“Hello, Dean.” Edison kept his tone polite.
The dean let out a breath, sounding a little relieved. "Here's the situation, Claire's guardian. This afternoon in the cafeteria, Claire and a male student got into a bit of an argument..."
He chose his words carefully, trying not to stir things up or anger this clearly unpredictable uncle.
"So, the boy hit her?" Edison cut in, his voice tense.
"No, no. She's the one who hit the boy."
Even Claire could see how uncomfortable the dean was. She wanted to laugh, but managed to hold it in.
Edison, though, wasn't buying it. He was convinced the teachers were only siding with the boy now that Claire wasn't the heiress of the James family anymore.
He took a slow breath. “Dean, are the other student's parents here yet?"
"I'm heading in now. You have to make sure that boy's parents don't see Claire, alright?"
"What if they try to touch my niece? How's she supposed to handle that?"
"I'm going in right now!"
The dean fell silent for a moment. Honestly, Edison had a point. Letting parents confront someone else's kid first was just asking for trouble. Even letting both sets of parents in the same office was a bad idea, especially since they'd already gotten into a fight once before.
Nobody wanted a repeat of that mess. Sophia's mom still had the scratch marks on her neck from Bonnie.
"Edison, hand your phone to the security guard at the gate. He'll walk you to the dean's office."
"Yes, sir." Edison passed his phone to the security guard, anxiety written all over his face.
The dean made sure the guard understood he needed to stay with Edison the whole time.
After the call, the guard led Edison through the school, sneaking glances at him. He looked so put together so calm He didn't seem like the sort to start a fight. But the dean had sounded genuinely worried on the phone....
"Is your uncle from the family you're staying with?" Sophia leaned in and whispered to Claire.
Claire nodded. “Yeah. I didn't want to bother him, but he was already here dropping off some books."
Bonnie, meanwhile, was getting
ready for another showdown.
Another parent was on the way, and she was convinced there'd be another fight. Honestly, she just wished her husband had come instead. If he had, he'd be the one getting punched right now.
Sophia's mom discreetly asked Claire, “Can your uncle fight?"
Claire looked at her, confused. "You really think we're going to have another fight?" Sophia's mom nodded at Bonnie. "Look at her. She's ready to jump in any second."
Claire tried to keep a straight face, but a giggle escaped.
Edison reached the dean's office in no time, walking so fast the security guard could barely keep up. At this point, the guard was starting to believethe rumors that this parent might actually be here to throw down.
“Dean, the parent's arrived," the guard announced, knocking on the door.
"Claire's guardian?" The dean looked over the guard's shoulder at the man in the suit. There was no way this was some poor relative from the countryside. Was Claire playing a trick on him?
The dean glanced at Claire, wondering if she'd paid someone to show up and pretend.
"Edison," Claire called out, her voice suddenly sweet and obedient.
Sophia's eyes went wide. She knew Claire's relatives were city people, which was why Claire could stay with them. But she definitely hadn't expected Claire's uncle to be this good-looking.