Bella has a note from her old gym teacher, who let her exhaust herself on an exercise bike in the back instead of doing something hazardous any time the classroom activity would have otherwise placed Bella near a ball or another human being. Bella also has the copay receipts from all of her doctor's visits over the past year, and has written on each one what sent her to the clinic, ranging from two instances of "had to check for concussion" to one of "chipped molar" to one of "two broken toes, also carpet rash". And just because of gym teachers' reputation for not being interested in excuses, she has thrown in drugstore receipts too, each with massive purchases of disinfectants, bandaids, and other first aid items suitable in quantity for only an extremely accident-prone individual. Bella has these things because Renée is not really equipped to reliably run basic errands before they become emergencies, and Bella's had a checking account to handle such things since she was not quite fifteen.
She finds the gym, and looks around for the teacher.
As the last few students clear out, Ms. Finch looks over at Bella and raises her eyebrows again. Then she cuts Delaney off mid-gesticulation and jerks her thumb at the door. He throws her a mocking salute and leaves.
Bella trots up to Ms. Finch. "First, thanks again for not making me play volleyball. Second, you seem like you're probably in a position to know more about Delaney than anyone else. Do you know about the fights he get into? And why there doesn't seem to have been faculty intervention?"
"There is not a lot the faculty can do about that kid," she says. "Between you and me, I wonder why he bothers showing up to school at all. He comes to class when he feels like it, he doesn't show up to detention, and the one time he got suspended, he came to Art anyway and I had to kick him out. Not to mention, it seems kind of backwards to punish a kid for getting beat up, even if he gleefully claims to have started it."
"He did start the one I saw this morning. He shoved Dave Farber into a locker. If someone shoved me into a locker, I'd get a teacher, but the fact that Dave doesn't have very good problem solving skills or a sense of proportion doesn't mean it's swell that he's getting pushed. If detentions and suspensions don't work, what about his parents? Don't they do anything?"
"I am... not the person to talk to about Hammond's parents," says Ms. Finch, looking the least comfortable she has in the short time Bella has known her.
"Okay. Thank you anyway," Bella says with a polite smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."
She'll talk to Charlie about this one. He knows something about every family in town.