Chapter 12 A Night at the Movies
A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
ELYXANDRE
She stood in the mezzanine of the gymnasium bleachers, one leg bent, the bottom of her foot against the wall, one hand pulling down on the neck of her vest. Tonight was drive-in night of the homecoming festivities, and the audience was watching The Princess Bride in the darkened gym, sprawled out in the ground-level bleachers or on blankets on the floor.
There was the ghost of a smile as a group of students closest to the screen, likely theatre kids, recited all the lines along with the characters. Some movies were timeless.
Her thoughts drifted to earlier in the day.
Dealing with the vandalism had been the start to a relatively crappy day.
Not five minutes after the awkward encounter in Lucas’ office, the fire alarms had caused a school-wide evacuation.
Someone had turned on a vehicle in the auto shop and left it running with the doors closed, and the carbon monoxide detectors had gone off.
While it had only been fifteen minutes from the start of the alarm to the time they were able to air out the shop and let students back in the building, she was certain that no teacher had been able to regain any semblance of control for the last fifteen minutes of the day.
As if homecoming week wasn’t crazy enough.
Her brain automatically routed itself back to those minutes in the principal’s office. What the hell was that? Had her boss’ ex-girlfriend, now best friend, been trying to set them up? It certainly felt like that.
In just a short time, she’d gone through a whole slew of emotions.
The normal tingle of being in his presence.
The awkwardness of comparing herself to Lucas’ girlfriend.
The panic at what felt like a setup. The exhilaration at discovering that Jess wasn’t his girlfriend.
The disappointment when she reminded herself that she didn’t need the disaster of another work romance turning on her.
Not that he was interested because he clearly wasn’t. He’d been polite, but he was still trying to wiggle out of his friend’s intentions. And why would he be interested in her when he could have any woman available?
And yet… he offered up explanations of who Jess was to him when he didn’t need to.
He also asked about her relationship status.
Somehow, she didn’t think that was a normal boss-employee conversation.
It had certainly never been the norm in her past, and it didn’t feel like it should be.
Was he fishing for information? Was he interested in her?
While she mused on the situation, Ezra Vaughn walked past her, a bag of licorice in his hands. “Hey, Officer E. Enjoying the movie?”
Quickly, she shoved thoughts of Lucas and their conversation away. “Hey, Ezra. What’s not to love about it?”
“Licorice? I haven’t opened the bag yet, so you know it’s safe.” He tore open the bag and offered her the open end. At her quizzical glance, he replied, “Dad refuses to touch anything a student could tamper with, so sealed treats are safe.”
“Smart man. Thanks.” She reached in, careful to touch only one freestanding piece, then ended up pulling three out of the bag.
Ezra grinned. “Licorice hazard. Quality control is slipping at the factory because they’re not cut well.”
She let off a soft chuckle. “You’re a funny kid.” She bit off a piece of licorice. “Who are you here with tonight?”
“Actually, I’m here on my own. After practice, I just stayed in Dad’s office and did homework. Now that I’m done, figured I might as well come out here, show my face, and enjoy a few minutes of the movie. Seems silly to go home when in an hour, he’ll be headed that way anyway.”
“Makes for a long day.”
“Eh. I’m so overinvolved in stuff, I practically live here. That started when he was just a teacher, so I don’t see why it would change now that he’s a principal.”
“Kids give you a tough time about that?”
He barked out a laugh. “You two must share a brain. He asked me the same thing not too long ago.”
He bit off a piece of licorice, leaning his forearms on the bar separating the upstairs portion of the bleachers from the downstairs.
As he chewed, she observed him. He was an eerie carbon copy of his father.
Short black hair in a standard haircut, with the slight cowlick over his right eye.
Brown eyes. Perfectly straight, white teeth.
The ghost-of-the-future devilish smile. He was tall but well-built for a teenage boy.
She’d heard girls giggle about the “silver fox” principal, so she bet they were all impressed with his mini-me version.
After the accident she’d stumbled upon before school started, she made an effort to get to know the kids involved, at least on paper. She started with the principal’s son, since she’d be working so closely with his father.
In her research, she discovered that Ezra was an extremely talented wide receiver, but rumor had it he’d turned down two college offers to play ball and was headed to MIT to study computer science.
He’d play for their team, but he was far more concerned about academics.
Still, he was a three-sport athlete, did a little theatre, was part of the debate team, wrote for the high school newspaper, and served as the vice president of the student council.
He wasn’t kidding when he mentioned being overinvolved.
Still, he was in the top five of his class, and he worked hard to manage it all.
His voice broke through her thoughts. “It’s not easy being a teacher’s kid.
You’re constantly hearing about what an asshole or bitch your parent is.
Kids try to curry favor with you if they’re in your parent’s classes because they think it’s going to gain them some sort of special privileges.
Maybe that works with some teachers, but not with my dad.
Totally straight arrow with an ‘everyone can do it if they put the effort in’ mentality. ”
“Did you have your dad as a teacher?”
He shook his head. “We talked about it because it would have been on my path. He taught AP Language, and he was the only instructor. He’d have been fine treating me like I wasn’t his kid, but I didn’t want anyone to make it weird, so I took a technical writing class and substituted with AP Anatomy and Physiology.
Both of which kicked my ass, but I managed. ”
“That’s a pretty mature outlook.”
He shrugged and bit off another piece of licorice.
“Dad’s got it hard enough without me adding to it more than I already do.
” He glanced at her. “Being a single parent is pretty brutal. Mom didn’t make it easier either.
She has no desire to parent, so he’s done it all. I used to think he was Superman.”
“Used to?”
“The man earned his master’s degree, then earned his doctorate, and eventually became a principal, all while raising a kid. As I got older, I realized that’s just who he is. No superhero involved.”
