Chapter 3 #2
Cooper didn’t even acknowledge I’d spoken. He leaned back in his chair, long legs stretched out like he was too cool to be here. “Why do you even care about being dragged into the office? Your dad will just buy you out of this problem too.”
Pffft. “I wish.” The school didn’t work that way. And my father sure didn’t work that way. Cooper would see that soon enough once my dad got here.
Neither of us said anything else for a long time. Cooper took out his phone. I went on mine as well, writing furious messages to Selena, and then because she didn’t answer, to my sister, Peyton.
Peyton is three years older than me and was generally no help in Cooper matters. Her advice ranged from Start dating a burly guy who can threaten him to Convince Dad to buy a pro football team and then Cooper will kiss up to you.
Not many guys at our school are bigger than Cooper. He’s six foot two and mostly muscle. And football teams are sadly out of Dad’s price range.
Today Peyton’s advice was Either refuse to admit to anything and tell the principal you won’t speak without a lawyer present or throw yourself on her mercy. If Dad gets mad at you for choosing the first option, remind him who raised you.
Dad wanted both Peyton and me to become lawyers. So far, Peyton was resisting the pressure and planned to get a nursing degree. I’d become Dad’s only hope for a legal legacy. Thanks, Peyton.
I gave her response a like and checked to see if Selena had responded. She hadn’t.
On some days, I missed having a mother around.
I’m pretty sure a mother would’ve been more sympathetic to all of this.
Mine had decided that raising two children stifled her career opportunities as a marine biologist. She took off four years ago to study humpback whale migration in the North Atlantic.
Whales. Not that I’m still bitter about that.
There was no point in even thinking about calling her. Norway was nine hours ahead. She’d be asleep. And even if she wasn’t, she would only murmur some half-hearted throwaway line about how people ought to get along.
When Selena finally returned my messages, she already knew about my Miata being under the bleachers.
In fact, several pictures of it popped up on social media.
Apparently moving my car had been a team effort from the weight-lifting class.
I turned to Cooper. “You’re horrible at keeping secrets, just saying. ”
He eyed me from over his phone, his blue eyes challenging. “Or maybe I’m so good at it, you don’t know any of my important secrets. There’s no way to prove that, is there?”
I flashed a picture of my convertible parked under the bleachers. “If you were trying to hide my car, you should’ve told your teammates not to text pictures of it to everybody.”
“I think what this proves is that other guys are bad at keeping secrets. My phone is clean of pictures of your car. At least, now it is. I may have sent car pics to some classified ads along with your phone number. Don’t be surprised if you’re barraged by phone calls later. After all, your car is a steal.”
Someone nearby let out a sharp breath. I turned to see a woman in front of us, her eyes blazing at Cooper. She was toned and pretty with curly brown hair like his. She looked too young to be his mother, but the expression on her face left no question that she was.
“What were you thinking?” she demanded, her hand waving to emphasize each word. “It’s not enough that you moved someone’s car so I had to come down to your school and speak to the principal? You already have your next crime planned?”
Cooper’s mouth dropped open, then quickly snapped shut. “I was just joking. I didn’t really make a classified ad.” He swallowed uncomfortably and straightened. “When did you get here?”
Her hands went in the air. “You’re not even sorry about this. My boss had to call someone to cover for me. Are you trying to get me fired? Is this all a joke to you?”
During Ms. Nash’s tirade, my father strode into the lobby. He wore a suit and tie, which meant he’d been meeting with clients. He always looked commanding when he entered a room, a person who naturally took charge of a situation. Despite the trouble I was in, I felt relieved to see him.
He shot me a look brimming with disapproval, and I became a little less relieved.
“This has got to end,” Cooper’s mother went on.
“If you get expelled, you’ll be kicked off the football team and lose any chance of a scholarship.
Did you stop to think about that before you went hauling convertibles around the school grounds?
Did you even once consider that legal charges could be brought against you? ”
My father’s gaze slid to Ms. Nash, and his eyes widened. “Nicole?”
Her attention snapped to him, but instead of recognition, only confusion creased her brows. “Yes?”
He straightened his shoulders. “Tate Seibold. I’m in your spin class at the gym.”
They knew each other?
“Oh . . .” Still no recognition on her part. She was trying to place him.
He gave her a meaningful look. “We’ve talked after class a few times. I suggested once that we go out to lunch sometime . . .”
The recognition hit her. “Tate.” Her eyes flicked over him again, pleased with what she saw. “I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you in a suit. You’re usually wearing shorts and a tank top.”
My father wore a tank top to the gym? That was not something a forty-eight-year-old man should be doing.
“You look really . . .” She was about to say good. The word was already there in her tone. “Professional,” she said.
Oh, she meant good. Dad’s gym clothes may have been tacky, but his suits were tailor-made.
I glanced at Cooper. He seemed equally horrified by this turn of events. My father knew Cooper’s mother. He’d actually asked her out, and I could only be grateful that she’d turned him down.
The expression on her face, however, said she was reconsidering.
After staring at each other with stupid smiles plastered on their faces, my father remembered where he was. “I doubt the school will expel your son. If they did, they’d have to expel all the students involved, and no one would be happy about that.”
Meaning, the football team pulled serious weight at school and everyone knew it.
Dad shot me another look of disappointment—in case I’d missed the first one. “We won’t press charges. I’m well aware that Madeline shares the blame for this. She’s far too impulsive sometimes.”
No, I wasn’t. Was I? I slunk down in my seat.
“Kids,” he continued with an unspoken sigh. “What can you do? They don’t think about consequences before they act.”
“Exactly,” Ms. Nash agreed, as though the two of them were alone instead of standing in front of said children. “They think pranks are funny and don’t know when to stop.”
My father thrust his hands into his pockets.
“I apologize for anything Madeline has done. I should have been on top of what was happening, but as a single parent, well . . .” He shrugged and pressed his lips together like it was a painful subject.
“My attention is often split more ways than I’d like. ”
Granted, my dad worked long hours, but why was he apologizing for me? I’d only been standing up for myself.
Ms. Nash nodded. “I know what you mean. Being a single parent is twice the work and twice the worry.”
They went back to gazing at each other like this was some meet-cute from a romance novel, and both of them were in this together—two overworked single parents against their ungrateful children.
Mrs. Tsuru strode into the lobby, her expression all sternness and impending judgment. “Mr. Seibold, Ms. Nash, if you’d come with me, I’d like to speak to you before I bring your children into my office.”
Our parents followed after her without a backward glance. I couldn’t help but notice that Ms. Nash had a spring to her step and that she smoothed a hand over her hair.
Cooper stared down the hallway until they disappeared. “What was that?”
I didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure myself.