Maggie knew there was something big brewing when she spotted Laredo’s tall, brooding, and very angry form pacing back and forth in the school’s main hallway. For some reason, he didn’t scare her like he once had. Maybe it was because she had seen him passed out in a puddle of his own vomit. That could certainly take someone down a few pegs whether they liked it or not. But maybe Maggie was actually feeling—weirdly—like she was part of Laredo’s family.
“Oh brother,” Maggie muttered as she passed Laredo. “Tell me Principal Witherspoon didn’t call you and tell you she’s expelling Bella for fighting.”
“Funny, but that’s exactly what she said.” Laredo looked less than amused. “Can you explain what’s going on?”
Maggie pursed her lips. This was a big gamble. This was not the sort of thing that Maggie Brown did. She did not stick her neck out, especially not this far. She was about to get her hands dirty in a really big way. Should she actually do this? Or was she just getting ready to make a total fool out of herself? And really, weren’t they sort of the same thing? It all just depended on the results.
“How much pull do you have with the school board?” Maggie asked Laredo. She put her hands on her hips and gave him what she hoped was a very serious look of—well, confidence would be good.
Laredo shrugged. “I know a few of the board members because of corporate dealings. I know a few socially. Why?”
“We need them to come in here for an emergency meeting. Now.” Maggie decided it was time to go for broke even though she hadn’t yet managed to talk to the boys. They were still in the nurse’s office. “Witherspoon wants your family out of here so badly that she purposefully told some very naughty boys some really embarrassing personal information about Bella. They pounced. She punched. You get the idea.”
“Why would she care about us?” Laredo cocked his head to one side. “I’ve never done anything but pay a shit ton of money for my kid to go here.”
Ah, this was where it got embarrassing and awkward. Maggie swallowed back her fear. It was no time to turn back into a mouse. “It’s more about me and Darren. Darren turned down her proposition, and she has always hated me. There was someone else she had in mind for my job.”
“I see.” Laredo was silent for a moment, and Maggie was beginning to be afraid that he was about to tell her this was her problem and not his, because in a way it was. Then Laredo gave a hard nod. “If she wants to mess with you and Darren, she’s going to get the whole family. I’ll have the board here in an hour. I’ll head for my truck and make some phone calls. That should do it.”
“Thank you.” Maggie turned toward the nurse’s office. “Now it’s time to go wring some little necks until I get the confession I need.”
Laredo snorted. “Remind me never to get on your bad side. You’re pretty damn fierce.”
She was pleasantly surprised by this comment, and strangely enough, it was really flattering. “Thank you,” she told him with a nod.
Maggie didn’t watch Laredo leave, though she could hear the click of his cowboy boots on the tile floor as he exited the building. She turned instead and faced the door to the nurse’s office. Since their school mascot was a bear, there was a painted sign on the door featuring a little bear cub with a big bandage around one arm. Maggie turned the knob and opened the door to find three little third grade boys sitting on one of the cots.
The nurse was poking at Julian’s eyes as though she were trying to decide how much lasting damage there could be from one little girl’s punch. “You’ve really got to stop getting into fights, young man. Either that or you need to learn some self-defense moves,” Nurse Wilkins told the little boy.
“Actually,” Maggie cut in. “What he needs to do is to stop saying mean things to a little girl who is absolutely capable of taking care of herself and holding her own.”
Julian thrust his chin out in defiance and glared at Maggie. “You can’t say anything about it. Principal Witherspoon is expelling Bella Hernandez anyway.”
“Yeah!” Not to be left out, Bentley chimed in with his particular brand of bravado. “She’s out of here!”
“That’s really strange,” Maggie told the boys. She put her finger to her lips in an exaggerated gesture of deep thought. “Because Principal Witherspoon isn’t the one who has the power to expel a student for fighting. That’s the guidance counselor’s decision. At least according to the school rules. Did you know that?”
Julian’s pudgy little face went slack. “But she’s gotten in trouble for fighting lots of times.”
“Because the three of you won’t stop making fun of her.” Maggie put her hands on her hips and sighed. She needed to explain this at a third grade level. “Bella needs to find a better way to handle your bullying. But you boys are very, very wrong for making fun of her like you do.”
Nurse Wilkins drew back and glared at the boys. “What did you say to her today?”
Julian pressed his lips together for a moment, but Bentley and Sawyer jabbed their elbows into his sides, and he must have realized that he was good and caught. Finally, he exhaled big and heavy. “I told her that her mama left her daddy because he was so mean and because she found another man. I said her mom was a whore.”
Nurse Wilkins sucked in a gasp so deep that there was no air left in the room, but Maggie was struck by the boy’s word choice. “Julian, do you even know what a whore is?”
Julian’s face screwed up into an expression of deep thought. “No. I know it’s bad though, because Ms. Witherspoon said it in one of those really soft voices like adults do when they’re saying something bad and they know they shouldn’t say it to a kid.”
