up. We have eyes on us, and one mistake can land us in hot water.”
She scoffed. “With the boss.”
“Yes. I’ll see you tomorrow. I have to go.”
“I understand,” she said. “I hope everything is okay.”
“Thanks,” I said and rushed out the door.
I made it to the school in record time. I was probably going to have a nice stack of tickets mailed to me. I didn’t care. All I could think about was getting to my baby. I was envisioning him with a black eye and swollen lip. I was certain he was the victim, and I was going to make heads roll. There were going to be some parents being held responsible.
“Hi, hello,” I said and slapped my hand on the front desk. “I’m Saige Conway, Jace Conway’s mom.”
“Oh, you’re here to see Principal Friend,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Have a seat,” she said.
“Uh, excuse me, I’d like to see my son. Now.”
“He’s in the nurse’s office,” she said with a tight smile.
My stomach dropped. “Then I’ll be going to see him now.”
“Saige,” Principal Friend called my name. “Come in please.”
“I’d like to see Jace,” I said.
He smiled. “Jace is fine. I’d like to talk without him.”
It was crazy that I still felt like I had to listen to the principal. I was a grown woman, and I was still intimidated by the principal. “Fine,” I muttered and followed him into the office.
“Have a seat,” he said, and I did it because I was a good little girl.
“What happened? Is he okay?”
“Jace is fine. Thankfully, eight-year-olds don’t pack much of a punch.”
My eyes widened. “He was punched?”
He slowly nodded. “Once, but I promise you, he only went to the nurse’s office because I didn’t want to send him back to class. He was understandably upset.”
“Jace was punched?” I repeated. “Why and by who?”
“We’re handling the discipline,” he said.
“Good to know, but is it effective?”
“We’ll monitor the situation closely,” he said.
“What happened?” I asked again.
“Jace has been having some trouble with some of the boys.”
“He’s been bullied,” I clarified.
“Yes, he has, and I promise you we are handling it.”
I had to bite my tongue. “Please tell me exactly how you are doing that because I’ve been talking to Jace. This isn’t a first. This has been a problem for months.”
“It is being handled,” he said again.
It was the classic non-answer. They weren’t going to tell me who, but I would find out. They got one chance to fix it, and when they failed again, I would be handling things.
“Fine, I’d like to see Jace.”
“I’m excusing him for the rest of the day,” he said.
“Thanks,” I muttered. “What about the kid that hit him? Will he be here tomorrow?”
He slowly nodded. “Yes.”
My eyes narrowed. “And my son is going to be safe?”
“Absolutely. We’ll keep a very close eye on things. Now that we know there is an issue, we are going to watch the boys.”
“I appreciate that,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”
It was supposed to sound like a threat. I hoped it landed. I did not like the idea of sending my baby into a dangerous environment. I wasn’t going to be there to protect him. It was going to be extremely difficult to send him off to school.
I made my way to the nurse’s office and found Jace sitting in a chair and reading a book. His legs were swinging back and forth. “Jace,” I said his name. I dropped to my knees in front of him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
I touched his cheek. There was a hint of redness, but it didn’t look too bad. “Does it hurt?”
“No.”
He flinched, telling me it did hurt. “Let’s go.”
“Am I in trouble?” he asked.
“No. Not at all.”
He got off the chair and followed me out of the school. “Why don’t we go get some lunch?” I said in a cheery voice. “We can get milkshakes and chicken nuggets.”
“I’m not hungry. I just want to go home.”
“Are you sure? How about some ice cream?”
“No, Mom!” he shouted. “I just want to go home.”
I didn’t blame the kid. When I was having a shitty day, I wanted to go home and hide from the world. “Okay, all right,” I said. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“No,” he muttered and stared out the window.
I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel. I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. I knew I was in a tenuous situation. This was one of those moments that he was not going to