Page 68

He turned off the water and toweled off, then tugged on his uniform shirt and shorts before returning to his desk. He still needed to check the softball uniforms Elise had ordered last week.

“Hey, Josh.”

Principal Carver was waiting, a folded newspaper in hand and a strange expression on his face.

Josh took his seat, a little unsteady. “Phil. Everything okay?”

“It is. But we have a situation.”

Carver passed Josh the paper, his eyes full of concern.

Josh’s eyes locked onto a headline: CAPTAIN FANTASTIC GETS DRASTIC.

“Jesus.” Josh scanned the page quickly: a snide screed vilifying Tyler’s efforts to revitalize the school library. Par for the course, really, but as it went on, the article got weirdly personal. The author was anonymous, and they obviously had an ax to grind, but this bordered on libel. “I need a second.”

Now Carver looked pissed. “I’m so sorry, Josh. I have my suspicions about who’s responsible, but this is beyond anything I anticipated.”

“Who do you suspect?” Josh glanced up, bewildered, but Carver didn’t elaborate.

How had a literacy campaign become about his relationship with Tyler?

Josh’s eyes locked back onto the newspaper, scanning for specifics, anything to give an indication who had done this to him. It came about two-thirds of the way in. Nothing overt, nothing actionable, a few sly hints about the possible “spectacle” of “school showers” and “the faculty bachelor romancing Fantana.” The article didn’t name him or say anything directly derogatory, just enough to make Josh’s blood boil.

Someone in the school had done this.

Josh’s mind raced. Nobody knew about the morning runs but people who got to Hamilton at sunup. That meant that one of his coworkers, someone he’d smiled at and covered for over the years, had gone to great lengths to make him seem sleazy and opportunistic in the local rag.

“What the actual hell, Phil? This is in the building. Who would leak this crap to the media?”

Carver sighed. “I wish I knew for sure. But we’ve had more than a few staff members grumble about the library initiative. And you and Tyler being so… close.”

“We jog! I’ve known the man over fifteen years. Tyler hasn’t showered in this building since he graduated. This makes it sound like we’re one step from hosting satanic orgies in the Hamilton locker room.” Josh knew he was getting too loud. His pulse jerked in his throat.

Carver held up his hands, silently pleading for calm. “I knew you’d be upset. That’s why I came here first thing. It’s unethical and disgusting. I’m going to deal with it immediately. But you needed to know.”

“The kids will see this. Their parents. This evil crap.” Josh crumpled the paper, livid. “Total garbage. Tyler’s just trying to make a difference, to save the library. And these bigots are targeting us. They want to get us killed based on lies.”

“I know, I know.” Carver swallowed. “We’ll figure this out, Josh. If you need to take a day or two…. I just wanted you to hear it from me first before the gossip starts swirling.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I wouldn’t give these assholes the satisfaction. I don’t back down to bullies. Ever.” Josh took a deep breath, trying to calm down. But he could already imagine the looks and whispers in the hallways.

“Good man.” Carver tried to smile, but the result wasn’t comforting.

“Thanks for the heads-up,” Josh said finally. “Sorry for losing my cool. I know you’ve got our backs.”

Carver shrugged. “Always.”

Josh managed to keep himself in check, but his heart was racing with anger and unease. This changed everything. With Tyler leaving soon, Josh would be alone on the front lines, without his protector and champion. The thought of weathering this storm solo filled him with dread.

Josh trudged through the rest of the day in a fog, barely able to focus on teaching. His thoughts kept drifting to Tyler, wishing he was still here to help Josh face the growing threats. Mrs. Grappo gave him a reassuring pat on the way out of the faculty lounge, and then Stan from the library offered a nervous thumbs-up that made him feel doomed. If the teachers he trusted felt awkward, then things were worse than Carver thought.

To their credit, the students acted totally normal. If they knew, they didn’t say a word. If anything, they seemed eager to thank him and not give him any trouble. So maybe they knew and had his back. He didn’t trust his instincts at this point. By lunch he realized they were being too nice to seem normal; they absolutely knew. In a town this small, there were no secrets.

He couldn’t stop obsessing about it. His job and safety in Cinnamar were in real jeopardy.

During assembly, he called Tyler, desperate for a sensible perspective, but it went straight to voicemail, and then he went completely blank. What should he say? How could he explain without sounding insane or panicking Tyler? He couldn’t figure out a reasonable message to leave, so after saying, “Hi,” and a weird endless pause, he just punted. He said that something awful had come up, but that he was fine, and he’d explain later.

The last thing he needed right now was Tyler rushing to the school to make a scene and fix everything.