4: 4
The investigation team came back.
Same faces as last time, but now there were two people from the school trailing behind them, and one of them was the same school official who'd called my grandmother.
He shot me a look before he even stepped through the door. You couldn't miss the contempt in it.
"Rex Chavez, according to the person who filed the report, you're suspected of cheating on your teaching certification exam."
"You're also accused of using your grandmother's teaching resources for an unfair competitive advantage."
"And of a moral failing that left a young child sick from exposure to the cold."
"We need to verify all of it."
The officer spread a folder open on the table.
I slapped three things down on top of it.
Library keycard logs. My study schedule, every page's notes stamped with the date I wrote them.
And a screenshot from the security camera by my door, Meg Chavez dragging Rolf around, making a scene on my doorstep.
"First, I did all my studying at the library. There's footage, there are keycard logs. No cheating."
"Second, my grandmother's lesson plans are forty years of her own teaching work. She took them with her when she retired. They aren't school resources."
"Third, you're saying I made a child sick?"
"Last night Meg Chavez took her own kid out in a downpour with no raincoat."
"Then she came pounding on my door demanding to stay the night, and when I said no, she turned it around on me."
"It's all right there on the camera."
The investigators finished going through the materials, and their expressions eased considerably.
One of them glanced at the school officials.
But the official cleared his throat instead.
"Rex Chavez, your grandmother's situation really did put a black mark on the school."
"As her family, you should be keeping a low profile, and now you've drawn a report on top of it. This puts us in a very difficult position."
I stared at him.
"When my grandmother first started watching Rolf, did you know about it?"
"Did you say a single word back then?"
He didn't answer.
"You never told her no, did you?"
"You thought it was a good thing too, didn't you, her watching a single mother's kid for free?"
"Now someone's filed a report, and suddenly you feel embarrassed."
The official's face went red.
"What kind of attitude is this!"
I ignored him and turned to the investigators.
"This report has been confirmed as a false accusation. I want the person who filed it held accountable."
"Taking the report is your job, fine. But making up lies costs her almost nothing."
"She reported my grandmother once, then turned around and reported me. It never ends."
The investigator nodded.
"In principle, yes, you can pursue it. But the process is fairly complicated..."
"I'm not afraid of complicated."
I said.
"If I don't shut her down this time, next time she'll cook up a third charge."
The official panicked and put a hand on my arm.
"Rex Chavez, don't blow this up any bigger!"
"The school can't survive that kind of publicity! We can just work it out internally!"
"Work out what?"
I pulled my arm free.
"Take it like my grandmother did? Get stabbed in the back and just swallow it?"
The investigator looked at the school official.
"If the party involved wants to pursue accountability, we can't stop him."
This one, I'm seeing through to the end.
