Chapter 5 #4
brIGHT AND EARLY the next morning, Sheila breezed into Bernadine’s office with good news. “Dark Horse has chosen Henry Adams!”
Bernadine cheered, “Yaa!” And meant it. If the town had to grow, at least they’d start off with a company headed by an outstanding owner.
“Paige said she knew the other town wasn’t going to be a good fit when the mayor and the all-male town council’s first question was why Dark Horse hadn’t sent any men to speak with them.”
“Yikes.”
“Exactly. She countered by asking if they would’ve asked about women representation had Dark Horse sent an all-male contingent, and the mayor accused her of trying to bring a woke feminist agenda to their town. Things went downhill from there.”
“I’ll bet it did. Good grief.”
“Their ignorance is our gain.”
Bernadine agreed. “So, what’s next?”
“Paperwork, contracts, lawyers, and signatures. Paige still needs the guesstimate from Trent, but she’s pretty much made up her mind, no matter the cost.”
“This is pretty exciting, even for a town owner who doesn’t like change.”
“It truly is. There’s still a lot to do before everything’s signed, sealed, and delivered, but I’m very pleased.”
“You should be. Keep leading us to the Promised Land, Ms. Mayor.”
“Doing my best.”
“And doing it well.”
She stood. “Paige and I are meeting on Zoom in a few to get the ball rolling, but I wanted to tell you the good news first. Feel free to tell Lily when she gets here. I’ll send texts to everyone else once Paige and I are done.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Sheila.”
She shot Bernadine a thumbs-up and exited.
Very pleased indeed, Bernadine sat back in her chair and smiled. Henry Adams was on its way.
OVER AT THE Marie Jefferson Academy, Devon and his classmates were not pleased.
Ms. Nori was out in the hallway listening to Mrs. Keene’s complaints about the new no-homework policy, while they worked on their geography assignment until she returned.
No one could concentrate, however, because Tiffany was talking to her followers on Instagram.
“I hate that the evil stepmother is also my teacher, but she’s out in the hall right now, so I get to hang with you until she comes back.”
Devon and his classmates stared in shock at Tiffany’s disrespectful description of Ms. Nori.
“School is such a waste of time,” she added. “How is geography going to help me be a better influencer? Anyone out there know?”
Wyatt snapped, “Put your phone away, Tiffany. You may not care about learning, but the rest of us do.”
“Shut up.” She refocused on her phone. “Haters everywhere I turn. They just don’t want me to be great.”
Zoey said, “Your zero on this assignment will be great, if you don’t put that phone down.”
“You can shut up as well.” Shifting attention back to her phone, she said, “Notice how kindly I said that? Never let trolls make you angry. Anger will give your face all kinds of ugly lines, and what man is going to want a woman with lines on her face?”
Devon looked up from his tablet. “Put your phone away. I can’t concentrate with you talking.”
“Learn to multitask, my man. Did you ever find out who drew the mustache on your dumb flyer? Yes, my friends, he’s trying to start a band.
Never mind that he plays not one instrument and wears a stupid-looking James Brown wig 24/7, but someone drew a mustache on his face. I want to give the person a medal.”
Devon cut her a look and saw his anger reflected on Zoey’s face and on the face of nearly everyone else in the room. It was a cheap shot, but Tiff obviously didn’t care, she was too busy being influential.
Lucas said, “Put the stupid phone away or I’m going to get Ms. Nori.”
She sneered, “Snitches get stitches.”
Zoey countered, “Not from you. You can’t even spell snitches let alone kick somebody’s butt.”
“Do you hear this?” she asked the phone. “This girl whose mother was an alleged crackhead is threatening moi?”
Zoey was done. She jumped to her feet. Nori reentered her classroom just as Zoey angrily shoved Tiff’s chair sideways and off its legs with Tiff still in it.
Tiff let out a scream of surprise as she and her phone took flight.
She and the chair hit the floor in a tangled mess. “I got your crackhead!” Zoey yelled.
“Stop this!” It was the first time Devon ever heard Ms. Nori raise her voice. “What is going on here?”
Tiffany finally got up and snapped, “I’m suing you for assault.”
“Only if you can spell it,” Zoey tossed back.
Ms. Nori looked at the pleased faces that appeared after that and asked, “Zoey, why’d you push her?”
“She called my mother a crackhead.”
Maria, apparently not letting Zoey go down alone, added, “Ms. Nori, I know this may hurt your feelings, but Tiff was on Instagram while you were gone and called you ‘the evil stepmother.’”
Devon noted a quick flicker of sadness in Ms. Nori’s eyes before she glanced Tiffany’s way. Tiffany had the nerve to look defiant. “Thank you, Maria.”
