Sweet Caroline

#28 Fuck protocol

Trigger warning! This chapter deals with sexual assault and child abuse. I don't describe these things in detail, don't worry, but this chapter has adults talking about these things. Be warned.

"Fuck," John says softly. "We need to report this."

I've already got my phone out. "I'm calling Nate."

"I knew it!" John says, his eyes wide. "You are sleeping with her father!"

I don't even care about that right now. All I know is that Elise's boyfriend is probably some kind of sick fucker who put his hands on Rose and I need to make sure she's safe.

"Hey, you can't just call Nathanial!" John protests, grabbing my arm. "There's proper procedure to follow, Carline. I get that it's complicated for you, but we're not even a hundred percent sure what this drawing means. We need to alert the experts. We need to report this. I'm calling Jeff."

"Fuck protocol!" My voice is a lot louder than I meant it to be. I don't give a fuck about headmaster Jeff Charlston right now. "I'm calling Nathan!"

He keeps his hand firm around my wrist and I really don't want to hit him or hurt him, but if he's not going to let go of me soon I don't know what I will do. John may be in his sixties and dressed like Santa, yet that won't make me go easy on him if he is going to keep me from calling Nathan.

"What if Rose was your kid?" I ask John. "Or your grandkid? Wouldn't you want to know this the moment the teachers discover something is very wrong? Would you care about protocols?"

John sighs and drags a hand across his face. "Fine. Call Nathanial." He lets go of me. "I'm calling Jeff, though."

We both press our phones to our ears and I'm relieved when Nathan picks up right away.

"Hey," he says, sounding upbeat. "I didn't expect to talk to you tonight. What a nice surprise."

"I need you to come over to the school." I know I sound panicked, but I can't stay calm. Not now. "Bring Elise. Drop Rose off at Elise's parents. Tell them to keep an eye on her."

"What?" He picks up on my weird mood right away. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Everyone is fine. Nothing happened. It's just... John and I need to show you something." I want to tell him right away, but I'm scared of what he might do. I don't want him running off to hunt down Trevor. It's not that I think he's a violent guy, not at all, and he's not eighteen anymore, but I just don't want him to get in trouble. I'm so angry that I know that if this Trevor guy was right in front of me right now, I would want to hurt him. And Rose isn't even my kid. I would completely understand him wanting to kill Trevor. I can't tell him this over the phone. He'll have to wait until he gets over here. With Elise. So we can calm him down if we need to.

"Caroline, what the fuck is going on?"

"Get over here," I press. "Please. Trust me, you need to get in your car and get the fuck over here, Nathan. And bring Elise."

He hangs up and I know that he's hurrying over here as fast as he can. John is done with his conversation as well and we look at each other for a loaded moment. He sighs and shrugs out of his red jacket so he's in a white shirt and those ugly red pants. He took the hat off a while ago, so he finally doesn't look like Santa anymore. Well, no more than usual.

"Jeff is coming over as well," John tells me, sounding tired. "You messed up, Caroline. Calling the parents is not the first thing you should have done. Not this late on a Friday night when we can't get an expert over here. And once Jeff finds out you're sleeping with one of the parents..."