“Get in the car. I’ll drive you,” Vanessa said as Katie grabbed her phone from the counter. She’d put it on silent and had neglected to switch it back when she and Jon got tangled in their argument.
They raced to the high school where they found Willa in the principal’s office, sitting in a chair with her head pointed at the floor.
“Willa?” Katie asked. “What’s going on?”
Her daughter looked up at her miserably.
Katie gasped. “Willa! What happened?”
Vanessa stood at the principal’s office door, holding it open with her backside. “Looks like she plowed into a quarterback without her helmet on.”
Tears sprouted in her daughter’s eyes, one of which was turning shades of purple. Her hair was messed up and her lip swollen and bloodied.
Katie knelt and took her baby’s hands in her own. “Oh, honey.”
Paula Liebert rose from behind her desk. “I’m afraid there was an altercation.”
Katie didn’t bother to hide her shock. “An altercation? Willa was in a fight?” She glanced at her daughter for confirmation. “Who with?”
Willa folded her arms tightly against her chest. “Amanda Cooper and her gang.”
Katie’s hand flew to her chest. “There was more than one?” Her eyes narrowed. “Isn’t Amanda Cooper the one who—”
Willa nodded. “Yup. That’s the one.”
“I thought you were friends,” Katie insisted. Even as she said it, she recalled what her mother had told her earlier, how Amanda was being mean to Willa’s new friend. She’d intended to take care of the matter, approach Amanda’s mother and let her in on how her daughter had been acting toward Kina. Unfortunately, when Noelle came down with that rash, Katie had gotten distracted. Then, she simply forgot to follow up.
“The key word being were,” Willa told her. “She’s anything but a friend.”
Katie had never thought the girl had proper supervision. Her parents seemed to be too tied up with their own lives to monitor their daughter’s activities, including overseeing her dating. When she’d ended up the one who was pregnant, and not Willa, all those months back…well, she didn’t fashion herself as judgmental, but clearly Amanda’s parents fell short in their role.
Of course, this was not her shining moment, either. Her mom had alerted her there had been some bullying at school. Katie kicked herself for getting distracted and not dealing with the situation when she learned of it. She should have brought this to the school’s attention right then, before things escalated.
Mrs. Liebert came around to the front of her desk and leaned on the front corner. “It appears a situation developed.”
Before she could finish, Willa popped in with the full story. “Amanda Cooper is a bully!” She turned to her mother, wincing as she moved. “She’s been hassling Kina for weeks, just because she can. The final straw was this morning when she made fun of Kina’s shoes. Asked her if she’d pulled them from the dumpster, saying most of what Kina wore was discards no one else wanted.”
Katie’s hand went to her mouth in shock. “Oh, she didn’t!”
Willa nodded. “Yes, she did. I’d had enough. I plowed into her. One thing led to another and—”
Her Aunt Vanessa didn’t wait for her to finish. “And soon all of Amanda’s friends piled into the argument. Am I right?”
“Yeah,” Willa confirmed. “I wasn’t the first to swing, but I swung the hardest.” She lifted her chin. “I’d do it again.”
Vanessa thrust an index finger toward her. “That’s right, you would.”
Katie bit down hard. “Not helpful, Aunt Vanessa,” she murmured, refraining from kicking at her aunt’s feet.
Mrs. Liebert steepled her fingers on her desk. “There will be a full investigation of the matter, and I promise all proper recourse will be taken.” She looked over at Katie. “Unfortunately, school policy requires that I suspend Willa for three days.”
“Three days?” Katie asked, incredulous that her daughter was being punished for defending a friend against a bully. “What about Amanda?”
“Same,” Mrs. Liebert advised. “While I agree, this situation is extremely disturbing—this school will not tolerate bullying of any sort—it is important that all the girls involved learn that disagreements are not resolved with physical force.”
Willa shrugged. “It was worth it.”
Vanessa casually asked, “What about Kina? Where is she in all of this?”
“Her mother was called and she’s also waiting to be picked up. As far as we can ascertain, Kina was not involved in the physical fight. If we’re able to confirm that, she won’t be subject to suspension.”
Willa shook her head. “She wasn’t involved, except to be the brunt of Amanda’s taunts. She’s a real b—”
“Willa!” Katie scolded before her daughter could finish her sentence.
“Beyoncé, Mom. I was going to say Amanda is a real Beyoncé.”
Vanessa frowned. “Want to interpret for us old people?”
“Amanda considers herself a celebrity and thinks she can shake it for anybody, ignore everybody and smack anybody down at whim.”
“Sounds like a real gem,” Vanessa muttered under her breath.