Rewind

XIX: Apologies

    I feel nervous when I walk in college with my father by my side. I know I’m not in trouble and that my parents are on my side, I’m nervous for the headmaster. Father will be merciless for two reasons. One, they made him worry by not fully explaining what had happened. Second, Father should be working now and he’s losing precious time, and for that he’s really pissed.

The secretary greets us without really paying us any attention and says the headmaster will see us shortly.

“I have a job, as well, and it is very important that I go back as soon as possible,” Father notifies her. “Please, inform the headmaster that this issue needs to be handled immediately.”

I chuckle under my breath. Father sounds like he is in charge of some job of national security, when in fact he’s just a professor and researched at university. Well, I don’t know exactly what they are currently working on, maybe it is some national project and it is extremely important. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.

The secretary looks surprised and taken aback, so she only nods and stands up to walk to the headmaster office. When she’s back she tells us we can go in and I can’t help the smile to show on my lips. I never knew Father could look so impressive and use his cold and collected voice to make people do what he wants.

Inside the office the headmaster greets us both with big smiles and shakes Father’s hand before he asks us to sit down.

“I’m very sorry you had to come but it was our duty to inform you of your daughter’s actions,” he speaks as if he were in pain with this situation. I only feel annoyance at his fake reaction.

“I understand there was a conflict and my daughter was involved. She already informed me of the events, but now I want to see the school report,” Father speaks and the headmaster blinks. The smile comes back to my lips.

“Pardon?” the headmaster asks, his expression falling with every second.

“The report. It’s part of the protocol that every time a situation like the one presented the day before happens, a report must be filled to present to the parents or guardians in charge of the students. I’m the parent of one of the students and I request to see the full report without the filter that accompanies the student’s version,” Father explains and I don’t even know if it’s like that, but the way he speaks doesn’t leave room for questioning and the headmaster looks tense.

“Mr Brown, you must understand that situations like this one happen too often. We can’t fill reports every day,” he tries to explain but I said it before, Father is merciless.

“The more reason to provide reports. If this is a recurrent event, then the school needs to take charge and do something. Suspending kids or calling their parents without even listening to their version of the events is disrespectful and lousy. I was called and the situation was poorly explained, hence my worry arose. You can imagine how anxious I was feeling until I could talk to my daughter and she explained to me what really happened. That should have been the school’s duty. She informed two students were suspended without even listening to their reasons, treated equally even if one was protecting a bullied kid. I am no psychologist but I am aware that bullying is a serious issue in today’s society. Is this your way to handle it? By just getting used to it and taking equal actions for both parties? Will you suspend also a bullied kid if he decides to stop the abuser?”

The smile doesn’t leave my lips as I see the headmaster’s face going pale and then red with embarrassment. I knew calling my parents was their mistake for they will always take the logical and right side.

“If these situations are recurrent, then that only shows the poor work you are doing to stop these things from happening. How is suspension going to solve the problem? Will the abuser stop the bullying once he comes back? Will the students see that standing up for someone else is taken into consideration instead of equally punished? Is the situation better after what you did?” Father insists and the headmaster is stuttering now. “My daughter was stopping one of the students from bullying an innocent girl at the edge of crying and breaking down. Did you ask her why she behaved that way? Did you know this?”