Loving Wright

Chapter 43: Mommy Wisdom - Part 2

Eli...

I looked up from the papers on my desk when I heard the door to the office open. My mother walked in with a stack of envelopes and papers in her hand. There was an envelope that was ripped open at the top of the stack and the contents were in her hands as she read. Of course, she was being nosey. Dad wouldn't have allowed her to do that, so she was taking advantage.

"This stuff just came in for you," she dropped the papers on the desk, all except the one she was reading.

"Mom..." I said holding my hand out.

"Wait, I'm reading," she waved me off.

"That isn't addressed to you."

"It's about that journalist girlfriend of yours that you don't want to talk about" she's said, hands still glued to the paper.

I was now too concerned about the contents of the letter. "It's about Kendra?"

"Well it's about her son," she said. "Looks like someone on the board wants to expel him."

"What? Let me see," I said, but she kept reading. "Mom!"

She rolled her eyes and handed it over. I quickly read through it. It seems like someone on the board was suggesting that Kyle get expelled because of supposed bad behavior. Looks like the majority of the board was against it, but the suggesting party still insisted that I have a say as a majority donator.

"This has Hawthorne's written all over it," I said.

I expected backlash after Kendra's article but I didn't expect it to be this bad.

"I can't believe they're doing this!" I said angrily. "Just because they can't accept that someone in their camp messed up!"

I grabbed the earpiece of the telephone on my desk and quickly began dialing numbers.

"Who are you calling?" My mother asked.

"Mr. Thompson, the principal of the school. Have to remind him of our little chat."

"What little chat?"

"I can't talk about it now," I said, waiting for someone on the other end to pick up.

My mother grabbed the earpiece from my hand and slammed it down on the receiver. "What chat?"

I was trying to think of an excuse, but the look on her face made me know she meant business.

"Last year, Kyle, Kendra's son, got bullied by the Hawthorne kid. Kyle would defend himself by getting into fights with him. The principal, with the Hawthorne's in his ear, of course, wanted to expel Kyle. Kendra was pretty upset about it and I thought it was unfair, so I decided to visit Mr. Thompson."

"Eli, what did you do?" She asked with concern.

"I told him that we would stop supporting the school if he expelled Kyle."

"Eli..."

"I know I'm not supposed to use the family name like that, but I couldn't let him do that! Kyle has been through too much to be dealing with an unfair expulsion on his record. He's a good kid mom, he didn't deserve that!" I hadn't noticed I was huffing with anger. "And now they want to do it again? All because one of them messed up and got caught? That kid is probably bullying him again and I'm not there to..."

I caught myself. I was saying way more than I intended.

"You really care about him, don't you? And his mother?"