10. Callie
Callie
Oh, god. Shit on a stick, I was going to throw up.
I shot Tessa a frantic look. “I forgot to reserve the conference room and I can’t find my notes.
I spent so much time looking up what I need to do for this play but I didn’t retain a single thing and now I can’t find my damn notes.
And son of biscuit, here comes freaking Karla. ”
Tessa spun so her back was to Karla. “That Crypt Keeper bitch. Stay strong.”
I wanted to reach out and snag a handful of her bouncy ringlets before she could dance away. “Tessa! Tess- Oh, hello, Karla. I was just about to come talk to you about the conference room. I know I forgot to-”
“You didn’t reserve the conference so I won’t be unlocking it for you.
There are rules for a reason, Miss Morgan.
You aren’t special, no matter what you seem to think.
” Karla’s lips puckered like she’d smelled dog shit and she stood with both hands on her hips, all too happy to take a chunk out of me.
“I guess you’ll just have to meet in your classroom. I hope they fixed the AC.”
“Karla, there’s no room in my classroom. Could you please make an exception this one time, since there’s no one using the room? I would really appreciate it and I’d owe you big time.” I schooled my face into something nice and hoped like hell it was believable.
Karla looked up at the growing group of parents in the lobby and smirked at me. “Sorry.”
I wiped my sweaty hands on my skirt and cursed the back of Karla’s head as she gloated all the way back to her office. Tessa reappeared and slid a key into my palm. I recognized it immediately from the little figurine of a table on the keyring. “Oh, my god! How’d you get this?”
She wrapped her arm around my shoulders.
“With Karla so focused on tormenting you, she left her office open and the key was just…right there. How could I not grab it? When she realizes and freaks out, I’ll just say I thought we were just waiting on the key and couldn’t find her, so I just grabbed it.
How was I supposed to know you hadn’t reserved it, Cal?
I was just doing my best to be a supportive coworker. ”
I hugged her tight and kissed her cheek. “That’s why you’re my favorite person. I love you, twin.”
She snorted. It was a running joke because we were both given the curly hair lot in life and our beasts were similar burdens.
That was where the similarities ended, though.
While I was pale, she had skin the color of a caramel macchiato.
With her amber-colored eyes and beautiful features, she could’ve been a model.
She knew it, too, and wasn’t ashamed of loving herself.
Meanwhile, I looked like Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus and was in an ongoing battle with my thighs and this one stubborn chin hair that only ever seemed to show up when I had no tweezers on hand.
“Love you, too, bestie, but shouldn’t you be trying to find your notes?” She nudged me away. “Go. I’ll send everyone into the conference room.”
I raced to my classroom and turned my bag inside out trying to find the notes I’d made but I came up with nothing. I nearly broke a desk drawer while searching it and then sprinted to my car like I was shooting for the Olympics but each place came up empty.
The alarm on my phone went off to alert me that I had two minutes left before the meeting started. I swore and pulled up one of the websites I’d used for my plans. I’d just have to wing it. That was how I did some of my best work.
The conference table was large but still some parents had to stand at the back of the room.
The kids were spread out on the floor, being loud and having what looked like a great time.
The moment they saw me, though, they came running.
Only when I had several different kids hanging off my legs did a few of the parents step in to wrangle their children.
Of course, Oliver was sitting at the head of the table frowning at the interaction. “Carrying too much weight can lead to health problems, including musculoskeletal strain and spine misalignment.”
I smiled at him and for a second I forgot about everything else in the room.
My sweet boy was my entire world. He didn’t show his concern or love in all the typical ways but I’d learned to read through the lines.
He’d watched the kids climb on me and gotten worried so he’d recited a fact about why it wasn’t good.
He was my little protector. I stroked his hair and felt like I was on top of the world when he let me do it and flashed me a small smile.
“Miss Morgan! Miss Morgan! My mom said you’re going to mess the play up. Don’t mess the play up! I want to be a star!” Jessica Green stared up at me with the innocence only a child can show while cutting you to the core. “Can I be a star in the play, Miss Morgan?”
I looked up at her mother, Samantha, and saw that the woman was smirking instead of looking embarrassed at having her private, judgmental words repeated in public.
A sour taste filled my mouth at the nastiness I could practically see rolling off her.
“Your mom seems like a joke. A jokester! I’m sure she was just being silly.
You have nothing to worry about. I’m going to make sure this play is great. ”
Tessa snorted from the other side of the room and then stared up at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
If we’d been alone I would’ve flipped her off.
She knew that when she snorted it made me cackle.
It was a thing between the two of us. We were terrible together.
We’d gone to a coworker’s funeral once and I had to excuse myself because I knew we were seconds from spontaneous laughter.
I was fighting to not laugh like I’d lost my mind when Samantha stood up and crossed her arms. “Can you blame me for being a little worried? You’re not exactly…prepared. Maybe someone more suited for this type of thing should step in.”
My vision blurred from the anger that surged through me.
I agreed with her that someone else should’ve been put in charge but the audacity of her to say it out loud, in front of everyone was too fucking much.
I locked eyes with Tessa and I could see that she was furious, too.
We’d both had our fair share of shitty parents over the years but Samantha had just entered a special club I liked to call The Assholes, capitalized, of course.
“While I agree that Miss Morgan is ill-prepared, she is the teacher I put in charge of this play so we’ll just have to grin and bear it.” Darren strolled in like he was the king and cleared his throat while staring at Oliver. “Please, move.”
Oliver looked back down at his book. “Which part of me would you like for me to move?”
Tessa let out a giant guffaw and I had to turn around and cover my mouth to keep from joining her. It didn’t help that I could hear distinctive male laughs, too. One glance over my shoulder and I saw Ben and Luke laughing while Cole glared at Darren.
“Miss Morgan!” Darren gripped my shoulder and turned me back around.
The grip hurt but his face was carefully arranged into a smile so no one else would notice he was hurting me.
“Please. Remove your son from my chair. You need to actually be prepared from now on. Your behavior reflects on the school.”
“Miss Morgan hasn’t even had a chance to speak yet so how about everyone shut up and let her start her meeting?
Principal Darren, I would assume you’d want your teachers to have a chance to prove themselves before beating them down.
” Luke folded his hands together on top of the table and stared Darren down. “And your grip looks a little tight.”