Page 45 of One More Chapter

“It’s something we did at my old school—before I started at Meadow Ridge. Instead of doing what you just said and giving unrelated consequences, we find out what’s truly wrong, and let the punishment fit the crime. In this kid’s case, does losing his dad really call for more punishment?”

“No. No, I guess not. Keep going.”

I do, standing to pace while I do it.

“He needs to see Lucy, first and foremost. Get him into counseling. Something else we did was paired students up with a mentor?—”

“A check in system?” he interrupts. I nod. “Lucy and I have been building on something similar in the past few years. It’s still in the working stages?—”

“Oh, brother, have I got great news for you.”

My smile is beaming with electricity. I open my phone, swiping on screen until I can find the Google Folder that stores my behavior management baby that I crafted during my Master’s program. Nate’s eyes light up.

“This is great. This isexcellent, Ant. We’ll need to loop Lucy in later, but we’ll be coming back to this.”

The bees in my brain zoom around excitedly, and I stay standing.

“So, the situation at hand. Suspension isn’t something I want for Dominic,” Nathan says.

“Me neither. But the fire department fined us. Could we possibly pair before- or after-school community service?—”

“With counseling,andthe community service could be done with a mentor.”

“Bingo!” I shout, slapping his desk. I extend my hand for a high five, and then remember that Nate Harding isn’t exactly the high five kind of guy. He tentatively touches his palm to mine, and a knock on the door interrupts our little brainstorm session.

Putting me face to face with my brother, Ian.

You are now entering the Twilight Zone.

Our eyes widen at the same rate before he looks over to Nate.

“His mom is on her way. She’s held up at work. Asked me to come down just in case he needs to go home or something,” is all we get, after Nate signs off that Dominic’s mother authorized Ian to be here and act as a proxy. I level him with a look that saysWewillbe talking about this later,to which he gives me the eyeballed version of the middle finger.

“I’ll get right to the point then,” Nathan says, hands folded on top of his desk. “Dominic pulled the fire alarm today. We have him on camera. He has admitted to it.”

Nate swivels the computer screen around where he shows several snapshots of Dominic caught in the act.

“Aw, Dom,” Ian says, shaking his head. He sighs, scrubbing his hand through his dark, scruffy hair. “Did he say why?”

Nate shakes his head, then peers out his office window over Ian’s shoulder, where Lucy and Dominic are waiting. When they enter, Dominic has his hood over his head, but pulls it off when he sees my brother.

“What areyoudoing here?”

Ian steels himself, but in a way I’ve never seen before. Where he would typically snap straight to the point, he instead plants his feet firmly, sits up slowly, tilts his head cautiously, and speaks with carefully chosen words.

“Your mom is on her way from work. I am only here in case someone needed to take you home before she could get here. Here, call her if you want.”

He extends his cell, but Dominic eyes Lucy first.

“Go ahead,” she nods. “You can call her.”

He turns his back, pacing along the back wall of the office. We all do our best not to eavesdrop, but in a room half the size of a classroom, it’s hard not to. His clipped,I’m sorry, Mom… I know… I just don’t want to be here…makes all of our collective hearts break. You can hear it happening in the silence.

“Okay,” he sniffles, still facing away from us. “Fine. I can ride home with you?”

This seems to calm him down, and Lucy leaves her phone facing upward on speaker so that Dominic’s mom, Andi, can be present while driving across town. Nathan introduces everyone who is present, then starts in.

“Mrs. Lupica, first and foremost, we want to look out for Dominic’s well-being. As the interim principal, I have a little bit of leeway in making these decisions, and with your approval, we’re going to recommend mentorship and counseling services to Dominic. He will, as part of that, be required to complete community service until the fine from the fire department is paid off, which can be a combination of in-school and out-of-school. Those are details we can sort out later.”

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