Jason slouches in his chair. “My teacher’s a douchebag—how about them apples?”
“Jason!” Lainey gasps.
McCarthy turns to Lainey. “Has he always been this much of a shithead?”
“No! No, he’s never acted out before.”
“Well, he’s certainly making up for lost time.” McCarthy shuffles some papers on her desk. “Coach Walker’s douchebaggery notwithstanding—you destroyed school property.”
He shrugs. “Seemed like a good thing to do at the time.”
Miss McCarthy is a hardass and a little bit crazy, but she cares about every student in this building. Hell, David Burke—an epic-level screw-up from a few years back—became her foster kid, and is currently in his second year at a top-notch college because of McCarthy. But every administrator has a point of bullshit no return, where they’ll bring the hammer down hard. And because I’ve personally pushed her to that point more than once, back in the day, I know for a fact, she’s there now.
“You could have injured the other students in your class. That doesn’t fly with me.”
I try to throw myself on the grenade.
“This is on me, Miss McCarthy.”
“Oh? Did you use his arm to pick up the chair and throw it through my window?”
“No, but I could’ve handled the situation differently. If I had just—”
She turns back to Jay. “You’re going to be expelled if you don’t start explaining yourself right now.”
“Expelled?” Lainey chokes. “But he’s never—”
“Dean kissed Miss Simmons.”
My blood goes cold and the tips of my fingers tingle. And every drop of color drains out of my face.
No, no, no, no, no . . . this is not fucking happening.
“What?” Lainey’s voice is breathless, like she got punched in the stomach, like the wind has been knocked from her lungs.
She turns her head to me, so fast her golden hair swings out behind her. “What is he talking about?”
“I saw him.” Jason leans across his mother toward me—his face twisted with hurt and fury. “I saw you.”
I shake my head. “That’s not what you saw, Jay, I swear to God.”
I put my hand on Lainey’s shoulder, bringing her eyes to mine.
“I can explain.”
Wrong answer, asshole.
I’m batting a thousand today. Because explanations are for cheaters—she doesn’t want to hear an explanation, she wants to hear it never happened, it wasn’t me, some kind of mistaken identity.
But I can’t tell her that. Not really. Not now.
“Mom.” Jason’s tone is suddenly soft. Tired and sad. “I saw them. They were in class and they were all over each other. I wish I didn’t see it, but I did.”
“That is not what happened,” I try, but it’s already like talking to the wall.
She’s going to believe him.
Of course she’s going to believe him. Lainey’s a good mother. And Jason’s a great kid.
And I am truly and completely fucked.
Lainey gazes down at her hands for a moment. Then she lifts her head and hardens her jaw, and meets McCarthy’s gaze head-on.
“I think Jason should be taken out of Coach Walker’s class.”
Coach Walker? Son of a bitch.
Miss McCarthy nods.
“Agreed. It’s a personal issue, a personality conflict. We can’t fix it overnight so it’s best for everyone involved that Jason be put in another class.”
“Hold on.” I lean forward, practically falling out of my chair. “You can’t do that. I’m the only one who teaches AP Calc—he could be taking college-level courses. Where are you going to put him—Algebra 2? His brain will atrophy.”
“Then I’ll get him a tutor.” Lainey’s voice is subzero and she barely looks at me. “It’s not your concern.”
“What the hell does that mean? Of course it’s my concern!”
Miss McCarthy snaps the papers on her desk again.
“Six-day suspension. Three out, three in-school. If you stay out of trouble, Jason, this won’t go on your record. You step an inch out of line again, and you are done here. Is that understood?”
He nods. “Yes, Miss McCarthy.”
McCarthy turns to me, and her tone is dripping with the disappointment I remember so well. She’s known me a long time, so she believes Jay too.
“As for your personal issues, it’s not my business. Take it outside, Dean.”
~ ~ ~
I walk Lainey and Jason out to the parking lot. I have to get back to class, but I can’t let her leave like this. And there’s no way I’m letting them pull Jason from my class. Which means I have three days to get him to understand that what he saw, was not what he thinks he saw. No time like the present.
“Kelly stopped by my classroom. She was upset. Her husband—”
Lainey stops beside her truck.
“Kelly? That’s the woman you used to hook up with on and off, even when you were with someone else?”
Her eyes are guarded, like she’s looking at a stranger—a stranger who may have just slashed her tires and kicked her dog. A stranger she wants to kick in the balls.
“In high school, yes, but—”