“Thanks, Mr. Haines,” he muttered.

“Dusty and I’ll talk to the principal,” Mike told him.

Fin jerked his chin up.

“I might not be able to get you out of suspension but Reesee sure as hell won’t be suspended,” Mike continued.

Fin’s eyes flared, his lips twitched and he jerked his chin up again.

“Your grandmother came and got Kirb. This is done, you take Rees home,” Mike ordered.

Another kind of light flared in Fin’s eyes then there was a different kind of lip twitch and Fin nodded.

Mike kept going. “You wanna do it, No’s always moanin’ that he’s Rees’s chauffer and Reesee is always studyin’ with you so, you want it, from here on out, you’re her ride home.”

 “I want it,” Finley whispered instantly.

Mike knew he did.

Shit.

Fuck.

Shit.

He stared at the boy who was mostly a man standing in front of him.

Some fuckwad bully tried to touch his daughter and this boy who was mostly a man stopped it.

“You got it,” Mike said. “Now let’s go in there and talk to the principal.”

Fin nodded again and made as if to move to the doors but Mike stopped him by curling a hand on his shoulder.

Fin’s eyes came to Mike’s.

“Don’t know where your father would want to guide his son,” Mike said softly. “Do know what kind of man your father was. So, fair guess, he was here right now, Fin, he’d be proud of you.”

Fin swallowed again and then clenched his teeth. His eyes got bright and Mike gave him a minute to fight it, knowing from the man he’d been witnessing Finley Holliday becoming, he’d win.

Then he won and nodded yet again.

Mike squeezed his shoulder, let him go and led the way to the office.

* * *

Clarisse sat in the principal’s office with her Dad, Fin and Dusty but her eyes were glued to Dusty.

This was because Dusty was angry. Not a little. A lot.

And she didn’t mind showing it.

She also didn’t mind talking about it.

Which she was doing right now.

“You’re telling me, Principal Klausen, that you rule this school like you’re the Director of Homeland Security rather than the man whose job it is to guide young adults into maturity and therefore you don’t assess outside factors when considering discipline? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Miss Holliday, a zero tolerance policy is a zero tolerance policy. It isn’t a ten percent depending on what happens policy,” Principal Klausen returned evenly and calmly but Clarisse knew he was losing patience.

Principal Klausen was mostly cool. Because of this, the kids mostly liked him. He could be a jerk but only if you did something wrong. Clarisse didn’t do anything wrong so she thought he was all right. And he did stuff. Like he came to the big garage where they were building the freshman float for homecoming and laughed it up with them. That wasn’t during school hours. It wasn’t even on a weekday but a Saturday. And he didn’t come to make sure they were behaving but just because he wanted to see how the float was going and gab with the kids. In fact, he did stuff like that all time and this was why Clarisse figured he was mostly cool.

And anyway, Rees wasn’t around then but everyone knew about the old football coach that hit his son during the game. And everyone knew that Principal Klausen didn’t waste hardly any time at all getting rid of him. And that coach was also a teacher who most kids hated. So when he was gone, everyone thought Mr. Klausen not wasting a second getting quit of him was way cool.

But Clarisse hadn’t had time to share any of this with Dusty.

Then again, even if she did, Dusty probably wouldn’t care. She was that mad.

And Clarisse thought that also was cool. Because she was mad for Fin and, unlike his Mom who, even when Fin was in trouble at school, didn’t leave that farm or probably her room to see to her son. But Dusty was right there and raring to take on the principal.

“These aren’t terrorists,” Dusty snapped. “They’re teenagers.”

“Dusty,” Clarisse’s Dad said low, his hand coming out to fold around Dusty’s.

But Dusty just jerked her head Dad’s way and rapped out, “Am I wrong?”

“I’ve been lenient with Rees –” Mr. Klausen started but Dusty’s eyes sliced to him and she went off.

“Lenient? Lenient? Well, big of you, being lenient with a fifteen year old girl who was doing nothing but walking with her boyfriend to the parking lot and some bully starts mouthing off, saying not nice things and another one tries to touch her when she doesn’t want that. It’s big of you not to suspend her for doing just that. And, no disrespect, but newsflash, Fin was doing the same thing.”

