2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

E llie parked her vehicle and walked toward the school entrance. She hated this, and she did feel like maybe she could have a freakin’ frequent visitor pass. Ellie thought all small towns had fantastic schools, but the principal and she had butted heads from day one. The secretary in the front office was nice to her, but she couldn’t get a bead on the principal.

She waited until she was buzzed through. Their small school had the best electronics, thanks to the Franks sisters and the MC. A lot of small schools weren’t this blessed, but Bluff Creek took care of their own, and the children of the town were no different.

She smiled at the secretary. She nodded and tilted her head for Ellie to head back. She mouthed good luck, which had Ellie even more worried about what had happened. At least it was only suspension and not expulsion. She wanted so much for the boys, but considering they’d been under the bad influence of her criminal brother and his skewed ideas about women, it was almost impossible.

She’d thought after Hennessy got after them at the Halloween party for calling her a gash that the boys were going to try to be better. Now, with only two weeks left before Christmas break, they were suspended.

She saw she wasn’t going to get to speak with the boys alone before the principal talked with her. Through the glass window into the principal’s office, she could see both boys sitting against the wall, staring straight ahead. She knocked, opened the door, and went in.

“Eileen, thank you for coming,” Principal Snodgrass said.

“It’s Ms. Foster or Ellie, Principal Snodgrass. I don’t answer to Eileen,” she said. She’d reminded him multiple times. Despite that, he insisted on calling her by her given name, which infuriated her. He reminded her a little of how Deputy Kerwin had refused to call Beth Franks by her name, instead using her full name as if she were a child. Well, she wasn’t going to let him bully her or the boys.

“Well, I don’t know why,” he sputtered.

“It doesn’t really matter why. Those are the names I’ll answer to, but that’s not why I’m here.” Ellie sat down in the seat and turned toward the boys. “So, why did Mr. Snodgrass call me down here and say you both are being suspended?”

“They were…”

She held up her hand to the principal, trying to channel when she worked for the FBI. She’d had lots of blowhards try to make her feel small.

“I’d like to hear it from the boys since you aren’t letting me speak to them alone first.”

He huffed and most likely glared, but she wasn’t looking at him.

“Who wants to answer first?” she asked. Lyle was older at fifteen, but Richy seemed to be the more outgoing one, even though he was eleven months younger at fourteen.

“We’re suspended because Principal Snodgrass said we were fighting, but he refuses to listen to us. Drake pushed Lyle and said he was a pussy for not playing basketball. Lyle tried to ignore him, but then he shoved Lyle and knocked him into two of the cheerleaders. They all fell. When Lyle got up and tried to help them up, Drake hit me in the stomach and then shoved me into a locker, and I hit my head. Lyle knocked a couple of them down getting to me,” Richy said, glaring at the principal as he finished.

“Now, wait a minute…” Principal Snodgrass sputtered.

Ellie held up her hand again toward his face.

“Did you tell the principal this?” she asked.

Richy nodded, and Lyle looked up at her. They both had scrapes. Lyle’s eyes were filled with distrust.

“Lyle, do you feel like Richy gave an accurate account of what happened, or do you want to add something?”

“Asshole there,” Lyle pointed his thumb at the principal, “wouldn’t even listen when Richy tried to tell him. Then he sent Drake back to class because he has a game tonight and can’t miss it. I guess if you play sports, the rules don’t matter.”

Before Ellie could comment, the principal interrupted again. “We have a zero-tolerance policy for fighting.”

Ellie stared at the boys. It irked her that when they were trying to do better, the head of the school still chose to see them as troublemakers instead of boys who were in need of a helping hand up. Not that they’d completely turned around. They still had a lot of anger at her. Ellie nodded at the boys and turned toward the principal.

“If you have a zero-tolerance policy for fighting, did the other parents already pick up their kids from school?” Ellie used her former FBI voice because these boys needed to see she had their back.

“Umm, well. I don’t think they were fighting,” he mumbled.

Lyle huffed behind her, and Ellie agreed that the principal was full of shit but rolling her eyes wasn’t probably in her best interests right now. Was this principal for real?

“I’m trying to decide exactly how I want to handle this. I have to say even when I worked for the FBI, I never had to deal with a school administrator telling an untruth to my face.”

Principal Snodgrass stood up. “Now, see here.”

Ellie stood up too; granted, she was shorter, but she wasn’t allowing his little power play.

“No, you see here. I am perfectly fine with students being penalized when they have done something wrong. I would have even sided with you if you wanted to penalize all the students involved with the fighting, even though I believe the other student was in the wrong. But what I can’t support is an administrator using their power indiscriminately to penalize half the parties involved. By you doing it this way, you’re sending a message that athletes here don’t have to follow the rules.”

“Now, Eileen.”

“Stop! I have requested countless times what you are to call me. Ellie is off the table now. You will refer to me as Ms. Foster. I don’t believe that right now the boys will be safe in this school. You’ve allowed open season for the bullies as long as they play a sport. So, the boys will be on vacation from school until after Christmas break unless something changes. There will be no suspension on their record. After Christmas, the boys will come back to school, and you will have made it a safe place for them to be. If the bullying by other students or by you continues, I will contact the school board, and if I don’t get satisfaction that way, I’ll just continue to move up the chain of command. And trust me, I’m sure the MC and the bail bonds will be happy to make sure there is a good resolution. I’m putting you on notice. This will not happen to my boys again. Are we clear?” Ellie said.

“Well, um,” the principal stuttered.

“Are we clear? It seems like you aren’t understanding, so I’ll follow this conversation up with an email detailing what happened in this meeting and the resolution I expect. I will be copying the school board because I don’t believe you and I are on the same page. Boys, go to your lockers and get your items along with anything you’ll need to finish assignments due before Christmas,” she said. The boys filed out.

Ellie waited until the boys weren’t in the room. “I think your handling of this is despicable. Children are supposed to be safe at school, and they aren’t here.”

Ellie turned and walked out, heading down the hall to where the boys’ lockers were. Two students were standing there behind the boys, jeering. Ellie walked over to one of the classroom doors and knocked. The boys’ favorite teacher opened the door.

“Ellie, everything okay?”

“No, but it will be. Could you keep an eye on these two who seem to be harassing my boys?” Ellie asked.

“Evan, Paul, get back to class now,” the teacher directed.

She’d take the boys home, write the email, and send it while the boys packed. Then she and the boys would spend time with the Nelson brothers and family. Hopefully, the boys would see how things could be if they opened up to others.