Behave Yourself

You're not in trouble

Chapter 23

The same day, 12:41 pm

At school

Sam's POV

I just got to Katie's school, and I'm pissed. When I'm at home, eating lunch, the last thing I want is to get a call from the school, saying that Katie's been in a fight. Now, I'm walking in to the front office, where I see Katie, sitting in a chair with a pissed off look on her face, and no one else but the secretary is in here. Seriously?

Sam: Katie.

She looks up and her expression immediately changes. Now she looks the way she does when she's in trouble. But she's not in trouble right now. I don't even know what happened, other than the fight, yet. She can't be in trouble, if I don't know the full story.

Katie: I didn't wanna fight.

Sam: Tell me what happened, Sweetheart. I only know that you were in a fight.

Katie: She swung on me, first. I wouldn't have swung at all, if she hadn't tried to hit me, first.

Sam: Tell me the full story. How did it start? Where did it happen?

Katie: Well, it started at lunch, when Penelope and her friend, Brittany, were staring at me while I was trying to eat. Then they came over to me and tried to start talking shit.

Sam: Language.

Katie: You wanted to know what happened. This is what happened. And then I made Penelope cry, but it was her own fault. She shouldn't have been talking sh- crap. Then Brittany tried to tell me how I should feel for making Penelope cry. But I didn't care, so she left the room. I finished my lunch, and then I went to the bathroom. Penelope was waiting for me, so that she could try to beat me up. But when she swung on me, I blocked her, and swung back.

Mr. Davidson: And then you proceeded to punch Ms. Collins until a teacher found you. He says as he enters the room.

Sam: Maybe she wouldn't have done that, if you had handled the situation when you had the chance. Maybe, since she knows that you won't help her, my daughter decided to take matters into her own hands. As she had every right to do.

Mr. Davidson: You're trying to justify Katelyn's actions, but what she did was not ok, and I will be taking action-

Sam: Oh so now you wanna take action? You didn't wanna take action, when you were first told about this situation. This other girl was relentlessly bullying my daughter, you found out about it, and you did nothing. It kept happening, Katie got beat up, and you still did nothing. Did you expect her to just let herself get beat up, a second time?

Mr. Davidson: Of course not. But I expected her to come to me about this, and I could've-

Sam: Done nothing. You could've done nothing, just like you did, last time. Why would she come to you, when she knows that you wouldn't have done anything to help her?

He doesn't say anything, which proves my point. He knows that he's in the wrong here. He let my kid get beat up, and now he's trying to "take action"? He could've taken action, the first time he was told about this situation. If he had, then this wouldn't still be happening. He knows that, and he doesn't know how to further defend himself. He's dug himself into a hole that he can't get himself out of.