Lovesick -- A Rocky Lynch Story

Chapter 26

Rocky tried to keep me calm, telling me that everything was alright. Carter was fine and I shouldn't worry until I know exactly what happened. But I could tell that he was worried, too. I could tell by his strained voice and the way he held my hand tightly, his nails almost digging into the back of my hand. Maybe he was saying these things to calm himself down, too.

Carter was sitting in the main office near the principal's office with his head buried in his hands. "My boy," I sighed and sat down in the chair next to him and wrapped my arms around him protectively. He looked up at me with glossy red eyes and looked relieved to see me. Rocky let the secretary know that we were here so she could let the teacher and principal know as well. "Baby, what happened?" I asked him after peppering his forehead with kisses.

He spoke so quietly. "Some p-p-popular boys were calling me n-names on the playground," he stuttered. "And they pushed me and I got this cut on my arm," he said as he lifted to show me his wound, freshly bandaged from the nurse. Then he sighed deeply. "I feel stupid for crying. I didn't mean to cry. They're going to make fun of me more now."

"You're not stupid," I sighed. When I looked over at Rocky, who was sitting in the chair next to me. His face was expressionless and he stared at the floor. That was how he got when he had to control himself. He was extremely protective of his children, and I could tell that later at night, behind closed doors, I was going to get an earful of his feelings on the subject.

The principal, Mr. Baker, opened the office door and held it, inviting us in to sit and speak about the issue. I took the seat next to Ms. Thompson, Carter's teacher, and Rocky sat on the end, allowing Carter to sit between us. "I'm sorry you had to come all the way down here today," Mr. Baker started. "We really appreciate you two being in on this conversation."

"And what exactly is this conversation?" Rocky said through tight lips. I reached over and rubbed his shoulder, which seemed to relax him.

"Carter was involved in a bullying incident during recess today," Ms. Thompson said. "We are trying to make anti-bullying one of the school's main focuses and we are taking this situation very seriously."

"And what are you going to do about it?" I asked. "These... 'popular' boys," I said, making air quotations with my fingers, "as my son put it, were calling him names and they pushed him? Please tell me they're being punished for this."

"We are going to speak with their parents and come up with reasonable consequences," Mr. Baker said. "Meanwhile, we are asking that you speak more at home about bullying and how to handle it. We can only do so much at school, it is really up to you as parents to extend the education."

"Sure..." I said slowly.

I was ready to go off, but Rocky cut me off. "Thank you," he said quickly as he stood up. He motioned for Carter to follow him. That was all he said in response; just walked right out with our son behind him. I did my best to conjure up a smile before following them as well. "Are you okay, buddy?" Rocky asked as we walked out to the car.

"Yeah dad," he sighed. "I think so. My arm hurts, though."

"I bet," he pouted. He opened the car door for him and waited until he was in and the door was shut again before he spoke his mind. "Up to us as parents?" he quoted with a clenched jaw.

"How to handle bullying," I scoffed. "Maybe these boys' parents should teach them how to be decent human beings."

He nodded in agreement and we both got into the car, feeling a bit better than we had a second ago. We did our best to keep our frustration to ourselves as to not upset Carter. There was definitely going to be a longer conversation about this, but at least we knew we were on the same page.