Country Mile

ANYTHING FOR FAMILY

Adam Prescott's frustration had his hand rubbing the stubble nearly clean off his chin. The man felt torn right down the middle by pride and fury. Little warring devils and angels sat on each shoulder, whispering to him their own irrefutable reasons why he should be swayed one way over the other.

Maybe feeling both would be appropriate.

Or maybe, just this once, he could look past the infuriating fact that he was headed to Hastings High due to a wayward daughter, and instead, allow himself to just simply be proud.

By the time he threw his truck in park and made strides toward the front office, the maybes were slipping away with each pound of his boots on the pavement.

Like hell he'd be able to look past blatant assault, no matter how much he wanted to take pride in his girl.

Then again, that little devil argued, she was merely doling out some well deserved karma.

Despite the truth of that, he had very few rules and his tiny hellion had managed to break nearly all of them: Keep your hands to yourself, your words clean, be respectful and honest... that wasn't too much to ask for, was it?

When he opened the door to the main office, he saw Valerie Davenport sitting with an ice pack over her left eye and a bloody rag tightly pressed to her nose. The school nurse rubbed comforting circles on her back as she shivered from the residual cries and pain that coursed through her.

"Ah hell," he spat under his breath.

His icy blue eyes zeroed in on the one responsible for the inflicted injuries and he could already see there wasn't so much as a hint of remorse present on her face.

There she sat in a chair across the room, reclined and at ease. She met his glare with a shrug.

Adam's jaw ticked and he took a deep breath as he looked from Valerie, back to his daughter, who now stared at the battered girl with a smug grin.

Lord give me patience. Don't let me whoop this child in front of—

"Mr. Prescott," Principal Ramirez greeted, "please, come in."

She stepped back and gestured to her private office. He crossed the room, giving one last hard look at his offspring, feeling his ire rise when she again, looked nothing but amused.

Mrs. Ramirez softly closed the door behind him and motioned for him to take a seat. She rounded her desk and sat down with a slight sigh.

"Mr. Prescott," she began, but stopped when Adam held up his hand and shook his head.

"Ma'am," he said with a sigh of his own. "We all know there's bad blood between these girls. I ain't sayin' this was right, but I won't sit here and lie to you by sayin' this was wrong, neither. That little girl out there, that Valerie, she's got a lotta problems that she needs to work through. Both my girls are doin' their part, but there's only so much they can be expected to take when she keeps comin' at 'em. She's relentless, and vicious, and at some point, I'm gonna stop faultin' my own for standin' up to her."

"I understand your position, Mr. Prescott, but what happened today was completely unprovoked."

"That ain't true," he said with a shake of his head.

Mrs. Ramirez gave him a regretful look. "I'm very limited when it comes to things that happen beyond school grounds. I'm only able to handle what happens within my jurisdiction, and today, Valerie was attacked without warning. After speaking with a teacher who witnessed the entire incident, it contradicted everything your daughter initially told me. She lied. There was no confrontation leading up to it. She shouted profanities at the teacher who broke up the fight and fought against him to get back to Valerie. I just.. I'm sorry, but I have to suspend her for her actions."