Page 13 of Ruthless

Finally, she went to the principal and told her about the situation.

Donna listened primly, her hands folded on the desk. “I understand your concerns, but as long as Jimmy appears to be well treated and does his schoolwork, all we can do is appeal to his father’s better nature. There aren’t any grounds for an intervention of any sort.”

“I don’t see any sign that he’s mistreated, but he’s unhappy. I felt he was starting to blossom. Now he sits through class quietly, stands alone during breaks, and at the end of the day, he gathers up his things and disappears from the schoolyard the moment the bell rings.”

“He walks home, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Does he seem frightened to go home?”

“No. The biggest problem is that he won’t look at me and won’t say a word except when I address him in class. He’s stopped raising his hand or volunteering any ideas or thoughts. He was doing so well, and this is a giant step backward.”

“I could order him to have counseling,” Donna said, “but from what you say, he doesn’t have a problem at all.”

“No, his father does.”

“His father is the problem, and there’s not much we can or even should do about that—as teachers. Right now, Jimmy is not disrupting class, he’s not a disciplinary problem… as far as both you and Mr. Affir are concerned, he’s just unresponsive and sad.”

“So Mr. Affir talked to you about him, too?”

She nodded. “I think he misunderstands the challenging questions Jimmy was asking.”

“But he sent him to stand in the hall for asking them.”

Donna smiled. “People are inconsistent and contrary, Tessa. I think he might have seen Jimmy as uppity and only now misses what he brought to the class. He said that now, when he asks Jimmy anything remotely political, he says his father forbids him to talk politics at school, and there isn’t a thing we can do about that.”

There wasn’t. Tessa knew and hated the fact that there was no way to force Jimmy to talk openly with her. Worse, she saw clearly that trying would only chase him deeper into his rabbit hole. Despite his own concerns about his father’s ideas and attitudes, it was clear he loved his father. That love commanded some loyalty. Trying to make him go against his father’s wishes would be unfair and probably wouldn’t work anyway. Most likely all it would do was put additional stress on the boy, whether he wanted to talk or not. And the situation called for less stress, not more.

After talking to Donna, Tessa kept coming back to one thought. ‘His father is the problem.’ If she wanted to talk to Jimmy, she had to remove the only serious obstacle, and that was Mr. Taylor’s resistance to the idea. She went to her desk and wrote a note.

“Dear Mr. Taylor,

Jimmy is a student with an amazing potential for academic work. I understand that you have concerns about the information we ask you to provide about him, and even yourself. I would like it very much if you would give me a chance to discuss those concerns with you face-to-face so that together we can find a way to help Jimmy realize his potential. I can meet with you almost anytime outside of school hours, at a place of your choosing.”

She added her name, email address, and phone number.

It wasn’t much, but she had to do something.

During the last period, she handed Jimmy this note. “Please give this to your father for me,” she said.

His face blanched white. “Am I in trouble?”

“Not as far as I know. You’re welcome to read the note. There’s nothing secret in it—I’m just asking your father if he’ll give me a chance to talk with him.”

Jimmy clutched the note. “He won’t.”

“Maybe not, but I want to try.”

The boy nodded. “I don’t know if he’ll read it. It depends on how he’s feeling. I don’t think he’ll answer it.”

She left it at that, hoping Jimmy was mistaken and that his father would read the note. Why would he refuse to even meet her?

The whole thing made her heart ache. It was sad to see him withdraw from class, from her, and most of all from Kayla.

With her hands temporarily tied, there was nothing she could do but watch and wait. In the meantime, her mind had no problem conjuring up images and inappropriate thoughts about Jett and Ronan at inopportune times. She was losing patience with her own distractedness as much as she was with Jimmy’s situation.

Chapter 4

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