Page 103 of Clean Slade
“You have?”
In my exhaustion and stress, I’d forgotten all about it, but suddenly it was the only thing I could think about, and I began to make up wild scenarios in my head.
“Yeah, um…there’s this student in her class. I believe they and their friends are calling Mac names.”
“What? What kind of names?”
What name could you possibly call the best, most adorable, smartest girl in the world?
“I…” Wesley gritted his teeth and licked his lip as if battling with himself. “Things I’m very familiar with. I don’t want to repeat them, but they—they’re basically calling her…fat.”
I glared at the ginger-haired teacher while my jaw dropped and confusion and disgust rose to the surface.
Was Mac a little bigger than usual? Yeah, so fucking what? Her bone structure was different. She was sturdy and strong. She had lived a good life. King had given her the best childhood.
“Kids can be very cruel.” Wesley repositioned his glasses, and I noticed him holding his breath for a moment.
He’d mentioned being familiar with the insults. Had people called him fat because that was just plain mean.
Although when was it ever not mean to call people names?
“What are we gonna do, Wesley? It’s starting to affect her big time.”
I realized as I said it that it suddenly made sense that she didn’t want her favorite meals and had pushed everything we put in front of her away.
We thought it was just a phase, but this? It could have repercussions for her for the rest of her life.
“I’m planning on addressing this in class and in private. I will call the student’s parents today to discuss it with them and see if we can figure out a solution.”
“Who is it? Who is the student?”
“I’m sorry, Slade. I can’t tell you that.”
“That’s bullshit.”
Wesley nodded.
“Indeed. But it’s the law. I’m sorry. Let me speak to the parents and see if I can get anywhere with them.”
I huffed.
“So what? What if they don’t do anything or they don’t want to meet with King? They’re only going to continue bullying Mac, and we can’t protect her.”
Wesley pursed his lips and took a deep breath.
“You’re absolutely right. I’m with you on that, but I still can’t tell you. Can you trust me that I won’t let this go? I’ll figure out something, even if it means moving the student to another class.”
I sighed. As if that would be enough.
Wesley turned, and I shook my head. How was any of this right?
“You know…you didn’t hear this from me…” He spun to face me again and pursed his lips. “I can’t tell you who it is, but there’s another person who knows who the bully is, and nothing can stopherfrom telling you.”
“Mac!”
Wesley pretended he hadn’t heard me as he smiled and walked off.
Maybe Mac could tell us, but we couldn’t even get her to admit what was wrong. How the hell were we supposed to convince her to tell us who the student was?
