Page 96 of Apparently, I’m Torture

“Mr Jackson,” Principal Rutton exclaimed, stepping from her office. I could make out the shock on her plump, wizened face. Shawn stopped in his tracks, and as Rutton’s gaze landed on Mia and I, everyone else swung around.

There was a moment where we all just stared at each other, then my cheeks flushed, and Shawn gave me a raise of his brows. My stomach churned; an anxious hum roared in my ears.

“Why are you two here?” Rutton narrowed her glance at Mia and I. “Miss Walker, this has nothing to do with you. And you, Miss Fares, you no longer teach here.”

Mia folded her arms. “Hang on, things have changed, haven’t they? Shawn’s the one under investigation here, not Lilly.”

“Regardless, Miss Fares failed. Her job was to keep her head down and do the work, not cost the department money they couldn’t afford to spend.”

“Pfft,” Mia started. I put my hand on her arm and she spluttered to a stop.

“Shawn,” I turned, folding my arms. “What’re you doing? You can’t take the blame for this.”

“She’s right,” Stacey added, exasperated. “Your career means more than hers. You shouldn’t throw away everything we’ve worked for.”

Mia scowled as Shawn gave me a crooked smile and shrugged. I read so much in his face. I miss you. I love you. I’m sorry I haven’t called. But maybe I was seeing what I wanted to see. The fact remained that after five years of outright avoidance, he told me he loved me and then deserted me during one of the hardest points of my life. If anything, his remorse put me on edge. This whole fucking thing put me on edge.

“It’s already done,” he said, ignoring Stacey, his eyes still on me. “I came to talk to your principal. I wanted her to know it wasn’t your fault. I was about to ask her to give you your job back.”

Trevor scoffed. “There’s no way that’s happening. This isn’t just about the fundraiser; this is also about her poor test scores.”

Shawn took a menacing step toward Trevor and I shot out a hand, gripped his chest and held him back. “He isn’t worth it. None of this is. Stacey’s right. What you’re doing could help so many kids. My career isn’t worth ruining that. I’ll be okay. I’ll find something else.”

His expression hardened; jaw clenched tight as he searched my face. “I’m not letting you give up your mom’s school because this–” He turned and pointed at Trevor “–bastard thinks he can get away with fucking everything up for us.”

Rutton made an incredulous noise in her throat. “Mister Jackson, what is this? Are you two… involved? Is that why you’ve decided to take the blame?” She looked to her left, to Trevor. “And what does Mister Atkins have to do with any of this?”

“Everything,” Shawn growled. “He’s the reason–”

A tinny noise snuck into the room. Shawn cut himself off and listened.

“It’s not my fault he decided to take the blame for Lilly. That’s on Shawn, not on me.”

Every head snapped toward Stacey.

“But if you didn’t forge that invoice in the first place, none of this would’ve happened.”

She held her phone up, her hand shaking, as she played her recording.

“I had to. Nothing else worked.”

Trevor’s face took on a violent twist, and he lunged at his cousin.

“You should’ve just left Lilly alone and found another job somewhere else.”

Shawn gripped Trevor’s shoulder, bore his weight down on him, and as Trevor’s knees buckled, Shawn wrapped an arm around his neck.

“No. She humiliated me, Stacey. She deserves this.”

Mia stepped forward.

“I don’t care that she humiliated you. Do you know what your stupid plan cost us? We were raising money to help kids, Trevor. Kids. Don’t you care about them?”

Cocked her arm back.

“Why the fuck would I care?”

And drove her fist into Trevor’s face.