Mr. Fiancé(136)

Duncan winks and turns around to face the Board. “Is Carrie not allowed to have a student Advocate?"

The President thinks about it for a second, then nods. "With Miss Mittel's approval, of course."

"Of course,” I quickly reply.

"Then so be it. Mr. Hart, please have a seat. Mr. Prescott, proceed."

The final piece of evidence that Prescott offers is the flash image of my phone, along with printouts of my browser cache. When I go to get up for my attempt to defend myself, Duncan puts his hand on my arm and shakes his head, smirking.

Duncan gets up and reaches into his attaché case. "Members of the Board, everything Mr. Prescott has presented here today sounds very compelling. I mean, if I were in your position, I'd be filling out the paper to throw Carrie out of school already. Why not? Let's hurry this up. I hear the cafeteria is serving pot roast today, and let's face it, as a football player, I love me some good pot roast."

There are a few chuckles, and Duncan has them in the palm of his hands. I guess all the press conferences he’s forced to do makes him a natural. “The problem is that everything Mr. Prescott has said today . . . well, it's just not true. It's not his fault—he’s just been misled. Let's start with the accusation of phone usage, which this whole thing hinges on.”

Duncan goes back to his briefcase and takes out a thick brown folder, the kind that you sometimes see people turn in reports with. "I'd like to submit this report, from NuTech Labs."

"What is this, Mr. Hart?" the President asks as Duncan hands it over.

"I just got this report twenty-five minutes ago. It's why I was late. The report's pretty long, and it's got a ton of technical jargon and stuff, but the summary on the first two pages is so simple, even a football player could understand it. NuTech is one of the best firms in California in the realm of computer forensics, and their experts have testified in over two hundred cases in California courts. I'm sure you can verify this easily enough."

"We'll take your word for it. Continue."

Duncan nods, and he turns back and walks to me, ready to spring his play. "At hearing what Carrie has been accused of, I hired NuTech to do a full analysis of two phones. First, hers. Second, mine. Carrie has stated that when she left the classroom, she was making a personal call. That call was to me, as well as the text message that preceded it. I know Carrie's phone was looked at by the Western Computer Science Department, but no offense to the comp sci majors. They can't do what NuTech can. The summary essentially says that Carrie’s phone was manipulated, and that all of this evidence is planted.”

There's a muted mumbling around the room as the President finishes reading the summary. “I’m calling a pause to this Hearing to confirm this report. Miss Mittel, during this pause, your restrictions to activities are still in place. This Hearing is temporarily adjourned."

Professor Vladisova comes up while Duncan packs his briefcase. Chelsea has already slunk out of the hearing room without a word. "I apologize, Miss Mittel. I’ll reinstate your grade, and I look forward to seeing you next week in class."

I nod and shake hands with her. She's not a bad person, just trying to do her job, and I understand that. I look around and see that the only people left are Duncan and me. He closes his briefcase and turns around. "Like I said, I'm sorry I was late."

"I'm sorry I doubted you. I admit, I was starting to get a little gloomy,” I say, wrapping my arms around him and pulling tight. "For a moment there, I was scared."

"I know," Duncan says, hugging me back. "I didn't tell you about NuTech because I didn't want to get your hopes up. They were slow on getting back to me, or else I would’ve told you. I barely had time to print out the report and get over here."

"But you did," I reply. “Thank God for that.”

Duncan chuckles. "Come on, let's go get some lunch and change clothes. I hate wearing a suit."

As we walk out of the Hearing room, I turn and look at him. "I don't know. I think you look handsome in a suit."

Duncan looks over, his gray eyes twinkling in the dim light of the hallway. “Take it in while you can. I don’t like wearing this monkey suit,” he says, rubbing his belly. “I’m starving.”

"Me too. Let's go. You said something about pot roast, right?"





Chapter 17





Duncan





"Last time, seniors. This is your day. Enjoy it," Coach Bainridge says as the other members of the team form two lines that stretch all the way from the tunnel to the big Western logo in the middle of the field. "Just keep your heads right for the actual game."