Jasmine added, “And we couldn’t concentrate on the assignment because she kept talking on Instagram, even though everybody asked her to put the phone away.”
“Tiffany, hand me your phone.”
Alfonso saved her the trouble. The phone was on the floor by his feet. Tiff tried to beat him to it, but he was closer. He was also much taller and held it above Tiffany’s angry jumping and handed it over to Ms. Nori.
“Thank you, Alfonso.”
“Give me my phone,” Tiff demanded.
Ms. Nori ignored that and asked instead, “What’s the school policy on phone usage?”
Tiff folded her arms. “I don’t have to answer to you. Give me my phone!” she yelled.
Devon tried to remember if Tiff had ever painted Ms. Marie’s fence, because he was pretty sure that was where this was headed.
“You’re not getting it back, so calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down, you’re not my mom!”
Apparently, Tiff’s yelling had been loud enough to be heard in Mr. James’s classroom, because he came in looking concerned. “What’s going on in here?”
Leah appeared behind him.
“She took my phone! Make her give it back!”
Leah asked, “Why’d you have your phone out?”
“Instagram,” Wyatt replied.
Leah rolled her eyes. “Of course. Tiff, you know you can’t be on your phone in school.”
Lucas added, “Wait until you hear the part about her calling Ms. Nori the evil stepmother.”
Leah’s eyes went wide. She stared at her sister then swung her attention to Ms. Nori, who, from where Devon sat, appeared amazingly calm.
“Apologize!” Leah demanded.
“You don’t tell me what to do.”
Leah took her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and typed out a text. A few seconds later, she said, “Dad’s on his way.”
Tiff’s eyes went wide. She quickly went back to trying to look tough, but everyone could tell she was faking. Her dad wasn’t going to be happy with her acting out.
Visibly angry, Leah told her sister, “Tiff, you can diss me all you want, but Nori has been nothing but kind to us since she married Dad. How dare you talk about her like that! What’s wrong with you?”
Tiff didn’t answer.
Mr. James turned his attention for the first time to Zoey, who was still seething. “Zoey? Are you in this too?”
“She called my mother a crackhead, so I shoved her.”
Nori said, “Which is when I entered the chat.”
Tiff had the nerve to try and correct her role. “I said, alleged crackhead.”
Mr. James’s jaw tightened. Leah’s tightened even further.
Mr. James announced, “Okay. Tiff, Zoey, Nori, come with me. We’ll wait for Mr. Clark in my office.” He glanced around at the remaining students. “Can I trust you not to burn the place down while we’re gone?”
“Yes sir.”
They filed out. Devon, glad he wasn’t the one in trouble, went back to work.
At dinner, he retold the story to his parents up to that point. “Zoey and Tiff didn’t come back to class, so I don’t know what happened after.”
“I do,” Amari said. “Leah was at the meeting. She told me and Brain that Ms. Roni and Doc Reg were called, and once they showed up, they all talked. Tiff gets to paint the fence for breaking the rules about phones in class and for being so mean to Ms. Nori and everyone else.”
“What about Zoey?” Trent asked.
“Zoey was still so mad, she told the adults she didn’t care if she had to paint the fence, and for Tiffany to keep her mom out of her mouth.”
“Goodness,” Lily said.
Amari continued, “But Mr. Clark had her back. He said she was provoked, so he didn’t think she should have to do fence duty.
He also made Tiff apologize. Mr. James gave Zoey two days of in-school suspension, which means she’ll be in a classroom by herself for two days.
She’ll also have to eat her lunch alone. ”
“Zoey’s such a social butterfly, in-school suspension will probably kill her,” Lily noted.
Amari agreed. “I think that’s why Mr. James did that, so maybe she’ll think twice next time.
Ms. Roni said she understood why Zoey went off on Tiff, but that Zoey needs to handle her anger better.
They’ll be talking to Reverend Paula about renewing Zoey’s anger-management stuff when she gets back from her trip. ”
Devon asked, “So, does Tiff get to keep her Instagram?”
“Are you kidding? Mr. Clark said she can’t have a phone again until her birthday.”
“When’s that?”
“February.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah, and if he catches her with a burner, he’ll add another year. Leah said he was real angry about the entire mess and especially her dissing Ms. Nori.”
“What is going on with that girl?” Lily asked seriously.
Amari replied, “According to Leah, Tiff said she’s acting out because she wants Mr. Clark to throw up his hands and send her to live with their mom. Apparently, she saw some girl on TikTok who did that to her mom, and the mom got so sick of the drama she let her go live with her dad.”
“Is Mr. Clark going to do that?” Devon asked.
“No. Leah said her dad told Tiff he loves her too much to do that to her.”