Chapter 26

Considering what happened at the game on Saturday, I wasn’t surprised to get pulled out of first period almost as soon as it started. I swear I heard my teacher sigh in annoyance when the office aide came in with a slip with my name on it. Mrs. Morgan didn’t even say anything to me, just pointed at Vice-principal Keller’s office, since I knew the drill. I sat outside for a few minutes before he stuck his head out and waved me in.

Already sitting inside were Mr. Packer and Coach Dean. I sat in the third seat in front of Mr. Keller’s desk and waited.

“I’m assuming you know why you’re here?” Mr. Keller asked.

“I’m guessing it’s because of more false allegations?”

“Mr. Nelson, I think you should take this seriously,” Mr. Packer said. “Ever since starting at Carr, you’ve had behavioral issues that are, frankly, very concerning.”

“I am taking it seriously. I’ve been brought to the office for cheating on a test. I’ve been here for attacking Aaron and was forced to have my entire schedule rearranged and eat in the choir room. I was benched for attacking Harry Torres and told I was going to get kicked off the team. Do you know what all of those have in common? That I was innocent of every single one. I sent Coach Dean the video of what happened, and I assume you’ve had a chance to look at it by now, so you have to know I was innocent there as well. The thing that’s concerning me here, is that there seems to be some kind of vendetta against me that this school is willfully taking part in.”

“Listen here,” Mr. Packer started to say, before Mr. Keller held up a hand, stopping him.

“All right. Charlie, I appreciate you’re frustrated, but that kind of attitude isn’t going to help you. We have policies that require us to completely investigate these types of incidents. I know where you’re sitting it seems unfair, but they’re in place for a reason.”

I wanted to tell him that they only seemed to be there to help certain members of the student body, since I had witnessed plenty of incidents of bullying and harassment that went completely uninvestigated, but I knew it wouldn’t fix anything. All I wanted was to be allowed to play baseball, and I figured pointing out how their system was bullshit would probably be counterproductive.

“Okay,” is all I said instead.

“I did look at the video and you’re right, I think it shows you did everything you could to avoid a confrontation, and only retaliated when you were backed into a corner and cannot retreat anymore.”

“Hold on. He still struck a student and we have a zero-tolerance policy here, regardless of who the aggressor is,” Mr. Packer said.

“It was after school and in the parking lot. After Aaron attacked me, he didn’t get any kind of punishment because it wasn’t during school. When he and Harry beat the crap out of me at the beginning of the school year, I was told that the school couldn’t do anything because it didn’t happen at school. Why, all of a sudden, is there an issue with the zero-tolerance policy now, when it still didn’t happen at school?”

“He has a point,” Mr. Keller said.

“It was on school property, however. I think we have some leeway in how we handle this.”

“Is Harry going to get disciplined, or just the person defending himself?”

“I’ve spoken with the Principal and we’ve agreed that, since it happed well after school let out, we didn’t have authority over actions of the students, which means neither of you will be punished. You’ll be allowed to continue playing and I think that should be the last of this.”

“You have to be kidding me?” I said, erupting.

“Mr. Nelson, I think it’s best...” Mr. Keller started to say, but I interrupted him.

I knew I was shooting myself in the foot. Vice-principal Keller had been more or less on my side for most of these incidents and had been fair, or at least as fair as the school district would let him. That didn’t matter though. The fact that they were getting away with this shit again while someone threatened to punish me for defending myself had pushed me over the edge.

“Mr. Keller, I can’t believe that Harry just gets away with this. I haven’t done anything but keep my head down and work hard to catch up. I’m in this mess because I stopped three students from beating up a small kid on the first day of school. Since then, they and their friends have been out to get me, and the school has been helping them. Is it school policy to punish a student simply on the word of another student without any proof? Is it school policy to let that student go without any kind of response when that accusation is proven false? If that’s true, then I’d like to know, because I have a bunch of complaints to start filing! Or is it just certain members of the student body? I get that you have policies and procedures to follow, and that’s fine. What’s not fine is when these policies and procedures get followed when it’s about me, but when it’s other students, they don’t seem to apply anymore. Is there a zero-tolerance policy? Is the parking lot part of the school property? Because the answer to both seems to be ‘yes’ if I’m doing something that breaks a rule, and ‘no’ when other people break the same damn rule. I didn’t complain when you decided my schedule had to be rearranged because of that BS restraining order and I didn’t complain when I got suspended for defending myself against Aaron, but I’m done. If you guys want to apply school policies and punish me for defending myself, then you better follow the policy for everyone involved and you better apply those policies all year!”

I wound down and slumped back in my seat.

“Or what?” Mr. Packer said.

“What?”

“That last part sounded an awful lot like a threat.”

“I don’t think this is productive, Harold,” Mr. Keller said to Mr. Packer.

