Page 28 of Gifts

He hangs up when we get to the office. I pause before opening the door and lower my voice. “Try to be calm. If you’re truthful, I promise we’ll do everything we can to get to the bottom of it.”

Taking in Levi Hollingsworth, I think his remaining calm will be a challenge. But he finally nods, even though he’s tense and appears to want to take someone out with his lacrosse stick.

*****

Asa

I hung up with the principal not three minutes ago and am already pulling into the visitor parking lot of the campus. When Levi called, I could barely get a word in as he growled over the phone, but he did tell me Keelie was with him and I needed to get to the school fast.

My son’s not a dumbass. I don’t think he’d fuck up his scholarship or his future. But really, if he was stupid enough to experiment, I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to bring that shit to school and keep it in his locker.

I’m pissed, but I’m not sure who to be pissed at right now.

After checking in at the front desk, I’m ushered to a back hall and taken to a small conference room. When I open the door, Levi is sitting at a table across from a man in a suit with a uniformed police officer standing beside him. I see movement to the side and there she is, Keelie, leaning against a wall. She bites her lip when our eyes meet, but I look back to my son and step into the room, closing the door behind me.

The man in the suit stands and I offer my hand. “Asa Hollingsworth. Levi’s dad.”

“Thanks for coming. I’m Brett White, Principal. This is Officer Lucas and Levi’s counselor, Ms. Lockhart. We were just discussing what we found in Levi’s locker this morning during a surprise drug search of the school.”

Levi shifts in his chair to look up to me. “It’s not mine, Dad. I swear it. I keep telling them there was nothing there before school. I have no idea what’s going on.”

“Calm down.” I hold my hand out to my son and look up to the officer. “What exactly did you find?”

The officer steps forward and slides the contents out of a large manila folder. Three evidence baggies lay on the table in front of us, containing small amounts of pills, weed, and syringes.

Levi raises his voice. “They’re not mine!”

I cross my arms as I take in the shit laying in front of us. “Those don’t even go together.”

The principal frowns at my comment but when I look to the officer, he has the decency to nod. “I’d agree with that.”

“Does it matter?” Brett White asks.

“If you don’t think it matters, then maybe we should lawyer up,” I threaten, and watch the principal’s face tense. “I’m just saying, it might make sense for a dealer, but for a user? No, way.”

The officer adds, “I will say, in all my years doing this, I’ve never seen evidence lying out in plain view. As soon as we opened the locker, we didn’t even have to dig. It was all sitting there, tossed on a pile of books.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Levi, who’s intense and agitated, leans forward and points to the evidence on the table. “That’s not mine. I threw those books in the bottom of my locker this morning before school. They’re for my afternoon classes.” He turns to me, his expression frantic. “Dad, do something!”

“The cameras.” I look at Keelie after she speaks and she widens her eyes as she shrugs a shoulder. “It would be worth checking the recordings.”

“There’re cameras?” I ask.

“Yes,” Brett White confirms. “All the hallways are under surveillance.”

“If Levi is telling the truth,” Keelie offers, “then this will be an easy fix.”

I look back to the principal. “When can this be done?”

Brett stands and looks to the officer. “We can pull up the feed now if you have time.”

Keelie pushes away from the wall and states in a firm voice, “If we’ve gone to all this effort, I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be time. After all, it is within Levi’s rights to have that video pulled. If there’s anything there, Officer, I’m sure you’ll want to add that to your evidence, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the Officer agrees, and follows the principal out of the room after collecting the so-called evidence, leaving me alone with Keelie and my son.

“Dad, what the fuck? That shit is not mine.”

“I didn’t think it was. And watch your mouth,” I add. If we can’t prove that shit’s not Levi’s, his language will be the last thing Danielle will be pissed at me about.

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