I'm in a daze as I walk back to my room, my fingers numb, and twice, I trip over random things in my path.
I get back to my room without killing myself and sag into my chair, still trying to figure out what the fuck just happened. I reach into my pocket to call Coach Taylor. He's always been sort of a mentor, but then I remember that I left my phone with Dean Friar. He said that the Honor Board would return my phone to me by Tuesday. I could have fought that, but what's the point? I'd look even more guilty than I do right now.
My computer beeps, and I see that I'm getting a call. I don't want to, but I get up and go over anyway, hoping that maybe this day could have at least some good news in it. I see that it's Mom and Dad, and I open the call. "Hey guys."
"What's wrong, sweetie?" Mom asks immediately. That's Mom. I can't put anything past her. She's always been able to read me like a book. "You look upset."
I think about lying but decide against it. I mean, what's the point? "I've run into some trouble, Mom."
"What kind of trouble, Carrie?" Mom asks. She turns her head and hollers over her shoulder. "Vince! Come here!”
"Mom!" I protest when she turns back around. "I'm not in preschool any more."
"No, but you don't need to repeat yourself either. Might as well let him hear you the first time,” she counters, and I can't argue. Mom works as an office manager, and she's always been a person who focuses on efficiency. Then again, when you have to measure your family time in blocks between your husband disappearing on the road for a week or more at a time driving a truck, and you're balancing a full-time job and a young daughter, efficiency is important.
"What's this about trouble?" Dad says, coming into the room on the other side, and he takes a seat. "What happened?"
"I've been accused of cheating on my Organic Chemistry mid-term," I said, trying to control my emotions. "The Dean of the Honor Board asked me some questions today."
"What? I mean, I assume you didn't cheat, but why would they think you did?” Dad asks, and I take a deep breath, trying to think of what to say.
“Of course I didn’t cheat. I got a single text message and stepped out to call Duncan back, then went back and took my test. But they're saying that I was pulling up course notes and lectures during the test time. My phone apparently even says so—it says I cheated. All I did was talk to Duncan for like . . . two minutes."
"Duncan," Dad says. “That’s the football player you were seeing, right?"
“He is, but he didn’t have anything to do with it. Another student, a girl I thought was a friend, accused me, and my professor went to the Board. Now I'm in deep shit, and I don't know why she’d accuse me.”
Dad gets angry, and I can see he's about to go off. His face is getting red. "I can tell you exactly how. I’ll bet you anything that slime ball had something to do with it.”
I try to force myself to stay calm, but it’s getting increasingly difficult. “I think I know him a little better than you do. I’ve been on the training intern staff for a year and a half now, remember? I've been working with him daily since June. We took a long time before we decided to start seeing each other."
Well, that's on pause right now, but I'm not going to tell you guys that, but that’s beside the point.
Dad, though, is already in full-on rant mode. "That may be true, Carrie, but he's scum. After you called, I checked up on him—just Google him, and it’s like a bad tabloid story. Parties, off-campus incidents, and a list of girls on his arm that stretches for pages. I thought I raised you better than that!"
I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a few seconds before I look at the screen again. "I understand you want to protect me, but I’m an adult, and I know what I’m getting myself into with Duncan. But let’s get one thing straight—Duncan had nothing to do with this. He isn't the one accusing me of cheating . . . so let’s just stop talking about him.”
Dad turns redder, and I get a little worried about him. The last thing he needs is something to run his blood pressure up. Mom looks at him, and then interjects before any more stress can be built up. "So what happens now, Carrie?"
"Well, effective immediately, I'm suspended from the training staff and all my extracurricular activities," I say, which is probably the most painful part of what has happened. If I could at least go down to the training room or weight room, I could talk it over with Coach Taylor, maybe release some stress on the floor. "So that's going to give me a lot of free time that I really don't want."