Chapter 21

Monday, I was actually really nervous about going back to school. I had flashbacks to this day last year, where things had gone so wrong; but had led to meeting Hanna, then Chef, then everything else. In some ways, this was still going to be a first. Last year was my first day of school. This year, it was my first day back at school, which was an entirely different experience.

This time, I wasn’t just going back, but I was going back after getting a music deal, cutting a record, and going on tour. I had no idea what to expect from it. My run-in with Sarah suggested I should expect some kind of reaction from the other kids, but who knew? On top of that, I hadn’t really seen anyone from school since the thing with Aaron at prom, other than after our shows at the Blue Ridge. Harry was a senior this year and he almost certainly hadn’t forgotten everything.

At least this time I didn’t have to cross the creek to try to catch the bus. I had my car now and was driving to school. Although Kat had her own car, which her dad was required to keep paying the insurance on, we had decided to ride together. She was nervous, in her own way. Aaron, and a lot of the other kids who’d taken advantage of her, were gone, but she’d just started therapy when the school year ended. Even with traveling with us, she’d continued her sessions with her therapist using zoom, and had made some progress over the summer. She said she was worried that once she got back into that old environment, she might backslide. I didn’t think that was going to happen, but I understood her fear.

She hadn’t said anything after giving me the look at the swim meet, so I assumed she was annoyed that Sarah wasn’t where she should be. I knew I was taking a leap in making that assumption, but Dr. Rothstein had suggested we not confront Kat every time something happened. If she wasn’t directly affecting us, it was better to give her a chance to work out the situation on her own, unless of course, it was something that could have a long-term effect on her life or treatment. In those cases, Dr. Rothstein said we could confront Kat as needed, but to still let her know. If it wasn’t something urgent, we should send her an email letting her know what was happening, and she’d deal with it in their sessions if necessary.

Since all she’d done so far was give me a look, there wasn’t really much I could let Dr. Rothstein know about, so I let it drop. Instead, we talked about school, what might happen that day, and our schedules, which we’d picked up last Thursday on locker day, which was the day we got to put locks on our assigned lockers. This year, I was back in the normal conditioning class with the rest of the men’s sports teams. Kat had a conditioning class as well, but they separated male and female sports into their own classes. I guess to keep us from distracting each other.

Even if Coach Bryant wasn’t gone, I still wouldn’t have had to worry about him. This year I was talking World History, which was taught by Mr. Hunt, who’d I heard of only because his full name was Randy Hunt, which made for some obvious jokes that every kid seemed to think they’d cracked the code and been the first one to get it.

I was also taking Chemistry, which I was not looking forward to, Algebra II, which I wouldn’t have thought was possible last year, Choir, English, Spanish, and Computer Science. I’d learned last year that I was never going to be an academic. Even with a lot of help, I struggled hard to pass all of my classes. I had little doubt that this year was going to be the same. I’d stick with it, because Mom was right, I didn’t want to end up like Dad. But, I wasn’t looking forward to any of it!

Well, except for Choir. I hadn’t talked to Mr. French much after we got out of the studio, and I was looking forward to telling him all about the tour. Both the highlights, like opening for House of Grace, and the low points, like having to deal with Brent. He’d played gigs before and even toured some, so I was interested in getting his point of view on everything that happened. Or maybe I just wanted to have someone at the school who understood what the summer had been like.

My musing over the first day back was brought to an abrupt halt as Mr. Packer appeared, apparently out of nowhere, directly in front of me. I hadn’t been walking fast, but it was all I could do to keep from running him over.

“Mr. Nelson. So you’ve decided to put fame and glory on hold and join us for another year?”

“Uhh ... yeah?” I said.

I knew he wasn’t actually asking the question. We’d gotten off to a very rocky start last year and as the year had gone on he’d become more hostile. As the school counselor, I would have expected him to be part of my support system as a student. Instead, I spent most of the year avoiding him as best as I could. Until he showed up in front of me, I hadn’t thought of him since the end of school last year. Thinking about it, I should have probably been on the lookout, since it seemed a good bet he still had it out for me. I figured the best thing I could do was to say as little as possible so he couldn’t somehow twist it into me being a disciplinary problem.

