Senior Year Memories Ch. 46

"It can be, but we've been making it work so far. Helps that we spend plenty of time together, but that we've also all got our own things to keep us busy," I explained.

"Like?" Olivia asked, cocking her head slightly.

"Well... Josie and I have the paper, and she's also got her photography... Brooke and Sarah have cheer together, and while Brooke's a social butterfly, Sarah's really into dance practice in her spare time, and she's probably going to be a lot busier once their exchange student gets in," I continued.

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "So, the Kents are hosting a foreign exchange student?"

I nodded, still not clear on all of the details but happy to describe what I knew. "Yeah, some old friend of Viola... Ms. Kent's, from her dancing days returned to Ireland some time ago, and her daughter wanted to spend some time exploring stateside. So, she joined an exchange program, and the Kents decided to host her and... yeah, I guess we'll be seeing a foreign exchange student here for a few months?"

"I'm sure *that* should be exciting for you. I hear Irish girls really know how to fuck," Olivia teased again.

I knew better than to let this be all about me. "So, what do you have going on these days?"

"Play prep," she replied quickly.

"I mean... *aside* from play prep," I said.

Olivia shrugged. "The usual, I guess. College applications. Wondering if college is going to be worth it. Wondering if my family will be able to afford college or if loans will own me for the rest of my life. Considering hitting the road with a bindle on my shoulder and never turning back, or possibly running for office. Really, aside from the existential dread inherent to being a young person in this day and age, it feels like the sky's the limit for me."

She said this with such a dry, deadpan tone that I didn't know how serious she was or wasn't, so I said the next part in as cautious a joking manner as possible.

"That's... ummm... a little grim," I said.

"That's what my therapist says, but they also think I'm making a lot of progress," Olivia said, her eyes darting over my shoulder briefly with some concern. "I may be wrong, but it seems like Officer Brandy is coming toward you with ill intent in her eyes."

There were few people in school quite as intimidating as our school security officer, Officer Brandy Rivera. The tall and muscular Latina woman was known for her efficiency at taking care of troublemakers and ensuring that the school was a safe place for study. I had never been in trouble to speak of, and so had never had to cross paths with her on school grounds, though I'd had a few close calls of late given some of my adventures with Jess and Doreen. At the recent book club retreat, I had gotten to know her quite intimately as one of the most intense lovers I had ever known, and so as I turned to face her, I did so with the slightest smile on my face, wondering if she might be looking for another round.

I could tell by the look on her face, grim and uncomfortable at once, that she was not here to ask me for another round.

"Officer Brandy," I said, cautious.

"Ryan," Officer Brandy replied, eyes flitting to Olivia briefly before turning back to me. "I'm afraid I need to ask you to come with me."

"Why?" Olivia asked, her tone defensive.

"This is none of your concern," Officer Brandy said to Olivia, never taking her eyes off of me. "I'm sorry, but I've been told to take you to the principal's office."

There was a slight ringing in my ears of disbelief and fear, as I had never once expected in my life to ever need to go to the principal's office. Quickly, my recent standing as an accomplice to one of Doreen Bell's pranks flashed before my eyes, but I doubted that that was the sort of thing that would have me summoned to the principal's office. I'd hardly even done anything, and there was no way that Doreen or Brooke would have rolled over on me.

Dumbly, all I could ask was, "Am I in trouble?"

"That remains to be seen. I'm sorry, Ryan, but I really need you to come with me at once," Officer Brandy said.

"Why?" Olivia asked again. "Ryan's the best kind of dull you're going to find and usually a goody-two-shoes to boot, there's no way he'd have ever done anything wrong enough to justify getting called to the principal's office. He's-"

"This is none of your concern," Officer Brandy said.

Still numb, I turned to Olivia and replied, "Please... I don't... just don't make this any worse?"

"I'm trying to make it better. Trying to make sure you don't get railroaded by an unjust legal system," she said quickly.

"Pretty sure you don't have much of a say in this," I replied shakily. "Not like I get representation in there."

"He's right," Officer Brandy replied, placing one of her strong hands on my shoulder as she started to guide me away. "We'll get this sorted out one way or another, and if you want to help Ryan, staying out of this is your best bet."

