Page 11 of Breaking Rules
“Most importantly, the school will remain closed through the week to ensure that all of our students and faculty have the time to process what happened and their feelings toward it. We’ll have counselors available at the school who specialize in this type of thing.”
I had to admit, I was more than a little surprised that they’d decided to take the entire week. Sadly, school shootings had become commonplace enough that, most of the time, even in cases where there had been fatalities, schools only took a day or two before being back in session. I really hoped that didn’t mean things had been worse yesterday than what they’d seemed.
“Do we know what happened?” I asked, dreading the answer while at the same time needing to know. The sleep fog had finally cleared, and I was no longer in a rush to get him off the phone.
“The official investigation isn’t closed yet,” Harvey said, “but the word is that it was an accident.”
“An accident?” I echoed. I pushed myself up until I was sitting. Some kid had accidentally shot up a school?
“Apparently, one of the junior high students had brought his father’s gun to school to show his friends before lunch. He started playing with it, pretending to target practice or something along those lines. He claims that he didn’t know it was loaded.”
I’d heard more than one gunshot so there had to be more to the story.
Harvey continued, “He told the police that he hadn’t wanted to look like a wimp to his friends so when the first shot startled him, he decided to pretend he’d done it on purpose. He aimed at a poster on the wall and shot a couple more times intentionally. One of those shots ricocheted, and the substitute for Mr. Clark was injured. They’re still trying to determine if it was shrapnel or the bullet itself, but either way, he just needed a few stitches, and it probably won’t even scar.”
Relief flooded through me. I hadn’t wanted to consider the possibility that someone had been seriously injured, and it was being kept quiet, but the thought had been there, hovering in the back of my mind. Any injury wasn’t good, and the emotional effect on the other students and the faculty wasn’t anything to dismiss lightly, but it could have been so much worse.
“The young man who brought the gun in has been suspended, but Principal McKenna and I will be speaking with his family to determine if a two-week suspension is a harsh enough punishment for the severity of the crime. Since it wasn’t deliberate, the police are going to work with us and the parents to come to the best solution for all involved.”
I didn’t need to have grown up in a privileged world to know what all of that meant. In fact,notgrowing up that way had taught me all too well how things like this went.
The kid who’d brought the gun to school had parents who were powerful and wealthy enough to cause problems should the situation not be handled in a way they liked. Since other students also came from influential families, the school couldn’t completely sweep things under the rug, but they had to find the balance that would satisfy everyone. If the substitute who’d been injured decided to press charges, then there’d probably be a payout of some kind, and the shooter might not even get a legal slap on the wrist.
I was suddenly glad that these weren’t the sort of decisions I had to be involved in making. When school began again on Monday, all I’d have to worry about was my class, and the higher ups could deal with the politics of the situation.
“Is there anything Principal McKenna wants the teachers doing this week?” I asked.
“We’ll be meeting thirty minutes earlier than usual on Monday morning, and we can address any concerns we might have then. But you’re welcome to call me anytime if you have anything you need to talk about.”
I stifled a sigh but allowed a frown. Of course he was going to go there. He’d been flirting with me from moment one…if what he was doing could even be considered flirting. It probably would’ve been more accurate to call it harassment, but I put up with it because the alternative could get me fired. He hadn’t quite crossed the line, but he did enjoy dancing close to it.
“I’m fine, thank you.” I looked at my phone’s screen. “Listen, I have an appointment I need to get ready for, so if there’s nothing else…”
I let the sentence trail off and hoped he’d take the not-so-subtle hint.
Miracles of miracles, he did.
“I’ll let you go then, but that offer is always open. And if you don’t want to talk on the phone, we can always go out to eat, then come back to my place. Or your place.”
I rubbed my forehead. “All right, thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Like hell wasthatever going to happen, but it at least allowed me to end the call.
I hadn’t lied when I’d said that I had an appointment, but it wasn’t until this afternoon, so I had plenty of time to get ready, and I wouldn’t even have to rush. But I did have something I had to do first.
As I opened my messages, I reminded myself that I wasn’t texting Alec for personal reasons. I was respecting the fact that he’d said he’d contact me when they were back. But I did need to make sure that he knew the true story, if only so he could reassure Evanne.
Okay, maybe that was just an excuse, but I wasn’t going to let it become personal.
If you haven’t heard yet, school will be out for the rest of the week. We’ll resume on Monday. It seems the incident was an accident, not a malicious attack. Once the investigation is officially closed, a statement will be released.
I paused, then added something that was a little personal.
I hope you and Evanne reached your parents safely.
After I sent it, I spent a moment looking at my phone, but then purposefully put it aside. I wasn’t going to wait for him to get back to me. He was with his family. Besides, I had things to do too.
Seven