no. I thought after hearing about that kiss, you really had something going.”
He sighed. “I guess not.” And there was the saddest idea of all. What if the reason Ernest had vanished had nothing to do with the people at the school or the fact that he was being followed? What if it was because the kisses with Toby had been a total fail?
The door burst open and in came Tiffany, looking around anxiously. “Oh good. There you are Toby. Emily wants to see you at the end of the day. She has something very important to tell you.” She grinned. “Just come to her office after your last class.”
“Oh, okay.”
She waggled her fingers. “It sure was fun seeing you Saturday.”
“Yes, it was a great party.” He plastered on a big smile.
“Bye.”
The guy sitting at the end of the table, Joe Carmody, turned toward Toby with his eyebrows raised. “Wow. That could be good news.”
Toby shrugged. “Maybe. But it could be lots of things.”
Joe pushed back his chair and stood. “I’m rooting for you, buddy.”
“Thanks, Joe.”
Joe left the room and Zizi whirled on him. “Jesus, what will you do if they offer you the position?”
He hissed, “Take it, of course. It’s always been part of the plan that Ernest and I would have an unfortunate breakup right after I got hired.”
“But if he’s gone now?”
Toby swallowed hard. “I’ll just have to play it by ear.”
Halfway through Toby’s last class, the playing by ear had morphed into so much anxiety, even his students noticed.
Jerry Marcus, one of his best and most outspoken students, broke into the middle of a discussion on the use of language as an instrument of prejudice and said, “Hey, Mr. A. You Gucci? You’ve usually got more to say.”
“Sorry. I have some, uh, family issues. I apologize. I’d yell at you for not giving our discussion full attention. Feel free to do the same to me.”
Estralita frowned. “We heard you might get a new job. You leaving us?”
“Uh, no. If I were to get the position, it would mean more of the same job.”
Her face brightened. “You’d teach more classes?”
“Most likely, yes.”
“Total fire!”
Jerry leaned back and slapped Estralita’s palm. “Yeah. Some of the people in English classes around here shouldn’t be speaking the language, much less teaching it.” He looked at Toby. “What can we do to help get you the job?”
Toby smiled. “There’s no need—”
One of the other students yelled, “I’ll bet if we tell our parents to call the headmaster and say we want Mr. A, that would help.”
A chorus of agreement went up. Toby said, “Thank you for wishing me well, now let’s get back to the discussion.”
Twenty minutes later, the bell rang and his students delivered high fives as they exited the classroom; then Toby took off like a bat for Emily’s office in the admin department. As he strode down the hall, Justin came out of the same door he was going in. Sadly, he didn’t look miserably unhappy. Toby nodded at him and tried to ignore the smirk he got in return. Well damn, that pretty well told the story. Justin must have gotten the position, which made Toby want to barf, but with a small layer of relief at not having to figure out a story for how he and Ernest broke up.
He opened the door and Tiffany flashed him a huge smile from behind her desk. Interesting. Did she dislike him so much she was happy he didn’t get the job? It didn’t seem like it. She said, “She’s waiting for you. Go on in.”
“Thank you, Tiffany.”
She said softly, “By the way, I sure did love Ernest. What a great guy.”
“Thank you. I think so too.” That made him want to tear up, but instead he tapped on the inner door and got a “Come in.” from inside. With a sad smile, he entered.
Emily was sitting behind her desk talking on the phone and she waved a hand at her desk chair. She spoke into the phone. “No, we’ll want that to be a full breakfast on Sunday. Omelet station and the works. Excellent. Thank you.” She hung up, folder her hands on her desk, and leaned forward. “Toby, I know I led you to believe that we’d be making a selection after the party yesterday, but our decision-makers feel they need more time and exposure to make a qualified choice.”
“I see.” He took a breath, not sure how to feel. At least it wasn’t a no. “Will there