I looked back at Olivia hopefully, stuck somewhere between wanting her to stay out of this and wanting her to somehow save me. If it had only been the two of us, perhaps I would have been able to convince her to stay back, but with this trouble I was in coming from on high, I could see something working behind Olivia's eyes.

She was up to something, and I wasn't sure that I was going to like it.

***

Principal Annika Carpenter was a woman I had always hoped I would never have to see up close and personal, because there were few good things that came with being summoned in front of your school principal. Sitting in a chair in front of her desk while she faced away from me, looking out the window across the school, I felt particularly small. Though only 5'10", in her ever-present high heels she practically towered over me where I sat. Her suit was professional and immaculate, her long blonde hair up in a severe and harsh bun, and she generally looked like she was trying to intimidate.

"We take all allegations of bullying in this school quite seriously, Mr. Collins..." Principal Carpenter said, taking a sip from her cup of coffee. "And whenever they are made, we must investigate them accordingly to get to the truth of the matter. Still, I will admit that I never would have expected to see you of all people in here. Aside from your alleged involvement in the Bowman affair back in September, your record is quite spotless. Good grades, teachers have nothing but the highest praise for you, your extracurriculars seem nice and in order... you're even a rather decent writer for the Puma Press. You've never gone out of your way to stand out, yet in doing so have been something of a model student. An ideal student, I would daresay, from an administrative standpoint."

She then turned to face me, looking down at me sternly. "Which is why I am so disappointed to have to call you here today."

I knew that Principal Carpenter was beautiful, but having never been this close to her, I never knew quite *how* beautiful. Her face was narrow and her features sharp, with dazzling blue eyes staring at me coldly through her conservative glasses and full lips that she tried to set in a tight line, yet simply couldn't hide the fullness of. Even in her power suit that did little to give much of an impression of shapes beneath, I could see quite well her large bust. If I were here under any other circumstances, I would have probably been turned on as I took her in, but since I was here under less-than-ideal conditions, I felt particularly small under her gaze.

My defenses might have been weak in this moment, but they weren't completely non-existent.

"Bullying?" I asked. "I don't... I don't know what you're talking about."

"If only that were the first time I'd heard that," Principal Carpenter sighed, sitting at her desk in front of me. "I'm sure you're *entirely* unaware of what's happened."

Reaching across her desk, she pressed a button on her intercom system. "Jerry, could you please send him in?"

Seconds later, the door to the principal's office opened, and in stepped one of the least welcome faces I'd ever seen.

Micah *fucking* Burke. Tall and with shoulder-length blonde hair, he was dressed less flashily today than usual, and his normally cocky, arrogant face now held an unfamiliar look of vulnerability... and could he have been crying recently? His eyes were certainly watery and red, and the moment he saw me they certainly widened as a look of fear came across his face.

"Does he have to be here, too?" he asked, his voice quavering.

My face flushed red with anger. I knew that Micah was a sonofabitch, but I didn't think that he'd resort to tactics like this. He always seemed like more of a direct kind of asshole, but I should have known that a drama asshole like him would be a little more creative than just trying to fight me.

Angrily, I stood up from my chair, looking from him to Principal Carpenter and back again. "I don't know what he told you, Principal Carpenter, but whatever it is, it's a lie, he-"

"Sit DOWN, Mr. Collins," Principal Carpenter said, her voice almost as icy as her eyes.

Unable to ignore her, I fumed and sat down, eyes staring daggers at Micah. He kept up the look of the frightened, wronged victim in all of this, without a hint of smug superiority or even a secret smile as he kept the performance up in front of Principal Carpenter, backing away from me slightly in trepidation even as I sat down.

Turning her attention back to Micah, she then directed, "And, yes, Micah, I'll need you here as well. We're going to get to the bottom of this, and I'm going to need both of you to do that."

Nervously, Micah looked between Principal Carpenter and me before sitting down next to me, his eyes darting to me periodically, but mostly staying locked on her. I could see exactly what he was trying for here, and while I didn't know what exactly was going on, I could make a few guesses as to the sort of story that he would have spun for her.

