Where We Began

chapter fourteen

"How much trouble am I in?" I asked as i followed Mr. Borough into his office accompanied by Kurt and the Police Chief Justin.

"Well, you technically did assault an officer of the law," Justin began turning the other chair at the desk to face mine, "however, all the witnesses in the room, including officer Reagan, have written sworn statement saying she came into the room in a hostile manner and violently attacked you and you reacted in self defense. Is this true?"

"Yes sir," I said, the pit in my stomach growing, "I know I'm on probation tho."

"Actually you're not. You're on truancy which is different from a criminal probation," Chief Justin continued on, "Ms. Brown was out of line in the way she conducted your truancy. She actually made it more strict than I have ever seen done for anyone on probation, especially for a minor. Do you know why she would do that?"

"Nothing you say will leave this room Brooke," Kurt assured me. He already knew the ugly truth but no one ever thought she would risk her job out of jealousy.

"She had an affair with my father prior to his passing," I said before I over thought the situation. My dad wouldn't care about his reputation if it meant saving my own ass from his psychotic mistress.

"Oh," Justin said, clearly concerned about word getting out at this point, "Did many people know?"

"Not really," I began to explain, "he told my mom and the preacher at church because he felt he should step down from teaching the youth group but they still sent him on our youth trip because he spoke with the preacher and they talked over everything and all the preacher stuff. He died shortly after we returned so there was no need for it to be aired. I didn't find out it was Ms. Brown until she was assigned to our case and my mom was concerned about what she may do so she told me to watch my back and never let her be alone with my sister. That's why she focused so hard on me, I'm sure, I was always around and there was nothing she could do about it."

"Okay, well there's still no reason to air all of this unless you chose to press charges on her for attacking you," Justin said, as he took everything in and began to explain what would happen next, "whether you chose to press charges or not she will be losing her badge and a new officer will be assigned to your sister on Thursday during your court case. You will be let off the truancy since you are now 18 and no longer a minor but you have to go and have the judge tell you that. Do you have any questions?"

"Is she okay?" I asked, wondering more about the damage I may have done than her actual state of being, "I mean she's not going to like, die right?"

"Yes, she will be fine," Justin said as he and Kurt both laughed, "She has a broken nose and a slight concussion from hitting the wall."

"Good," I laughed with them, "How long do I have to decide whether to press charges or not?"

"We will give you a week to think over it before sealing all the evidence away," Justin said, "Did someone take pictures of your face?"

"I did," Kurt said. I knew he had a plan when he had me pause before taking off to lunch to snap quick pictures of my freshly busted face, "I got the right after it happened."

"Okay well we are all done here," Justin said standing up and shaking my hand, "Mr. Borough may have more to say so we will leave you to it."

"Thank you gentleman," Mr. Borough said as the officers left his office and shut the door, "Ms. Grayson, I wanted to formally apologize on behalf of the school for not keeping you protected. I also want to apologize personally for letting her leave my office. If I would have known she planned to find you I would have had her escorted off the property immediately."