Page 135 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

I squinted at the screen and read the line, “‘Romance between parents and how it affects their teenage children.’ Oh god. Lilly.”

“What? It’s a great subject, and there are so many texts that explore the issue in different ways.”

I groaned and fell into Rutton’s other guest chair. “You make it sound like I should be happy that the damage I caused gave you a breakthrough.”

“You should be. I’ve been stuck on this for weeks.”

“Well... fine. You’re welcome then.”

She winked at me and went back to typing.

The door opened and closed with Rutton muttering, “Ah good. You’re both here.”

Lilly shut her laptop as the principal rounded the desk and sat behind it. “How was the PTA meeting last night?”

Rutton frowned. “Interesting. But that’s not why I’ve asked you both here.”

“Is something wrong?” Lilly asked, and I folded my arms across my chest.

If this was about to be another verbal smackdown where Rutton pointed out every teensy-tiny thing wrong with the Literacy department, I didn’t know if I could do what Lilly asked of me. I didn’t know if I could let her take the lead and keep my mouth shut.

But Rutton shook her head.

“The examination grades came in yesterday. I had a call from the APP Board.”

Well… that had me paying attention.

“And even though Mia isn’t running the program anymore, I thought she’d find the results interesting."

Rutton folded her hands under her chin and leaned forward, watching the two of us. The seconds stretched by until I couldn’t take anymore.

“You’re right,” I blurted. “I’m interested. How did they do?”

Rutton’s upper lip quirked, almost like she was fighting a smile. “Well.”

“They did well?” Lilly asked. “What does that mean?”

“Did we get our spots?” I asked, literally sitting on the edge of my seat.

Rutton hesitated, then pursed her lips.

No. No.

We gave this everything we had. There’s no way we could have failed.

I was up and pacing while Lilly stood, laptop forgotten, as she wrung her hands.

“Please,” Lilly begged. “Tell me we got them.”

I watched as anxiety pulled at my best friend’s features, and I knew that feeling wasn’t for her. She was worried about the students, and honestly, so was I.

I wanted these spots so Lilly could keep her promotion, but really, Lilly was right when she said we would be fine. For us, this was part of the job. But for the students, it was life-changing. And it was the students that we cared about. They worked so hard for this. They deserved this. They’d be crushed if they lost this.

“Not… all of them,” Rutton finally answered. “And what we received was only provisional.”

It took a minute to process, but then–shit.

Shit.