Page 55 of Reckless At Raleigh High
His head snaps up. “Zeth? The guy who gave this to you was calledZeth?”
“Yeah. That was his name.”
Shakes his head, Alex stares at me incredulously. “No…fucking…way.”
26
SILVER
“For the fifteen hundredth time, this isn’t up for discussion.”
Dad’s on the warpath. He hasn’t stopped ranting about injustice and corruption since I woke up this morning. He nearly mowed down an old woman on the drive over to Raleigh because he was gesticulating too wildly and didn’t notice her step out into the road.
“I’m not gonna stand by and allow that boy to come back to school, Silver. No. Uh-uh. No fucking way. Their position’s utterly untenable. Well, I have no idea what their position could possibly actuallybe, but it isn’t going to fly. If Jim Darhower wants to bow and scrape to a family in disgrace, then he’s gonna have me to contend with. Not to mention the rest of the parents, when they find out that the principal of the fucking school is okay with a fucking rapist murderer rubbing shoulders withtheirkids.”
“Jake didn’t actually kill anyone,” I mumble under my breath.
“We don’t know that! How arewesupposed to know that?” Dad screeches. “For all we know, Jake’s murdered a bunch of people and his sycophant parents covered it all up. Man, it makes me fucking sick that Caleb Weaving can still wield this kind of power from behind prison bars.” He smashes the heel of his hand into the steering wheel, baring his teeth. “It isn’t fucking right!”
Suffice it to say, I didn’t want him to drive me to school this morning. I didn’t want him anywhere near this disaster of a situation, but there was no talking him down. He swore he was going to keep a calm head, but he’d broken that promise before he even hit the end of the driveway. “You’re cursing too much,” I tell him. “Darhower isn’t even going to agree to see you, you know that, right? You’re supposed to make an appointment. And you lookinsane, Dad. He’s gonna take one look at you and be afraid for his life.”
Dad does look terrifying. His hair’s standing on end, his glasses propped at a weird angle on his face, and there are dark circles under his eyes. He didn’t go to bed last night. He was still waiting up for me when I came in just before midnight, and he refused to sleep. He prowled around the house, banging cupboard doors, slamming around in the kitchen, generally being a pain in the ass, and when I came downstairs at seven thirty this morning, he was ready and waiting for me at the door with the Nova’s keys in his hand, blue murder written all over his face.
His expression has only worsened on the drive across town. “He’s gonna see me,” he grits out, swinging the car into the school parking lot. “And he’d better not tell me that that little fuckboy is gonna be allowed to come back and attend classes, or I will burn the place to the fucking ground. So help me, God, I’ll do it.”
* * *
“I understand your concern, truly I do. Now, I know this situation isn’t perfect, Mr. Parisi, but we have to face facts. Raleigh High is the only school within thirty mi—”
Perched on the very edge of his seat, my Dad cocks his head to one side, leaning in closer to Darhower. The principal doesn’t know my father as well as I do; he doesn’t know that my old man is about to go nuclear. “Let me just lay this out for you, Jim. So you can see it from an impartial perspective…because I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here. I’m sure the only reason you’re even considering thisridiculouscourse of action is because you’re way too close to this. A student at this school has raped not one buttwogirls. That we know of. He broke into my house and kidnapped my daughter. He then brought her here, to this school, whereyouhave been tasked with ensuring the safety of our children, and he brutally beat her. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he then put a fucking noose around her neck and attempted to hang her from the rafters of the school’s gymnasium. Government officials charged this same boy—”
“Those charges have been dropped, Cameron.”
“I DON’T GIVE A FLYING FUCK IF THE CHARGES HAVE BEEN DROPPED!”
I’ve never seen Dad’s face go purple before. Not even when Mom told him about the affair. A vein pulses in his temple, fit to burst. I reach over and place a hand on top of his clenched fist, but my plea for him to take it down a notch goes unnoticed.
“Government officials charged this same boy with some pretty serious offences, including but not limited to smuggling, coercion, assault and battery, theft—”
“This really isn’t helpful—”
“Shut the fuck up, Jim. This piece of shit has broken countless laws and hurt more people than I even know what to do with. Did you know that Zen MacReady tried to fucking kill herself, Jim?”
“I know Zen’s parents thought it would be best if she took some time to recuperate at a facility. They said her nerves—”
“And what about the pregnancy, huh? Did you know that that poor girl is stuck with a horrendous decision now, because one of those assholes actually got herpregnant?”
Darhower’s face turns ashen, the color draining from his cheeks. “No,” he mutters. “No, I didn’t know she was pregnant.”
“Well, she is. What are you gonna do if she decides, even though she was violated repeatedly by those sick fucking assholes, that she can’t face having an abortion on top of everything else? Are you going to expect her to come back to this school, too? And make her walk the halls with Jacob Weaving sneering at her swollen s belly every time he passes her on the way to class? What thefuckis wrong with you?”
“Cam—”
“No,Jim. If that boy steps foot inside this school, therewillbe consequences.”
Darhower looks at me, a skittish, brief glance that says a lot. He hates that a student’s parent it talking to him like this, and he hates that I’m here to witness it. In fairness, I really wish I wasn’t. He puffs out his chest, drumming his fingers against his desk. “Threatening me is ill-advised. I’m sure Karen heard that.”
“So what if she fucking did? Karen’s a good person. She’s probably drafting up her resignation letter as we speak. I can’t imagine for a second that she’d want to continue working here, for a man who’d let something as heinous as this happen on his watch. I’m gonna to be frank, here. You’re gonna call whoever’s been charged with watching over that bastard Weaving, and you’re gonna tell them to keep him faaaaaar away from Raleigh High. If you don’t, I’m gonna drive myself over to Bellingham and I’m going to visit every single newspaper and new station I can find, and I’m gonna lay out this mess out to them the same way I just laid it out to you, and I’m gonna see what they think of it. And when I’m done in Bellingham, I’m gonna drive to motherfucking Seattle, and I’m gonna do the exact same thing there. I’m gonna give them your personal address. I’m gonna give them your cellphone number. And then, when I’ve got everyone good and riled up, I’m gonna remind them of the shooting that took place here not that long ago, and the very stirring speech you gave to my kid about how you were gonna do fucking better—”
