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Chapter Four
The blaring buzz of her alarm clock at 4:00 a.m. painted the walls with a glaring red light, startling her from her brief hour and a half of sleep. As she rubbed her bloodshot eyes, it dawned on her that she actually fell asleep and even stayed asleep for that short amount of time.
She sat up and contemplated death. Regret pulsed through her head, throbbing with the remnants of the last drink she hastily consumed the night before. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and her stomach lurched at the sickly tequila sloshing within her. Inhaling sharply, she stretched her toes onto the cold hardwood. She looked at the darkness through the window–the streetlight still the only brightness.
It would take one hell of a strong cup of coffee to tackle the day, because today of all days was the one that Julia called a faculty meeting before school. Today of all days was when she decided to stay out all night like a teenager.
She couldn’t remember the last time when she felt so young and reckless, a feeling she didn’t know could be so good. The thought forced her to smile as she stood in the kitchen and poured her dark coffee into a stained white cup.
She shuffled over to the couch, still rubbing her eyes, and retrieved her laptop from the coffee table. After falling into the plush cushions, she began reviewing the notes for her meeting. She had just one hour to prepare and then be out that door to set up the conference room for faculty.
Her phone buzzed in the pocket of her suit, and she picked it up without looking. At this hour, it could only be one person.
“Tell me again,” Keegan groaned through the phone, “why this meeting is not in the afternoon like usual?”
“What do you think will happen when all of our teachers get a surprise visit today from a state contracted employee in their classrooms without notice?”
“That’s what emails are for,” she mocked. Julia couldn’t help but laugh at the tone of her voice. “You taught me that everything can be an email these days.”
“You have to introduce the new hires, and I have to explain what the McSellen Corporation will be doing in our building.” Julia didn’t want faculty being blindsided by a corporate ass hovering in the back of their classroom.
The board of education hired an outside company of specialists from the McSellen Corporation to evaluate the effectiveness of the academic and social-emotional support their faculty provides students, but she was told to spin it as an improvement opportunity. Julia tried to explain that it would go over like a lead weight, but of course the board knew best.
“Have fun making everyone feel like their performance is lacking,” Keegan teased.
“Hey!” Julia argued, “you know that is far from the truth! Since I’ve been Superintendent of Kleinton High, our scores have skyrocketed. Plus, student involvement in and outside of school has tripled with the utilization of all our new clubs.” The other end of the phone was quiet, and then she heard Keegan chuckle.
“Sir, yes, sir! I love hearing you defend Kleinton.”
Julia grinned to herself. “I need to stop falling for your set ups.”
“You can’t say one single good thing about yourself, but you can brag about Kleinton all day. I’ll never understand it!” Julia could feel Keegan’s smile through the phone. “So, if everyone has the data proving our current success, why did the board of education hire McSellen?”
“Because the latest rating came out and we’re still second in the state,” Julia sighed, squeezing the bridge of her nose.
She and the board had long-term aspirations: to be the leading school in progressive education. Obviously, they felt she couldn’t meet that goal on her own, so they hired a specialist to shadow teachers, assist in annual evaluations, and analyze various ways Kleinton could be even better.
“Their pretentiousness gets old.”
“That’s your alma mater you’re talking about.”
“Don’t remind me,” Keegan groaned. “Listen, I still have to get the kids up, so I’ll see you shortly.”
“See you soon.” Julia smiled into the phone before ending the call.
By 7:30 a.m. her podium was meticulously arranged with her speaking notes. She clutched her fourth cup of steaming coffee in her trembling hand–too precious of a jewel to put down. The breakfast table, resembling a bountiful charcuterie board, overflowed with snacks.
She started reviewing the pronunciation of the new hires when Keegan walked in with her notebook ready in hand. She was one of those rare morning people, and Julia loved her for that. Typically, there was nothing more uplifting than arriving at the office before seven in the morning and finding one of her closest friends already there, spinning around in her office chair while jamming out to Shania Twain. But that morning? She could’ve brought it down a notch.
“Good morning sunshi–” She began to beam in a high pitched-voice but stopped dead in her tracks, her pinned black hair coming to a halt behind her. “What happened to you?”
“What,” Julia choked on her coffee, “do you mean?”
Her hand instinctively reached towards her hair, flattening down stray hairs like that would help. She scrubbed every inch of her body that morning and tried to hide all of her tiredness deep down. She even took the extra time to accentuate the curls in her blonde hair, hoping it would pull attention from her puffy, sleepless eyes. Apparently, that didn’t work.
“You look like you pulled an all-nighter!” Keegan laughed, setting her things down on the table in a cluttered mess. She brushed the front of her lavender dress, starkly contrasting against the color of her hair, and then rested both hands on the table.
Julia could’ve lied. She could’ve said she was up all night reviewing the month’s budget reports. She could’ve said she was taking one last look over applications for their much-needed substitute positions. She could’ve said she didn’t sleep well and avoided giving one more thought to the woman who took her breath away, the woman she would never see again.
