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Chapter 4: Interlude - Danny's Revenge

"Damn you Sophia!" – Speech

'Why Emma?' – Thought

Interlude X.1

+++Danny+++

I sighed as I drove off from my home. Taylor had finally stopped being stubborn about being home schooled and I had made an appointment today to see Principal Blackwell in order to begin the withdrawal procedure, as well as to give the woman a piece of my mind.

The day Taylor woke up in the hospital, she had told me everything about what had happened to her and I was both angry and disgusted, not just with the teachers of the school, but at myself. I had let this happen to my daughter.

When Annette died, I had collapsed like a house of cards under the weight of my pain, barely able to function as a person, let alone a father. Taylor had been as bad, if not worse, if for no other reason than because she blamed herself for her mother's death.

But my daughter had shown herself to be a stronger person than I. Emma had helped her to heal a little, while I'd avoided responsibility by sending her off to summer camp to recover on her own.

Something must have happened to Emma when Taylor was away, because she'd broken off their friendship as soon as she came to visit her after finishing camp. The bullying itself started as soon as the girl had ingrained herself into the popular crowd at school.

The other two main participants, Sophia Hess and Madison Clements, were mostly unknown to me. I was certain that one, or possibly both, of the girls had something to do with Emma turning against her lifelong best friend.

The things Taylor had told me that day sickened me. The destruction of her mother's flute, the use of secrets that Emma had known against Taylor; I was certain that I wouldn't have coped nearly so well against such pressure for the length of time my daughter had. Of course, the locker incident had been the final straw.

The fact that the staff at Winslow either completely ignored what was going on, or required proof that couldn't be produced to act, incensed me beyond belief. It also made me wonder why.

My old friend Alan Barnes, while a powerful attorney and very protective of his daughter, Emma, couldn't have made the staff turn a blind eye. Through the grapevine, I knew that Michael Clements was a mid-level manager at one of the city's few surviving factories, so it was unlikely he had anything to do with it.

By process of elimination, that led me to Sophia Hess. I hadn't been able to find out much about her, but the little I had discovered was depressing normal for Brockton Bay. A mom, two siblings, and a father who was deceased. There was some kind of deadbeat boyfriend, who sponged off what little money her mother made as a secretary working at an office Downtown.

I couldn't see why anyone would make allowances for Sophia Hess. Her being on the track team didn't seem enough. Did the girl have gang connections? Could the teachers be afraid of her?

In the end, it didn't make sense. Alan Barnes would never allow his precious daughter to associate with a gangbanger. Also, Empire 88, with their strong Aryan ties, would never tolerate a black girl. The ABB were entirely Asian in make-up, while the Merchants were a bunch of drug users. Sophia Hess was a star athlete, one who almost certainly didn't use drugs.

Could she belong to a smaller gang? There were a few around, but Empire 88 and the ABB were notorious in keeping the reins of power within the city, so they tended to stay small. I also couldn't see a gang smaller than those three managing to intimidate the staff at Winslow

Regardless of whether or not it remained a mystery wasn't important. If those three girls, or their parents, thought that this was over, they had another thing coming. No one hurt my little girl and got away with it. I'd definitely keep on digging until I found out what the hell was going on, because something was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark. But for now, I had a plan to deal with the school.

Pulling up into the parking lot behind Winslow, I locked my car up and headed inside.

"Excuse me, I'm Danny Hebert," I said to the receptionist, a sallow woman in her thirties who smelled strongly of Tic-Tacs. "I'm here for my appointment with Principal Blackwell."

"Please sign in," the woman said disinterestedly, waving at a book on my side of her desk.

I gritted my teeth, but managed to keep my peace. Really. Just how unprofessional were the people in this school?

Signing the book, I noticed the woman rifling through a drawer and pulling out a visitor's pass. I had to wonder why they bothered. All of the school's metal detectors were broken and had been for at least four years. Ditto for the security cameras in most parts of the building, according to Taylor. Anyone could get in and out without being seen if they knew about them.

I chalked that up as another black mark against Winslow. No way was I allowing my daughter to come to an unsafe environment like this again.

After signing in and getting the visitor pass from the apathetic receptionist, I had to sit and wait. It was over half an hour later that the receptionist finally called my name. Getting to my feet, I headed to my meeting with Principal Blackwell.

The woman in question was dressed like she was attending a funeral, her austere black outfit depressing me. That, combined with her severe bowl-shaped haircut and narrow, horse-like face, made her look more like a turn of the century governess from one of Annette's novels rather than a high school principal.

"Mr Hebert." She greeted me with a nod and no handshake, yet another mark on my mental chalkboard. "What is it that I can do for you?"

