Two Perfect Wrongs

Walnut Grove Gets Rocked

Adam used the drive to calm himself down; going into that meeting hot was the last thing Connor needed. He still had to tell the poor boy about his grandfather and his mother, he shouldn't have to fear being expelled on top of it. The urge to prove Nick wrong was also a strong motivator. Pulling up to the school, he took one last deep breath before exiting his car.

"Mr. Newman, please come in." Principal McCartney held his office door open so Adam could enter. The educator shook the slightly on edge father's hand before taking his seat behind his desk. Adam took his seat across from the principal.

"Thank you for taking some time out of your schedule for this meeting. I'm sure you're a busy man." Adam said, figuring it would be good to start off nice.

"As are you Mr. Newman." Mr. McCartney replied congenially. Adam's ruthless reputation preceded him and the principal wanted to try his best to avoid it. "First, I must apologize for the carelessness on our part about Connor's bullying. You should have been informed the moment we were made aware of the problem. We dropped the ball."

'You're damn right.' Adam bitterly thought to himself before opening his mouth. "Yes, um, thanks for admitting that. I appreciate that." He hated to admit that he was thrown by the administrator coming right out and admitting blame. Honestly, he was kinda disappointed; he had so much pent up rage he needed to get out.

"Course Connor could've mentioned it too." The principal absentmindedly said. And there was the opening Adam desperately needed.

"Are you blaming Connor for not stopping his own bullying Mr. McCartney?" Adam asked, eyes narrowing. The now nervous Mr. McCartney could hear the threats in his tone.

"Of course not." The administrator stammered, eyes growing wide with shock. "I was merely pointing out that if Connor had informed either yourself or one of his teachers sooner, the problem would've been solved much quicker. I feel absolutely terrible that he was suffering in silence for so long."

"We agree on that." Adam responded, the guilt overwhelming him once again. He would never forgive himself for not seeing the signs that Connor was struggling or that his son felt that he couldn't confide in him. "However, the teachers should've done something because there's no way they didn't know. The fact that nothing was done until my son and nephew got into a fight in the library is inexcusable."

"Completely inexcusable." Mr. McCartney nervously nodded. "Next time..."

"Next time?" Adam interrupted. "You think there's going to be a next time? I thought the point of this meeting was to ensure that there wouldn't be a next time." He had to take a deep breath to calm himself down. Between his father and Sally, Adam was already stressed; the school's apparent weak stance on his son's bullying was making his blood pressure rise.

The middle aged man gulped while thinking of an appropriate response. That ruthlessness that Mr. McCartney was so afraid of was starting to show. "Well, we umm hope that there isn't a next time, but umm..."

"But what?" Adam sarcastically asked. "Bullying is a part of life? I don't like that answer. I don't like my son being bullied at school everyday while his teachers do nothing. I don't like my ex-wife wrecking my life."

"I'm sorry?" Mr. McCartney questioned, confused about the sudden mention of Ms. Lawson. He was aware of what was going on on that front. In his opinion she was part of the reason for her son's struggles; the other large part sitting across from him. "I didn't know that we were discussing Ms. Lawson, because I have some comments on that issue."

"We're not." Adam abruptly stated. "Chelsea has nothing to do with our son's bullying being ignored by incompetent teachers." He sounded much more hostile than he meant to.

"Now hold on one minute Mr. Newman," the principal said in an offended tone. "I don't appreciate you insulting my teachers."

"And I don't appreciate you and your staff ignoring my son so consider us even!" Adam was shouting now and he didn't even care. "Look, last night my father had a massive stroke and my crazy ex kidnapped my pregnant fiancee; it was a bad night. And now you're here blaming my son for his prolonged suffering while brushing your teacher's ignorance under the rug." He glared so intensely that Mr. McCartney started to shrink into his chair.

"If I didn't need to have Connor close, I'd pull him from this school. The amount of incompetence is outstanding" Adam continued on. "From now on I am to be informed if anything and I mean anything happens to my son. Because if something like this happens again, it's not going to be pretty. Do we have an understanding?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

"Crystal clear, Mr. Newman." Mr. McCartney responded, sounding a lot more scared than he wanted to. In his defense, Adam Newman was scary when he was mad.

Adam flashed his son's principal a smirk, "I'm glad we're in agreement. Thank you for the meeting. It was a pleasure." He shook the stunned man's hand and left the office, slamming the door behind him. The secretary jumped at the loud noise. "Sorry." Adam gave her a small wave as he apologized. She returned the wave with an annoyed glare.

"Way to go Newman. Way to go." Adam scolded himself, pacing in the hallway. Maybe Nick was right, he should've rescheduled; but if the idiot principal was always going to say what he did, he was going to be angry regardless. He guessed he had to keep his fingers crossed that Connor didn't get expelled out of spite for him.

"Dad?"

Adam turned to see a confused Connor staring at him. Before he could greet his son, Connor asked him a serious question.

"Dad, why were you yelling at my principal?" Well, shit.