Joe King
Jamie was slumped in a waiting room chair when Joe and Amanda rushed into the school office. There were bandaged cuts and bruises on their son’s hands, and the left hinge of his glasses had been repaired with tape. The anger and worry on his face became a full-fledged scowl when he saw who was there.
Joe knelt in front of his son. “What’s your explanation for the phone calls your mother and I got?”
His voice was surly. “Bobby Boyd is a jerkface liar.”
“Jamie,” chided Amanda. “That’s not good enough to justify getting into a fight. You know that.”
The only response was a shrug. He’d focused his gaze on a spot in the carpet, as though he were attempting to glare a hole into it.
Joe sighed. “This is your chance to give us your side of things before we talk to Mrs. Dennis. What were you trying to accomplish?”
Jamie glanced up for a second, but it was too fast for either he or Amanda to get a good look at his expression. “I just wanted him to shut up already, that’s all.”
“Shut up?” asked Amanda. “What was he saying that was so terrible?”
Jamie shrugged again. “Just stuff. Stupid stuff. I’d told him to shut up earlier, but he got in my face when we were comin’ back from lunch. Wouldn’t go away.” He paused. “So I told him I’d make him go away if I had to, and he said I was too chicken.” A faint undertone of triumph crept in. “I proved him wrong.”
“Are you saying you threw the first punch?” Oddly, Amanda didn’t seem to share his horror at their son’s words. If Joe had had to guess, she seemed resigned.
Jamie didn’t respond to the question.
“James,” Joe repeated, his tone firming. “Were you or weren’t you the first one of the two of you to get physical?”
He squirmed. “All right. I was.”
“Well,” began Amanda, and despite the lack of surprise it was still clear that she was upset. At least she was taking this as seriously as it seemed to be. “We appreciate your honesty, but it’s still not okay that you got into a fight. When we get home, we’re going to have to discuss consequences.”
“I already got in-school suspension! Isn’t that enough?”
“Do not,” said Joe, “interrupt your mother. Or me.”
“And the answer to your question,” replied Amanda, “is no. That’s not enough. If nothing else, you’re going to have to help pay to fix your glasses. Your father and I are going to go in and talk to Mrs. Dennis now. Is there anything else you want to tell us first, before we find it out from her?”
He slumped lower, deepening the scowling glare. Joe waited for a long moment before getting back to his feet and escorting Amanda into the assistant principal’s office. Mrs. Dennis offered them both water before inviting them to sit down, not on the other side of her desk, but next to her in the conference area. “Mr. King, Mrs…” she trailed off. “King? You answered to that, but I think Jamie said you’ve remarried.”
“I have,” said Amanda. “It’s Stetson, but I haven’t corrected Jamie’s records yet.”
“We’ve both married again, actually,” Joe interjected. Record keeping could wait; he was ready to get to the bottom of the reason they were there. “What does that have to do with him fighting? Just who is this Bobby Boyd person, anyway? How come he can’t get along with people?”
“He’s actually very astute with people. Unfortunately, the way he applies that understanding isn’t always the best. He’s particularly good at finding his classmates’ biggest weakness or reason to be upset and then teasing them about it.”
“So he’s a bully. Why haven’t you and the teachers done anything about that?”
“We have tried, and Bobby has been improving, but until today there had never been a physical altercation. Not to mention, Bobby’s a small kid. Jamie is larger and stronger, and he did a lot more damage to Bobby than Bobby did to him.” Mrs. Dennis rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Bobby’s parents mentioned going to the school board. I was able to talk them out of that by explaining how it started, but they’re still terribly upset.”
“I can imagine,” said Amanda, and Joe was startled to hear sympathy in her tone. “But this isn’t like Jamie. He’s always been quiet and thoughtful, and at home he’s more prone to verbal outbursts and sulking. It’s his — it was his brother who had the tendency to be physical.” Her voice shook a little. “Whatever provoked him had to have been more complicated than just a few words, no matter how mean.”
“I’m afraid it does look like just teasing or taunting. But you just said there are two new stepparents, and Jamie himself has mentioned you’re also not staying at your house right now. I certainly understand why not, but that’s a lot of changes to go through in such a short period. It could be that this is one of his ways of lashing out. It’s only been, what, a year and a half since you came home from working overseas, Mr. King? He hadn’t completely finished adjusting to that, and the new parenting schedule, before…” she trailed off awkwardly.
“We’re all adjusting right now.” Amanda’s voice had become quieter. “He’s seemed to be handling things as well as any child could.” Then she took a deep breath and let it out in a long exhale. When she spoke again, she sounded more like she normally did. “But I guess he isn’t, is he. That’s what you’re trying to tell us.”
Any reply that might have come was drowned out by Jamie’s voice, which had risen to a shriek. “What are you doing here! Mom and Dad are already in Mrs. Dennis’ office and they don’t need you!” There was a pause and the sound of another, lower voice. Joe jumped up, heading back into the waiting room. Just as he opened the door, Jamie yelled again. “Well, I don’t! So go away already!”
