Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz [80]
I sat in a folding chair next to my aunt while Brendan sat next to his mother, rolling his eyes. I darted my own eyes toward Anthony, who stared straight ahead with an almost beatific smile on his face. I expected him to slap a halo on his head, his angel act was so good. It didn’t take a genius to see where this was going.
“So, Mr. Salinger.” Principal Casey’s voice was steel as she typed something into her laptop. “What do you want to tell me about last Monday?”
She spun the laptop around, and there was an internet video of…me. On this grainy—and from what I could recall of the fight, heavily edited—short video of the encounter, I stood against the door in the quad, and Anthony had his back to me. You couldn’t see that he was about to deck me from this angle.
Then Brendan, so fast he seemed blurry, came into frame. He grabbed Anthony in a choke hold and flipped him over his shoulder, dropping the blond on his back. In spite of the tense situation, I couldn’t help but be impressed by his strength. The video ended abruptly, and Principal Casey played the ten-second clip again before slamming her hand on the desk.
“You can imagine my shock when I was emailed this link this morning. Unprovoked attacks, at my school? Brendan, what do you have to say for your behavior?”
“Clearly, Brendan attacked my son.” Mr. Caruso jumped in, showing all the finesse of the shark lawyer I’d heard he was. “The proof is right there on video. It disappoints me, as I’ve known the Salingers for years.
“I’m sorry, Laura.” Mr. Caruso’s voice was greasy-smooth as he addressed Brendan’s mother. “But there’s only so much we can do as parents. What more proof do we need, especially with your son’s history?”
“So it would have been better if I did nothing?” Brendan asked angrily. “I should have stood there and let your son beat up a girl? There’s no way in hell you can tell me I’m in trouble for that.”
“If that’s the case, you should have gotten a teacher, Brendan,” his mother said, smoothing her proper tweed Chanel suit.
“Oh, yeah, like Dr. Ouilette could have stopped Anthony,” Brendan said, picking the name of the petite physics teacher who maybe weighed a hundred pounds—if he was soaking wet and holding a fifty-pound weight.
“Regardless, Brendan, we do not condone violence at Vincent Academy,” Principal Casey began. Brendan cut her off.
“I don’t condone it either. I stopped it. So we’re on the same team here,” he said winningly. Principal Casey looked at me pointedly.
“What’s your role in this, Miss Connor?”
“Um…” I began, looking at my aunt nervously, trying to decide if she looked mad enough to ship me back to Keansburg. I didn’t want to bring up Ashley and throw her into this mess, as well. To my relief, Christine just looked annoyed—not angry.
“Does it matter?” Brendan cut in. “She didn’t lift her hand to anyone—she didn’t break any rules. Emma doesn’t need to be in trouble.”
“It would help if we knew why she caused this, Brendan,” his mother said, her manicured hand on his arm.
I felt like I had been slapped. I hadn’t tried to cause any problems—for anyone. I was only trying to help Ashley. I was only trying to do the right thing.
“From what my son has told me, it was a lover’s quarrel,” said Mr. Caruso, turning to Brendan’s mother. “I’m sorry, Laura, but my son and this girl were once involved, and Brendan was jealous, so he attacked him.”
“Lover’s quarrel? Ew, no way!” I blurted out, unable to help myself. I saw Brendan’s mother give me an icy glare, while her son just tried to hide a smile.
“Well, right now, we can’t see much from this video other than Brendan clearly attacking Anthony,” Principal Casey said.
“This has gone on way too long,” Aunt Christine said curtly. “Have you watched the whole video? If not, I suggest you log in to Facebook—there’s several versions there, uploaded by most of the students who were in the yard that day and not this superb Thelma Schoonmaker–quality editing job.”
“Yo, screw that,” Anthony yelled, breaking his silence as his father’s smug smile faded to a thin grimace. “It’s right there!