Thin Air (Complete EDITING)

26 -Shannon

26 Shannon July 6, 2020

Jamie: Hey, are you going to be home this evening?

Shannon: Not until after Morgan's swim thing. What's up?

Shannon: Everything okay?

Jamie: Yeah. Everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to you about something.

I can't help but feel like Jamie isn't being honest when she says everything is okay. It's not unusual for her to text me out of the blue, but her tone seems off. I wonder if she's already heard about the throw down between Drew and Nicole. She wasn't pleased to hear that their friendship was going to be changing and had no issues voicing her feelings.

Shannon: Dang it. What did Drew do now? I'm going to wring his neck. I'll have Morgan catch a ride with someone on the team and meet you at my place after work. I'll have a pitcher of margs ready.

Jamie: No, it's nothing like that. Don't worry about it. Everything is fine. We will talk later.

Shannon: Are you sure?

Climbing into my car, I press the Bluetooth button. "Call Drew."

The ringing is interrupted by an impatient beep. It's the school.

My conversation with Drew will have to wait.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Dawn, Principal Malone's secretary."

"Hi Dawn, is everything okay?"

The kids were dropped off on campus for various sports conditioning this morning. I hope no one is hurt.

Her throat-clearing sounds uncomfortable, "We have Caleb and Morgan here in the office. The principal would like to speak to you."

"I'm on my way."

________________________

Sitting outside of Principal Malone's office takes me back to the years right after losing mom. Every other week, I was down here dealing with some issue or another that Drew had caused while Dad was at work.

Speaking of the Devil, "Hey Drew, what are you doing here?"

"Dawn called." He shrugs, "It's weird to be here on this side of the desk."

Before Drew can take a seat beside me, Principal Malone pops his head out. "Please, come in."

The kids' hurried whispers stop when we step in. Caleb shifting forward to block my view of Elijah and Morgan.

The Principal catches their attention from his seat behind his desk. "Who wants to explain?"

They are all frantic, trying to talk over each other.

"Mom, it-"

"Aiden is an assh-"

"-not our fault."

A hand is slammed down, silencing them instantly.

"One at a time. Caleb, you're the oldest, lay it out for me." Drew used his cop voice on them. Uh oh.

For the first time, I get a good look at the three of them. Caleb has a split lip and a bag of ice on his right hand. Eli's pants are ripped, and Morgan's usually perfect hair is pulled back into something so sloppy that it can't even be considered a bun.

Caleb sits up straight, meets his uncle's eyes, and says, "Morgan got her period. Aiden saw the spot on the back of her shorts and called her out in front of everyone. I kindly asked him to shut his mouth. He did not. So I punched him. Morgan tried to step in between. That ass-," he cuts himself off with a glance at the principal before correcting his language."-jerk, Aiden shoved her to the ground. Eli saw and came running, screaming like a wild banshee the whole way." The boys smirk at each other. "He climbed up his back and put him in a headlock until he hit his knees. Unfortunately, Aiden is fine."

I'm standing there with my mouth hanging open. Drew's eyebrows are nearing his hairline when he looks at me. He wipes the amusement from his face before turning and addressing the Principal. "So it sounds the issue has resolved itself then?"

"Actually, Aiden's father would like this handled through the school." Of course, he would. Prick.

"Okay, sure. That's probably for the best. I would love to discuss what disciplinary actions will be taken against the eighteen year old senior boy who put his hands on my fourteen year old freshman niece and harassed her about her menstrual cycle. Go ahead and get a hold of Chad to set that meeting set up." Drew tells the principal as we usher the kids out of his office.

A/N

Of course Chad's son would be a bully too 🙄

How did you feel about those keys showing up with Cal? 😬

Thanks JessEubanks and  pinkpanther04710   for giving me someone to chat with in the comments!