Chapter 2 - The Emails Derrick Never Saw
“Third?”
Derrick did not raise his voice.
That frightened Monique more than shouting would have.
The television remained black. The controller lay beside the suspension letter like evidence from a crime scene.
Aunt Renee quietly took a chair.
Jaylen moved toward the stairs.
“Sit down,” Derrick said.
Jaylen stopped.
“Dad—”
“Sit.”
Jaylen dropped onto the sofa.
Derrick looked at Monique.
“What does she mean, third incident?”
Monique crossed her arms.
“There were two other situations.”
“Situations.”
“They weren’t suspensions.”
“What were they?”
“One detention.”
“And?”
Monique hesitated.
“A disciplinary referral.”
“For what?”
Jaylen answered.
“Talking.”
Derrick looked at him.
“Talking?”
Renee leaned forward.
“Try again.”
Jaylen’s jaw tightened.
“I left class.”
“Without permission?” Derrick asked.
Jaylen remained silent.
Monique exhaled.
“He walked out after an argument with another teacher.”
Derrick looked back at her.
“When?”
“September.”
It was November.
“September?”
“I handled it.”
“You hid it.”
“I handled it.”
“You hid it.”
Monique’s voice sharpened.
“Because I knew exactly what you would do.”
“You mean parent him?”
“You would’ve taken basketball, the console, his phone—everything.”
“He walked out of class.”
“He was having a bad day.”
“So?”
Jaylen glanced between them.
The movement was subtle.
Renee saw it.
Derrick did too.
The boy was tracking which argument worked better.
Derrick walked toward Monique’s phone.
“Open the email.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Derrick froze.
“No?”
“This is my phone.”
“I’m not asking to search your phone. I’m asking to see the school email about our son.”
Monique looked away.
Renee spoke carefully.
“Monique.”
Monique unlocked the phone.
She opened the email thread.
Derrick took it.
There were nineteen messages.
Not three.
Nineteen.
His face slowly emptied.
September 9.
Ms. Cooper: Jaylen repeatedly interrupted instruction.
September 13.
School counselor: Concern about incomplete assignments.
September 22.
Assistant principal: Unauthorized classroom departure.
October 4.
Ms. Cooper: Disrespectful language.
October 12.
Counselor: Missed tutoring session.
October 17.
Technology department: Chromebook damage requiring parent acknowledgment.
Derrick scrolled faster.
“What Chromebook damage?”
Monique closed her eyes.
“It fell.”
Jaylen muttered, “It got knocked off a desk.”
“By who?”
Jaylen did not answer.
Derrick read the email.
Based on student statements and hallway camera footage, Jaylen appears to have knocked the Chromebook from another student’s hands during an argument.
Derrick looked up.
“You knocked somebody’s computer out of their hands?”
“He was filming me.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Jaylen stared back.
“Yes.”
Derrick continued reading.
A replacement fee had been assessed.
$1,186.
Status: Paid.
He looked at Monique.
“You paid this?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“October.”
“With what money?”
“Our money.”
“Our money from where?”
Silence.
Derrick handed the phone back.
Monique did not take it.
“From where, Monique?”
“The emergency account.”
Derrick laughed once.
It was not amusement.
“You took twelve hundred dollars from our emergency savings because he broke another kid’s computer, and you didn’t tell me?”
“He didn’t break it on purpose.”
Jaylen said, “Exactly.”
Derrick turned.
“Nobody asked you.”
Jaylen’s face hardened.
Renee intervened.
“That right there.”
Everyone looked at her.
“He knows the script.”
Jaylen frowned.
“What script?”
Renee counted on her fingers.
“Minimize what happened. Say somebody else started it. Wait for your mother to defend you. Then let your parents fight until everybody forgets what you did.”
Jaylen stood.
“That’s not what I do.”
“Sit down.”
“I’m not sitting here while everybody acts like I’m some criminal.”
Monique immediately said, “Nobody said criminal.”
Renee looked at her.
“You rescued him again without even noticing.”
Monique’s mouth opened.
Then closed.
Jaylen walked upstairs.
This time Derrick let him go.
His bedroom door slammed.
Derrick stared toward the ceiling.
Renee rose.
“I’m going home.”
“No,” Monique said.
Renee looked at her.
“You sure?”
Monique’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Renee sat again.
Derrick returned to the email thread.
One message remained unread.
It had arrived that afternoon from Ms. Cooper.
He opened it.
Mr. and Mrs. Hall, today’s suspension is not the only issue requiring discussion. During the incident, Jaylen made a statement suggesting he knew about the answer key to Friday’s assessment before the test was administered. The school is reviewing student messages. We are not making an accusation at this stage, but we will need both parents present tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.
Derrick read it twice.
Then handed the phone to Monique.
Her face went pale.
“What?” Renee asked.
Derrick looked toward the staircase.
“The school thinks he had the test answers.”
Monique stared at the message.
“No.”
Derrick watched her closely.
“You knew?”
“No.”
The hesitation had been tiny.
But after nineteen hidden emails, tiny hesitations mattered.
Derrick lowered his voice.
“Monique.”
She looked at him.
“I did not know about test answers.”
He believed that part.
Mostly.
Then another message appeared.
Not from the school.
A text from an unknown number.
Mrs. Hall, you promised Derrick would never find out what you paid me to do for Jaylen. If the school contacts me, I need to know what you want me to say.
Derrick read it over her shoulder.
The room became silent.
Monique locked the phone.
Too late again.
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Derrick whispered:
“Who did you pay?”
