Page 55 of Fearless

“No, sir.”

He sighed. “Look, Ava, you aren’t under arrest. This is off the record. I just want to hear your version of things. I’ve got all those other parents breathing down the department’s neck, and I need to be able to advise your school on your punishment.”

“Punishment?” She felt her spine draw up tight. Fear flooded through her veins. She was applying for a scholarship. There was a good chance, given her grades, she could earn an almost full ride to UT. Any sort of school disciplinary action would sully her record.

“You broke Ainsley’s Millcott’s nose,” he said. “Yeah, there’s gonna be consequences for that.”

Ava bit down hard on what she wanted to say. She was learning, the older she grew, that she’d inherited a mean cocktail of both her parents’ tempers. Calmly, she said, “Not to sound like a five-year-old, but Ainsley started it. I’ve got the grass stains on the back of my jacket to prove it.” She lifted her hoodie off the back of the chair to demonstrate the streaks of green the turf had left.

Fielding’s face colored and he glanced away from her. He was good at being a cop, and bad at being a human, awkward and uncomfortable with women, always. “Ainsley claims you got those stains doing something very different.”

Anger boiled in her gut. “I’m sure she did, but you can call my doctor in right now and we’ll do a pelvic exam to prove that’s not true.”

Fielding turned vermillion.

“Ainsley took a swing at me, Officer Fielding. It’s what she does. She’s a bitch. And she bats her lashes at the boys to get away with it. She hit first, but she’s not very good at it, and I ducked. I hit back – to defend myself. I’ve got a right to do that.”

A fraction of his composure returned as he straightened the cuffs of his uniform shirt. “That’s not true, actually. Your school has a zero tolerance policy against violence, Ava. And in this case, the violence occurred on school property. Anyone participating in a fight earns ten days out of school suspension, no exceptions.”

“Ten!–” She ground her teeth together and fought the onslaught of furious panic.

Then a horrific thought struck her. “Ainsley – she’s getting the ten days, too?”

Fielding glanced down at his hands. He’d brought a pad and pen into the room, but so far hadn’t written a thing. True to his word, if nothing else: this was off the record.

“She’s not, is she?”

“Ainsley has a broken nose and two black eyes. She sprained her ankle during her fall,” Fielding said, voice heavy with apology. “You don’t have a mark on you, and Megan Anderson swears you were the only aggressor.”

She clenched her hands until her nails cut crescents into her palms. “What about the zero tolerance policy?”

“I didn’t make it and I don’t enforce it. You’ll have to take it up with the school.” He shrugged, helplessly.

Ava sat back in her chair, all the fight knocked out of her. Her future, her college career, her dreams of writing – all smashed and bloody, like Ainsley’s nose, just because she’d been stupid and heartsick and had wanted to try and be normal for just one night.

She stared at the far wall and let her eyes lose focus. “What happened to Mason?” He’d still been flopping like a landed fish when they’d loaded him in the ambulance.

Fielding said, in a low, sympathetic voice, “I know you weren’t involved with that. Mason’s been caught with drugs more than once.”

“Yeah, but what happened to him?”

He sighed. “He had a grand mal seizure, but I guess you saw that. He should be okay, but the docs have him under close observation.”

“Dad didn’t sell him that stuff,” she said, unable to put any of her worry into her voice. She’d reached the overload point for the night.

“Just let me worry about that.”

She nodded, studying the way her blurred vision turned the aerial photo of Neyland Stadium on the far wall into a happy blob of orange and green. “Do I need to give you an official statement?”

“Yes.”

“Go get my mom, please. I won’t say anything without her.”

He rose to fetch Maggie, and as the door opened, Maggie’s tirade of, “…have all your badges!” ended as she caught sight of Fielding. “About time!”

Ava sat, wooden, as her mother entered the room and draped an arm across her shoulders, hugged her tight and whispered in her ear that everything would be fine, and that she hoped she hit that bitch Ainsley with all she had. Don’t worry, Fielding assured, Ainsley had a badly broken nose. Maggie thought that was fantastic as she settled into the offered chair and informed the officer that her daughter was in no way a criminal.

Ava recited the night’s events, her voice flat and lifeless. She didn’t name-call. She didn’t rat Carter out. Only the facts, straight and to-the-point.

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