Chapter 28

"Have you ever considered having a study hall for seventh period?"

I shrugged as Mrs. Connors glared at me. The PA system had just summoned me to the office again. I'd expected the summons yesterday or the day before. I gathered my books and stood.

"TAMI SHARP, PLEASE REPORT TO THE OFFICE."

Tami and Robbie looked surprised.

"I give up," Mrs. Conners muttered. "Anybody else want to go? The office? The library? Hell, Dairy Queen?"

I think a few students liked the Dairy Queen idea but nobody dared raise their hands. I waited as Tami closed her notebook and stood. Robbie stared at the speaker wondering if she was next.

"Now if it's Wasay, you're not supposed to be in-your-face," I said out in the hallway. "If it's a student delegation, be nice and if it's Allie's mom you have to be polite."

"If it's Allie's mom, I'm going to stick my foot so far up her ass that I'll probably lose my shoe," Tami growled. I grinned, turning my head to the side so that Tami wouldn't see. My Little Mustang was still pissed. Majorly pissed.

Two weeks ago, after our concert, the city council had one of it's best attended meetings in years. And almost everyone spoke in favor of tearing down the Sugarman house and building a youth center. The mayor said city hall had logged over two hundred phone calls and another couple hundred e-mails and letters running seven-to-one for the youth center.

The council voted unanimously to build the center.

But Allie's mom was smarter than any of us gave her credit for. She and Bill Hyatt, the historical Society's lawyer did an end run, sending a petition to the state historical buildings commission. The commission, not bothering with public input had slapped a protected status on the damn building.

"Maybe in chemistry Monday, Robbie and I can try making nitro," I suggested.

Tami grinned, a more natural look than the scowl that appeared when I mentioned Allie's mom. "As long as you don't accidentally blow up my best friend."

"What about me?"

"You can be replaced. Robbie's unique," Tami said as she slipped her hand in my back pocket.

The school office sent us to the superintendent's office at the other end of the school. Mrs. Price, the superintendent's secretary sent us to the district's conference room which was in another building across the parking lot.

I knocked and heard a muffled "Come in".

I opened the door, then shared a look with Tami.

Sitting on the other side of the long conference table were three men and none of them looked happy. Mr. Reed the principal sat on the left, and Mr. Whitting the school board chairman sat on the right and Butz had the center.

I swallowed. Butz not looking happy was normal, but Reed and Whitting almost always had a smile on their faces. "You wanted to see us?"

"Sit down!" Butz ordered.

I closed the door behind us and walked to the table but didn't sit. Nether did Tami. "No thank you. I'd rather stand."

"I said, sit down!" Butz bellowed."

"No," Tami and I said together.

"I'm getting real tired of your attitude," Butz said staring at me. "It's time you learned..."

Mr. Whitting whispered something from the side and I never learned what it was time for me to learn.

Butz looked down at the yellow legal pad in front of him. "You took it upon yourself to go to Lake and disrupt their board meeting," he accused.

I smiled. "I might quibble with the word disrupt, but yes, I went to the Lake school board meeting."

The look Butz gave me suggested that I was supposed to be more intimidated. "You used language that was entirely inappropriate."

"I used language that was completely appropriate for the situation and the people I addressed." All three men looked surprised. I decided to add insult to injury. "And what the hell made it any of your business?"

Butz looked stunned. Next to me I heard a soft giggle.

"Tony..." Mr. Reed started but Butz exploded to his feet his fists resting on the table.

"Before you do something ludicrous like trying to suspend or expel me, I went to Lake as a private citizen. I did not identify myself as representing this school or any school organization, though I passed on a message from the baseball team. The opinions I expressed were mine, they had nothing to do with the school or you.

"If you think you can control my actions or words outside of school, then you are a lot more stupid than you look."

"Tony that was uncalled for," Mr. Whitting said, coming to his feet.

"No sir, I think it was entirely called for," I said, looking at him. "One of the first things Butz ever said to me was that he was too busy to care about my or any other student's opinion." I deliberately omitted the honorific. "The second was that he thought Parker's opinion of me was correct. I think we all know Parker's opinion of me."

"Right now, we're both missing class for something that is none of your business," Tami said, speaking up for the first time. "And unlike some students, we like our classes and resent missing them for ridiculous reasons. And for the record, I wasn't representing the school either. I represented a newspaper in Seattle and I don't think our ... superintendent wants to take them on." I had a feeling that Tami searched the right adjective and came up blank.

"Mr. Reed, Mr. Whitting, do you mind if we go back to class now?" I asked when Tami finished.

Both men looked blank but nodded. Butz just glared.

Outside I put my arm around Tami as we walked back to class. I had a feeling that our respite was only temporary.