shoulder. “You missed it Friday at the Fields. Liz totally kicked Marshall’s sorry butt.”
“Way to go, Ace.” Trevor says, giving me a high five.
I feel Jayson’s hand brush against my side, and I tilt my head to look up at him.
“Hey, Liz.”
“Hey, Jayson.”
“Elizabeth!” Meredith shouts as she runs out of the front entrance of the school. The four of us watch as she sprints to me. “You need to come, now. All of you,” she says breathlessly, pulling up sharply just in time to avoid plowing into me like a bowling ball.
Grabbing my hand, she sets off running up the steps.
“Mer, what—?”
“It’s Hailey. Maria, Jacinda, and Samantha cornered her in the hallway near the senior lockers.”
That’s all she needs to say to have me running full steam ahead of her. I throw open the doors and rush past several students loitering around the entryway. I know the guys will catch up with me soon, but those bitches have another thing coming if they think they’re going to bully my sister.
I round the corner just in time to see Maria give Hailey a shove backwards. Jacinda and Samantha are laughing.
My eyes zero in on Maria and her eyes widen for a split second when she sees me coming. It’s too late for her to do anything. I ram into her like freight train and take her down. Jacinda and Samantha stumble to the side and out of the way as Maria and I tumble to the floor.
Meredith rushes in and blocks Jacinda and Samantha from making a move. Maria and I are instantly surrounded by a crowd of students cheering on the melee and taking videos with their phones.
I don’t care about the onlookers or the fact that I’ll be suspended for fighting.
None of it stops me from sitting on top of Maria and straddling her torso so she can’t get away.
I release over a year’s worth of anger on her face.
I have no idea what I’m yelling at her. My sister has been through enough trauma.
I will not allow Maria to hurt her. So I punch Maria. Again. And again. And again.
Strong arms constrict around my waist, lifting me off her. I lash out at whoever is trying to prevent me from pounding her into a bloody pulp. Maria will know from now on that if she messes with me or Hailey, I won’t stand by and take it anymore. I will come after her. I will fight back.
A random thought pops in my head, bouncing around the haze of my anger.
I wonder if this is how Fallon feels when he fights?
He seems to be made giddy by it. Unleashing my rage on Maria, I can kind of understand why.
The adrenaline rush is insane. I feel like I could pick up a car and hurl it across the parking lot.
“Liz, babe, stop. Enough.”
“Let me go, Jayson,” I growl.
Maria is slowly sitting up, holding her nose as it gushes blood like a river. Her eyes are wide with fear as she looks up at me. I kick out, but Jayson’s hold on me is too secure.
“You broke my nose!” she sputters at me.
“Good! It’ll match the one I gave to your boyfriend!” I scream at her.
“Lizzie?” Hailey reaches out for me, and Jayson lets me go. I take her hand and pull her to me.
“You okay?” I ask her. I step back so I can inspect Hailey from head to toe to make sure that Maria didn’t physically hurt her.
Hailey throws herself into my arms, clinging to me like a scared child. “Thank you,” she whispers.
I’m surprised it takes as long as it does for the school’s two resource officers to show up, along with Principal Stubbs.
The students, who only minutes ago had been cheering on the fight, scatter like cockroaches when a light turns on.
Me? I’m escorted to the main office while Maria is taken to the school nurse.
Henry, a resource officer who Jayson knows, blocks him, Julien, Meredith, and Trevor from following me.
Hailey is taken to the Vice Principal’s office.
Before they separate us, I tell her to call Daniel.
She needs him more than I do, and I would rather he heard our side of things before he hears Principal Stubbs’s second-hand version of events.
Principal Stubbs motions for me to sit outside her office on a bench, telling me, “I’ll be right with you.”
Fighting on school grounds is an automatic three-day suspension. It also goes on your school record, meaning that colleges will see it on your transcript. FML. However, I wouldn’t change a thing. Maria deserved every punch I gave her.
Me: Ryder, where are you? When you get to school, come to the main office. I got into a fight with Maria.
I wait a few minutes and text Fallon when Ryder hasn’t texted me back.
Me: Secret for a secret.
I see the three dots dancing as he types a response.
Fallon: I’m terrified of clowns. They creep me out.
I love the stuff he comes up with. He makes me laugh every single time.
Me: I’m about to get suspended.
Fallon: ??
Me: Maria and her goon squad cornered Hailey in the hallway. I took her down.
Fallon: God, I wish I could have seen that. Video?
Me: Fallon…
Fallon: Stay put and say nothing. I mean it. Stall for twenty mins.
“Elizabeth.”
I look over to see Principal Stubbs standing in her office doorway, gesturing for me to come in. Fallon said to stall, so I go with what he directed me to do.
“I really have to go to the restroom. And I need a Band-Aid or something for the cut on my knuckle.” I hold my hand up so she can see where the skin is ripped.
“Go straight to the girl’s restroom across the hall and come right back. I have a first aid kit in my office.” She says her sentences sternly, so I know she means business.
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”
I get up from the bench and walk to the restroom.
Then I spend about seven minutes slowly washing my hands and finger-combing my hair.
I have a feeling if I stay in here any longer, I’ll be putting myself deeper into trouble with Principal Stubbs.
Reluctantly, I exit the lavatory and walk back over to the main office.
Principal Stubbs is still standing in her doorway, tapping her foot in annoyance at me for keeping her waiting.
“Thank you,” I tell her when she offers me a Band-Aid and a small packet of antibiotic ointment. I take the seat opposite her desk.
Principal Stubbs sits down in her chair and leans over her desk towards me, her face full of disapproval. “What were you thinking, Elizabeth? You’re not a troublemaker. So please explain to me what happened.”
Here we go. Needing her to see the truth, I look her in the eye.
“Meredith came and got me, saying that Maria, Jacinda, and Samantha had cornered Hailey. When I got there, I saw Maria shove Hailey, and Hailey was crying. I did the only thing I could think to do to protect my sister.”
“And if I told you that Maria, Jacinda, and Samantha all say that you started the fight, who should I believe?”
I give her an incredulous look and she nods her head, sitting back in her leather desk chair. “I’m not blind, Elizabeth. I know more about what goes on in this school than most people realize. And I believe you.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Unfortunately, without evidence to back up your side of the story, I have no other recourse than to suspend you per school policy.”
“I understand.”