Chapter 21 The Plan
THE PLAN
BECKY
Itrace a scratch in the hardwood table with my finger, waiting for the cavalry to arrive.
School is out in about thirty-five, forty minutes, and Joe’s is dead.
I take my phone out and spin it on the little pop-it nob, screen locked with notifications popping up.
I turned my phone back on a while ago, only to ignore Carter’s bajillion messages.
Frankly, he’s the reason any of this is happening to me in the first place, and I’m pissed enough as is.
A message from The Girls pops up when Paige shows up at the door to the bar.
As usual, my seat sits facing the door, so I catch her expression the moment she walks into the building.
Poor thing looks just as shitty, if not more so, than she did the other day.
She’s looking around for something particular when she spots me.
Her blond brows furrow and my lips curl at the edges with reluctant humor when she checks her phone. Yup, school is in session, sis.
Looking back up at me, she keeps her confused frown and heads my way. “Hey! What’s going on? Do I need to panic about my kid not having a ride home on an early release, or is something more sinister happening here?” She says it like a joke. Joke’s on me.
“Definitely something rotten in the state of Denmark.” My joke is told flat, and it falls flatter.
I sigh, regrouping. Paige didn’t do anything wrong.
“The Central Office sent me home. They’re investigating faculty and a student’s family claims against me.
They said they would contact me at a later time when they have more information.
” I just monotone the words out. No emotion, just information.
“I have a pretty good idea who started this.”
Paige’s eyes get huge in her face. “What? No! Sweetheart, I am so sorry.” Then she pauses and her face turns slightly terrifying. “Oh, that little ginger bitch.” She slams her fists on the table, making me jump. This outburst is so unlike Paige.
“I’m sick and tired of desperate, dirty, douche-nuggets trying to slink in and ruin the lives of perfectly good people.
” She’s practically seething, and I have a feeling she’s not talking about Tay-whore anymore.
Angry Paige has shocked me out of my brief stupor.
Before I can ask what the hell is going on, she turns to me.
“The boys are at the garage, researching any and all ways to protect your job and take Taylor down.”
Awe, the boys. One of my favorite things about being with Carter was the times that we all got together with his closest friends. Even though Billy is usually quiet, something about having the other two around him makes all three of them hilarious.
I miss the boys.
“They’ve been at it for days, but apparently decided to hit it harder today. I’m guessing I know now why that is.” Paige finishes, completely unaware that I just suffered a sudden pang of nostalgia.
Wait, They’ve been at it for days?
“What’s your plan?” She interrupts my thoughts and finally sits down in a seat near me rather than hovering over me.
“Oh, um—” What is my—“Oh yeah. I have a print out of some evidence from a message I’m confident was sent from Taylor, the florists who I called and agreed to call the school board and explain Taylor’s duplicity at their shop.
I have about—” I pause, then reach into my teacher bag, and pull out a stack of notes from all of the documentation I had completed over the last three weeks, “—twenty pages of documentation from myself and other teachers.”
Paige takes in my stacked folder, openly impressed, and that soothes some of the frantic doom and gloom overcasting my mood.
I hate the position I’m in, and I think it’s wild how quickly everything turned to shit.
“I also have the girls on their way.” I poke her arm and put the papers back.
“You need to stop silencing our group chat. You should have a message from me.”
She raises her brows at me in surprise, then picks up her phone to open the chat.
She scrolls a little bit and freezes, a wide smile spreading across her face.
She bites her lip to suppress her humor, but fails miserably, sputtering out a laugh.
I know exactly what she’s looking at. Our group chat is completely unhinged.
Before my more frantic messages this morning, our conversation had centered around the ruination of our childhoods by objectifying the animated characters.
Me
Robinhood is the sexiest fox ever.
Sonya
We all know how I feel about Father Bear.
Me
The father of all fathers…he does look like a bear with BDE
Vicky
The beast. Before his glow down.
Sonya
And he’s a SAILOR. That man FUCKS.
Vicky
True
Me
Yesss
Sonya
What were we talking about again? Oh yeah! I can cover your bus duty tomorrow, Vicky!