“I think Charlie’s right,” Coach Dean said, causing Mr. Packer’s scowl to deepen. “We all agree he didn’t do anything wrong and while I understand we have a zero-tolerance policy, this is the first I’m hearing of anyone being punished, and at no time has Harry’s name come up. If we expect students to follow the rules, then we should make sure we apply them evenly.”

Mr. Packer looked to Mr. Keller, who just shrugged and said, “I agree it’s important that these things be handled fairly, but in this case the point is moot. The fight falls outside of our responsibility, which is good because I think you did an excellent job trying to deescalate the situation, Charlie. I know you probably feel it’s unfair that we aren’t punishing Harry; but to do so would also mean punishing you, which would be a shame considering how much restraint you showed.”

“What about him reporting me to a teacher for attacking him, a report that the video should have made clear was a complete lie? Is there any policy about a student lying to try and get another student in trouble?”

“No,” Mr. Packer said. “And I’m not sure I agree with your description. Yes, the video shows that the incident didn’t go exactly as he described, but these things can happen quickly and can cause trauma in adolescence, which can, in turn, lead to a skewed memory of what happened.”

“Seriously, what is it with you?” I asked. “Not two minutes ago you were saying I was a danger to the school, and there should be some kind of punishment for me, even when all I ever do is defend myself. Now you’re saying that Harry isn’t at fault for lying about me attacking him, just so he can get me kicked off the team. Do you owe his family money or something?”

“Now wait a minute,” Mr. Packer yelled, only to be interrupted by Mr. Keller again.

“Okay, I think this has become unproductive and we’ve done what we needed to do, which is to let Charlie know that we reviewed the evidence and he is cleared of any wrongdoing and can rejoin the team.”

Mr. Packer glared at me but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he just got up and left the office followed by Coach Dean.

“Charlie, could you hold back a second,” Mr. Keller said as I started to follow Coach out.

“Uhh, sure,” I said, wondering what bullshit they’d have come my way now.

To my surprise, Coach Dean also paused and turned around.

“It’s okay Miles; I promise I’m not going to give Charlie a hard time. This is about an unrelated matter.”

“Sure,” Coach said.

He made eye contact with me for several beats, almost like he was saying let him know if there were any more problems. It was good to know that at least a couple of teachers here had my back, because I was getting sick of being the school’s whipping boy.

He closed the door behind him and I sat down in one of the seats in front of Mr. Keller’s desk again.

“First off, I want you to know I get your frustration. I know it seems we’re being unfair to you, and you’re right, you haven’t been treated completely fairly. Unfortunately, the schools’ policies aren’t set up to treat students fairly, they’re here to protect the school. I know that’s not something we’re supposed to admit to you guys, but I want you to know that I’m aware of how things have been going for you this year. I know this doesn’t help a lot, since that won’t keep me from having to apply school policies in the future, but I promise I will do everything I can to make sure you’re treated fairly.”

“Okay,” I said flatly.

I probably should have been more charitable, since he was offering an olive branch, but I was still pissed.

Thankfully, Mr. Keller didn’t take it badly, instead just chuckling and shaking his head.

“I guess if I was in your place, I’d have the same answer. This isn’t what I needed you to stay behind for, however. I understand Ms. Brooks convinced your band to play the Prom. Is that right?”

“Yep.”

“I’ve heard some rumors that you were playing around town and I appreciate that the budget we have for this isn’t a lot, but I need to ask, do you have experience doing this kind of thing?”

“Proms? No. But I play a regular gig every weekend at the Blue Ridge and I’ve played in several clubs in Asheville. If you worried we might embarrass the school, you’re welcome to come see us.”

“While I might take you up on that, no, I wasn’t concerned about your ability, since what I have heard has all been about how good you are. I was more meaning experience playing at a function for the school district. Since there are various laws and rules we have to follow for student safety, there are also some hoops that have to be dealt with for your band to play. Are the rest of the members of your band students here as well?”

“No. They’re all out of high school.”

“That’s what I was afraid of. We have both district-mandated safety policies to follow when it comes to adults coming onto campus, as well as requirements from our insurance company for performances or demonstrations.”

I hadn’t actually considered any of that when I agreed, although in hindsight, it made sense.

“Ohh,” I said. “What do we need to do?”

“We’ll need to get background checks on anyone in your band and anyone else you’re going to need to bring onto campus for this. To get that, we have some forms they’ll have to fill out to get those checks done. We also have forms, liability waivers, and the like, that need to be submitted before you can perform.”

“Should I have a lawyer look at those waivers?”

This is the kind of thing I could have used a manager who knew how to deal with this stuff for, because this was way out of my experience. I was sure it was all routine, but that didn’t mean the school wouldn’t try to screw us in some way if something happened.