“Well, since you’re here you should know things are going to be very different this year. Mr. Keller is gone, and I’m not going to hold your hand or coddle you the way he did. Now that I’m your vice-principal, I’m going to make sure you don’t cause the same kind of disruptions you did last year. If we do have any behavior issues, any more fights, or any more nonsense, you’re going to find yourself expelled so fast you’re going to wish you’d just gotten your GED and found somewhere else to spend your time. We have good kids here who want to learn and better themselves, and they don’t deserve you making that harder for them.”

Maybe my doubts about him weren’t paranoia. Even though I had no idea why he had it out for me, at least last time he waited until something happened to get on my case, even if that something wasn’t actually my fault. I know, however, that pointing that out to him, or worse, trying to defend myself, wouldn’t do any good and probably only make things worse.

“I’m just trying to pass my classes and graduate next year, Mr. Packer. I don’t want to cause trouble for anyone.”

“Good. I’ll be watching you, so see that it stays that way.”

“Yes, Sir,” I said, taking that as a dismissal and turning to walk away from him before he found something wrong with my clothes or attitude that he could pull me into the office over.

“And Mr. Nelson.”

‘Almost made it,’ I thought, before stopping and turning to look back at him.

“The school board has decided that Coach Bryant should return to teaching here this year after all. I think it would be in your best interest to give him, and any of his players, a wide berth this year.”

“What?” I said, unable to stop myself. “They let him back after he attacked me? How in the hell did that happen?”

“Watch your language. I’m not here to explain confidential employment decisions to you, Mr. Nelson. I just wanted to give you that warning. I know you’ve managed to provoke him in the past, and want to avoid a repeat of that happening again. Unless he directs you otherwise, I want you to just turn and walk in the other direction if you see him. Is that clear?”

I wanted to scream at him. To tell him this was unfair. To threaten to sue someone or go to the newspapers. I also knew that would just cause more problems and wouldn’t actually solve anything. I might have had a good summer, but I didn’t have any kind of power here. The fact that school board members almost certainly knew me by name, that I had the largest employer in the city and the sheriff against me, and the man who handled the day-to-day activities of the school painting a target on my back gave me almost no leeway. It was just another reminder that life was often not only unfair but cruelly so.

I’d just have to hope I didn’t run into him and, if I did, do what Mr. Packer said and walk the other way.

“Can you believe this shit?” I said to Kat as I sat down at lunch.

I hadn’t seen her since she split off to drop stuff in her locker before I ran into Mr. Packer, which meant she didn’t know what I was talking about, but even after three classes, I was still pissed about my run-in with the new vice-principal, specifically the part where I found out Coach Bryant was back.

“Can I believe what?” she said.

“Coach Bryant is back!”

“He’s what?”

“Ohh, yeah, I passed him in the hallway and did a double take,” Fatima, one of the seniors at the table, said. “I thought they fired him after he attacked you.”

“They did, or at least they said they did. I ran into Mr. Packer, who I also can’t believe they made vice-principal, and he said the school board decided to overrule the firing.”

“That was all anyone could talk about in the newspaper,” Cameron, my friend from Choir, said. “Several guys were already talking about making it our first big story, until Mr. Grant, he’s the faculty sponsor for the newspaper, said they got word from the principal that they didn’t want us going anywhere near it. Apparently, it was a big thing all summer. Something about how he was fired violated the agreement with the teachers’ union, how there hadn’t been proper documentation, and the situation involved a controversial student. Sorry.”

That last part was addressed to me directly, although I couldn’t blame him for it. Given how they’d treated me when the whole restraining order thing was happening with Aaron, I didn’t doubt they saw me like that. It was still hard to fathom there being anything that might make the attacking of a student okay, but I’d started to get a healthy respect for bureaucracy and the stupid decisions it could make.