Chapter 20

"It was good of you to see us," Mom started out politely. "Especially so early on a Monday morning."

"I'm always happy to talk to one of our parents," Mrs. Jeffries, the principal, smiled. She was a grey kind of woman. Not her clothes: they were bright, almost loud. But the woman herself was grey, not just her hair, her personality. Just... blah.

She was also a closed-door principal. I rarely saw her. I doubted that I'd seen her in the halls a dozen times since school started. Mr. Parker was the visible face of the school.

And that was a very depressing thought.

"What can I do for you?" she prompted.

"I wanted to talk to you about Tony's punishment."

"I see. I had a feeling that was what this was about." She leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers. "What Tony did was very serious. He may have thought he had a good reason, but the fact is, he ignored school policies and hacked a school computer. I think a five day suspension is very fair."

"Oh, I agree," Mom said, surprising Mrs. Jeffries. "I thought the suspension was very fair."

"You did? You do?"

Mom nodded.

"I'm very gratified to hear that. So often parents don't want their little ones to take the consequences for their actions."

Little ones? What were we, eight?

"No, that's not a problem. I think even Tony will agree that his sentence was fair under the circumstances." Both women looked at me and I nodded.

"I'm afraid you've lost me then. I don't understand what this meeting's about." Mrs. Jeffries said as her fingers interlocked, then she templed just her forefingers.

"It's about the rest of his punishment."

"I'm sorry?"

"Mr. Parker has barred him from all further activities. No sports, school shows, no newspaper or yearbook."

"I see. I wasn't aware of that, but I'm sure Mr. Parker has his reasons."

I would have loved to comment about Mr. Parker and his reasons, but I had a feeling that Mom wouldn't have appreciated the help.

"Mr. Parker also threatened to fail Tony in journalism class until Mr. Walker intervened."

"Again, I'm sure Mr. Parker had his reasons."

"Apparently Mr. Walker didn't think so."

"Well, I'd have to talk to Mr. Parker..."

"We'll wait."

"Excuse me?"

"I said, we'd be happy to wait, if you want to talk to Mr. Parker about this."

"I didn't mean right now."

"Why not? We came to get this resolved."

"Well, I make it a point never to over-rule my subordinates."

"Then what good are you?" Mom asked bluntly.

"Excuse me?"

"What good are you?" Mom repeated slowly. "If you never over-rule your subordinates, either they're always right, in which case you're superfluous, or you're afraid to make a decision in which case you're a waste of space."

Go get'm Mom.

"You don't have to be insulting."

"I wasn't being. I was stating reality."