You are not logged in. Log in
 

Search

in CYOTF by anyone tagged as none

CYOTF

My Girlfriend is an Animal: Distractions

added by s1 11 years ago O

Following the conversation with Amy and Marcella, I returned to the office that Officer Barnes and I used where Officer Barnes was already eating his lunch.

"How'd it go?" Officer Barnes asked as I shut the door.

"Fairly well," I commented, "I think she might actually talk about the facts of what Hireman's little stunt is."

I moved to sit in a sturdy chair that had been set up for me to sit in and reached for the plastic lunch carrier that had the steaks in it for my own lunch.

"Well... that's good," Officer Barnes replied with a nod.

"Yes," I nodded, "Amy seemed willing, and Marcella's response to Hireman was obvious."

Officer Barnes nodded and settled in to eating his lunch, while I began eating my own. I used borrowed student desk and chair to hold my plate and meat on it. I had just sliced a couple of pieces of meat when the door to our office opened suddenly and one of the leading secretaries came storming in. Looking very much like a picture of anger and frustration.

"Is there something we can do for you?" Officer Barnes asked.

"I would think that the two of you knew school policy by now," the secretary said in a frustrated voice.

It was the same woman who firmly believed that I had cornered a kid and attacked him. Only seeing the fact that that did not happen on the security screens had stopped her that time. For the moment, I did my best to ignore her and eat the meat I had brought for lunch.

"I would feel that we understand the rules as they have been written down," Officer Barnes said calmly.

"I beg to differ," the secretary answered, "You've forgotten our rule that you do not interact with the students outside of official business. NO exceptions."

"That wasn't written in the manual," I commented after a moment.

"It's an unwritten rule," the secretary growled back, and then grabbed my plate, "and listen to me when I'm talking! You two are on the BOTTOM of the school's chain of command. Here, you are under mine, then the principal's, and then the District Superintendent."

"No," Officer Barnes answered, "You need to reread the DARE system's provisions. We are not mercenaries given to you who happen to know the law. Our chain of command goes through Officer Howard. Our duty to the school is to work alongside your staff to insure that the school's codes are followed and the law is obeyed. If you have some problem with the way we do our duty, then you had best lodge a compliant with Officer Howard."

"You are not to interact with the students, am I clear!" the secretary nearly shouted, "we are trying to run a school here where have little conflict. The last thing we need is a uniformed officer... one who's presence is threatening, moving in and about our students and frightening them."

"And just who, have I frightened?" I asked as I stood up and moved toward her.

"Plenty! The principal can not do business without overhearing students commenting on the tiger officer carrying on with the students!" the secretary answered, "and even if he wasn't threatening, statutory rape is ALSO illegal."

I retrieved the plate she had grabbed and placed it on top of a filing cabinet.

"I neither threatened anyone, and nor did I engage in any sort of sexual misdeeds," I answered, "if you overheard the students talking, I'm sure you also know WHO I was talking to. You can then talk with them to confirm what I'm telling you now."

"It doesn't matter!" the secretary answered, "You are not to interact with the students outside of official business. It is a point of policy."

"It isn't an official rule," Officer Barnes answered, "it is your preference, and one we generally try to follow. Until you rework the DARE policy that the school district and our Department have agreed to to have it as an official rule, nothing that was done today was wrong..."

"It's..."

"And even if it were, this rule would likely only apply when we are on duty, correct?" Officer Barnes asked.

"Correct, but..."

"Then it wouldn't matter, as it is presently our lunch break and unless the school is attacked, someone calls in a bomb threat, or you have suspicion of drugs being smuggled into the school, we are OFF duty at the moment," Officer Barnes finished.

The secretary stood there still looking frustrated. But with the argument largely won, I took my plate and moved to sit down and eat again.

"Do not talk to the students unless it is official business," the secretary commanded.

"Do you support Joseph Patten's work on the school board?" I asked, trying to get her to back off.

"Of course," the secretary answered, "what does this have to do with anything?"

"Do you know what Hireman has done most recently?" I asked again. I knew she did know, as she was one of the people at the debate.

"I called Patten," the secretary answered, "he said the girl and initiated that conversation and that the situation was more complicated then what Hireman made it out to be... so you're in the clear in that regard... though he didn't say anything more or what the situation even was."

"Then you do understand the situation that Joseph Patten and the school board are in," I commented, "Hireman hopes this attack will shake Tabitha Choir's run for his seat by continuing to portray me as some sort of monster... that his actions are the only thing preserving your humanity. It is a desperation move and may not entirely work as it is... but it could."

"And how will that threat Mr. Patten?" the secretary growled, "everything he does has been for the school. Even if Hireman wins, Mr. Patten will stand up to him!"

"Because the footage was again taken out of context and selective pieces were used, and the entire school board saw it," I answered, "if any one of them reveals that to the populace, they will take it as an assault on the privacy of their children by the school board... and while it may not help Hireman in THIS election, it will implicate the entire school board in siding with him. And then as their terms come to an end... the people will vote them out of office, not wanting people they perceive to invade their privacy. And that would include Patten, himself. He may not lose his teaching position, that would ultimately fall to Mrs. Fitzpatrick and the school board that replaces him... but it would remove him from the board and his ability to continue supporting this school system will be diminished, if not ended all together."

"The only way we figured we'd be able to get around the attack that Hireman's made would be to have the "weapon" he used explain the details of why she had come to talk with us," Officer Barnes answered, "and so Officer Wayne, here, during his lunch break, went to inform the girl of the situation and ask for her help... and if successful will save your friend's job."

