apologize, Anne had taken it up with Eileen Ross, who was retiring at the end of the year. And when Eileen declined to get involved, Anne escalated her complaint to the superintendent. There’d been a formal investigation, a hearing, and a full school board vote, all to determine if I’d done anything wrong by reading a children’s book.
It would almost be funny, if it hadn’t actually happened to me. As far as I knew, the Hendersons weren’t members of my dad’s church, but they might as well have been, for the way Anne reacted. I’d spent the summer waiting to find out if I’d be ‘cleared’ of any wrongdoing. Anne spent the summer refusing to let it drop.
The school board ended up declaring me innocent in a vote of four to three. I was notified on July 17th. And on July 19th, the board announced that Anne Henderson was taking over for Principal Ross.
She’d made it her mission to make my life hell since then. All because of a book where a pair of dads get four speaking lines altogether, a book most of the kids had forgotten by now. And this was when she assumed I was straight.
I shuddered to think what she’d do if she knew I was bi.
“You’re probably right,” I told Katie, making myself smile. “It’s just stress. It’ll pass.”
Anne Henderson didn’t know I was bisexual, and neither did anyone else on Summersea. It was best for everyone—Katie especially—if it stayed that way.
“Anyway,” I said, pushing back my chair, “you need to get going if you want time to shower before school.”
Katie made a face as she stood up. “Gross. Showers are lame.”
“Are you sure your neighbor in first period geometry shares that opinion?”
“It’s first period trig.” Katie stuck her tongue out. “If you’re going to insult me, at least get it right.”
“Insult you? I would never. Best brother in the universe, remember?”
Katie rolled her eyes and grabbed a banana. “One for the road. See you Sunday?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
I really wouldn’t. I’d put up with anything from my parents if it meant keeping Katie in my life, and keeping her safe.
I waved Katie off, hooking an ankle around Gretchen to keep her from scampering outside too. Irrepressible. That was my sister. And Gretchen, to be honest. I just needed to harvest some of their energy to get through the rest of this week.
Taking a deep breath and plastering a smile to my face, I turned to get ready for work.
It was a fifteen-minute walk from my bungalow to Adair Elementary. I drove sometimes, if I had a lot of materials to bring to class, but this morning I opted for the walk, hoping it would calm my nerves.
I got there by 7:00 a.m., well before teachers were actually expected to get to the building, and definitely before Anne Henderson would come to my classroom to start the evaluation, if she were doing it today.
Or so I thought.
But as I stepped inside the old, tabby-walled building and turned down the hall where the second and third grade classrooms lay, my heart sank. Anne was standing outside my classroom, staring at her watch. Her head snapped up at the sound of my footfalls, and she transferred her glare to me.
“Good morning, Anne.” I kept my voice casual. As light as I could. “How’re you doing today?”
“Is this when you usually arrive at school?” she asked, ignoring my question.
I blinked. “Most days? When I walk here, anyway.”
“Hmm.” Anne looked down at the clipboard cradled in her arms, marking something off judiciously. “I would have expected earlier.”
Earlier? I was here an hour and a half before any students would show up. Did she expect me to sleep here overnight?
I decided it was best not to answer that, so I nodded and unlocked my door instead. I gestured for Anne to enter the room, then followed her in. As soon as I’d entered, she fired another question at me.
“Do you usually walk? Even though it limits your ability to transport the necessary educational materials you’ll need to do your job effectively?”
I paused, forcing myself to think through my answer. “I didn’t actually have a lot to bring in with me today. It’s the middle of the week. I try to bring in most of what I’ll need for the week on Monday mornings.”
“Hmm,” Anne repeated, perusing her clipboard again. I couldn’t see what she was writing, but she held her pen in a way that gave me chills.
Feeling