"Ok, let's start the review meeting now," Dean Walters sat in his chair with a serious face. Darius and I sat across from Delaney's mom and Delaney, who looked as swollen as ever. Next to the Dean was a pale Mr. Arthurs. "First to speak is their advisor, Kalvin Arthurs."
Mr. Arthurs stood up and cleared his throat. "The cause of this case is clear. She is part of the group who first started harassing their classmates. I feel as though this is an absurd case where the attacker is being treated as a victim!"
Oh? Was I missing something here?
"What?" The Dean asked. "Mr. Arthurs, tell us exactly what happened so there's no misunderstanding."
I'd like to know as well. "For a long time I've been receiving reports claiming that Delaney has been harassing other students. At first I pulled her aside for a simple talk but as time passed the harassment just got worse. A few days ago, Delaney had assaulted another student and Melody got them to stop so her attention turned to her. Think about it, how many times can a teenager realistically be provoked or not defend themselves from harm? In order not to get hit Melody defended herself. I know that this all went a bit too far but if we only punish Melody, we will be the scumbags who ignored an escalating bullying case." Mr. Arthurs said calmly.
Wow.
I almost clapped.
"Don't get off topic here, Mr. Arthurs. We're talking about an incident where a student's face was disfigured," Dean Walters said. "The information that Delaney started the bullying hasn't been confirmed and it has nothing to do with our topic now. Whatever the reason there's a zero tolerance of violence policy for a reason. On top of that I don't ever think we've had an incident this brutal. It may be tough to pick who's wrong but there must be punishment. Don't you think we should do that to help the parent of our student?"
He just dismissed everything Mr. Arthurs said.
"Let's hear from Delaney's what happened." Dean Walters said. "Won't the victim's testimony be more accurate?"
He's totally bought off.
"What happened isn't like what Mr. Arthurs said. I was just walking by and all I saw was her bothering another student who was already down. I asked some other students but they said that Melody just started with her for no reason. You can get another witness to verify she started to fight with me. I saw a friend getting picked on and all I did was try to help her. To be honest I don't understand why a teacher would blame all this on me?" Delaney teared up. "After getting beaten up, how could this be my fault?"
"Look my daughter's face! We raised her very preciously so she'd never get hurt and now look at her!" Delaney's mom shot out of her seat. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STOMACH THIS?!!! IT HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER SO WHO KNOWS IF IT'LL HAPPEN TO OTHER KIDS?!!! I CAN'T IGNORE THIS AS A PARENT!!! WE HAVE TO PUNISH THE BULLY!!!"
I could see Dean Walker nodding his head and starting to agree. While next to me I could see Darius looking highly amused.
"Fuck, let's talk about what actually happened," Darius said. "Are you going to ignore it or do you really not know a thing?"
"You-"
"And don't you think that little two-faced bitch caused all this?" Darius asked.
"What are you saying? Please refrain from calling our students names," Dean Walters said flatly.
"Then what should I call her if not a bitch?" Darius asked. "I've personally looked into Delaney myself and she's been harassing, robbing and stealing from other students. She's quite famous. So famous there's not a person around here who doesn't know she's trouble. But why try to cover this up? Are you that stupid or did you take a bribe?"
Dean Walters went pink. "Now listen here-"
"I know three ambulances came to the school because that thug got her karma but all that happened on Melody's part was in self defense," Darius said. "The advisor also mentioned we have to look at the root of the problem. When you were a teenager could you just let people beat you?"
"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A THUG?!! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!! I HEARD THAT THIS GIRL DOESN'T EVEN HAVE PARENTS!!!" Delaney's mother snapped.
"The eldest son of Devil Electronics, Darius Malverne," Darius said smugly. I had no idea what he was talking about but Mr. Arthurs and Dean Walters seemed to. "Melody and I are already wed." He showed off the ring on my finger that had shrank down back to one ring. "She's not the type to start trouble, so hearing all this is a real shock to me. This is a nice school and I want my wife attending without any problems. My plan was to sponsor the school and provide upgraded technology, but I didn't expect this place to be so rotten."
Delaney's mom went pink. "Are you threatening-"
"I'm just stating the facts here. What's an educator supposed to do? Your job is to instill values and knowledge into students. If so why is Melody, the one who fought back to save another classmate being punished?" Darius asked. "Are you ignoring the years of bullying she went through and punishing her the first time she stands up for herself? Where was all this drama when she was getting beat up?"
"Well-"
"Why did you all turn a blind eye when Melody was the victim?" Darius asked. "We can turn a blind eye because it seems she doesn't have people that give a fuck about her. I also smell the bribery in the air. If those were the reasons for the school turning a blind eye, I won't let this go easily. I'll turn this prestigious school upside down. That bitch playing victim and all those on her side will be thoroughly crushed. Now that's a threat. Try me."
Darius was seriously pulling through here! Off script but perfect!