Blake stepped closer.
“You always want everything to be some huge injustice.”
Nia answered, “You just dumped paint on an injured Black girl while your friends filmed.”
Blake’s face changed.
“There you go.”
“There I go what?”
“Making it racial.”
Nia almost laughed.
“You spent eight months calling me the diversity girl.”
“I never said that.”
“There are screenshots.”
“You twist everything.”
Nia tried to move around him.
Blake blocked her.
“Move.”
He leaned closer.
“You think because your mom got promoted, nobody can touch you now.”
Nia stared at him.
“My mother has stayed out of this entire thing.”
“Sure.”
“You know she has.”
Blake reached for the front of her cardigan.
Nia recoiled.
“Do not touch me.”
He grabbed the fabric anyway.
Students reacted.
Mia kept recording.
Trent said Blake’s name again.
“Let go,” Nia said.
Blake leaned toward her.
“You’re not special.”
Nia looked directly into his eyes.
“I never said I was.”
That was when Blake glanced toward the glass doors.
The black SUVs were arriving.
Principal Caldwell was already moving toward the entrance to greet the district delegation. Blake released Nia’s sweater but stayed where he was.
The first security staff stepped out.
Then Dr. Rochelle Freeman emerged.
She wore a charcoal pantsuit, black heels, and a simple silver necklace. A leather portfolio was tucked beneath one arm.
Students recognized her from the superintendent announcement.
Whispers moved through the lobby.
Blake looked toward the doors.
Then toward Nia.
The relationship still had not occurred to him.
Rochelle entered.
Her attention went directly to the girl covered in paint.
She stopped.
For a second she was not superintendent.
She was a mother.