I’m so happy we are coming together like this—off-the-wall, x-rated animation conversations included.
“Kovu.” Paige finally stops laughing enough to choke the word out.
“What?”
Paige leans in with her arms resting on the table. “My animated character. Kovu will always be my number one.”
“The sequel lion?”
“Yep.” She’s full-on grinning now, and I return her look with an entertained one of my own.
Her expression turns serious, then unsure.
She lowers her eyes back to her phone and picks at the case.
“I know you’re not going to like what I’m about to say, but—” Her shoulders rise and fall on a slow, deep breath.
“I think we can be more productive if we all work together. The boys and us girls.” She stands abruptly, and leaves the table.
“I’ll go get them.” As she passes by my seat, she leans in and gives me a kiss on the top of my head like the sweet mama she is.
“It’s going to be alright, doll.” She says quietly into my hair, and then she leaves—a quiet little storm of love.
Wait, what the hell just happened?
She’s not even out the door when I hear a voice behind me, “Ms. Duchamp?” I tamp down the urge to cringe and turn around to see Mrs. Tina Orderly, Ned’s mom. She’s wearing her pilot's uniform and looks oddly out of breath.
“Hello, Mrs. Orderly. Is everything alright?” I don’t have to feign concern. She seems slightly crazed. Please don’t ask me why I’m here during school hours.
“Yes, no, I mean.” She sighs, obviously frustrated.
“I heard about your situation, and I wanted you to know that I saw something last week. At the school. It was after school. You know how my schedule is so strange with the job I have, and I needed to swing by the school and get some paperwork before I flew out, and well, the window was easy to see into, you know?”
“Okay, sure of course. What did you see?” Mrs. Orderly is a talker.
Parent teacher conferences are, not short, with her.
I find it best to latch onto a few words and make them part of the response.
She grabs a chair across from me and sits down to continue her speedy and slightly convoluted story.
I’m attempting to keep up, but failing until I hear two particular names and need to stop and rewind her.
“I’m sorry, who?”
“That woman,” she says this with a little bit of violence in her tone. “Ms. Harrison. Her and that teacher, Mr. Dotson? Dogson?”
“Dawson?” I half ask and half shout the name.
“Yes! I caught them en flagrante delicto. Through the windows, in a school! A classroom! I flew out almost immediately after, so I didn’t say anything, and I hate to admit that I completely forgot until Jill called me from the—”
“Wait, Jill called you? The secretary? Owns a–Taylor’s aunt?” Owns a peacock.
“Yes,” she pauses to look over me. I get a strong sense of haven’t you been listening, you dunce.
But, thankfully, she continues talking. “She told me that the Central Office was looking into allegations that you were behaving inappropriately in the classroom because of jealousy and other pettiness, but I told her, I said that Ms. Duchamp loves our kids, and my Ned wouldn’t be half the student—” she stops when she finally notices my expression. “What, what is it?”
“No-nothing. I’m just disappointed it’s come to this.” I reassure her. I think it’s reassuring at least. “You’re positive it was them”
“Of course darling. That red hair is vibrant. I can’t believe what the rotten girl has brought into our sleepy, little town.
Now, I plan on coming forward to let the board know what happened, but I have to go.
I’m not sure if I’ll be back before the next school board meeting on Thursday, but I’ll try to be there, alright, Hun?
Please understand I feel it is necessary to do this in person.
Don’t worry, sweetheart. I have your back.
” She finishes this in one breath, hops up, spins around, and takes off.
Well, okay.
“So you’re telling me that Zach Dawson and Taylor were doing the naked tango in a classroom after hours?” Vicky asks from next to me, her voice unapologetically loud. A few faces around the quiet bar turn toward us.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, why do you keep doing that to me!” I gasp a quick breath to try and get myself sorted. She’s a witch; I swear it. I see that Sonya has also arrived. She’s right behind Vicky and looks white as a ghost.
Oh, no. Shitty, shit, shit. I forgot that Sonya and Zach Dawson were hooking up on the down low. Apparently he did too—or maybe they weren’t exclusive. Her reaction tells a specific story, though. What the fuck is wrong with men in this town? There must be something in the water.