The disciplinary process took eight school days. Ms. Nair was not a part of most of it. Harmon handled the parent meeting himself. She heard secondhand from Tom, her colleague, that the meeting had been notably quieter than the ones about the grade.
David Holloway had arrived with his leather notebook and left without saying much. The outcome was not an expulsion but a formal, written disciplinary record, a mandatory session with the school counsellor, and a requirement that Brennan have no contact with Deacon for the remainder of the year. Deacon was called to Harmon’s office separately and was told the investigation results. Deacon stopped by her classroom on a Friday afternoon and stood in the doorway for a moment before saying, quietly, that he just wanted to say thanks.
The following Monday, she wrote the final prompt of the semester on the board. Deacon came in, sat down, read it, and raised his hand before she’d even asked the opening question. She called on him. He gave his answer clearly, in full sentences, without glancing around the room first to check who was watching. She wrote his point on the board alongside the others. Then she turned back to the class and got to work.