The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 80: Chapter 80 - Drama Queen

They waited for parents in separate chairs, but not separate enough.

Bianca sat near Lily, still holding the side of her head. Lily’s makeup had smudged under one eye, and she kept checking her phone even though Mrs. Gonzalez had taken it away twice and finally placed it face down on the desk like evidence.

Karen sat beside Roxie.

Their knees almost touched.

Every few seconds, Karen looked at the tissue in Roxie’s fist.

Finally, she muttered, ”You should probably put that down.”

Roxie sniffed. ”It’s evidence.”

Karen’s mouth twitched despite everything.

Mrs. Gonzalez looked up. ”Miss Jones.”

Roxie placed the tissue carefully on the edge of the desk.

Bianca made a choked sound. ”That is disgusting.”

Roxie gave her the saddest look she could manage. ”I know.”

Karen coughed into her fist.

Coach Miller turned away like he needed a moment with God.

The first parents to arrive were Lily’s.

Her mother came in sharp and expensive, all heels and perfume and panic dressed as anger. Her father followed, already looking at Lily’s smudged makeup like someone needed to be sued before dinner.

Bianca’s parents arrived less than a minute later.

Mrs. Reeves entered first, blonde hair perfect, face pale with outrage. Mr. Reeves followed in a dark jacket, phone in hand, already asking who was in charge.

”My daughter has a bald spot,” Mrs. Reeves said before Mrs. Gonzalez could even speak. ”A bald spot. Do you understand that?”

”It is not a bald spot, Mom,” Bianca whispered, crying harder anyway.

Mrs. Reeves touched Bianca’s hair and gasped like she had found a crime scene under it. ”Look at what that girl did to her.”

Roxie looked down fast.

Because the smile was coming back.

She had to bury it under tears.

Mrs. Gonzalez stood. ”Please sit down. We are still documenting what happened.”

”What happened is obvious,” Mr. Reeves said. ”Those girls were waiting by Bianca’s car.”

”They attacked my daughter too,” Lily’s mother added.

Karen’s mother had not arrived yet.

Roxie was suddenly very aware of that.

She had no idea what Claire would do when she came in.

If she came in.

Claire answering the phone had already been a miracle. Coach Miller had called twice. Roxie had heard his side of it from the hallway.

Yes, ma’am, she is safe.

No, ma’am, she is in the office.

Yes, ma’am, there was a fight.

No, ma’am, this is not optional.

Roxie had expected anger.

Embarrassment.

Maybe Claire showing up irritated, eyes glassy, smelling like smoke and whatever day she had chosen.

She had not expected the office door to open and Claire Jones to walk in looking like the entire building had personally offended her.

Claire’s hair was pulled back badly. Her shirt was wrinkled. Her lipstick was almost gone except at the corners. She looked tired in a way makeup could not fix.

But her eyes were clear.

And they went straight to Roxie.

Roxie’s throat closed.

Claire crossed the room fast. ”What happened to your face?”

Roxie stared at her.

For one stupid second, she could not speak.

Claire touched Roxie’s cheek with fingers that smelled like cigarettes and cheap hand soap, her face hardening at the scratch near Roxie’s cheekbone.

”What happened to my daughter’s face?” Claire demanded.

Mrs. Reeves made a noise. ”Your daughter attacked mine.”

Claire turned slowly.

Roxie had seen that look before.

Usually aimed at bills. Neighbors. Men who knocked too loud. Roxie herself on bad nights.

Never at someone for Roxie.

”What did you say?” Claire asked.

Mrs. Reeves lifted her chin. ”Your daughter ripped out my daughter’s hair.”

Claire looked at Bianca.

Then at the tissue on the desk.

Then back at Roxie’s face.

”And your daughter grabbed mine first,” Claire said. ”I’m sure. Roxxane never starts a fight.”

The room froze.

Roxie felt her eyes burn for real.

Claire turned toward Mrs. Gonzalez. ”Is this bullying?”

Mrs. Gonzalez hesitated. ”Mrs. Jones—”

”Because I got called here because my daughter fought, but nobody called me when gum was put in her hair. Nobody called me when her uniform was cut up. Nobody called me when people started whispering about her family.” Claire’s voice rose, rough but steady. ”So I’m asking. Is this bullying, or do we only call it that when the rich parents get here first?”

Coach Miller looked down.

Coach Hayes looked at Roxie, then at Claire, and something in his expression shifted.

Mrs. Reeves scoffed. ”This is unbelievable.”

