What Do We Do About Maya?
In this scene, Blue and her classmate, Maya, have just had an altercation at school, and now Blue has to face her parents.
"And another thing!" My mother fumes.
This is her fourth and another thing and it’s about three more than I have the patience to hear.
“I don’t think you realize how lucky you are, especially since this is a second offense,” she says, sloshing her energizing smoothie out of her glass as she gestures.
“It wasn’t as bad as everybody’s making it sound,” I grumble.
“You threw her to the ground!”
“She shoved me first!”
Mom sucks in a deep breath, shoves her manicured hand through her hair, shoots my Dad a look and goes on.
“They’re willing to let you both off with a week of full suspension, followed by eight weeks of after-school detention since you and Maya are both honor students.”
“And since you and Dad make significant donations to the school,” I point out.
Mom pulls in another breath and closes her eyes as if she needs a minute to keep from screaming at me. Like she ever would. My mother is not a screamer. She’s a salesperson. Right now she’s trying to figure out how to turn this entire situation into a lesson for me that will yield a net result of me living my best, most radiant life because that’s a win for her.
Dad, who has been sitting quietly all this time, letting her have the spotlight, clears his throat and finally speaks.
“Being a donor is a definite advantage in this situation,” he agrees. “But you’re not going to buy your way out of this. You’re serving detention with the Rodriguez girl—and the school counselor.”
“But I’ve got two AP classes!” I protest. “And a job.”
“You’re going to have to back off work. Realign your priorities,” Mom says.
“We told you before to stay away from that girl,” Dad reminds me. “Why don’t you just avoid her? I should think you wouldn’t want to stir anything up, anyway.”
“She’s been harassing me from the day she came back.” I tell him miserably.
Dad’s eyes narrow. “Make me a detailed list of everything—all the social media, all the comments in the hallway—anything else she’s done to deliberately harass you.”
“Why?”
“I assume the school has a bullying policy. If I get Hazleton and Farr involved, we may be able to get her removed.”
I swallow hard. Hazelton and Farr is the law firm we have on retainer. “Like, get Maya expelled?”
“It doesn’t have to be that ugly,” Mom says, tapping a finger on the table as she muses. “I’m sure the school and her mother will come to some sort of understanding that doesn’t reflect too badly on her record.”
I shake my head and something in my stomach turns over. “Then everyone will just talk about how my rich parents and their lawyer ran Maya out of school. Just like they talk about how my rich parents and their lawyer got my brother out of a manslaughter charge.”
Dad’s mouth tightens into a thin line. “When you hear that sort of talk, you need to bring it to the teacher’s attention.”
“Absolutely.” Mom nods her head. “We’re not paying them good money to let gossip drag our family name through the dirt.” She turns to Dad, puts a hand on his arm. “Maybe you should talk to Jerry.”
“Davis?” Dad rubs his chin. “I supposed he could speak to the principal.”
“Who’s Jerry Davis?” I ask.
Mom waves a hand. “He’s on the school board. He golfs with your father.”
“Ugh. No.” My voice comes out a little too loud. “Just let me deal with this, please.”
“But you’re not dealing with it,” my mother points out.
“Stay out of it.” The words come out through gritted teeth. “You’ll only make things worse. Harder.”
Mom raises her brows and turns her head to share a look with my father. He shrugs in return and she narrows her eyes at him, clearly hoping for a stronger response.
“Look,” I let out a sigh. “You said we have to learn to deal with each other. So let us do that. In our own way.”
“Very well,” she finally agrees. “But any more shenanigans, and we’re getting involved. I guarantee you won’t like it.”
I push to my feet. “I don’t do shenanigans. Nobody under the age of forty does shenanigans.”
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