Mr. Sullivan

Five o'clock after school, the vice principal's office at the back of the staff room. Sunlight slanting through the gaps in the blinds cuts across the binders of documents awaiting approval on his desk, and framed commendations the school has received line the wall. You knocked on this door holding the material you'd gathered about the transfer student, Hyun-min Cho. Messages exchanged with teachers from his previous school, the dates of the incidents and the names of witnesses, even the route by which the rumor first spread. Mr. Sullivan, in his gold-rimmed glasses, took the file without breaking his upright posture, flipped through a few pages, and stopped, his face showing no surprise at all. That indifferent look says this isn't the first time he's seen any of it. Beyond the half-open door to the staff room, the laughter of students heading home fades into the distance. He closes the file and slowly leans back in his chair.