“And yes,” Principal Klausen said soft, conciliatory, “this is, of course, why Rees will not be punished as she didn’t do anything to be punished for. In the beginning, from the others’ accounts, we were misinformed as to Rees’s involvement. As you know, now we have a clearer picture. But what cannot be argued is that Finley used his fists to deal with a situation that didn’t need fists.”

“And the instant the situation deteriorated, being jumped by three kids, he told his girlfriend to go get a teacher,” Dusty shot back. “Was that wrong in your estimation?”

“No, Miss Holliday, but by all of the accounts of those involved, it was Finley who started the physical altercation,” Mr. Klausen explained.

Clarisse watched as Dusty leaned forward, eyes narrowed and she hissed, “Because one of them tried to touch Clarisse.”

“He attempted to touch her hair,” Principal Klausen clarified.

Dusty leaned back, her face hard, her eyes locked on Mr. Klausen. “Is that okay? Is that okay with you? Because, seeing as I’m a woman and all, I’ll clue you into the fact that it’s not. It’s not okay. Not any way a man can touch me if I don’t want it. It…is not…okay.”

Clarisse felt her breath start to come fast and she reached out to grab Fin’s hand. Fin’s fingers curled around tight and she knew he was thinking the same thing she was.

That Dusty was remembering Denny Lowe.

And Clarisse knew her Dad thought the same thing when he whispered soothingly, “Angel.”

Dusty’s eyes flashed to Clarisse’s Dad and she whispered, “Am I wrong?”

And Clarisse saw it on her face and she knew Fin did too because his hand in hers got super tight.

She was remembering. And she was scared for what might have happened to Clarisse. And she was not going to stop for anything in defending her nephew.

And right then, staring at Dusty Holliday, Clarisse Haines fell in love.

And she knew she had to do something to stop Dusty’s pain.

So she did.

She let Fin’s hand go and stood.

“Mr. Klausen, I was scared,” she announced and felt everyone’s eyes come to her. She also felt stupid. She didn’t know what to say. Mrs. Layne said her writing was awesome and that felt great, especially coming from Mrs. Layne who was far and away the coolest teacher in school. But saying words was a whole lot harder.

“I was scared,” she whispered, holding the principal’s eyes. “And Brandon, Troy and Jeff are bullies. They’re mean. You know that, you have to the amount of time they’re in detention. They shouldn’t be at this school. I know Brandon’s Dad isn’t very nice, everyone knows it. And that’s sad and all but that shouldn’t be my problem. They said mean things, just callin’ Fin ‘Farmer Fin’ the way they did it is not nice. But all the rest was really not nice. Fin tried to walk us through them but they followed. He tried to ignore them but they wouldn’t let him. He tried to warn them off but they kept at him. And I’m glad he wouldn’t let Troy touch me. I was scared and he made it all right for me. He stopped me from being touched and being scared. And if that’s not okay, I don’t know what is.”

She stopped talking and no one said anything so Clarisse felt like maybe she sounded like an idiot but when no one saying anything went on a while, for some reason, her mouth kept moving.

“Fin’s Dad died, Mr. Klausen, and things aren’t good at home. Everyone in this school knows at least the part about Fin’s Dad dying. It isn’t cool for those guys to do the stuff they do all the time. It isn’t cool they did what they did to Fin and me. But it really isn’t cool for them to pick on a kid who just lost his Dad. I figure everyone learns in life all through their life. No one ever stops learning. But I’m not sure the lesson you’re teachin’ right now is fair. You’re sayin’ justice is blind but she’s also deaf. And Fin’s Dad dying, he’s already learned life isn’t fair. You may get mad me sayin’ this but I don’t think it’s right that after learnin’ that and him knowin’ it every day when he wakes up and fallin’ asleep knowin’ it at night, you teach him the same thing all over again even when he was doin’ a right that you just consider wrong.”

Again no one said anything and they did this for so long, Clarisse was sure she looked like an idiot.

She didn’t know whether to run out of the room, burst out crying or sit down and shut up.

Before she could make her decision, Principal Klausen said quietly, “How about this? Two days detention for Fin. No suspension. I don’t want fighting in my school and I want that message clear. But I’ll accept extenuating circumstances in this case.”

At that, Clarisse knew she wanted to cry, she was so happy, but she didn’t.

“We’ll accept that,” Dusty said immediately.

Fin grabbed Clarisse’s hand and tugged it so she sat down next to him. She twisted her head to look at him and saw him grinning at her.