"I see..." the secretary spoke slowly and began to back out, "I see..."

She then left.

"We will probably catch hell for this," Officer Barnes commented as I resumed my lunch.

"So will she," I answered, "trying to act like we are under her command..."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Officer Barnes and I did not try to stretch the boundaries for the rest of the day, and the secretary didn't bother us any further. I wasn't quite sure if she was merely licking her wounds from the argument or not or if she did realize the tone in which she decided we were wrong was totally off the wall and uncalled for. I wasn't about to test this, however, and finished out my day quietly. From there, our mission was to prepare for the football game, which we were to provide security for. When it was time for me to head out, to my great surprise, Molly tagged along.

"You're coming?" I asked as Molly shut the door behind her.

"Of course," Molly answered, "it's been awhile since we've been able to see a football game together."

"We wouldn't really be together," I commented, "I'd be on duty."

"I know," Molly sighed, "all the same, it'd be a pleasant distraction from all of the nonsense that Hireman has pulled."

I nodded and lead the way into town.

"Do you have money in your purse for the tickets?" I asked, "Or do I need to give you some money?"

"I actually got a card when I was promoted to "teacher" from "aide"," Molly gave a smirk, "It allows me relatively easy access to the school's activities... and while you're doing the DARE work, you shouldn't need to pay for yourself, either."

I nodded and shrugged and continued on. We quietly made our into town and toward the football field, which was conveniently near the high school. We ran into Officer Barnes who was waiting for us as we got there.

"You should have called ahead if you were going to bring a date," Officer Barnes teased.

"Hardee-Har-Har," I responded.

Molly only shook her head as I moved to stand by Officer Barnes and while she continued on toward the ticket booth.

"You two boys had better behave yourselves," Molly commented as she headed off.

"Come on," Officer Barnes commented, "we need to go around to the other entrance to the field. The Activities Director will let us in."

"We don't go in through the main gate?" I asked.

"No," Officer Barnes shook his head, "they won't even open until we are in to stand as security. Your wife will have to wait in line..."

"No teasing," I said to him.

"I'm not," Officer Barnes answered, "Unlike the thing with the secretary, this is an actual rule..."

"Anything more happen with her?" I wondered.

"She did lodge a complaint with Officer Howard," Officer Barnes nodded, "that we couldn't explain ourselves well... like we were supposed to coordinate with her with what happened."

"And what did he say?" I wondered.

"From what he told me, he gave her the same response I did," Officer Barnes answered, "we are not obligated to coordinate or follow the whims of the school staff outside of the official rules. Her policy is a preference the staff has, not an official rule... though she may take it to the School Board next."

"Having the talk during school might have been a mistake," I sighed, heavily.

"Do you know where they live or what their schedule is?" Officer Barnes asked.

I shook my head no.

"So how would you tell them otherwise?" Officer Barnes asked, "Nothing illegal was done. They weren't threatened. You didn't make any sexual advances to them..."

"Molly would kill me if I did," I answered.

"That secretary just gut a bee up her skirt on that you didn't follow her "unwritten rule"," Officer Barnes answered.

We made our way to the other entrance where the Athletic Director was waiting for us.

"Promise you two won't start anything tonight..." the Athletic Director teased as we approached.

"Don't tell me you agree with that secretary..." I began.

"Not entirely," the Athletic Director answered, "generally we would prefer it if you didn't interact with the students outside of official business. Mostly to keep things running on schedule and avoid students getting unnecessary tardies... but barging into your office wasn't the way to handle it."

"We had good reason..." I began.

The Athletic Director raised a hand.

"I'm sure," the Athletic Director answered, "and as I said, it is a preference that we have. In this case, I'm sure you had a good reason. Just don't make it a habit to mess the kids during the day. Every once and a while is tolerable... but if it is all the time... THAT is when it would be a real problem."

Officer Barnes nodded. The Athletic Director let us in and we quietly made our way in. The field surrounded by a dirt/sand track.

"So, which level will you take, Officer Wayne?" Officer Barnes asked, "Do you want to be near the concession stand or the field?" Officer Barnes asked.

"I'll take the field," I shrugged, "If someone rushes the field, I can get between him/her and the players quicker... just in case."

"Okay then," Officer Barnes shrugged.

"Besides, I couldn't get anything from the concession stand anyway," I joked, "not unless they're selling hot dogs."

To that Officer Barnes only chuckled and moved on. And as the evening moved on, things went well. The teams took the field and went through their warm-ups. The school's cheerleaders made it out to stand on the track to rev up their crowds for the game. My position was nearly on the grass part of the sideline to keep a basic look out on things. There were no problems. The players of both teams had their share of curiosity, though it didn't match up as much as Heather's curiosity had... though Columbia Falls' mascot was not a tiger the way our college's mascot was.

The team played hard in the game and Columbia Falls ultimately managed a sixteen to fourteen victory. And despite the major issues that seemed to broil around Molly's and my presence in the town, Amy's future with Marcella, Patten's service to the district... for the length of the game, it was a welcome distraction. And hopefully, things work out well in the future.


What do you do now?


Title suggestions for new chapters. Please feel free to use them or create your own below.

Write a new chapter

List of options your readers will have:

    Tags:
    You need to select at least one TF type
    Tags must apply to the content in the current chapter only.
    Do not add tags for potential future chapters.
    Read this before posting
    Any of the following is not permitted:
    • comments (please use the Note option instead)
    • image links
    • short chapters
    • fan fiction (content based off a copyrighted work)
    All chapters not following these rules are subject to deletion at any time and those who abuse will be banned.


    Optional