How Green Becomes Wood

"Okay," Bernice replied, standing. "Send them into the conference room. I will meet them in there. You two stay here for now," She turned to Xander and Dark, "They may ask to speak with one or both of you, and if not I may decide it is necessary regardless."

Dark nodded, pushing his his hair back. It was a strange, almost amusing little thought, but as he did, he felt a sense of relief he had remembered to conceal the mark on his neck, because if he was going to have to speak to parents in any circumstance, but especially this one, that sort of blemish would not leave a good impression.

"You have to explain this to your mother," he told Xander softly after Bernice left. But it only took about five minutes before the aide came back in telling Xander to go sit in the waiting room and calling Dark in with the parents.
 
Xander grunted to show he'd heard Dark. Now that was going to be an interesting conversation because he was pretty sure she'd be fully supportive of him socking the mouth of someone who talked like that yet not wanting to encourage violent behavior. He wandered into the waiting room and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs.

Three adults sat or stood in the conference room. One tired-looking woman sat at the corner of the table staring at her phone with a sort of disassociated, resigned expression. The other woman paced back and forth, her agitation nearly sending out sparks. Her presumed husband sat splayed out on the opposite corner watching her, seeming completely at ease.
 
Dark waited for a few moments outside of the conference room door before going in to mentally prepare himself. Then he straightened his tie, smoothed his vest, and stepped inside, tall and grim.

"This is Mr. Dark," Bernice introduced, gesturing for him to sit, "he is Xander's guardian as well as, I believe, the teacher of at least one of your boys."
 
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"We're suing!" snapped the pacing woman. "What kind of a monster do you think you are raising? And you!" She aimed her glare at the principal. "How day you let such an animal roam free among the other students? Are you intentionally raising murderers and brawlers at this school?"

"We're not suing," said the man mildly, seeming almost amused at the tirade.

The woman glared at him. "Yes, we are!"

The man shrugged. "Honey, it's just a fight between kids. I got in worse scrapes than that when I was his age."

"Just because it happened to you or you did something does not make it okay!" she practically shrieked.

"I have a question," said the woman on her phone. She looked up long enough to look at Dark. "How did one younger boy take on two older kids in a fight without getting so much as a bruise?"

Now all three were looking at Dark, waiting for his answer.
 
Dark closed his eyes briefly and then sat down before answering, "First, I would like to apologize for my son's actions. I do not condone violence and have already spoken to him about it. He should not have hurt either of your children." Dark's gaze transfered to the pacing woman, "I understand you are upset, but I would request you do not use dehumanizing language regarding my child." Then he looked over at the other woman, "I cannot say for certain as I was not there. Xander does take judo, where, mind you, he is urged not to fight like he did today, which may have had something to do with it."
 
"See?" the screeching woman said, rounding on her husband. "I told you those places teach only violence! And you wanted our son to join one of those horrible groups!"

The man rolled his eyes. "I think you missed the part where he said they try to teach kids to not fight."

"Our son has never been in a fight before now!"

The tired woman waited for a break in the squabbling before asking, "So, between being a part of a hobby that teaches control over oneself and one's actions and a guardian who does not condone violence, why, then, did your child attack ours apparently unprovoked?" There was something in the way she said "apparently" that indicated she doubted it was truly unprovoked.
 
"From what I understand, he overheard them using certain hateful and sexual language against queer students. He wanted them to..." Dark took a long pause to try and figure out the best language to explain Xander's perspective while also deescalating the situation, "teach them not to continue using that sort of speech. His methodology was wanting."
 
The tired woman only sighed as if she couldn't be surprised anymore and looked down at her phone.

The other two parents acted simultaneously. The husband looked at Dark blankly and asked, "What's the big deal with that? It's just words." In the same moment, the wife said, "As if our son would ever use such hurtful speech! I raised him better than that! Your boy must be making things up to cast the blame!"

There was a pause as husband and wife registered what the other had said. They looked at each other, the wife growing a new shade of scarlet.

"You think it's fine to use speech like that?" she demanded.

"You called him a monster, how's that any different?" the husband instantly defended himself.

The tired woman stood, tucking her phone into her pocket. "I think it's clear all parties are at fault here. Mr. Dark, as long as punishment befitting the crime is administered to your son, I see no reason to take this any further. I will be speaking to my son, as well." She glanced toward the other two, who were locked in heated bickering. "I hope I can say that certain people were a bad influence in my son's life and that I was not the cause of his... discretion."
 
"Xander is being suspended," Bernice informed the tired woman, while Dark politely agreed with her assessment and made his goodbyes. He had considered interjecting into the argument to assert how slurs were never acceptable, but instead he chose to let the couple battle it out, silently immensely grateful his marriage wasn't like this.

