Page 29 of Worth the Fall
“You signed the paper at the beginning of the year,” she mentioned before hopping up onto her desk and crossing her legs. The move made the already-too-short skirt she was wearing ride up even further on her thighs.
I assumed she was trying to look sexy—or at the very least appealing. It was disturbing. This wasn’t professional behavior at all, and I had half a mind to transfer Clarabel out of her class the second I left this meeting.
“What did I sign?” I asked because Clara had come home with a shitload of paperwork on the first day of school and I’d scribbled my name on all of them without reading a single word.
“It said you agreed with our discipline plan. It outlined all the steps that we take for specific behavioral issues. Basically, we try to teach the students as early as possible that their actions have consequences.”
“Great. We’re on the same page then. Scott sucks,” I said because it was true and she giggled.
“Scott’s behavior continues to be a problem, and I’m in the midst of addressing it with his mother.”
I was happy to hear that, but didn’t really care unless he was still bothering Clara. “You could have told me all this over the phone.”
“Yes, of course.” She bit at her bottom lip. “But I didn’t call you down here to discuss another student.”
“You called me here to talk about my daughter, correct? So, can you kindly get to the point?”
This woman and her subtlety were beyond irritating. I had shit to do, and this was a waste of my day if all she was going to do was sit there and give mefuck meeyes the whole time I was here.
“Thomas...” She practically purred my name as she pushed off her desk and made her way toward me. “Can I call you Thomas?”
“I honestly don’t care.”
I was being rude, but she didn’t seem to notice. I didn’t give two shits what this woman called me as long as she got to the bottom line sometime in this century.
She took another step toward me, and I thought she was going to try to touch me again. It was unnerving, but thankfully, she kept her hands to herself.
“Clarabel refuses to apologize for the things that she said to Scott.”
That made me laugh. I couldn’t help it. I pictured this teacher trying to force Clara to say she was sorry to a kid who didn’t deserve it.
“Why would she apologize if she’s not sorry?”
“That’s what I’m trying to get at. She needs to take responsibility for her words. Words can be weapons, just like any other. They hurt people. Clarabel needs to learn that saying sorry can alleviate issues and calm tempers. It gives the offended parties a chance to start fresh.”
I shook my head, trying to absorb all the crap this woman had just spewed. “No.”
“Did you say no?” She looked shocked once more with my abruptness, her eyes practically bulging out of her head.
“Damn right I said no.” I started pacing around the room, looking at all the artwork stapled to the walls. “Listen, I’m not raising my daughter to be weak or to bow down to bullies. Clarabel doesn’t lie.” I turned to face this teacher from across the room and make my point clear. “She would never say she was sorry if she didn’t mean it. And you asking her to do that wouldn’t feel right to her.”
My heart ached for my sweet daughter who would see all of this as some kind of betrayal. She wouldn’t know exactly how to put it into words, but to her, apologizing for something she didn’t believe in would be the same thing as lying. She wouldn’t do it, no matter how many times you asked her to.
Miss Shooster cleared her throat. “I’m just saying that sometimes in life, you have to do things you don’t want to do.”
“Like say you’re sorry when you don’t mean it?” I asked, just to be crystal fucking clear. Because who wanted a fake apology? What was the point if it wasn’t genuine?
“Sometimes, yes.”
“So you can make the other person feel better while simultaneously making yourself feel worse?”
“It can’t always be about how you feel. Especially with children. They’re inherently selfish.” I made a sound of disagreement, and she tried to quickly recover. “Oh, I’m not trying to be disrespectful, Thomas. It’s just science. Facts. Kids haven’t learned to think outside of their own emotions yet. They don’t see the bigger picture. They only see themselves. I’m trying to teach them how to respect others,” she overexplained, and I interrupted.
“While disrespecting themselves in the process.”
“I’m sorry you see it that way.”
“You’re asking my daughter, who might have said some rudebut truethings, to feel bad about herself. Like she was the one who did something wrong.” I paused so my words could sink in before laying it all out there. “Scott insulted her first. He called her namesfirst. He made fun of herfirst. She’s well within her rights as a human being to defend herself or to stand up for herself. And if that hurt Scott’s poor little feelings in the process, then maybe he should learn that life isn’t going to bend to his whim. And when he says shitty things to someone, most likely, they’re going to say shitty things back. He needs to learn to deal with it and either grow the fuck up or shut the fuck up.”