I examined what I’d written. Somehow writing out the concept had me examining the boundaries. What was okay? What wasn’t? This got complicated, depending on the guy. Luke might say everything was okay, and Kota...were hugs too much for him?
And Nathan. Kota and Nathan asking Lily about me, making sure I was okay with this.
My heart surged at thinking about it. Happy.
They wanted this.
They wouldn’t bother to go this far without wanting it. They were trying.
My eyes teared a bit, relief flooding over me. The few I’d been most worried about, the ones the others were worried about not going along with it...
They were trying.
For me.
I swallowed my emotions back, trying to calm myself. It didn’t surprise me at all Nathan and Kota wanted to make absolutely sure.
I would have done the same. I was doing it every time I was around them. Checking in. Testing the waters. Waiting to talk about it with them.
Suddenly, the speakers overhead announced, “Would Nathan Griffin and Sang Sorenson please come to the main office?” There were a barrage of other voices in the background of the announcement.
I jumped at the sound of my name, dropping the pen. My heart raced.
This was over. Our job at the school was over.
We’ll Never Be the Same
My name on the announcement seemed to echo in my ears over and over. I stuffed the book into my bag and left it near my seat. I went to the music room door and waited just inside it, anticipating being told to ignore it.
I wouldn’t leave unless someone told me it was okay, but I kept on the lookout for someone to come back and tell me what to do. I reached for the door, wanting to peek out.
Before I opened it, Kota was back. He held the door open, his eyes wide and calculating.
“What now?” I asked. “Why are we getting asked to come in?”
“I don’t know,” Kota said. He pulled out his phone, letting the door swing shut behind him. He tapped out some messages and then nodded slowly. “They’re saying go. I guess it’s safe.”
My heart raced. I wasn’t supposed to be called in at all. I was supposed to stay away. “What does it mean?”
He picked his head up and with more confidence, he smiled. “It wouldn’t happen unless it’s okay for it to happen. Something must be going on.” He urged me to come with him.
I followed him into the hallway. There was little interest in us from other students until we got closer to the main office.
Nathan was waiting by the door, just outside next to the police officer. He approached me when I came close. He checked in quietly with Kota before looking back at me, a questioning eyebrow raised.
I had no answers, silent or otherwise. We were here. We needed to see what they wanted.
Kota remained outside, pausing to talk to the officer guarding the door.
I kept shoulder to shoulder with Nathan once we were inside. The the waiting area in front of the main desk was crowded with parents and students. We had to elbow our way to the front. I tried to ignore the gazes of other parents and students hanging around nearby. I’m sure to parents, we looked rather curious with our uniforms.
The woman behind the desk took one look at me and pointed to the hallway on my left. “Principal’s office for you.” She noted Nathan as well and pointed the opposite direction. “Dr. Green’s waiting for you in his office.”
She knew our faces better than I realized. The mention of the principal’s office had my heart pumping wildly.
Nathan seemed to hesitate, his blue eyes and grim expression telling me how tense he was.
I waved my hand to him, urging him to go on. We couldn’t talk about it here, anyway, but whatever was happening, no one would let me go in at this point unless it was absolutely okay to do so.
I trusted them.
My calm expression and urging seemed to motivate him to go through with it. He reached out to me, squeezing my hand gently once in an encouraging way. He turned away and walked into the right hallway.
I took the left.
The hall itself was full of people, some waiting outside of office doors. Most doors were open. The occasional policeman shuffled his way from room to room. Men and women in business suits walked around as well. I think they were lawyers. I didn’t recognize them as faculty here.
The principal’s office was at the end of the hall. The door was open.
Not wanting to interrupt, I approached slowly, staying out in the hallway and peeking in.
Mr. Blackbourne stood by the big desk. He held a notepad with a clipboard and appeared to be jotting down notes. Next to him, sitting in the principal’s chair, was the mayor of Goose Creek. He wore a light gray suit with a blue tie. His gray hair was thinning on top and along the temples. I’d forgotten his name in the moment of nervousness but he’d helped us out before. He was opening files, looking over notepads from Mr. Hendricks’s desk. Next to him was another man, wearing a dark blue suit and a short red tie. He was middle aged, with a trim beard. He pulled files from a cabinet.
With the three of them crowded behind the desk, it looked like they’d gotten into the flow of pulling apart everything in the office. There were stacks of files covering the desk. Floor space had been used for stuff that had been on the desk before. There was an empty space where the computer had been.
The mayor spotted me first and motioned to the chair. “Oh, yeah. There you are. Come in. Have a seat.”
Mr. Blackbourne looked up absently from his note taking, looking once in my direction. His face was unreadable, simply calm. Taking his example, I sat down in the seat across the desk, crossed my legs at the ankles and waited.
The mayor slid his fingers over a file he already had open. As he read, his lips moved a bit, forming shapes but not actual words. After a minute of this, he spoke. “Just one second. Don’t want to lose...” He flipped a page and then read from it. “Nothing in this one. Just notes about faculty meetings, but it all seems normal.”
Mr. Blackbourne made a note anyway.
The mayor flipped the folder closed and then set it on a stack of other folders nearby. He folded his fingers together, palm to palm and then leaned forward on the desk. “So, Miss Sorenson. You’re mentioned a lot in these notes. Do you want to talk about why Mr. Hendricks was so interested in you?”
My eyes drifted from him to Mr. Blackbourne.
He spoke without looking up from his note taking. “Mr. Hendricks was on to her about being one of mine from the start.” He looked up briefly. From behind his glasses, the gray eyes glinted steely. “She reported back to me often about his barrage of questioning. Some of it crossing the line of interest a principal should have.”
I nodded vigorously, taking his direction. He was telling me it was okay to admit what was going on. The mayor I had suspected might be Academy, but I couldn’t be absolutely sure. Who was the other man? “He threatened me a lot with failing grades and detentions and other things to tell him about what Mr. Blackbourne and the others were up to. Sometimes to talk about myself and where I was at times off school property. Sometimes he sent teachers to my house to watch me in their cars...”
The mayor bobbed his head up and down like he’d heard this one before. His eyes were kind and he kept a small smile on his face, like we were having a pleasant afternoon chat. “That’s all over, as of now. You’re not the only one telling me about his lording over the place like a tyrant.” He sighed and then sat back, putting a palm over his mouth shortly as he was thinking. He removed it and then put his palm to his cheek, shaking his head. “I don’t think we need to be here any longer.”
“We need to complete this. We started it,” said the man in the blue suit.