Straightening herself up, Principal Carpenter explained, "Now... Mr. Burke has made it clear that the two of you have had a... tempestuous relationship ever since you started spending more time around the drama club, isn't that right?"

"Yes," I confirmed, as that was fairly truthful. "But-"

Cutting me off, she continued, "*And* that this relationship recently culminated in an altercation at a local business called... Tech Noir, I believe?"

"That's it," Micah confirmed swiftly, looking to me without darting his eyes away this time. "All I've ever wanted is to be friends with Ryan because he seems like a pretty cool guy, and all I've ever gotten out of him is hostility and anger and... and words I'd rather not repeat here. I don't know what I ever did to deserve any of that... maybe I'm just not a likable enough guy, I don't know, but when I tried to talk to him, he... he..."

He trailed off, looking away from me and Principal Carpenter, quivering and shaking slightly. It was a bit much of a performance, and I hoped that it was one that Principal Carpenter would see right through, but her face was unreadable to me. She had a certain steeliness to her that I found unencouraging, especially when she cleared her throat.

"These accusations are serious, Mr. Collins. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying, even off of school grounds. I need you to understand this before you say anything else, to know the *weight* of what you have been accused of before you do, or say, anything rash. Now, would you like to offer *your* side of the story?" Principal Carpenter asked.

I fumed, not just at Micah, but at... well, everything this moment represented. After years of getting ignored by this school while having to deal with the torments I'd dealt with, this moment was laced with a bitter irony that broke something inside of me. It was something I didn't know had even existed, and yet once it had broken, I could feel it, knowing that what it was releasing was something I never would have dreamed of exposing to anyone in authority.

Miserably, I dropped my head, trying to hold back my own tears of rage as I laughed to myself.

"I didn't do anything. Just like you didn't, Principal Carpenter," I said, my chuckle low and bitter.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

Even Micah looked at me with confusion.

Licking my lips and trying to hold my temper in check, I continued, "You say you have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying... where was that policy when Kyle Bowman went here? I was bullied by him for so many years that I lost count, yet nothing was done about that sonofabitch until you had it revealed to you that he inconvenienced you personally while he was dumb and drunk. I was bullied by that bastard at this school for three years, beaten up, threatened, extorted and harassed, and not all that quietly either, and nobody did anything. Anything!"

I looked up at her with blazing eyes, then at Micah as I stood up violently. "I should've reported it sooner, should've made it a big *fucking* deal, but I didn't because I was afraid. That's on me, and I get that, because if I'd known that you would respond so quickly to even a *hint* of bullying, I'd have ratted him out the first chance I had!"

"Mr. Collins!" Principal Carpenter exclaimed, raising her voice.

"Hey, Ryan, please, be cool... please don't... please don't... not again..." Micah said, cowering in his chair as I let my anger guide me.

"Not now, Micah!" I practically yelled, before turning back to Principal Carpenter. "I'd tell you the truth, that this asshole here is a wolf in sheep's clothing who attacked *me* at Tech Noir, but if you're so willing to believe him over me, what's the point? I never raised my hand to him, as much as I wanted to, but now... now I wish I had. Then at least I'd deserve this kind of treatment."

Furious, I sat back down in the chair, wishing I could disappear into it as I bitterly said, "Since it sounds like you've got your mind made up already, make your decision. Let's just... let's just get this over with."

I was miserable, Micah had a faint smile that he was trying to hide, and Principal Carpenter... she still seemed impossible to read. Her steely eyes scanned over Micah and me, trying to get some kind of read on us that she could use, no doubt. Although I was too angry to put it all into words, I hoped that I had gotten my point across enough that she would at least not excuse me out of hand, but it was difficult to understand her just then.

"This is... a challenging situation. I have no witnesses, and only both of your words to go on here, and both of you seem genuinely impassioned in your causes. I cannot dismiss what has gone on here for either of you, but my conscience also binds me to the truth," Principal Carpenter explained, drumming her fingers on the desk as she looked away from us.

