Page 20 of Legacy of Lies
Chapter 5
The next afternoon, for the second day in a row, dread clenched at the center of Sara’s chest.
She squeezed the arms on her office chair as she stared at her classroom, which had stood empty for an hour. Since the students left, she had pretended to work but accomplished nothing.
Suddenly, her knit top and cardigan became too warm.
How was she going to tell Garrison?
What he’d alluded to at yesterday’s conference, some kind of bad blood between the Taggarts and Brands, appeared to be true.
The two Brand kids had once again bullied Zach at recess, and she had gone to Butch Brand, the principal and the boys’ uncle. She expected Butch to maintain objectivity, thought he would see the problem and offer a solution.
Nothing. He gave her nothing but platitudes. No disciplinary intervention. No support for her concerns.
With a flippant “boys will be boys,” he’d brushed her off and consigned Zach to continued torment. And Butch’s thinly veiled ultimatum to “mind her own business” had made it clear: If she valued her job, she shouldn’t intervene.
Good Lord, of course she wanted to keep her job—had to, if she wanted her school loans forgiven. Besides, no way would she fail at her first job. But as a newly minted teacher, she had no leg to stand on. She couldn’t fight the administration.
Yet she’d be damned if a kid would get bullied on her watch.
Sara knew how it felt, knew how being a victim of bullying would affect Zach later in life. She’d been the only Latino kid in school in Copper River. Double whammy for her, and extra ammo for the kids in school. You’d think times had changed, what with bullying awareness and all, but Zach’s situation took her back. She was the kid, standing on the edge of the playground, hoping to be noticed, but not by the mean kids.
Still, she could only imagine what that kid endured. Teachers saw only a fraction of the actual bullying.
So. Decision time. Stick her neck out for the kid, or keep quiet and preserve her career?
Taking a deep breath, Sara dialed the number on file.
“Hello?” Garrison’s rumbling voice came through the earpiece, sliding shivers up her spine.
“Yes, uh, this is Sara Lopez, Zach’s teacher.”
“Is he in trouble again?”
She pulled the phone away at his barked response. “No. And he wasn’t in trouble when we talked yesterday, either.”
“Is he acting weird?”
“No. Not at all. Why would you think that?” Seriously, talking with this man was like facing a rapid-fire interrogation.
“Doesn’t matter. Never mind.”
“Okay ...”
“So then what’s the problem?”
She flinched at the curt tone.
Her tongue turned to sand. “Um—”
He interrupted. “You know what? Forget this phone call. You and I need to talk about some things. Are you at school?”
“Yes, but—”
“I’ll be over there in a half hour.”
“No, you don’t—”