Claire looked at her. ”No. What’s unbelievable is my daughter getting hurt twice on this campus and everybody acting surprised when she finally started protecting herself.”

Roxie broke.

She tried not to.

She really did.

But hearing Claire say my daughter like that, hearing her voice turn sharp for Roxie instead of at Roxie, knocked the air out of every fake thing Roxie had built.

The tears came harder.

Karen glanced at her, startled.

Roxie covered her mouth.

Bianca stared at her like she could not decide whether the crying was real.

Roxie could not decide either anymore.

Mrs. Reeves turned to Claire, mouth tight. ”Maybe if your daughter knew how to behave, she wouldn’t be involved in this kind of drama. Redheaded girls always have this fiery personality.”

Claire’s face went still.

Even Mrs. Gonzalez closed her eyes for half a second like she had physically aged.

Roxie lifted her head slowly.

Mrs. Reeves had just said that.

In front of everyone.

Claire smiled.

It was not a nice smile.

”Say one more thing about my daughter’s hair,” Claire said.

Mrs. Reeves blinked. ”Excuse me?”

”You heard me.”

Mr. Reeves stepped forward. ”Are you threatening my wife?”

Claire did not even look at him. ”I’m giving her a chance to use the manners her money apparently didn’t buy.”

Karen made a small sound.

Coach Miller coughed hard into his fist.

Mrs. Gonzalez raised both hands. ”Enough. All parents, please sit down.”

Claire sat beside Roxie but kept one hand on the back of Roxie’s chair like a warning sign.

Roxie looked at that hand.

Thin fingers. Chipped nail polish. Trembling just a little.

She cried harder.

Claire noticed and leaned closer. ”You’re okay.”

Roxie hated that those two words could ruin her more than Bianca ever had.

Mrs. Gonzalez cleared her throat and began reading from her notes. She listed the fight, the witnesses, the hair-pulling, the car alarm, the students recording, and the prior incidents that had been reported or mentioned that evening. Bianca denied everything except the fight.

Lily denied helping. Karen admitted she put hands on Lily because Lily was trying to jump into the fight. Roxie admitted she pulled Bianca’s hair back after Bianca grabbed hers first.

She left out the part where she had wanted to slam Bianca’s head into the pavement.

That felt like personal growth.

Mrs. Gonzalez folded her hands on the desk. ”Here is what will happen.”

Bianca’s mother sat straighter.

Lily’s mother grabbed Lily’s hand.

Claire’s fingers tightened on Roxie’s chair.

Mrs. Gonzalez looked at Bianca first. ”Miss Reeves, based on witness testimony that you initiated physical contact, and based on the concerns raised tonight regarding ongoing harassment and rumors, you are suspended effective immediately until after Homecoming activities are completed. Two weeks.”

Bianca’s mouth fell open. ”What?”

Mrs. Reeves shot to her feet. ”Absolutely not.”

Mrs. Gonzalez kept going. ”Miss Parker, you are receiving the same consequence for joining the physical altercation and for your involvement in the verbal harassment reported tonight.”

Lily started crying again. ”But I didn’t even—”

”You put hands on Miss Bianchi,” Mrs. Gonzalez said. ”And this office has heard enough tonight to know that your mouth has been part of the problem.”

Karen’s eyebrows lifted.

Roxie almost smiled.

Mrs. Gonzalez turned to Karen and Roxie.

Roxie’s stomach tightened.

”Miss Bianchi. Miss Jones. Waiting by another student’s vehicle after practice was unacceptable. Engaging in the fight, regardless of who made first physical contact, was unacceptable.” Her voice softened slightly, which somehow made it worse. ”Your prior concerns should have been reported to an adult.”

Roxie looked down.

Karen stayed still.

”You are both suspended for one week.”

Claire inhaled. ”She defended herself.”

”And she will not receive the same consequence as the student who initiated contact,” Mrs. Gonzalez said. ”But she did participate in the fight.”

Coach Hayes nodded once. ”I’ll speak to athletics about reentry expectations when they return.”

Coach Miller looked miserable. ”And cheer.”

Roxie swallowed.

One week.

A week away from school.

A week of stories growing legs and teeth without her there to stomp them flat.

A week of Bianca missing Homecoming too.

Bianca turned on Roxie, tears gone now, eyes burning. ”This is your fault.”

Claire stood so fast her chair scraped the floor.

”Try again,” Claire said.

Bianca shut her mouth.

Roxie stared at her mother.

She could not stop staring.

Claire looked furious. Tired. Messy. Still Claire in every way that hurt.

But she was standing in front of Roxie.