"I am here to inform you that I consider this establishment sub-par and have decided to withdraw my daughter immediately," I said bluntly, making her sit up from her slight slouch in shock.

"Why would you want to do that?" Her puzzlement was so disingenuous that it seriously pissed me off.

"Do I need to even explain why?" I asked in disbelief. "Whether you are willing to admit it or not, my daughter has suffered fifteen months of persecution, harassment and bullying, all of which was either ignored or brushed off by your staff. Her mother's flute, a family heirloom, was stolen from her locker here at school and destroyed. Her school work has been stolen and destroyed, again often taken from her locker, despite her changing locks. Most damning, do I need to remind you about how she was hospitalized after being confined in her locker for the better part of two days?"

"None of those allegations have been substantiated," Blackwell shot back, an easy confidence behind her words.

"That's because almost the entirety of your student population was either actively participating in the bullying or tacitly consenting to it through inaction," I replied flatly. "Let there be no misunderstanding here, I know that something is making you ignore my daughter's plight. I have no idea what it might be, but I suspect it has something to do with Sophia Hess."

It was a shot in the dark, as I didn't have any real evidence, only the merest shadow of a suspicion. However, the way Blackwell whitened at my words was as good as an affirmation that I was right.

"Right on the money, aren't I?" Glaring at the woman who had been part of the organized bullying of my daughter, it was all I could do not to strike her. Taking a deep, calming breath, I said, "I have no idea why you seem to be so bent on taking her side, but I will find out. When I do, you had better damn well hope that it is a damned good reason. Otherwise, I will have it plastered all over the news and the internet faster than you can say 'social media'. Am I clear here?"

The woman, looking pale and angry, nodded silently.

"I also have this to present to you." I pulled out my trump card in my quest to get at least a little revenge on the school on Taylor's behalf, a couple of folded sheets of paper.

Blackwell took them from me, but didn't to look them over. "What exactly is it?" she asked.

"The first is a notice from the Dockworker's Union that all of teachers at this school will be receiving formal complaints directed at them through their own Union Membership," I said with a hard smile. "The second is a list of signatures of every parent in the Union who has children attending this school. They're sitting below a statement that indicates that they will be withdrawing them from Winslow."

This made Blackwell hurriedly open the papers and move to the second sheet. Reading it made her skin turn whiter by the second.

"You cannot be serious!" she croaked as she looked up at me. "This is over fifty students! Do you have any idea with this will do to our funding? Our standing in the community? We'll have to lay off staff!"

"A little closer to seventy, actually," I corrected her. The Dockworker's Union was currently made up of little over three hundred members, most of them family men and women. They came from all over the city, but more than a few made their home in the Boardwalk and the Docks areas, sending their children to Winslow as the closest high school.

Before the Boat Graveyard had been created, the Dockworker's Union had had over twice its current membership, but the years hadn't been kind to us. Still, even seventy kids being withdrawn at the same time from the same school should have the effect that I wanted.

"Are you trying to get the Board of Education to investigate my school?" Blackwell cried, her fear and anger creating almost a tangible aura around her. I wasn't generally someone who took pleasure in the suffering of others, but in this case seeing her so flustered was as sweet as the finest wine, to quote a book that Annette had read to me once.

"Looks like you are quick on the uptake," I commented helpfully, a dark smile on my lips as I stared at the distraught woman. "That's exactly what I want. This school is a disgrace and it is high time the Board of Education did something about it. Consider this justice for what you people let happen to my little girl."

"But… but…" the woman seemed to be grasping at straws for a moment. "Where will they attend classes? They have to be taught!"

"In regards to that, a number will be home schooled, while a select few have qualified for academic placement at Arcadia," I replied. "The rest will have a teacher brought in to teach them at a central location to be determined within the next two days. Everything's perfectly legal, or so I am assured by a lawyer of my acquaintance. One who is not Alan Barnes."

The way she seemed to deflate told me that she knew there was nothing she could do stop this from happening.

"That was everything that I had to say, Principal Blackwell," I said, my tone still pleasant. "I would say 'have a good day,' but under the circumstances, I can't see how that's even possible."

With that, I stood up, adjusted my tie, and strode out of the room, a feeling of satisfaction welling up from within me. It wasn't nearly enough to make up for what Taylor had endured for over a year and a half, but at least it was a start.

Taylor was a very smart and driven young woman and I wouldn't put it past her to be able to earn her GED within a year. She had inherited all of the brains and drive of her mother. The only thing she seemed to have inherited from me besides some of my looks, was my stubbornness, not something I saw helping her in school.

I tossed the visitor's pass onto Miss Apathetic's desk, then signed out and headed to my car. As I stepped out into the sunlight, I felt lighter than I had since I had found out about everything that my daughter had gone through.