It only took that second for her to look away for that smugness to return to Micah's face again as he looked at me. If he could have gotten away with it, I was certain he likely would have winked at me in that moment... but before he could, Principal Carpenter was looking at us again.

Sighing softly, she said, "I'm afraid, that lacking any convincing evidence, I will have to err on the side of caution and-"

The door to the principal's office swung open, and in slid my own personal cavalry charge all wrapped in a drab hoodie.

"Did somebody say evidence?" Olivia asked, straightening herself out and nodding. "Principal Carpenter."

Raising her voice, Principal Carpenter called out, "JERRY!"

"Don't blame your secretary, he was doing his job, but I was faster," Olivia explained, strolling casually past Micah and me toward the principal's desk. "I might have also been listening in for a while first, again, don't blame Jerry, but as soon as I heard what was going down and the genuinely false accusations my associate Micah here was making against Ryan, I thought that I might be able to shed some light on what actually occurred."

Principal Carpenter raised an eyebrow, while Micah looked an interesting combination of frightened and furious.

"And how, pray tell, would you do that?" Principal Carpenter asked.

"Olivia..." Micah said, licking his lips nervously as he kept his tone nervous-sounding yet threatening. "...what are you doing?"

Olivia ignored him, pulling out her phone and bringing it over to Principal Carpenter. "I was at Tech Noir with Ryan and Micah and a bunch of our friends from drama, and even though I was too preoccupied to see what happened myself there are other corroborating witnesses that I could easily call in on Ryan's behalf, but if that's not enough, my good friend Amy was quite close to the 'altercation' between Ryan and Micah and was good enough to get a video of it and share it with me. I kept it out of curiosity, and am truly glad now that I hadn't deleted it."

I couldn't see the video that Olivia was sharing with Principal Carpenter, but having been there, I had no doubt that our principal was getting an interesting show of Micah throwing me against the wall of Tech Noir. Even though the music in the background wasn't quiet, the audio was good enough that even from where I was sitting, you could hear Micah's threats.

"Listen, you little pussy! You won't stop me from getting what I'm owed. I'm taking what I fucking deserve, and if you try to get in my way, I will defeat you! I know stage fighting, and karate, and I will destroy you if I have to! Just stay the fuck away from my bitches!"

A feeling of lightness had begun to sweep over me, even if I was still fueled by a dull rage. Seeing Micah going quite pale, however, nearly made this worth it.

"I see..." Principal Carpenter said as Olivia put her phone away. "That is... compelling evidence."

"I can call in some of the other witnesses too, if you'd like, I know Cecilia and Chloe and Tommy all had a good view of what occurred..." Olivia said, keeping her voice even and professional as she stared down Micah.

Olivia may not have had a lot of hopes for what her future would offer her, but from my eyes, she could have made one hell of a lawyer.

Principal Carpenter looked at me with a new resolve. "Mr. Collins, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. There seems to have been a miscommunication about your involvement with what happened at Tech Noir, and we will no longer require your presence."

Micah protested, "But-"

"And you, Mr. Burke... I would like to discuss this matter with you further, and educate you on the details of our anti-bullying policy, as well as how ill-advised it was for you to lie to me," Principal Carpenter said.

Olivia strolled over to me, grabbing me by the shoulder. "Come on, we're not needed here anymore."

I was stuck on a strange cloud formed between euphoria and rage as I stood up, looking down at Micah with genuine loathing. It seemed like the loathing was thoroughly mutual as he looked up at me almost accusingly, like it had been my fault he was getting in trouble for his own lie to the principal. I let Olivia lead me out of the office, then into the fresh air outside the administrative building.

Immediately, I nearly swooned, doubling over and placing my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. I'd managed to avoid letting panic take me over when I was in Principal Carpenter's office, but now it all hit me at once, that sick feeling of danger mixing awkwardly with the euphoria of that danger no longer being a problem. It was hard to believe that I was as in the clear as I was, enough that I felt dizzy and like I might throw up.

Olivia patted me on the back. "Easy, slow, long breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth."

"Sorry, I feel like I should have more dignity than this," I replied woozily.

"Don't worry about it. You're not used to trouble. Get a little more used to it and this will get easier," Olivia replied.