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Chapter Twenty-Six
Awaking before her alarm the next morning, she held too much anticipation to even attempt to sleep. She had to apologize to Erin for everything that had happened before. Whether or not it mattered, she had to tell her how she really felt.
She wasn’t surprised to see Keegan already settled behind her desk when she arrived. In her hands, she gripped an adjusted schedule ready for her, color coded according to priority in case she had to cancel anything later.
“Good morning,” Keegan said, beaming as she handed the schedule over to her.
“Good morning.”
“You look better.”
“Is she in?” Julia whispered over the desk. She never was good at the art of subtleness.
“It’s about time you got your priorities right,” she smirked. “Her schedule is blocked off for most of the day. I think she’s finishing up last-minute workshops with the English department for the new tutoring program, and then she’s meeting with the board later.”
Julia sighed. “I’ll try to catch her at the end of the day.”
But the end of the day did not come quickly; it dragged on like cold winter nights. Julia casually walked past Erin’s office numerous times, but she was either gone or talking to someone behind a closed door.
Between loops, Julia sat with piles of the same paperwork from yesterday, still untouched. She listened as the black clock above the door tick, tick, ticked until she could hear it echoing in her ears even after she left the room.
She tried to focus but she couldn’t. It was a balloon in her chest–expanding and expanding and expanding–and she felt like she couldn’t breathe until she let the air out. So she watched the clock move closer and closer towards the last bell. Just as it rang she stood to head towards the door, but a shape appeared before it first.
“Ah, Dr. Jenner, I have a little treat for you.” Mr. Woodsten, the math teacher, gently guided a male student into her office. “Tyler here thought it was a wise decision to vape in the hallway by his locker. Third time this week,” he tsked.
Mr. Woodsten crossed his arms across his chest and let out a puff of air. Tyler slumped into the chair by the door and pulled his red hood tight around his face in defiance.
“Mr. Motler,” Julia sighed, “didn’t we just have this conversation?”
“Pst,” he huffed with a cluck of his tongue. “I’ll be eighteen in two weeks. This is stupid.”
“Thank you, Mr. Woodsten.” Julia nodded as he turned to walk away. “Let’s call mom again,” Julia said to Tyler. “You know the consequence for a third offense is suspension.”
“Oh, come on, Dr. J!” He pulled his hood down as he pleaded, “don’t do this to me. My dad will kill me!” His dad would most certainly not lay a hand on him, but their stern talking-tos were just as threatening.
“Tyler, you knew what would happen if you repeated this behavior,” Julia sighed. She hated this part of the job–the part where no matter how much of a firm hand you have, there are some that just have to learn the hard way. “You earned this.”
So, she sat there and spoke to Mrs. Motler again, explaining that Tyler would not be allowed back the next day. His eyes went wide as his mother openly berated him from across the phone. He would have online tutoring to do from home while he considered his actions, and Julia had an inkling he’d rather be at school.
“And you’ll be explaining this to your father later,” Mrs. Motler’s voice cut through the phone.
After the whole situation subsided, she began to pack up her things. With her briefcase in one hand and her jacket in the other, her heels tapped down the hallway towards Erin’s office.
The door was closed and the lights were off. Julia knocked, but there was no answer. She picked up her phone and opened Erin’s contact. She began to type a text, her fingers sprawling across blue letters, but stopped.
What would she say? At that point, she didn’t have the right to ask her how she was doing. She left Erin thinking she was the one who did something wrong, when it wasn’t her who was the problem.
She walked to the parking lot hoping to see her car, but it was gone. Of course, this was the one night she got out of there on time.
Julia rubbed her forehead with a fistful of car keys. She pulled out her phone and pulled Erin’s number up again.
Julia – 4:09 p.m.
Hey, are you free tonight? Can we talk?
That was subtle enough. Sure, that would do it. As Erin’s three little dots appeared and then disappeared, and then appeared and then disappeared, she knew it wasn’t enough. Erin left her on read, and she deserved it.
So, she did the only thing she could: she went home, drank a few glasses of white wine, and tried to fall asleep to the sound of the humming from the overhead fan. She laid in the cool sheets, but she couldn’t slow down her mind or racing heart.
