Bullies Sla-pped New Girl Cheerleader — Unaware Her Father Is A Hell Angels
Chapter 8
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Ray was quiet. She could hear the faint sound of metal on metal in the background. He was still in the shop. He was always still in the shop this time of day."Cass.""Dad...""I'm asking how."She closed her eyes for a second. "Someone knocked it off. It's nothing. I handled it."The sound of metal stopped. "Who?" he said.Not a question. A word that lands flat and firm."Dad, I'm handling it.""I know you are," he said. "You always do. I'm still asking.""It doesn't matter right now," she said. "I'm figuring out the situation. I just wanted to hear your voice."A long pause. "You know if you need me," he said."I know.""Not as a threat," he said. "Just so you know.""I know, Dad."She could hear him shift his weight. She'd watched him do it a thousand times. The way he'd move his shoulders and reset, the way a man does when he decides to lay something down instead of pick it up."You eat today?" he said.She almost laughed. "Yes.""Good. That cafeteria food won't be your mother's cooking, but it keeps the engine running."She did laugh then, small, quick. "I'll be home Saturday," she said."I'll have dinner ready," he said.They talked for a few more minutes about nothing important. About a bike he was rebuilding. About whether she needed money for textbooks. About the weather in Clarksville versus the weather in Harlow Creek.When she hung up, the parking lot had nearly emptied. She sat for another minute. Then she put the car in gear and drove.What Cass didn't know was that the hallway hadn't gone as quiet as she thought. Not everyone in that hallway was watching with empty eyes.Amber Cole had been walking back from the vending machine when she turned the corner and saw what was happening. She'd seen Madison's hand reach out. She'd seen the bracelet fall. She'd seen Tyler's foot come down on it.And she made a decision in about half a second. Her phone had been in her hand already. She'd been texting someone. She didn't stop to think. She just opened her camera and pressed record and stood at a distance where she looked like she was looking at her phone.She got all of it. The bracelet hitting the floor. Tyler's foot. Cass crouching down to pick it up. The 3 seconds of eye contact. Cass walking away.After Cass was gone, Amber stood in the hallway for a long moment. She looked at the footage on her screen. She wasn't sure what to do with it. She wasn't a confrontational person. She'd learned that in this school, in this town, being confrontational about certain things had a cost. But she also couldn't stop seeing Tyler's foot on that bracelet. Something about that image didn't sit right in her chest.