34. riding the bench

"Dad?" Kitt looked at her father's face in shock. He stood at her door with a suitcase and a wide smile.

"Hey there, sunshine!" He dropped his bags and pulled her into a hug. He was a large man, six foot five with thick shoulders and a bit of a tummy. Kitt felt like a kid again in his arms.

"What are you doing here?" She gasped, stepping back to look at his face before going back in for another hug.

"The nurse and Antie Emily are with your mom. We all agreed you needed me more." He said, finally entering her room and closing the door.

"I'm so sorry." Kitt said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Kitten! Do not be sorry! This is my job as your dad, let me do it." He insisted.

"I'm so glad you are here!" She admitted.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." He smiled.

They talked for a while about other things, like her mom, the new nurse who liked to help her mom play pranks on her dad like she used to. Or how Antie Emily started a new exercise class that had her hanging from the ceiling from a bungee cord. Kitt told her dad all about how Leo had been there for her and how her teammates took turns reaching out and taking her off campus.

"Should we get some dinner?" He asked when her stomach growled so loud it stopped their conversation.

"Yeah, probably." She agreed.

"Do you want to come spend the night at my hotel? We could grab dinner, and then you could fill me in on the details of this action with the university while we hot tub." He suggested.

"That actually sounds beyond perfect." She nodded.

***

K- my dad is sound asleep, snoring his face off. God I have missed him

J- Liam is also snoring his head off, but Kesha and Willow don't find it nearly so endearing.

K- I love that you guys are so happy. He seems like a great guy.

J- I really like him. He just gets me you know? Like when I was on my period last week, he took me to that smash studio to break things, then got us Indian AND Greek AND Chinese. Then to top it off he made me a little basket of chocolate treats, he didn't even ask me to share!

K- I love that for you. He is almost too good for you, maybe I take it back and I want my date back! Lol

J- and what would happen to the Prince? Leo wouldn't let you go with out a fight.

K- two boyfriends, I would just have two boyfriends.

J- getting greedy? Bitch!

K- fine, you can keep him, if he teaches Leo how to treat a lady.

J- like treat a lady or like TREAT a lady?

K- ew! No! Josie! I really hope they aren't sharing tips about THAT.

J- I bet they do though. I mean guys, not those two specifically. But maybe those two.

K- ew, like just sit around and be like 'what do you do...'???

J- maybe, I'm not a dude so I have no idea, but like maybe with their friends?

K- ew for some reason that seems so gross.

J- girls talk about it.

K- yeah but not like that!

J- some do.

K- like who? And why?

J- Willow and her best friends and her sister. They hold nothing back.

K- oh, no thank you. That sounds awful.

J- it's not my favorite for sure.

K- I have to meet with the lawyer again tomorrow, we have to review my appeal to the disciplinary committee. I think he has something up his sleeve he isn't saying.

J- it had better be a fucking ace that keeps you in school. This is such utter BULLSHIT!

K- I know. How did I get from Nobody Von Invisible-pants, to Spotlight McSomeone?

J- I would love a brief origin story for those weirdos. Lol

K- Nobody hides in the shadows, moves in the stealth of darkness and has a way of being faceless in a crowd.

K- Spotlight is noticed and watched constantly, think paparazzi. Every moment analyzed.

J- interesting. It is kind of funny how people just know your name now though.

K- yeah, Kip, Kim, Katey, Kathy, Kat, Penelope.

J- Penelope?? Lol

K- you know what I mean, none of those people could pick me out of a line up with a name tag on, but they sure do have opinions.

J- well, people are assholes.

K- why is it my job to fight the human garbage of this earth?

J- because superheros aren't real, not the marvel kind anyway.

K- well fuck me then, right?

J- sounds about right.

K- I'm scared.

J- I know.

***

"This is the initial review of the accusations of misconduct against a fellow student, under the clause of unsportsmanlike conduct in the athletic contract signed upon acceptance into Xavinn Olitor University by ms. Kittridge McCoy." A man stood in the center of a long table and addressed the mostly empty room.

Kitt sat with her dad behind a short barrier. Her lawyer sat in front of them.  Her coaches sat across the aisle behind the Athletics Department representative.

"Is the accused present?" The man continued with formality.

"Yes, sir." Her lawyer said, not standing because this was not a court room and the man at the front was not a judge.

"Do you wish to challenge these accusations?" He looked irritated that he even had to ask.

"Yes, sir." The lawyer spoke for Kitt again.

"Have you prepared the documents?" The annoyed sound in the man's voice intensified. Kitt looked over at her dad who seemed ready to jump out of his seat.

"Yes sir, they are in the envelope on your desk." Her lawyer said. As soon as the man at the front looked down to assess the contents of the envelope, the lawyer turned around and winked at Kitt. She was confused. His expression was almost giddy.

"Sir, there seems to be a mistake." The man said looking up at the lawyer baffled enough to sit in his grand chair.

"No sir, there is no mistake." The lawyer assured him.

"But these forms, these forms are not the rebuttal forms. These seem to be a counter suit with the university listed as the offender. How do you expect to proceed?" He asked almost letting his decorum fail him.

