Cinders

~30~ Got my Back

Mom and Taylor come in, and I just stare into my hands.

I'm in so much trouble.

Mom and Taylor are even more disappointed in me than they already were, and that upsets me worse than my impending doom.

"Ms. Freeman, I was just informing your husband, er, Liam's dad, that we have zero tolerance for bullying at this school. What your son has just displayed today, will absolutely not be tolerated." Monroe says in a sharp tone.

"What did he do?" Mom asks, not even looking at me.

Principal Monroe tells mom and Taylor, verbatim, what I said, while Kara is pretending to be upset.

She really is a good actress—she actually looks looks like she could cry. Do witches melt when they get wet?

I look over at mom, and she has a funny look on her face—It's not the face I'm expecting.

Taylor's face is irritated, but it's kinda weird too. It's like they're both sensing that something is off with this story.

Mom turns to me once Monroe is done speaking.

"Liam, look at me," she says quietly...calmly.

I look at her, and she stares at me hard—Reading me. I don't quit looking at her until she breaks the stare first.

"Nope...Sorry—I'm not buying it," she says finally, crossing her arms casually and getting her 'Fighting Ellie' look.

I have a sudden wave of relief wash through my body. I feel like a person about to be hung in the movies, when someone comes in last second and starts a fight so the guy can escape.

The noose is feelin' loose!!!

"I'm sorry?" Monroe asks, more surprised than mad at the moment.

"I'm. Not. Buying. It....." she says again, enunciating each word slowly.

Dad looks at her hard, trying to read her. Taylor just stands there, with an expression that says he agrees with her.

"What exactly are you not believing, Ms. Freeman?" Monroe asks with an attitude he's gonna regret soon—Mom's eyes are going dark.

"First off, it's Ellie. Second, you're not gonna keep speaking to me like I'm 10. I'm telling you that something is wrong with this story. You can either change your tone and help me get to the bottom of it, or you can shut the hell up while I do."

Taylor stifles a chuckle, while dad rolls his eyes, trying not to smirk. This woman is a force of freaking nature.

Monroe pauses for a moment, completely stunned that she's having such an attitude, and finally lifts up his hands in defeat. "Let's get to the bottom of it."

Mom simply nods. Then she looks at Kara with a hard expression. "What did you say to him to make him go off like that?"

"I just asked him to dissect the paragraph. He couldn't do it and he got embarrassed," she says, pretending to get choke up.

"Uh huh," mom says as she takes my English book that Kara brought with her, and flips to the correct page.

"Liam, tell me the errors," she says as she hands me the book. Mom and I both know that English is my best subject. I look at it for just a moment before I easily list off the ten errors.

"1. You're should be your
2. It's should be its
3. Here should be Hear
4. Comma before which
5. Capitalize T in Texas
6. Get rid of the s in tens
7. Atlantic is misspelled
8. Their instead of there
9. Should be desert instead of dessert
10. Should be a question mark instead of period."