“Yes.” I give him a playful shove. “Go. I’ll call you and fill you in.”

—

When I open Mr. Lane’s door, he gets up from his desk. “Logan. Good of you to stop by. Come with me.” He motions for me to follow, which is odd. But there are several students I don’t recognize working on what looks like a test, so maybe he doesn’t want to disturb them?

I trail Mr. Lane into the alcove a short distance from his classroom. When he reaches the farthest corner from the hallway, he spins around, startling me with his anger.

He takes a step back, putting several feet between us. “Logan, it breaks my heart to say that I expected so much better from you.”

I flinch as if he struck me across the face. “W-what?”

“You heard me,” Mr. Lane whispers with a hiss. “I’m shocked. Not in a million years would I have ever thought you were capable of being unkind and thoughtless. It’s a shame I can’t retract my recommendation for you to receive the RHS Outstanding Senior College Scholarship Award. You don’t deserve it.”

His words knock the wind out of me and I have trouble catching my breath. My legs turn to jelly. I brace a hand on the wall as Mr. Lane continues his verbal assault. “What you and Cade did, going to the press, harassing Mr. Bartley, is deplorable.”

“Harassing him?” Black dots dance in front of my eyes.

“Were you so desperate for attention? Was that it?”

“N-no!”

“There are people calling for his resignation! You’ve not only damaged his impeccable reputation but our school’s. You’ve damaged this community, a community a lot of us care about.”

“I care!”

Mr. Lane shakes his head in disgust. “There were so many other ways you could have handled this. Like treat him with normal human decency. You should have talked to him, resolved the matter privately.”

“W-we tried.”

“Clearly not enough.”

“We talked with Principal McNeil and—”

“And that’s the problem. People are way too sensitive about every little thing these days. There’s no respect for authority, even after Mr. Bartley did everything he could to accommodate you.”

I press myself against the wall. I can’t think. I can’t speak. My mind is blank.

“I want you to really think about what you’ve done, especially the ramifications your actions have had on other students, this school, and our community. Then come back and we can discuss—”

Suddenly, Daniel is at my side. He glares at Mr. Lane. Did he hear everything? “Let’s go, Logan. Mr. Lane has nothing more to say.”

* * *

I want to scrreeam!