7 Clues to Winning You by Kristin Walker Read Free Book Online Page B

never got very upset about anything. Until then.
    Dad glanced quickly over my shoulder, then stepped around me to shut his office door. “Blythe, I know you’reupset,” he said softly, “but becoming superintendent would benefit all of us, not just me. It comes with a forty percent increase in salary. Forty percent. I’m talking a whole different tax bracket here. That money would improve our lifestyle dramatically. Hell, we could actually afford to send you to Bryn Mawr.”
    I gaped. He’d never mentioned the cost of college before. I never thought it was something he had to consider. “Gran and Granddad are paying for college,” I reminded him. “They’ve been saying that forever.”
    “I don’t want them to!” Dad patted his chest. “
I
want to be the one sending you to college! Not them. I want to give my family everything they need.” He turned away from me. His shoulders slumped. He watched his fingers lace and unlace. “I’m a grown man, Blythe. I’m done with taking handouts from them.” His fingers curled into fists. “I have to be.”
    I wanted to go over and hug him. Then I remembered why I was there. I forced myself to bring him back on topic. “You don’t have to be superintendent to give me what I need right now.”
    When he wheeled around to face me, he was Principal Mac again. Turns out, he was like the Incredible Hulk too. “What would you have me do, Blythe? Discipline the yearbook committee? Suspend Luke Pavel? Cancel the yearbook altogether?”
    I knew he wanted me to react as though those punishments were ridiculous, but I didn’t bite. “That’s a start.”
    He wheezed a high, sarcastic laugh. “A start? What else did you have in mind, exactly?”
    I drew myself up and set my shoulders back. I lifted my chin and said, “I think you should cancel the Senior Scramble.”
    It was Dad’s turn to gape. “What? Are you kidding?”
    “That’s where it all started, Dad. If it wasn’t for the Senior Scramble, that kid never would have taken my picture, and none of this would have happened. Look how easily the scavenger hunt can get out of hand. How mean-spirited the participants can become. Don’t you think it’s a bit heartless and irresponsible for you to let it continue? What will the school board think when they find out that your own daughter had been bullied at your school and you did nothing?” I was pretty sure that clinched it.
    Dad drew in a long breath through his nose and exhaled vocally, puffing out his cheeks. “I see what you’re saying … I just … it would totally alienate the student body. It’s a tradition that’s been around here a lot longer than I have. Some of those same school board members grew up here and took part in the Senior Scramble themselves.”
    “Yes, and that was back in the days before the Internet and before desensitization to violence. Back when bullying was written off with ‘kids will be kids.’ This is your chance to demonstrate the seriousness of your zero-tolerance policy. It would set a precedent. It would deter other would-be bullies. At the very least, it would send a message. In fact, it might send an even louder message if you
didn’t
do anything. ‘Ash Grove: where you can bully even the principal’s daughter and not get in trouble.’”
    I have to admit that I hadn’t planned to spin my argumentquite that way. To make it such a big deal. To take a stand and challenge my father on such a serious point. The words had simply poured from my mouth, and I couldn’t deny a certain truth in them. Neither could Dad.
    He rubbed his hands up and down his grimacing face. “I need to think about this for a while.” He turned away from me. Fiddled with some papers on his desk. “I need to think.”
    “Okay,” I said contritely. Had I gone too far? If I was getting what I wanted, did it matter?
    He sat down in his chair and squeaked it back and forth a few times. He laced his fingers across his lap. I felt like he was