Page 55 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

“–if you could arrange a time to see us, that would be great.”

I was breathing hard, my grip tight around my phone, and I could barely see straight. I had to listen to the message again just to get it to sink in.

And then I listened to the recording a third time and caught an unmistakable British accent in the background. The tension in my shoulders eased, the knot in my chest loosened.

It looked like I didn’t have to say anything about my daughter’s bully.

Mia did that for me.

Chapter 23

Mia

SOUTH BRONX CLASSICAL

Tuesday

“I can’t let her get away with this. She’s been chipping away at Kira all week. I keep pulling her up on it, but she won’t listen.”

“I know, I know. We’ll talk it out in the meeting.” Lilly turned in her chair and held out her hand. “Show me the notes you found?”

I gave them to her, resisting the urge to ball them up and throw them out. They were awful.

“I don’t think this has been going on for long, but I don’t like what I’ve seen. I thought Amber was better than this.”

Lilly sighed. “Jealousy makes people do stupid things. It’s not that hard to believe.” She stood and came to stand in front of me. “But can you handle this?”

I bit my bottom lip and tried not to react. I knew what she meant. Principal Rutton and Lilly agreed that I wouldn’t have contact with Theo, and given everything my best friend and boss already knew about our interactions, her question was more than reasonable.

“I can handle being in the same room as him.”

She eyed me, nodded, then wrapped her arm around mine as she led me out of the staffroom. The hallway was cooler than it had been in weeks, and as we walked toward the meeting room, goosebumps prickled along my arms.

It had everything to do with the weather and nothing to do with the thought of seeing Theo again.

It was the weather. Yep. The weather. Definitely not because of Theo.

Well… maybe it had a little to do with him.

After catching his eye in his office yesterday, I was a bit out of sorts. He glared as he watched me follow his employee down the hall and… why did he look at me like that?

Was he mad? Was he upset that someone else was working on me?

The shiver that laced up my spine was almost treatment enough. Oh god, I liked the thought of Theo jealous.

But he didn’t actually like me, and I needed to remember that. I could’ve written a list of all the ways Theo didn’t like me.

One, he told me I was infuriating.

Two, he insulted me in front of my boss.

Three, he made my job difficult.

Four, he clearly wanted to fuck me into the shelves of my classroom closet.

Oh holy fuckballs, what was the universe doing to me?

“Ready to pull up your big boy pants?” Lilly asked.