Chapter 48

My schedule for the next several weeks became packed, as we put in as many practices as we could between my school schedule and performances at the Blue Ridge. I even canceled most of my training with Chef, although he insisted I still come by at least three days a week, to keep my conditioning up. I agreed, although they’d be after the dinner shift on weekdays, after band practice, which meant getting home late.

On top of that, I also had midterms, which Kat had me studying hard for. Between how hard I’d been pushing myself this semester and all the stuff with my parents, I’d let my academics slide. It was ironic, since I was almost doing the thing Dad wanted me to do, putting my schooling aside for my career.

The worst part of my schedule change was it meant that I was going to miss going with Kat to the Pan Am games. We still had a lot of work to do getting ready for the New Year’s Eve show, which had to go perfectly. We’d gone so far as to send clips of our run-through to both Rowan and Linda to get input on what we should change, since we’d never played any show remotely this big before. Considering the trouble I put the band through over the last few months with my dad and everything, I couldn’t let them down this time just because I wanted to see my friend compete.

Second, if I was going to keep up my practice schedule, I needed every minute I could squeeze in to study. Especially since Kat couldn’t help tutor me this time, because she was as busy as I was. She did point out stuff I needed to work on and gave me some suggestions on how to tackle all the stuff I’d let pile up, but that was as much as she could do, which meant my studying was going even slower.

As it was, I was already a distraction for her, since she felt she was letting me down by not helping me study, to the point where she suggested she skip some swim practices. I vetoed that idea outright. I knew most of that had to do with her illness, and I was proud that she didn’t suggest it again, and kept focused on her own training, rather than trying to help me.

But, I would be home, alone, studying for midterms or practicing with the band, while Kat, Hanna, and Mrs. Phillips flew up to Canada. I get that sacrificing for my responsibilities was part of being an adult. I’d asked for this, but it sucked.

As if that wasn’t enough, my mother, of all people, showed up at practice on Tuesday, which was an added complication I didn’t need. I was shocked when I looked out of the garage and saw her car pulling up in front of the house the band was renting. She’d never come to any of my practices before, and it really made no sense for her to come now, when I’d essentially cut ties with them.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, intercepting her halfway up the driveway.

“I’m sorry, I know you said you didn’t want to talk to me again, but I have a letter from the school I thought you’d want to see.”

I took the letter but didn’t open it. She was still living in her own little make-believe land, where there was a chance she could have both me and my father in her life.

“Mom, I didn’t say I didn’t want to talk to you again, I said I didn’t want to have a relationship with you as long as you were still with my father. I love you and would love to have a relationship, but you have to pick. It’s me or him.”

“Yes, yes. I know. I didn’t come to talk about that,” she said, once again sticking her head into the sand. “I just wanted to bring you this letter from the school. That’s all.”

I held in a sigh. Her inability to deal with things because of my father was maddening. I didn’t understand it. The fact that she couldn’t choose me over a man who insulted her daily, beat on her whenever he felt like it, and only ever thought of himself was, frankly, insulting. Mrs. Phillips had tried to explain that this was common for abused women, who tended to have a harder time breaking from their abuser the longer it went on, but it just didn’t make sense to me.

“Fine. Thank you.”

She paused, and it almost looked like she was going to hug me, before her shoulders slumped and she turned to go back to her car. Again, I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay, but that would just make things worse. She’d probably see it as a sign that I was willing to give in and let her have me and Dad in her life at the same time. I had to keep up the tough love, as much as it ate me up inside.

If that wasn’t enough, I then read the letter and got pissed. I’d thought it was some kind of official communication, maybe a notice that my grades had fallen, although I hadn’t thought they’d dropped so much as to warrant a letter being sent. Instead, it was a letter from Mr. Packer to my mother, and there was nothing official about it.

_Mrs. Nelson,

I am writing you this letter in regard to Charlie and his future here at Julian S. Carr High School. We have spoken a few times in the past, and I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye on what is best for Charlie’s education, but I know ultimately we both want what’s best for Charlie, and I can’t sit idly by while he ruins his chance to graduate.

Charlie’s behavior, both in and out of school, has continued to decline, and is in real danger of interfering with his graduation. I know you are aware of the altercation he had with students last year, and I am sad to say those altercations have not ended. The administration has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to violence and bullying, and Charlie has gotten very close to breaking that policy on multiple occasions.

I think there is still time to correct this situation, however. Nearly all of Charlie’s recent altercations have been with other students in the athletics program. I think the best way to support Charlie is to remove him from all athletic programs, and any other extra-curricular activities, for his own good. As educators, our goal is to make the best decision for the kids in our care, rather than making decisions simply to placate them. As a parent, you have the same responsibility. I believe, if we work together to make the right decisions for Charlie, we can ensure he doesn’t derail his own graduation.