In the room beyond, Lee Stetson was standing stock-still. There was no misinterpreting the stricken expression in his eyes.
Joe jumped in before Amanda could speak. This needed to come from him. “James Richard. What was that all about?”
If Jamie had been taller, he would have been nose-to-nose with his stepfather. “I don’t want him here!”
“That,” he informed his son, “is not up to you.”
“Why not? I deserve a say!”
It had never been like Jamie to be openly defiant before. “Lee is here,” Joe explained, trying to keep his voice calm, “because he’s married to your mother, and she wants him here. The only reason Carrie isn’t, is because she can’t just walk out of her classroom. But I’ve already called and told her what’s going on, and she will be meeting us in a couple of hours.”
“I don’t want them there! I only want you and Mom!” He was shouting and his tone was angry, but his face was red, and his eyes were suspiciously shiny.
Lee, thankfully, had remained silent after exchanging a series of looks with Amanda, the two of them having an entire conversation without saying a word.
“As I said,” repeated Joe. “That is not up to you. Whether you like it or not, Lee and Carrie are your stepparents, and you will behave respectfully toward them.”
“I can be respectful! But I don’t want ’em buttin’ in to everything all the time.” A few tears broke free and began sliding down his face.
“It’s not butting in,” said Amanda. Her voice was as artificially calm as Joe’s had been. “They’re involved because they care about you. Jamie, we had this conversation. Just because your father and I love other adults doesn’t mean we love you any less.”
Now he turned on her. “You don’t get it! They’re not my parents and I just want my own family! Everyone’s leaving or dying and there’s nobody left except me and now all my friends are saying awful things about it and everything’s all different and —” he gulped, the tears flowing freely now. “Why does it gotta be like this?”
“Oh, sweetheart,” breathed Amanda. She reached for him, but he jerked away, making a beeline for the furthest chair from them. He dropped into it and curled into a ball, openly sobbing.
“I can, ah…” Lee spoke softly and gently, but his hands were twitching. He didn’t quite seem to know what to do with them. “I can meet you outside, or even back at the apartment if Joe’s willing to give you a ride.”
“No,” said Amanda. “You need to stay.”
“Yes,” confirmed Joe, “you do. Let us do the talking, but I meant what I said. Carrie’s my wife; you’re Amanda’s husband. That’s not up to him.” He took a long breath, turning back to his son’s mother. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of this and take care of it right now.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“Is everything all right?” He hadn’t even heard Mrs. Dennis come up.
“No,” Joe groused. “But it will be. We’re going to take him home and talk through this tonight. And,” he continued, raising his voice a little so that Jamie would hear him, “we’re going to take as long as it takes to finish talking through it. Jamie’s old enough to stay up for however long that takes. If that means he doesn’t make it to school tomorrow, I’d appreciate it if you could mark the absence as excused.”
“I think we can do that,” she replied after Amanda nodded.
“All right, Jamie,” he instructed. “We’re going to our townhouse. Carrie will probably be home by the time we get there.”
His son uncurled enough to show his eyes. “Can’t I just eat dinner, take some medicine and go to bed? Some of these bruises really hurt.”
Joe prided himself on having a relatively long fuse, but he was getting toward the end of it. “You’re just now bringing that up?”
“Sounds like an excuse to me too,” observed Lee. Amanda shook her head at him. He gave her another look full of meaning but did as she’d asked.
“Well?” asked Joe. “Are you going to answer me?”
Jamie shrugged, his eyes focused back on the carpet. “I guess it’s not so bad.”
“You can have some medicine when we get over there, sweetheart,” said Amanda. Her tone was still even, but Joe could hear the tension underneath it. “But we do have to get there. Which means you have to get out of that chair and come with us.”
He slowly pushed to a stand.
“Now, Jamie.” Clearly, Amanda’s patience was also starting to wear thin. “Where’s your backpack?”
“In my locker,” he mumbled. “Put it there when we went out for P.E.”
Mrs. Dennis spoke up again. “I’ll get it. Is there a lock on the locker?”
“Yeah, but it’s standard,” he said, meaning that he’d bought it through the school. He had been able to set his own combination, but there was a supplemental keyhole on the back of it. “Your pass key’ll open it.”
“Then I’ll just be a few minutes,” she answered before exiting. Jamie began rocking back and forth on his feet, but when Amanda reached out her hand, he shoved his into his pockets.
She sighed. “We’ll wait for her in our cars. You’ll ride with your father, and if you want, Joe, the two of you can go ahead, and we’ll wait for his backpack. As for you, young man, I expect you to answer any questions he asks while you’re in the car.”
“Aw, c’mon Mom, that’s not fair.”
“Neither is life,” replied Joe. “But we’ll wait and deal with the heavy stuff after dinner. For now, let’s get a move on and get out of here.”
Author’s Note:
- The combination-lock-and-passkey setup at Arlington Heights Middle School is based on the actual setup used by my own middle school during the same time period. So is Jamie’s bus corral in Chapter 19.