Page 56 of Disciplinary Action
Gideon came running from the shower, naked and sopping wet, his hair soapy. He scanned the room, seemingly looking around for whatever had caused Cal to scream. His gaze landed on the mess on the kitchen floor. “Callum?”
“It’s over,” Cal said, falling back into a chair at the table and burying his head in his hands.
Gideon crossed the room and dropped to his knees in front of Cal, seemingly unconcerned by his state of undress or the soap in his hair. “What’s going on here?” Cal shook his head, still not willing to look at him. “Callum, talk to me. What’s happened?”
Humiliation stole his voice, but he managed to whisper, “Harvard rescinded my acceptance. They claim I cheated on my SATs.”
“What?” Gideon asked.
Cal just handed him the phone and pushed away from the table, going back to pacing to keep from crawling out of his skin. Gideon took a moment to read the email and then stood. He took Cal by the hand and led him into the bathroom, sitting him on the closed toilet seat. “Don’t move,” he ordered.
Cal sat, staring at his hands, as Gideon quickly finished his shower and dried off, wrapping his towel around his body before leading Cal through the loft to the bed and forcing him to sit as he quickly pulled on athletic shorts and a blue hoodie. “Who is Douglas Shea?”
“He’s the man who proctored my SAT exam.”
“Alone?”
“Yeah, I missed our school’s SAT exam because I was forced to stand by as a character witness for my father’s bail hearing.”
“Surely, you could have taken the exam on a different date at a different school?”
“They offered to let me take the exam one on one because I was having panic attacks. It was the guidance counselor’s idea.”
“The guidance counselor they fired in December?” Gideon asked.
Cal nodded. “It didn’t seem like a big deal. Tons of students in the school take all their tests one on one. Shea works at the school just for that.”
“What do you mean tons of students do it?” Gideon pressed.
Cal’s head pounded, his eyes burning from his tears. “Kids’ parents get them put on an independent learning plan so they can get one on one attention and extra time on tests. They also get tutors and all kinds of things, so they are virtually guaranteed to get accepted into the ivys.”
Gideon shook his head. “Did your father have you on one of these plans?”
“What? No!” Cal cried. “My dad didn’t give enough of a shit about me to even notice I was in school. In four years, he never once turned up to my lacrosse games, and I’ve been on the starting line since freshman year.”
“It’s going to be alright. I’m going to take care of this.”
Cal snorted. “There’s no appeals process. I’m fucked. It’s over. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the schools rescind my acceptance offers. I’ll be lucky if I can even get into a community college after this. They’ve convicted me of an honor code violation. I’m done. They’ve won. I should have just left school when they tried to kick me out. At least I would have had a chance.”
“Callum, stop,” Gideon commanded, gripping Cal’s wrists until the pain caused him to suck in a startled breath. “Listen to me. I’m going to fix this. I will not allow these bullies to ruin your life simply because they don’t like your father. I will blow up their world before I let them get away with this. Do you hear me?”
Cal wanted to believe him but it seemed impossible to fix. Cal’s father had been ruining his life for as long as he could remember, so it seemed inevitable that he would somehow take this away from him too. He could feel himself shaking, but he couldn’t stop. It was all just too much. He was overwhelmed. He couldn’t shut it off. “I’m just…scared.”
Gideon gripped Cal’s face in his hands. “Do you trust me?”
Cal’s hands flailed in his lap. “I…”
“Do. You. Trust. Me?” Gideon asked again.
“Yes,” Cal whispered.
“Then trust that I will handle this. Trust that I will always take care of you. Okay?”
Cal nodded. “Okay.”
“Stand up.”
Cal stood without thought. Obeying Gideon’s orders came as naturally as breathing.