Please contact my office at your earliest convenience to discuss this.

Sincerely,

Harold Packer

Vice-Principal

Julian S. Carr High School_

To say I was stunned by the letter would be an understatement. This was some first-rate bullshit, and it had nothing to do with “furthering my education.” I wasn’t even sure the few run-ins I’d had with Harry had even been reported to the administration, and so far I’d had no physical altercations with anyone this year. As far as I could tell, he was just making things up now, and apparently trying to get me kicked off the baseball team.

The only thing that made sense was that this was some kind of petty retaliation for what happened with the SALT tests. From the rumors I had heard, he was in serious trouble with the district, and I knew he blamed me. It was the only thing that made sense; otherwise, he would have tried something like this earlier in the year. It was a weird move, though.

Even if I wasn’t emancipated, he and my mother had already gotten into it several times, and she’d made it clear she didn’t agree with his view of me, so it didn’t make sense that he’d suddenly think a ham-fisted letter like this would work with her. Maybe he was just angry and lashing out, or maybe he was desperate and thought that if he could show that I was behind the article and by discrediting me it would make his problems go away. If that was the reason, it was idiotic. Even if he could convince the district I was behind the article, it wouldn’t make its existence go away or get rid of what he did.

Of course, he could just be angry and lashing out, trying to hurt me. Either way, it didn’t matter. Mom couldn’t pull me out of anything anymore. I wouldn’t have expected him to know about my emancipation, since it wasn’t the kind of thing that was publicized. It would have eventually come up when it came time to get waivers signed for sports, or the first time we had something that needed to be signed by a parent, but that hadn’t happened yet.

He was going to find out in the morning, though, I thought, smiling to myself.

The first thing I did the next morning was make a b-line for the administration offices. Mr. Packer was usually there first thing in the morning, and I wanted to get this out of the way.

Mrs. Morgan tried to send me away, since it wasn’t long until the first bell, but I pressed her, saying it was important and needed to be taken care of right away. I still had to sit there for ten minutes, waiting well after the tardy bell rang, until he finally came out of his office to get me. There hadn’t been anyone else in there and I suspected that he was just keeping me waiting for the fun of it, but I guess it was possible that he was on the phone with someone before eight in the morning.

“What do you need, Charlie?” he asked, seeming exasperated.

“I wanted to talk to you about this letter you sent to my mother,” I said, holding up the letter.

“That’s between me and your parents. If you have any questions, you can feel free to ask them.”

“No, I can’t, or at least I won’t. I sent a copy of the emancipation notice to the school district and the administration two weeks ago, so any letter like this should have been addressed to me and not my mother,” I said, handing a copy of the emancipation notice to him.

He snatched the paper from my hands, and looked at it, almost dismissively.

“Come with me,” he said, turning and heading to his office.

I followed him into his office, already expecting a confrontation. Really, there wasn’t much that should have needed to happen, since the emancipation was pretty black and white. The only reason he wanted to talk about it in his office was because he was going to try and throw some BS at me, maybe because he thought he could still talk his way around it or maybe just because he could.

“We received your notice, but this kind of discussion is not appropriate to have with a student. A parent or guardian is needed to decide what is in the student’s best interest.”

“The courts have officially said my parents aren’t capable of deciding what’s in my best interest and have given me that right. I’m not sure why we’re even discussing this. That is a legal order, and one the school is going to have to follow. Maybe I messed up in how I provided the notice. Should I talk to someone at the district and see what their policy is on this kind of thing?”

I could see him fighting a scowl. The last thing he wanted me to do was call the district, since he was almost certainly already on their shit list. He knew the district wouldn’t want to pick a fight with a family court judge over a single student, and would be annoyed he’d unilaterally chosen to ignore a court order on his own.

“No, you don’t need to call the district,” he said, throwing the copy of the order on his desk.

“Good. I’d be happy to talk to you about what is best for my schooling, but I am not planning to pull myself out of my extra-curricular activities.”

“Don’t get smart with me,” he said, scowling for real this time. “You may not have a legal guardian, but the school administration still gets to decide what activities you’re allowed to participate in. Since there isn’t a responsible adult we can appeal to, I think it would be best if we make this decision ourselves. Your behavior this year has been unacceptable, and you have become a distraction to the students who want to attend school here.”

“How has my behavior been unacceptable? I haven’t had any write-ups or suspensions, and the only time I’ve been talked to by the administration was when you warned me not to cause problems when you and Principal Snyder tried to get me to cancel a news story that you found embarrassing. How exactly is that distracting to other students?”