Immediately after that, I got called to one of the team meeting rooms. There I met Vice Principal Palm, some suits from the district office, Fritz, and Manaia. Plus, there were people from every police force around: our local force, the county sheriff, and the state troopers. They were all there for security reasons, but it surprised me to see my grandmother also attending the meeting. She must be there to represent the city.
“Everybody take a seat. I’m Detective Christopher Kitchens.”
Detective Kitchens had been the lead investigator when Pam’s dad and Thomas Fox had made up the rape charges. I owed him a debt of gratitude for not falling for their ploy. He had also gotten the goods on Brandon Rigby by collecting Brandon’s DNA from his trash.
“With David A. Dawson winning an Academy Award, we are expecting larger than normal crowds for tonight’s game. Last year, we had to move the games to State to accommodate the crowds. We’ve brought in more bleachers in the hope we can handle it. The reason you’re all here is so we can plan security and crowd control,” Detective Kitchens said.
“Why am I here?” I asked.
“Good question,” the detective acknowledged. “We wanted to make sure you didn’t put anything out on social media or other means that might compound our problem.”
“So, no
“David,” Grandma Dawson said.
Damn! Her ‘mom’ voice was every bit as scary as my own mother’s.
“The other reason you’re here is that Manaia is going to be with you all day,” Fritz said.
That put a smile on my face.
“You are so going to love going back to high school,” I predicted.
Manaia didn’t seem nearly as excited for the opportunity as he should be. Wasn’t going back to high school every adult’s secret dream?
Ah, well. Now that I’d been told to be good and been given a babysitter, I had to get to Calculus.
◊◊◊
By lunchtime, people had taken notice that I had a big Samoan man following me around. His scowl at having to attend classes with me made him stand out even more. Even Dare hadn’t bothered me all morning. Every time he seemed to want to say something to me, he would glance over at Manaia and think better of it.
So, when Lisa Felton came strolling up in that sexy way that she’d mastered, I was a little shocked.
“I have something very serious to ask you,” she said, then stared at me with wide eyes.
I stopped walking, and Manaia almost ran me over.
“Okay?”
She continued to stare at me, her eyes locked on mine.
“Do you think I should get bangs?”
My mind blanked out for a moment. I’m sure every guy has been faced with something like this. The classic was ‘does this dress make my butt look big?’ Laughter was probably not what she wanted to hear.
“I’m serious! It’s a big decision!”
“Picking what college to go to is a big decision. Deciding what you will major in is a big decision. Cutting your hair is not a big decision.”
“If anyone would understand, I would expect it to be you, Model Boy. It’s going to affect the whole framing of my face and, therefore, how people see me.”
That got a snort of amusement out of Manaia, which captured Lisa’s attention.
“Hi, I’m Lisa.”
“Manaia.”
“What do you think?”
“I hate to say this, but that kind of answer is above my pay grade,” Manaia, the wimp, said.
I would definitely steal that line the next time I got asked something like this. Lisa turned back to me and gave me a look that said I was supposed to solve all her problems.
“Let’s get something to eat and give me a chance to think on it,” I reasonably suggested.
That earned me an eye roll, but she went along with it. If in doubt, either shut the hell up or delay.
◊◊◊
All the guys were giving me dirty looks because all the girls wanted to talk about was whether they should get bangs done. Somehow, that was my fault.
Lisa changed from public enemy number one to the best girlfriend ever when she saw I’d had enough with hair talk. She reached down and squeezed my hand, which made me realize that she’d set this up so I wouldn’t have to rehash the weekend’s events. I really didn’t blame her. Besides, if I did that, the women from the weekend would assuredly come up, and I didn’t want to shove that in her face.
At that point, I decided to solve their problem.
“Why don’t you just do faux bangs and see whether you like it or not before you get your hair cut and hate it?” I asked.
All the girls at the table narrowed their eyes at me, and then one by one, realization set in. I might be on to something.
“How?” Lisa asked.
“Cassidy, give me your hair band,” I said.
She had her hair in a ponytail. She handed it over while I stood up behind Lisa and began to run my fingers through her hair to separate it into sections.
“What kind of bangs do you want?” I asked.
“I don’t know. What kinds can I get?” Lisa asked.
I took a section of her hair in the back, put it in Cassidy’s hairband, and then flipped it forward so it fanned out over her forehead. I made some adjustments so it landed right above her eyebrows.
