spat into the toilet and tried not to think of the dirt on the floor and my white Vera Wang pants. I didn’t care how many times housekeeping came through to clean the bathroom, they always smelled of sweaty kid bodies. That thought had me gagging again.
“You don’t sound okay. The Alley twins had strep through graduation. Think you caught it?”
“I don’t know what I caught, but I’m ready as hell to give it back. I don’t even have the Alley twins in any of my classes. I need this meeting to be over, like a half hour ago.”
I flushed and got off my knees and brushed at the gray circles on my pants. Ugh, that was enough to make me want to throw up again. I loved these pants!
Bevvie leaned against a sink when I exited the stall. I turned on the water to rinse my mouth and wash my hands. “I’ll be fine once this day is over and I can get to the mall. After the last week of exams, I need some retail therapy. Wanna come?”
She shook her head. “I can’t today. Connor is working in the woodshop with the two youngest kids, but he can’t actually do much with Mattie underfoot. Sarah keeps her nose in a book at all times now so she’s no problem. Jacob is hanging with his buddies at the Y, and Abby took off to the beach this week with her friend Autumn. Maybe sometime this weekend.” She looked at my pale face and squinted. “Mellie, you look terrible. I think you need to skip the mall and go see the doctor.”
I wiped my hands on a brown paper towel that barely sucked up any moisture. “I’m fine, mother hen. Nothing more than end-of-the-year stress. I need a vacation badly, and even more, I need to get out of this stinky bathroom.”
“You are such a PITA.”
“You’re a pain in the ass, too.”
“Yet you still love me.”
“You’re the mother of my beautiful godchildren. I have to love you.”
We made kissy noises at each other as we sauntered down the hallway back to the media center. The meeting was over, as evidenced by the exiting teachers. They double timed it out of the stuffy building, ready to start their own summer break. More like summer recovery.
Bevvie hefted her handbag over her shoulder in preparation to leave. “Thank God, it’s over. I really need to get home and rescue Connor. Come by for dinner on Thursday. It’s laundry and taco night.” She gave me her best game show host voice and expression.
“Oh, the excitement!” I laughed in response and moved to hug my BFF. Jeez, my breasts hurt! I expected my favorite time of the month (not!) to come any day now.
“Miss Miser, may I have a word?” The principal said right behind me. It was a real effort not to groan in irritation. What the hell does he want now?
“Yes, Mr. Bradshaw.” I waved at the amused Beverly before turning to face the man who had become my nemesis. He was old enough to have already retired, and in my opinion, should have. He disapproved of just about everything, and we had clashed more than once during the school year.
“The testing scores in your classes were extremely high this year. Exceptionally so.” He took off his wire rims and began to polish the lenses with a handkerchief. “The records show you didn’t have any failing students. Not one. This is highly unusual for advanced math courses.”
I blinked in surprise. I didn’t consider Algebra to be advanced math, as it was a standard course. The AP calculus, trigonometry, and statistics classes better fit that category. “Why would this be a problem? Aren’t we supposed to push for higher scores? You laid out a very clear goal with the new testing standard that came out last year.”
He put the glasses back on his nose and adjusted the few white hairs that combed over his shiny pate. “Yes, the goal was straightforward. However, your students in particular showed the most improvement in grades.”
I still didn’t understand. “I don’t see the problem.” I guess I should have added sir to the end of that sentence. I didn’t.
“There’s no real problem, Miss Miser. However, there is some speculation as to how you achieved this level of success.”
I shook my head in bafflement. My students and I worked hard this year. After-school tutoring, group study sessions, lots of weekend emails to ask and answer questions. The kids in