Page 66 of Keepsake

“He called him what?”

“Logan…” Alvaro shook his head, but my attention wasn’t on him.

My eyes on Dashiell, I asked. “Did Principal Godwick know?”

His eyes meet mine and he nodded slightly.

“That fuck—” I cursed.

“Logan, it doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter? He’s suspended, but I never even asked what the other boy got.”

“Nothing,” Dashiell offered.

I pointed at him and looked at Alvaro. “We need to go to the school. We need to talk to Godwick…”

“Logan, listen to me. He’s still in the wrong.”

“How can he be in the wrong?” I turned to Dashiell. “Didyoucall him any slurs?”

Dashiell’s lip twitched. “No.”

“Well, so there you go.” I moved to grab shoes, my bag and—

“Logan.” Alvaro caught me by my shoulders. “Listen to me. He can’t punch every asshole in his way.”

“Well, that’s true.” I nodded and turned to Dashiell. “Did you hear that? Next time call Alvaro, he can do it for you.”

This time I saw it. He chuckled.

“I definitely can’t punch teenagers, Logan.”

“I don’t care,” I told him. “That’s not acceptable behavior. Dashiell can’t be suspended. He’s the victim.”

Alvaro argued, “It’s only one day.”

At the same time Dashiell growled, “I’m not the victim.”

I ignored them both. “The talk with Kendra was too easy. She was talking shit about Dashiell going to college.”

“I’m not going to college.”

I pointed at him. “You don’t start with me.” Turning to Alvaro, I kept going. “She never told me the entire story. She talked about not tolerating violence…”

“He was violent.”

“For a reason.” I narrowed my eyes at Alvaro.

“I don’t think that holds up in court.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree.”

“Isn’t self-defense a thing?” Dashiell asked from the couch.

I smiled triumphantly. “Well done. It is a thing.”

Alvaro scoffed. “Yeah, the boy is a genius. Harvard law.”

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