Page 23 of One More Chapter
I chuckle. I knew these two from the middle school coaching circuit, but really got to know them last year when we attended a coaching conference together—and my coaching partner ditched me. I’d make a better vouch for the staff at Meadow Ridge, but they kind of speak for themselves.
As I spread my thighs wide around the round stool, my body chemistry shifts of its own accord. I don’t even need to turn my head to see her curtain of red hair, or notice that her face is wrapped in a scowl that contorts her almost invisible freckles into different constellations than normal. I could’ve gotten by without the aroma of her coconut shampoo that now infiltrates all of our furniture.
I know I should stay away. Iknow better. And yet, I can’t help myself.
“Hey, roomie.”
It scratches up my throat like I’m nervous or something.
Anthony “Does Too Much” Ellis? Nervous? Never.
Or, sometimes. Only in the face of Penelope Barker.
She kicks my shin under the table.
“Ow.”
“Gross. Don’t call me that.”
She scowls. Is it bad that it kind of turns me on?
“Okay then,PJ.”
I can’t help myself. Riling her up is too much fun. Even if it does earn me a swift kick in the bruise she just gave me. I bend down to rub the tender spot.
“Aren’t you two supposed to like, co-teach together all year?” Aaron chuckles.
“Can’t even get through one in-service, let alone teaching math,” Sam says, jabbing him in the bicep.
Pen scowls. “We’ll be fine. Ant already knowsplentyof math concepts, what with hismean dickand all.”
My shoulders sag, and I stare at her, my eyes unamused at half-staff.
“Wait,” Lucy, the school counselor, chuckles awkwardly. “I thought you two didn’t get along? Why are you talking about his…”
“They don’t, babes,” Juliet Ford, Sam’s wife and the seventh grade English teacher, pats her patronizingly on the shoulder. “Meanis math-talk for average.”
“Oh!”
Her cheeks turn red, and Penelope lifts a sly brow at me as if to saycheck and mate. I’m about to make a comment, flying through the dozens in my head, when taps on the microphone catch our attention.
“My name is Don, and I am the principal here at River Valley. But effective today, I am retiring,” announces River Valley’s now former principal.
Woof.
Did I say called to order? More like called to chaos.
The cafeteria erupts into pandemonium. Some are furious, some are confused, still others are concerned. My table is a mixture of anxiety and relief.
“I can’t say I didn’t see this coming,” Juliet says with a shake of her head.
“He only really wanted this job for the retirement money anyway,” Lucy adds.
“Wait, he can seriously do that?” Penelope asks, outraged. “Take over for a few years and then base his retirement off of screwing us all over?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” I answer.Can’t help myself.
“I wasn’t askingyou,” she bites, glaring at me before whipping her gaze around the table with an expression that says,Literally anyone else???I sigh. So does Sam as he repeats my answer.