“Good morning, Andre. Please have a seat.” Wace pointed to the open chair.


    The principal gestured for him to push back his hood and pointed to his ears when he sat.


    Andre slipped the hood back and popped his earbuds out. He nced over at Garlin and saw the man’s angry expression fade to shock.Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    “Damn,” the coach said.


    Wace shot him a nce, then turned his eyes to Andre. “It’se to our attention that there was a fight behind the school afterst bell.” Andre nodded. The principal continued. “It seems obvious from your bruising that you were involved.”


    Garlin snorted and got a stern look from Wace.


    Andre nodded once more.


    “We’ve heard from the others, and the police who I understand spoke with youst night?” Another nod. “Can you tell us what happened?”


    Andre looked between the two men, then kept his eyes on the desk surface. He described how he was dragged out to the portable, how angry they were about their girlfriends dumping them, how they med him, and how Rick had started them all hitting him. He said he tried to run, but they kept hitting him, so he had to hit back to stop them.


    “Could you show us your arms?” Garlin asked and got another weary look from the principal, but he also seemed to want to see.


    Giving the principal a questioning look, he got a nod, so Andre pulled his hoodie up over his head, pulling his shirt off at the same time.


    Wace gasped when he saw the bruises covering Andre’s arms, torso, and face.


    “You can put it back on. Thank you, Andre,” the principal said softly. “When you’re ready, please go back to your ssroom.”


    Andre stood and straightened out his clothes and nodded before he put the buds back in and the hood up. He left quickly, as he wanted to get his day started.


    -=-


    When they were alone in the office, Garlin shook his head. “Shit!” he cursed softly.


    “The defensive bruising was there just as the police officers said. I have to believe the story Andre just told us, as it’s far more believable than what we heard from the others. They couldn’t even keep their stories straight.”


    Garlin nodded. “I have to pull the team from the tournament. None of the injured yers are in any condition to y, and I can’t substitute that many yers this far in.”


    Wace gave the coach a bewildered look. “I don’t care about the bloody championship! We can’t have students bullying others and attacking them in groups! It’s bad enough Mr. Marin had his privacy invaded so badly. I’m still waiting to hear from you who it was, by the way. Could it have been one of the hooligans who fought with himst night?”


    Garlin’s expression must have slipped as Wace caught it, and his temper exploded. “If you knew who it was, you had to tell me!” His expression changed as he realized what the coach had done. “Oh, my god! You were protecting them to stay in the championship!”


    “I never found out which of them took the picture!” Garlin argued in his defense.


    Wace scowled. “But they were all involved?”


    Garlin bit his lip, but he’d already spilled too much. “David Trent wasn’t in the change room that afternoon, but the others were, though none confessed,” he mumbled.


    Wace leaned back in his chair as his eyes locked onto the eyes of the man seated across from him. “You will no longer obstruct my investigation. As of his moment, you’re on suspension pending a disciplinary investigation. Get out and go home.”


    The principal watched the man wearily leave his office. He called the admin desk. “Helen, it’s Harry. I’ve just suspended Jerry Garlin. We need to schedule a disciplinary investigation.”


    “Oh, my word! What did he do?” the older office administrator asked.


    “He withheld the identity of suspects responsible for the Marin privacy breach,” Wace sighed. “Get someone to watch his sses for today and next week too.”


    “Yes, sir.”


    “Thanks, Helen. Oh! And one more thing, I’m looking for the names of the girlfriends of several students. They may have evidence in this case.”


    “I can get that information for you. Just send me the list of students,” she said.


    “You’re the best, Helen!” Wace said with a smile.


    “You better believe it!” she teased back.


    Wace hung up and closed his eyes. Right under his nose. This didn’t look good, but he was going to do this by the book.


    He would find the guilty party and get some justice for young Mr. Marin and his formidable sister.


    For Andre, life at school settled into a new state of normal over the next two months. He was now sitting in the back of every ss, and the other students left him alone, mostly.


    asionally, one of thedies he used to sit next to would smile back at him or wave. He did his best to ignore these efforts. He didn’t understand their intent, and it didn’t feel safe to speak to them.


    The five students who attacked him had been expelled. The school had a zero-bullying policy, and because of the viciousness of the attack, they were enforcing it to the full extent. He and Cassandra were told their permanent record would reflect their actions. Some had already lost potential schrships.


    The principal had alsoe through with his investigation into the privacy breach. To protect themselves from legal action, Rick, Henry, and Kevin confessed Greg Davis took the picture and arranged for it to be distributed through the school’swork. That’s when it got out that Greg’s partner in crime wasn’t a female student he was having sex with, but a fellow named Brian… who Greg was having sex with.


    All this dramargely passed above Andre’s notice as he focused onpleting his final year.


    Another unfortunate oue of the exposure was that his job dried up at the electronics store. His boss wouldn’t look him in the eye but told him they had toy off some staff. It seemed like he was the only one. Cassandra told him not to worry about it, as he should just concentrate onpleting high school.


    His math teacher introduced the idea of attending a mathpetition at the end of the school year. He’d been practicing with the more advanced principles and found it very rxing. He wasn’t sure if apetition was something he wanted to do, but he enjoyed stretching his math skills. Cassandra was pleased he was finding something to do after school that made him happy.


    Their home life was getting better, too. Andre still got too excited when she sat close to him on the sofa when they watched movies.


    Cassandra was finishing up her night college course, and her grades were the best in her ss. She still came homete, sometimes smelling of alcohol, but he’d take care of her and tuck her into her bed. She always smiled so sweetly when he did that.


    The school year was almost over, and he only had a couple more weeks to go. At the beginning of the year, Cassandra had him apply to several prestigious schools as his grades were at the top of his sses, and he was fast-tracking for a schrship. He’d written essays, with her help, and two of his teachers wrote rmendation letters for him.


    Monthster, he’d received eptance letters from two of the six he’d applied to, but the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the one he chose.


    Cassandra assured him that when she graduated from her course, she’d be able to get a job in Cambridge, and had already done some research into that, so he wouldn’t be alone, and they could continue to live together. He was so relieved about that!


    Math was hisst ss of the day, so once the rest of the students fled the building, he stayed behind to review the next section in the advanced principles textbook with the teacher.


    This was quickly bing his favorite ss.