Maggie put her hand over her mouth. Kids never ceased to amaze her with their brand of insight. No doubt Olivia Witherspoon hadn’t expected to have that repeated. Maggie had to tread carefully here. She didn’t want to make Julian feel like he was the bad guy. “So, when Ms. Witherspoon told you that, what else did she say?”
Julian shrugged. “She said that life would be a lot easier around the school if Bella was gone because she’s so bad at controlling her temper.”
“And do you think that’s true?” Maggie wondered.
The boy thought for a moment and then shook his head. “Nah. Bella is okay. She hits really hard for a girl, but she’s good at lots of stuff that most girls aren’t. And I really like her uncle. Did you know he’s talking about starting a football team here at our school? That would be really neat!”
The trick would be getting Julian to tell the truth about this a second time. Especially since his father was on the school board. Maggie nibbled her lower lip. “Julian, you know that you didn’t do anything wrong here. You’re not the bad guy.”
“I didn’t?” He looked mystified. “You said we shouldn’t tease Bella.”
“That was wrong,” Maggie agreed. “But I’m talking about the fact that it sounds like someone asked you to do it this time.”
Behind Maggie, she could actually feel Nurse Wilkins holding her breath. The nurse was no fan of Principal Witherspoon. The principal rarely listened when the nurse had a concern about student health. That was why the nurse regularly visited Maggie’s office to ask if there was another way around it—because the school rules were just a little bit unusual in many respects. The founding parents had done things that way intentionally. It was supposed to be some new educational model where the counseling staff was actually able to help the kids learn to regulate and understand their emotions during conflict. Of course, Olivia Witherspoon had been all for this new educational model until her candidate didn’t get hired for the position of guidance counselor. After that, she had changed her tune.
“Principal Witherspoon just asked me to poke at Bella a little bit. She wanted to see if Bella had really learned not to fight.” Julian looked abashed. “She said it was helping the principal with a special project and that I wouldn’t get in trouble.”
“You not in trouble,” Maggie said quickly. “But you do need to stop making fun of Bella after this. All right? And do not ever repeat that stuff that Ms. Witherspoon told you about Bella’s mother. It’s not true and it’s really mean. If you don’t know a word, kiddo, don’t use it.”
Julian nodded his head and looked very curious. “I wonder if that’s why my sister got so mad last night when I called her a whore.”
Nurse Wilkins slapped both hands over her mouth in horror, or maybe she was trying not to laugh. It was hard to tell. Maggie managed to keep a straight face with effort. Sometimes kids had no idea how hilarious they were being because they absolutely lacked the context to understand what they’d said. Unfortunately, it did not make it less funny.
Maggie decided it was time to move along. Darren was supposed to be getting there any second. “I think it’s definitely a safe bet to say that’s why your sister was mad. And I also think you should just forget that word. All right?” Maggie clapped her hands. “I think it’s time for the three of you to go back to class. I’m sure there’s no lasting damage. Right, Nurse Wilkins?”
Wilkins smiled and gently ruffled Sawyer’s hair. “You’re all going to live. And you other two are lucky that Bella seems to know who the one with the biggest mouth happens to be.”
Julian rolled his eyes, but the kid was smiling when he and his buddies left the nurse’s office and went back to class. Maggie managed to wait until they were out of earshot before turning to the nurse and lacing her fingers together in a begging gesture.
“Please tell me you’ll back me up and say that you heard it too,” Maggie pleaded.
Wilkins bit her lip. “I have to. I don’t think my conscience will allow me to do otherwise. Why? What are you planning?”
“I’m not sure. Laredo went to call the board of directors and make them come to the school. I want Witherspoon gone. This is ludicrous! What kind of principal tells a student that sort of rumor about another student’s parent? That’s awful!”
“There’s something else you should know,” Wilkins said quietly. “Olivia has been circulating a petition to have the other teachers sign that would have you terminated.”
“What?” Maggie was utterly shocked, and yet she could not deny that she had intended to do the same thing. “I guess that woman beat me to it.”
“You were going to do a petition to have Olivia removed?” Wilkins looked surprised. “I find that hard to believe of you!”
“It’s because of this type of thing,” Maggie said, feeling defensive. “Olivia told Darren Hernandez that he wasn’t going to be considered by the board for the full-time PE teacher position because he refused to go out with her.”
“Holy shit!” Wilkins put her hands over her mouth to muffle her expletive. “Are you serious? That’s really unethical!”
“That’s when I started looking into ways to have her either removed or at least muzzled.” Maggie still felt defensive, and yet look at how Olivia had behaved with the kids. “Olivia needs to go,” Maggie said firmly. “She just encouraged bullying and provided ammo against a student. That’s just wrong in too many ways to count.”