CHAPTER FORTY-six

“So, it’s true, your dad’s representing one of the murderers?” Karen asks the moment I walk into the school cafeteria the next day.

Of course she knows. Audrey, the deputy’s daughter, told her. Or maybe she found out some other way. By now, everyone knows. The ugly truth is on everyone’s lips. Dad is the public defender for Perry Smith, alleged murderer.

According to our house’s resident traitor, the word alleged makes all the difference.

I don’t answer Karen. I don’t have to.

Quickly, I eat lunch. Placing my tray on the stack, I head for the restroom. Usually, it’s very noisy right after lunch, but today it’s undeniably quiet in the hall. And that’s when I see them. There they are, standing outside the girls’ restroom. The bullies. Some I don’t even recognize. Some I do. I’m not even scared. I try to walk to my next class but they surround me.

It unfolds as if I’m watching a movie I’ve already seen. Where a nudge turns into a push and that push turns into a shove and then the teachers descend. Without asking any questions, the adults decide who’s “responsible” for the fight. I’m one of the guilty ones. I sit in the principal’s office with the other delinquents, all because of my dad and his inability to tell Judge Tate no.