Free Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills Page A

something.
    â€œI do,” Sierra said. “I mean, I hope so.”
    She shouldn’t keep saying “I mean.”
    â€œI mean, it should help.”
    There, she had just done it again. But maybe it didn’t matter. Colin looked away from the blond reporter and the cameraman and smiled at her.
    She and Colin Beauvoir were going to be on the nightly news together.
    *   *   *
    Sierra’s father was home in time to watch the news broadcasts with Sierra and her mother. The Wilson case had settled at the last minute late the night before and didn’t end up going to trial after all. Sierra knew from experience that this was usually the way it happened with her father’s cases. On the eve of the court date, everyone suddenly began cooperating. Her father was very good at persuading people to do whatever they needed to do to avoid having to face him in the courtroom.
    Sierra had thought her father would be furious when he learned she had been kept in suspension for another day, but he wasn’t.
    â€œI can play hardball, too,” was all he said. “You might say that hardball is my specialty.”
    She had to tell him what Mr. Besser had said that morning. “Daddy? Mr. Besser said that all the media coverage is just making things worse, that he could have worked something out with us, but now he can’t, because his hands are tied. That’s what he said, that now his hands are tied.”
    To Sierra’s surprise, her father gave a scornful laugh. “And if he expects us to believe that, he’s a whole lot dumber than I thought he was. The only reason anything is going to be worked out here is if we make it impossible for him not to play the game our way.”
    Sierra’s mother served dinner in front of the TV in the family room—homemade pizza with all kinds of cut-up roasted veggies on top.
    Once again, the Longwood Middle School knife story was announced as one of the headline stories on 9NEWS: “Two days after an honor student’s lunch-bag mistake has her facing expulsion, the student body mobilizes in protest while school officials scramble to defend their policy.”
    â€œâ€˜Scramble.’ That’s good,” Sierra’s dad said, putting his arm around her as she sat in a cozy sandwich between her two parents, with Cornflake purring against her feet. “Yes, I’d say it’s scrambling time for Tom Besser right now.”
    The snowstorm was the top story of the day: four car accidents already, with rush hour still under way.
    â€œI’ve been thinking,” Sierra’s mother said, setting her half-eaten slice of pizza back on her plate as the TV screen showed a helicopter-view of traffic at a standstill amid whirling snow on I-25. “Beautiful Mountain School? That alternative private school that focuses on the arts? I called them today, and they have openings.”
    Sierra’s father hit the mute button on the remote.
    â€œYou can’t be serious,” he said.
    â€œThere’s no harm in looking at it. I thought I’d just go over there on Monday to see what it’s like.”
    Sierra turned imploringly to her father. She couldn’t change schools. She couldn’t leave Lexi and Em—and Colin.
    â€œAngie,” her father said to her mother, obviously struggling to keep his voice even. “Longwood Middle School has the highest test scores in the district. Those alternative schools are artsy-fartsy nonsense. Strictly for fruits and nuts.”
    â€œSierra is very artistic. She loves to paint and to sing and to write.”
    â€œAnd to think .”
    â€œI’m sure they think at Beautiful Mountain,” Sierra’s mother shot back. “They think enough that they wouldn’t expel a student for an innocent mistake.” She corrected herself: “For her mother’s innocent mistake.”
    â€œSierra is going to be reinstated. She is going to