Bullies Sla-pped New Girl Cheerleader — Unaware Her Father Is A Hell Angels
Chapter 26
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At 4:55, she turned the corner into the corridor that led to the main assembly room. And she stopped. The corridor was not empty. She stood for a moment and looked. Then she walked forward, and she pushed open the door to the hearing room, and she went inside.She didn't look back at the corridor. She didn't need to. She knew what she'd seen: a row of bikes parked along the street, visible through the corridor window. Not parked in the lot. Out on the street, legally, quietly, in a line that stretched from the stoplight at Main and Collins back along the block. 20-some bikes. She hadn't counted exactly. She didn't need to. She knew one of them.She sat down in the hearing room and waited for 5:00. Inside her chest, something settled. Not relief, exactly. Something older and harder and more permanent than relief.The hearing room began to fill.At 4:58, the door to the hearing room opened and the members of the disciplinary committee began to file in. Behind them in ones and twos came others: Coach Reeves, Amber, two girls from the squad Cass barely knew the names of. They sat down in the gallery without making eye contact with Madison, who was already in her seat near the front with Tyler beside her and a family attorney at Tyler's elbow.And then, last through the door, unhurried, wearing a black vest with a chapter patch, came Ray Malone. Behind him came Walt and behind Walt came the rest. They filled the gallery rows quietly: 23 men. Some her father's age, some older. All of them wearing the patch. All of them sitting with their hands on their knees and their eyes forward. Not speaking. Not threatening. Just present.Sheriff Dale Greer, who had been standing near the committee table with a look of practiced authority on his face, saw Ray Malone walk in. Greer's face didn't collapse. He was a controlled man. But the color behind it changed.Ray found a seat in the middle of the gallery. He sat down. He looked straight ahead. He did not look at Greer.Greer's eyes moved to the door as if calculating. Then he looked back at the room, at the gallery, at Ray, at the 23 silent men around him. He picked up his water glass and took a sip. His hand was steady. But Cass, watching from her seat at the front, noticed that he didn't put the glass back down right away. He held it. As if letting go required more composure than he currently had to spare.The committee chair called the room to order at 5:00 exactly. And the hearing began.