"You will find the signed affidavit of the accused, you will find the official rebuttal forms, you will find the appeal forms, and yes you will find a counter suit against the university for failure to uphold contractual obligations. This matter is no longer going in front of the disciplinary review committee. This matter is going to court." The lawyer stood and let himself through the tiny swinging door that separated the viewers area from the trial section.

"This is highly unorthodox!" The man yelled, flustered at the unexpected turn of events.

"Doing things your way got my client charged with misconduct. Doing things my way holds you all accountable." The lawyer retaliated.

Kitt scrambled to follow her lawyer, sneaking a look at her coaches. Kitt expected to see bewilderment or anger, she just saw poorly disguised smiles.

The CFAA headquarters were just a small unused office in the basement of the Athletics building, but it served its purpose. Kitt was able to use the office to meet with her lawyer.

"Ok you have to tell me what is going on! You look like the cat who caught the canary." Kitt said as soon as the lawyer joined her and her father in the small dark room.

"Ok, so I wasn't sure, but I am now. That's why I couldn't tell you before." He unbuttoned his top button and loosened his tie. He gestured towards the desk with his brief case. Kitt nodded.

"Ok?" She hated feeling lost.

"Remember that we talked about the wording on the contracts? Well! I had my team investigate, and we uncovered some truths and evidence that we can use to our advantage." The lawyer opened his case and pulled out some files.

"That sounds good." Kitt nodded.

"I printed these out for you. You said you like paper, so here you go." He handed her the files.

"Ok but what is all this?" Her dad interupted.

"So first we investigated the contract itself, it seemed like it was written poorly on purpose. If you are not accustomed to contract law, you might be confused by the wording and the unclear phrasing." He sat in an arm chair facing the small couch pushed against the wall. He motioned for them to sit with him.

"You are saying those are positive things?" Her dad asked using his business voice.

"In this case? Yes. The clauses can be argued a variety of ways. The terms used can be twisted to mean what ever they want it to mean because they are not specific. 'Unsportsmanlike conduct' is not a legal term." He shook his head with a smile.

"And?" Kitt shrugged.

"So the fact that you are being accused of misconduct for defending a physical threat, but others have been allowed to commit actual crimes without any consequences, means that they have set a precident, of permissive expectations.  Now! On top of that, we looked into the disciplinary records of the department under the direction of Mr. Thomas ." The lawyer looked like he had won a prize.

"And what did you find?" Her dad asked with a cold edge in his voice.

"Exactly what you expect. There have been twenty-two disciplinary hearings in the last seven years, that is a fairly high percentage compared to other universities, which in its self isn't a red flag, but when we took a closer look at those records, we found something interesting.

"Of those actions, nineteen were female students, and of those, seventeen had spoken out publicly about the inequalities and preferential treatment they saw or experienced at XOU under Director Thomas." He almost cheered.

"Oh! How did the board not figure thar out in our investigation?" Kitt wondered.

"I'm sure you would have eventually, but you were focused on the big picture. We uncovered the smoking gun because we went to look for it specifically, and since your committee had already done most of the leg work, gathering up all the records we were able to hit the ground running." The lawyer assured her.

"So what does that mean for us, sir?" Kitt was still on edge.

"That means we file a counter suit, saying that the school failed to fulfill their contractual duties to provide an ethical and non-biased educational environment. And, please, call me Brad." They lawyer continued.

"Brad? Uh, ok. Why the university?" Kitt asked.

"Because Director Thomas is already under investigation, but the fact is he created these contracts to further his own agenda and perpetuate his bias. The school allowed him to write these contracts and enforce them at will, unchecked. That makes them culpable of breach of their own contract. They are basing your probationary status on the Athletics Department word, they did not perform an independent assessment of the events that lead up to the accusations of misconduct." Brad went on to explain.

"So you are going after the big fish in hopes to snare the little fish?" Her dad asked.

"Sort of. We want to force the university to recognize their part in the actions allowed to take place under their administration. If I know anything, they will voluntarily institute immediate changes. This will be a big case, like, precident setting, media coverage big. The university will not want the negative association with the actions of one faculty member. They will likely reinstate your scholarship status and use this as an opportunity to develop positive PR by assisting in the removal of all parties who exhibit the embodiment of those values." Brad assured them.

"Ok, so that begs the question, who processed these accusations against Kitt? Director Thomas is suspended, he hasn't been able to go after her directly." Her dad asked.

Kitt's heart skipped a beat. He was right! Director Thomas couldn't be the puppet master on this one. Or could he? How was it that his ideals were still being executed? You know that Leo is like related to Director Thomas,  right?  Kitt felt sick. What did that mean to the most recent developments?

"That is our next steps. At this point we don't have names, but that's where the support and pressure from the university comes into play. If they want to save face and present themselves as a modern institution, they will use their extensive resources to uncover any additional members of the staff that support the ideals exhibited by Mr. Thomas." Brad said sounding sure of himself.

"Ok, cool. So how worried should I be? In all honesty, what are the chances that this action will be executed? Like on a scale of relax to panic, where are we in terms of me loosing my scholarship?" Kitt asked, not wanting to be blind sided.

"Kitt, if the school revokes your scholarship, I personally will find you a new one or pay for your tuition myself." Brad said with conviction.