When there was finally enough of a lull in their argument, Dark did say, as a show of good faith, "In a public high school environment, students are exposed to a wide array of speech which may or may not align with their upbringing, and a desire to fit in may override what they have been taught," as if he didn't now suspect, from what the husband said, that the language absolutely had been learned at home, "I have taught here for a decade, you cannot imagine what I have heard students say, and their parents are almost always horrified by it."
 
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"Humph, well, they have to learn it from somewhere, and our son definitely did not learn it from me!" the wife snapped, glaring at her husband. He glared right back but didn't say anything.

The tired woman checked her watch. "I need to get back to work. Can I can my son home? WIll there be any further punishment on the school's part for him and his friend?"

"There had better not be! You should see his face!" the wife cried.

The tired woman ignored her, looking to Bernice for her answer.
 
"We cannot police private conversations," Bernice said, "If it is true and he begins to use it to bully other students, then we will intervene, but at the moment, neither of your sons," she looked at the three parents, "will face repercussions for this. You are free to leave, and take your sons with you if you desire, unless there is anything else?"
 
"No. There is nothing else," the wife snapped, snatching up her purse. She glared at Dark. "Just make sure that boy of yours learns his lesson about laying hands on people!" She stomped out, looking for her son. Her husband followed quietly, far grumpier now.

The tired woman gave Dark a nod and walked out after them. That seemed to be that.
 
Dark promised he would and as soon as the door was shut he rolled his eyes, rubbed his face, before discussing with Bernice the terms of the suspension. He didn't agree with the punishment as a matter of principle, because he didn't see how kicking a kid out of school was supposed to help them, and he had a lot to say regarding the school-to-prison pipeline, but this wasn't the time for that discussion.

Not too long later, they both left the conference room and walked up to Xander. Speaking first, Bernice told him, "As I said before, I have to suspend you for this. Because it is your second suspension, it will be slightly longer than last year's: nine days instead of seven."
 
"Is that nine school days or just nine days?" Xander asked, grabbing his backpack and standing up. "'Cause one's shorter than the other." He glanced between Bernice and Dark. "I'm still not sorry for smacking them, but... I kind of am sorry. For smacking them." He shrugged, not sure how to express his feelings at the moment. In truth, he was far more sorry for disappointing Dark and causing him worry than he was for striking someone else. He wasn't about to say that in front of the teacher, though.
 
"Nine school days," She confirmed, "Thank you for apologizing."

Dark looked down at his son, pleased to see he felt somewhat conflicted about his actions, but all he said was, "I will call Cooger to come take you home. Daizi is home."
 
"Okay," Xander agreed. "I'll get my homework later, I guess." Alec would likely take good notes and gather up his work for him like he had last time. He felt a small pang of worry for his brother. Alec was not going to like this. He just hoped he'd handle things alright. At least this time he didn't have to worry about retribution being paid to his brother.
 
Satisfied with this conclusion, Bernice returned to her office. Once the door was shut, Dark sat down beside Xander, sighed heavily, and said, "Alec will be okay. He survived last year, and you are both much stronger now than then. Are you okay?" He lowered his gaze to look at Xander's hands, more or less satisfied with how they had been treated, "Have you iced it?"
 
"Haven't had the chance," Xander told him. "It's not like there are buckets of ice hanging around the school halls." He looked away from Dark and his inspection. "I know I should regret punching them. I know I'm supposed to be trying to find a less violent path, but... it felt... it felt right." He bit his lip, true worry crossing his expression for the first time. "I knew how much their words would hurt someone else, so I wanted to hurt them first." He tried to glance at Dark but couldn't hold his gaze. "Does that make me a psychopath?"
 
"I will get you ice before you go home. If you keep this up you will have arthritis in your knuckles." Dark commented softly, watching Xander's hands intently. Then he raised his eyes and looked at Xander's face again, "No, it does not mean you are a psychopath, Alharis. If you were a psychopath, you would not care so much." As they spoke now, he let his own mask fall, but even though he looked tired and stressed, and, yes, a little disappointed, the way he looked at Xander hadn't changed. "You have good instincts. You just need a better release. How do you feel now that it is over? How did you feel immediately after?"
 
Xander considered the question, blowing out a sigh of air noisily. "Tired," he finally admitted. "Sore. Sorry for you and Daizi. Sorry that I can't seem to use my words. Not sorry for showing someone that not everyone is willing to let that crap slide no matter what happens to them. I don't feel good about it. I didn't then, don't now, but it feels, I dunno, necessary, I guess. Maybe I could have handled it better, but those types... words wouldn't have worked."
 
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