I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve gotten to know the teaching staff over the past two and a half months. Of everyone at Polson Falls Elementary, these two are the likeliest to gossip. Besides Becca, of course, but I trust that our conversations remain between us.
Karen has two overscheduled children and a husband who travels for work more than he’s home. I’m pretty sure she belongs to every mommy group in Polson Falls. Meanwhile, Heidi is single and alone and spends her hours outside of school as a social justice warrior, sharing news links on Facebook and angry-tweeting politicians and corporations.
Nothing happens in this school without them hearing about it.
The question is, who’s been talking?
Did Penelope decide to go to the school board after all? It’s been almost a week since her meeting with Wendy. Did poor Cody make the disastrous mistake of mentioning my name in a positive light again?
With a sigh, I slide out my phone, intent on texting Shane. As much as I don’t want Penelope to be a daily subject for us, I also don’t want any more surprises.
“What are your plans for this weekend, Scarlet?” Heidi asks suddenly, feigning a blank, innocent look. Of the two of them, she’s more likely to pass judgment on my relationship with Shane. That’s probably why my guard is instantly up with her.
“Housework.” In between several rounds of sweaty sex with my student’s hot dad, since I know that’s what you’re really asking. In truth, there won’t be much of that this weekend, seeing as Cody is with us tonight and Shane leaves for work tomorrow, until Sunday.
“That’s right! Didn’t you buy that cute little blue house with the picket fence down the street?” Karen asks, pointing in the opposite direction of where my house is.
I don’t bother to correct her. “I did. It needs a lot of work, but I’ll slowly get to it all.” Where is everyone, anyway? The staff room usually has five or six bodies in it at any given time during recess.
They exchange glances. Heidi looks like she’s chewing on bees, the way she’s worrying her mouth. “How are your neighbors?”
I’ve only met the neighbors to my right once. They’re a pleasant but busy young family, with three kids under five and a lot of high-pitched screaming in the early hours.
I’m guessing Heidi isn’t asking about them, though.
“Are you going to beat around the bush all day or ask your prying question?” Bott’s reedy voice cuts into the staff room. I hadn’t heard her come in, but that’s par for the course for a woman who seems to materialize out of thin air like a mythical beast from the underworld. She floats toward the fridge as if she didn’t just call out her colleague for being intrusive. Even on below-fifty-degree November days, she still wears her Birkenstocks.
Heidi exchanges another quick glance with her sleuthing partner. “We heard you’re dating Cody Rhodes’s father.”
“Hmm.” I feign casualness as I peel the foil off my yogurt, not giving an answer one way or another. Inside, a mixture of resignation and dread swirls. I truly despise being the topic of conversation.
“He’s very attractive.” Karen nods vigorously—it reminds me of a bobblehead figurine. She’s not the confrontational type. More likely, she’ll smile and agree to your face and then express empty outrage when you turn around.
“He always has been,” Bott answers for me, drifting over to the table with a cloth lunch bag. “Even as a boy, there was something appealing about him.”
From any other grown woman, that might teeter on creepy and inappropriate, but coming from Bott, it sounds merely like fact.
“He’s a firefighter, right?” Karen asks.
“Are you not at all worried about the awkward position you’ve put your student in?” Heidi blurts, cutting into Karen’s chatty questions.
I wondered who among my fellow teachers might take offense to me dating Shane. It seems I can make a tick in the box beside Heidi’s name.
My cheeks burn with indignation as I open my mouth to defend myself.
“Were you not at all worried three years ago when Cody Rhodes was your student and you bid on his father at that ridiculous auction?” Bott asks mildly.
My eyebrows arch with surprise, trying to picture the righteous Heidi waving her paddle in the air, bidding on Shane as if he were a prize bull.
“That’s totally different!” Heidi blusters, her face turning beet red. “And I didn’t win. And that was for charity!”
“Hmm. Yes, for charity.” That secretive little smirk emerges on Bott’s mouth as she pries open her food container.
Heidi collects her water bottle and an apple and, lifting her chin high as if she weren’t just made a fool of, strolls out, Karen on her heels.
It’s just Bott and me in the room now, and I’m feeling oddly appreciative of her.
“Thank you for defending me,” I offer.