“It’s his fault. He punched Winston,” Allan shouted, jabbing a finger in my direction.
Esmer lowered the ice pack from her lip. “Only because Winston grabbed me.” She turned to the dean. “Charlie was just trying to protect me. I’m sure he never would’ve gotten involved if—”
“But you started it!” Winston insisted. “We were being perfectly nice to you and then—”
“Perfectly nice?” Esmer jumped to her feet. “You called my friend a psycho!”
“’Cause that’s what he is and everybody knows it,” Cole whimpered, still holding onto his knee, which had been wrapped in a bandage by the school nurse earlier.
“Enough!” Dean Jackson raised his voice to say. “Everyone be quiet. Sit down, Esmeralda.”
Esmer fell back into her chair and raised the ice pack to her lip again, still staring daggers at Allan.
Dean Jackson addressed the campus security guards. “Were there any witnesses?”
“Yes, sir,” one of the guards said. “A girl exiting the library said she saw Campbell throw the first punch.”
“Ha!” Allan said, making a face at Esmer.
“But the same girl also said Esmeralda was on the ground when Charles threw the punch. She could only assume Esmeralda had been assaulted first.”
“Assaulted?” Winston twisted around to glare at the guard. “I barely touched her.”
“And only because she provoked him,” Allan quickly added.
Dean Jackson gave Winston a severe look. “Are you incapable of ignoring a careless jab, Mr. Singer?”
Winston crossed his arms and sagged into his seat.
Esmer smirked but hastily dropped it when the dean turned his fierce gaze on her. “I’ve heard enough complaints from your teachers to know you have a smart mouth. These boys should’ve had the willpower to walk away from you, but you shouldn’t have gone looking for a fight.”
“I didn’t! They approached us with all their attitude and pervy misconceptions. Charlie and I were just eating our lunch and minding our own business.” Esmer turned to the guards as if asking for help. “Ain’t there any witnesses who can corroborate that?”
“You could’ve just answered our questions like a normal person and we would’ve walked away,” Allan snapped.
“Yeah,” Esmer said with a snort. “Okay.”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear any more out of you two.” Dean Jackson turned to me. “Campbell, you’re being awfully quiet. What’s your side of this story?”
I shrugged and stared down at my shoes, keeping the ice bag pressed to my nose. I felt Esmer’s eyes burning holes into the side of my face. If she expected me to defend myself, she was going to be disappointed.
The dean stared at me for a little while longer and then sighed. “Fine. You leave me no choice.” He glanced at Allan, Winston, and Cole. “For your parents’ sake, I won’t hand this over to local authorities. Charles will be suspended for two weeks.”
“What?” Esmer shrieked.
“And the rest of you will serve fifty hours of community service here on campus,” Jackson continued, causing added shouts of protest. “The next time you decide to behave like children, I’ll be involving the police. Dismissed.” He nodded at the campus security guys who stepped forward to herd us out of the room.
Cole shuffled back into the nurse’s office. Allan and Winston elbowed past me, stalked around the receptionist’s desk, and shouldered through the front office exit. I tossed the melted bag of ice into the trash can and tentatively touched my nose.
Esmer marched after me and snagged my arm once we were in the hallway. “You just sat there and let them walk all over you. Suspension? Come on! You don’t deserve that! Why didn’t you fight?”
I shrugged out of her grip. “Well, since that’s what got me into trouble in the first place—”
She threw her hands in the air. “Oh, so now you’ve got something smart to say?”
“You guessed right earlier. Allan’s mom and Winston’s dad are on the school board. I’m the freak, a nobody. Whose side did you think the dean was going to take? Doesn’t matter what actually happened. There was nothing I could’ve said or done to change the dean’s decision.” I spotted a dribble of blood on the hem of my shirt and groaned. “Great. Jasmine’s going to be pissed.”
“Unbelievable,” Esmer said. “The guy cares more about his Goddamned shirt than being suspended. You’re already in trouble with your uncle, ain’t ya?”
I laughed. “Yeah. So what? It’s not like I have extracurricular activities or an amazing social life that’ll be hurt by my double grounding. Worst case scenario? You don’t get to meet my sister until next month.” I did jazz hands and tilted my head to the side. “Bummer!”
Esmer glared at me for a second. Finally, she exhaled. “Fine. You don’t care, I don’t care. Jesus, why do I even bother?”
“You’re welcome,” I said when it looked like she was going to march off.
She spun back around to face me, her book bag swinging wildly. “I’m sorry, what?”
“If I hadn’t punched Winston, he’d have a knife in his face right now and you’d be in jail. So, you’re welcome.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said with a snarl.
“Yeah, I noticed.”
Esmer gave me the finger and walked away.
I tugged the skateboard from my backpack and rolled it onto the sidewalk. I was going to step onto it and let it take me off campus when the vision hit me. Fresh pain blossomed around my nose as the world around me faded. Suddenly, I was underwater, watching a child in an overturned inner tube, struggling to right himself. He must’ve been strapped in or something because he couldn’t get free of the plastic tube no matter how hard he thrashed. He screamed but nobody seemed to be nearby.
Steadily, his flailing limbs began to weaken. His face grew slack. The stream of bubbles coming from his lips lessened until his eyes slid closed. Then someone was diving into the water, grabbing the child’s arms and pulling him up. The boy was torn out of the inner tube and laid on the ground before someone performed CPR. He was spitting up water and gasping