As he watched the movie and she watched the crowd, a figure moved out of the darkness down below—Lucas Vaughn himself.
He had shed the normal jacket, leaving him in his standard button-down shirt with no tie, the top buttons undone, and his sleeves rolled up on his forearms. He wore crisp blue jeans and cowboy boots, and he’d ditched the reading glasses.
He looked like a hot dad instead of a high school principal, and she felt that flutter return, like it did every time she saw him.
What did he see when he looked at her? she wondered. There were moments when she saw flashes of admiration, certainly, but sometimes those flashes included what she thought were flares of attraction in his eyes. Would he be interested in pursuing something between them?
She thought back to their earlier conversation where he agreed with her about relationships at work. There was a sort of wistfulness to his response, as if he agreed with the logic but not in practice.
Many people managed to work with those they dated or married, but her brain argued against an interest in her boss, even though other parts of her were waking up more and more each day.
And every time she felt that tingle around him, it became harder and harder to suppress that feeling.
She watched as Lucas walked around the kids sprawled on the bleachers and the gym floor.
It always made her smile to see him with them.
He stopped and spoke to several of them, greeting many, laughing, taking selfies, and exchanging odd handshakes.
For weeks, she’d watched him pretend to try and learn how to do them, but he always messed them up, much to the delight of the students.
He was definitely a relationship-builder with people.
Eventually, he worked his way toward a student in the third row up against the railing.
He stopped and talked to the student, whom Elyxandre had noticed was here by himself tonight.
It looked like he was trying to engage him in conversation, and it was painfully slow, but after a few minutes, he sat down next to the boy, and they began sharing the popcorn Lucas had brought in with him, the boy eating more of it than the principal.
Ezra’s voice dragged her out of her observations. “My dad’s a good guy.”
He’d noticed her watching his father. She schooled her features and put her eyes back on the crowd. Anywhere but where Lucas was.
“He definitely seems to be.”
“I’m sure you heard, but the principal we had the last two years?
He was a real tool. Teachers were quitting left and right.
A couple of them left in the middle of the year, and one just up and left his classroom midday, went out to his car, and never came back.
That was the year Dad sat on seven interview teams out of sixteen because they had to hire so many teachers.
Parents were pissed. Students hated the guy’s guts.
I guess things had been bad for a while. ”
“Sounds like your dad took on a bit of a mess.”
“No shit.” He looked at her apologetically. “Sorry.”
“No worries. You’re off the clock,” she teased.
Ezra continued, “He doesn’t talk about specific kids at home because that would be breaking confidentiality, but one of his biggest worries is that kids eat enough.
” He tossed his head in the direction of the principal and the quiet boy who now had the popcorn in his hands and was eating it solo.
There was also a soda bottle and a candy bar next to him that weren’t there before.
“If you watch Dad at lunch, he often sits down with kids in the cafeteria, a school lunch in front of him, but he never touches it. The contents usually end up going to someone quietly at the table.”
She had noticed that.
“He cares about the students a great deal.”
“Ain’t that the truth. He’s been this way as long as I’ve been able to realize what he was doing, and not just since becoming principal.
For years, he’s paid for kids to take AP and ACT tests if they can’t afford them, bought hundreds of dollars in fundraiser items we don’t need, and donated all kinds of items to the school social worker for kids who need things.
Coats. Shoes. School supplies. At the holidays, he quietly pays off lunch card balances.
I’m pretty sure feeding people is his love language.
He’s even a master in the kitchen.” The look on Ezra’s face was oddly innocent when he asked, “Do you cook?”
She smirked. Nope. Subtlety was not this kid’s thing. “I manage to keep myself fed.”
“That didn’t really answer the question.
I mean, I’m just saying. You could come over sometime and have dinner with us.
He always makes too much food. When he was a teacher, there used to be people over often, and there’d be enough to feed an army.
Since he became principal, though, a lot of that’s stopped.
I think he’s worried that if he has his teacher friends over, people will think he’s playing favorites or something. Only person we have over now is Jess.”
“Your dad’s… friend?” She wasn’t sure what to call Jess in front of Ezra. She assumed he knew they’d dated, but who knew?
“Just friends, thankfully.”
Okay. So he did know they’d dated. “You don’t like her?”
“I like her fine. She’s fun. But I’m glad they’re just friends because she’s not right for my dad.
” They stood in silence—he seemed to be watching the movie as she surveyed the crowd.
When he spoke again, his voice was more subdued.
“Mom left when I was three. I have no memory of that part, and to be honest, I’ve never felt like I missed having her in my life.
Dad will never say anything bad about her to me, and he’s never really talked much about why she left.
Just that she needed more attention than he could give her, whatever that means.
” She felt the eye roll rather than saw it.
“Part of me is extra glad Mom didn’t stick around because it would have sucked to get it from both sides.
She was a teacher too. Choir. She teaches somewhere in Florida now. ”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“Long time ago. She calls occasionally, but it’s sporadic.
Most of the time, she calls during the day.
I think she purposely calls when I’m in class because she knows I can’t answer.
She feels like she’s fulfilled her obligation as a mother and is probably relieved she doesn’t have to talk to me and be a real mom. ”
There was no sense of unhappiness about the arrangement, just slight irritation at her methods.
The movie credits rolled, and the lights went on in the gymnasium. Students groaned at the brightness after being in darkness, but they were happily chatting as they packed up their gear and headed toward the exit.
“I’ve got to head out and supervise pickups. Good chatting, Ezra. Your dad has done a great job raising you, it seems.”
He grinned, his little devil smile showing again. “Yeah, he’s great. Don’t forget, Officer E. Dinner at our house, anytime.”
She chuckled and shook her head as she turned to go down the stairwell to the lobby.