Zoe. | Recharged. | Book One.

Ben Dunham. | The Wildcard. | Part One.

September 3rd, 2011

I'm sitting in my office looking at the numbers for the school budget this year, everything from elective classes to extracurricular activities. I'm trying to make sure that the school has enough funds to sustain all of these programs and clubs. I'm sitting at my desk with a humongous white binder in my right-hand and a red inked-pen in my left one. Furthermore, my tie hangs loosely around my neck with the sleeves of my purple dress shirt slightly uneven; one stops at my elbow, while the other covers my wrist. This is how I get when I'm in my working-zone, and I don't like interruptions, but whenever I think that I'm not going to be interrupted, I always am.

"... Dance Team and Tennis, they're okay." I mumble. I circle those items with my pen in the binder. "Swim Team's okay." Suddenly, the nice young man that I met this morning, Julian Rivera comes bursting through my door, looking mad as all get out. Damn, I jinxed myself. Didn't I?

Moreover, Julian's face is red, and his nostrils are flaring. The Office Administrator, Mrs. Bennett, stops in the doorway, seemingly out of breath while Julian stands in my office, breathing heavily. However, he doesn't say a single word.

"I tried to stop him, sir. I know you don't like to be interrupted when you're working, but he was too fast." Mrs. Bennett takes a deep breath. Mrs. Bennett is a Caucasian woman about 65 with light-gray hair. I give her a kind smile.

"That's quite alright, Mrs. Bennett, you can go back to your desk. I'll take it from here. Will you please shut my door?" Mrs. Bennett nods with a smile and shut the door to my office before going back to work. I focus my attention on Julian. "What can I do for you, Mr. Rivera? is it?"

"Yes, "he grumbles, staring at me with an intense look in his eyes,

"You can have a seat, son." I gesture to the chairs in front of my desk.

"No, I'll stand, thank you. I'm sure that this won't take long." His voice is almost robotic due to the tone in which he is currently speaking.

I twist my lips in curiosity. "Okay." I drop my pen along with the Schools' Budget Binder onto the desk and get up from my chair. I attempt to fix the sleeves on my shirt while coming out from behind my desk. "What's going on, Mr. Rivera?"

"There's this girl in the school that's being harassed by Marla Dunham, your daughter, I assume?" Julian crosses his arms.

" Yes, Marla is my daughter." I squint my eyes at him. "Who are you accusing her of harassing?"

Julian shakes his head. "Sir, with all due respect, this isn't an accusation. I saw it with my own eyes. She was harassing someone. Her name is Zoe." Oh, boy. Here we go again. I mentally bang my head against an imaginary wall.

"Zoe? as in Zoe Bryan? Short height? Dark hair? Blue eyes?"

Julian nods. "Yes, sir."

"That's absurd. I've known Zoe's parents since before she was born. Zoe and my precious Marla have been in the same school together for several years." I chuckle as an attempt to try and remain calm while doing my best to handle the situation.

Julian steps closer to me as he uncrosses his arms and clenches his fists. "I don't want to disrespect you, sir, because that's not who I am, but Zoe got assaulted, and she's in the Nurse's Office right now trying to get some help with her injury, and you're telling me that you aren't going to anything about it?"