Bullies Sla-pped New Girl Cheerleader — Unaware Her Father Is A Hell Angels
Chapter 15
Theme:
Font Size:
24px
The word "community" hung in the air. In Harlow Creek, that word meant something specific when Dale Greer said it. It meant: I am the community. I am the weight of it. And you should think carefully about whether you want to be on the wrong side of it.Callaway was not a bad man. He was a careful one. And careful men in positions like his had learned to read the rooms they were standing in.He picked up his pen. "I'll schedule a preliminary review," he said. "End of the week, Friday afternoon.""That works," Greer said. He stood. "5:00?""5:00," Callaway said.Greer nodded, moved toward the door. Then stopped, like he just remembered something."You'll want to make sure the hearing committee understands the stakes here," he said. "If this situation escalates, it reflects on the whole program. Could affect the scholarship fund, the athletic budget." A pause. "I'd hate for good students to suffer because of one bad situation."He left.Callaway sat at his desk for a long time after the door closed. He thought about the scholarship fund. He thought about the athletic budget. He thought about his own contract, which was up for renewal in the spring. Then he wrote a name on his notepad: Cassidy Malone. And below it, in smaller letters: disciplinary hearing Friday 5:00 p.m.Coach Donna Reeves found the email in her inbox at 11:15 that morning. It was from Callaway's office, professional in tone, clinical. It requested her presence at a preliminary disciplinary review for a student named Cassidy Malone on Friday at 5:00. It cited concerns about disruptive conduct during team activities and damage to the college's institutional image.She read it twice. She sat with it for a moment. Then she picked up her phone and called Callaway directly.He picked up on the third ring."Herb," she said, "I got your email.""I figured you would.""What is this? Disruptive conduct? Cass Malone is one of the hardest working girls on that squad. I have no complaints about her, zero incidents. She showed up on time to every practice and did her work.""Coach Reeves," Callaway said, trying to sound calm and landing somewhere near strained. "This is a preliminary review. It's not a termination. It's just a process.""A process based on what?"A pause. "There are concerns from the community."Donna Reeves had been teaching at Harlow Creek Community College for 12 years. Before that, she'd taught high school for 18. She'd coached cheerleading for 22 years total, and in those 22 years, she had seen a lot of situations get called a lot of things. She had long ago developed a very precise internal alarm for when a situation was being called the wrong thing. That alarm was going off now.