Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz [81]
Principal Casey gave Anthony a hard look, then invited Aunt Christine to her side of her desk, where she logged in to Facebook. I was amazed. I had to teach Christine how to use her DVR, yet she’s savvy enough to have a fake Facebook account?
Christine did a quick search, and within moments, the entire—unedited—fight replayed on the monitor, including the part when Anthony shoved me and nearly knocked me over. You couldn’t hear what the fight was about over the colorful commentary in the crowd, but you didn’t need sound to know what was going on. I had no idea how terrified I looked as I tried to flatten myself against the door in the quad. And here I thought I’d looked tough.
Principal Casey pursed her orange lips and folded her hands in her lap. “Well, clearly, this changes things,” she said. “Mrs. Salinger, Mrs. Considine, can you please take your children outside for a moment.”
Christine put her arm around me and guided me out of the room, but I turned around. I was already in trouble, but I had to ask.
“Principal Casey, who emailed you the video, if you can say?”
“Not that it changes things much, but it was anonymous, Miss Connor,” was Principal Casey’s curt reply, which confirmed my suspicions: we were set up. My eyes met Anthony’s as I continued walking out with Christine—and the words he mouthed at me would have made a porn star blush. I didn’t dare cast another glance Anthony’s way—but I didn’t have to. I heard him hiss several choice words at me as I left the room.
Aunt Christine and I sat on one side of the large waiting room, Brendan and his mother on the other side. Gray Lady Gary must have been at lunch, because the only sign of her was a heather-gray cardigan slung over the back of her chair.
After casting a glance at the Salingers—and noticing that Brendan’s mother was too wrapped up in scolding her son to pay attention to us—I began apologizing. “Aunt Christine, I’m so sorry, I wish—” I began. She shushed me.
“I had been hoping you would come and talk to me about this situation, Emma,” she said, her voice stern but kind. “You don’t have to handle everything yourself.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be a pain,” I mumbled, embarrassed. I tried to catch Brendan’s eye but he was slouched in his chair, staring at the ceiling with his arms crossed as his mother whispered a tirade against him. I heard the words, “How do you think this makes me look?” and it seemed like he was trying not to laugh.
“Well, Emma, I don’t know what to do here.” Christine was wringing her hands, and I was a bit taken aback; I’d never seen my aunt look less than confident before. “What you did doesn’t feel punishable. Some guy was harassing you. Your beau stepped in. Let’s just hope the school feels the same way.”
“How did you know about Facebook?” I asked.
“Oh, dear, I’ve had a fake Facebook profile forever,” she said with a laugh. “I’m on the board, how else do you think I know what’s really happening at this school? It helps with the simplest things, like which teachers need reevaluating, and sometimes strange things—like getting my niece and her beau out of trouble.”
My jaw dropped, and Christine just continued. “Anyway, I do hope you don’t get punished too severely. It doesn’t seem like I should really ground you or—”
Christine was cut off by a loud metallic banging against the wall directly behind our heads. On the other side of that wall? Probably a dent, because it sounded like someone had just thrown a folding chair in Principal Casey’s office. We all stood up, unsure of what to do.
“I said, out now!” Principal Casey’s voice was shrill in the next room. The door to her office swung open, and Mr. Caruso, dragging his red-faced son by the arm, swaggered out. His father stopped in front of me and shook Anthony by the back of the neck. I saw Brendan tense, ready to jump on Anthony at the first sign of attack.
“Apologize, Anthony,” his father demanded. Anthony spoke, but it wasn’t exactly an act of contrition.
“I said apologize,” his