WHAT IF! cole walter

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE, suspension & family support

Hollyn now sat on the bench outside the front office. She sat next to Danny, Cole stood by her, letting her sit on the bench. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed and his head hanging low. Hollyn could feel his gaze on her, and she knew he was blaming himself for her being here. But she wasn't angry with him, she couldn't be. She chose to get involved, and she didn't regret it. Even if it meant being stuck in the hallway with most of the Walter boys. Hearing the principal lecture and scold her had made her feel horrible and she didn't even do anything wrong. She was trying to stop the fight, but he didn't care about that. He had said her punishment would be discussed with her parents. Hollyn was anxious about her parents reactions to this. She never had to deal with this before.

Cole looked down at her with concern, seeing she was messing with the charm bracelet he had gotten her. She was clearly nervous and anxious about the situation, and he hated seeing her like that. He hated that she was getting in trouble for nothing. It was his fault, he should've listened to her. He was so focused on Alex and his anger that he didn't think. Before he could say something to her, his mom walked out of the front office, staring at the kids with disappointment. Seeing her gaze. Hollyn shrunk back and frowned. She never once thought she would see Katherine look at her with disappointment. Her stomach churned as she looked down, feeling ashamed.

"Alex and Cole, you have a three day suspension, and the rest of you are suspended until tomorrow. So I guess we're going home." Katherine explains. turning to walk to the exit. "Now!" She adds, raising her voice when no one followed her at first. "You too Hollyn."

Hollyn looks at her with surprise. "But I was waiting for my parents."

"They asked me to bring you with us." Katherine informs, not giving her the full details. "Let's go."

Hollyn's eyes widen at this and her heart drops, realizing she's in serious trouble. Her parents had to have been so disappointed and upset about what happened, apparently even more so enough where they couldn't even pick her up. And that had her really worried about what was to come. But she knew it wasn't good.

Hollyn was quick to grab her backpack and stand up, standing up the same time as Isaac. They were the first ones up to follow her, soon followed by the others. Cole walks out of the front office with Hollyn, frowning as he glanced over at her. He was worried about her, wondering how her parents would react to the news. Would they be disappointed and upset with her? He hated the idea of her being punished for this. He should've listened to her, but he didn't. "I'm sorry." Cole murmured, causing Hollyn to glance over at him. He looked upset, his shoulders slumped as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Hollyn sends him a reassuring smile and shakes her head. "It's okay. I should've realized nothing would've stopped you." She sighs and shrugs. "I just had hope that you would've listened, but I understand why you didn't." She reassured him. She didn't want him to feel bad. He already looked upset enough.

Katherine had been pissed when she found out about her boys being in trouble. She had been so surprised to hear Hollyn was included, she thought that Tara wasn't being serious when she said Hollyn's name. It had her confused because Hollyn had always been a good kid. Though she should've known with her hanging out with Cole a lot she would've bound to get in trouble at one point. And the truth is about her getting Hollyn home too, she didn't tell Hollyn the whole truth. Something wrong had happened with Carolyn and so James had took her to the hospital to check out what was going on. The school had called them when they were at the hospital and Katherine had volunteered to pick Hollyn up since she would've had to pick up her boys anyways. So she didn't want to leave the girl stranded at school.

James had called Katherine to see if she could get Hollyn and was relieved when she said she could. But Carolyn and James had agreed for Katherine not to tell Hollyn where they were right now so she wouldn't worry, at least not until they knew more about what was happening. Katherine had her own theory of what was going on with Carolyn, but she hoped she was wrong.