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“Nothing that can’t be undone if you end things with Victoria.”
“That isn’t going to happen. You can’t threaten me into doing what you want. It won’t work!”
“We’ll see about that. I have plans for you. Big plans. I’m not letting anyone or anything get in the way of them. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Give it your best, father. Whatever you do to me, I don’t care. I’m not giving up on Victoria and me.”
“All right, son. I see how it’s going to be. Remember whatever happens next, I’m doing it because I love you,” he said and, with a mournful look, walked out of my office.
Once he was gone, I had to resist the urge to throw something across the room. I couldn’t believe that my father was doing this to me, that he had done all this to me. My whole life, my whole career, felt like a lie. I knew I was good at what I did, but what if it had all been manipulated by my father. Could I live with that? Did it really matter?
The one thing I knew was that he wasn’t going to keep me away from Victoria. I wanted to be with her, and no one, not even my father, was going to keep me from her. I knew that there was nothing that he could do to me that would change my mind. But as I thought about the things he could do, my blood ran cold as I realized there was one thing he could do, hurt Victoria. I had no idea what that would mean or just how far he would go.
Quickly, I reached for my phone to call Victoria.
Chapter 21
Victoria
It was with some excitement that I walked into Dr. Janson, my principal’s office, at the end of the day. He had emailed me earlier to tell me that he wanted to see me when I had a moment. I had heard some other teachers who were up for tenure getting the same email and was sure it was for him to tell me I was getting mine.
I couldn’t believe that it was actually happening. I had wanted this for as long as I could remember. I loved working with children. I loved being able to help them and mold their minds, to be a good influence on them. I never really had any adult role models aside from my father growing up, and I wanted to be that for my students. I had spent years working towards this goal, and I was so excited to think that it was finally happening.
My first thought was that I wanted to call Zach and tell him. All the weeks of us hiding were about to come to an end. I thought I could go to his place and surprise him. What better way to tell him that I got tenure and that we could be together than by showing up at his place. I had to keep the smile off of my face as I walked into the front office, thinking of all the different ways that Zach and I could celebrate.
“Hi, Tracy, Dr. Janson wanted to see me,” I said.
“Yes, he’s just finishing up with a call, and then you can go in,” she replied.
“Okay.” I took a seat.
I looked over at Tracy, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. We had always been friendly with each other, and I wondered why she seemed so standoffish. I hoped it wasn’t because I was getting tenure and she thought we wouldn’t be on the same level. I never wanted to be that type of teacher and almost said something to her, but her phone buzzed, letting us know that Dr. Janson was ready for me.
As I stood up and walked into his office, I smiled at Tracy. “Wish me luck.”
I thought I heard her mutter, “You’re going to need it,” but I was sure I had heard her wrong. All I could think about was how my life was all coming into place with my career and with Zach, and I couldn’t wait to tell him.
“Have a seat, Ms. Jackson,” Dr. Janson said when I walked into his office.
Dr. Janson always kept a professional demeanor with all his teachers in public, but he tended to take a more relaxed atmosphere when we were in private. That he wasn’t had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
“Did something happen?” I asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” he said as he turned to look at me.
Dr. Janson was in his mid-fifties and had been a teacher for a few years before he was promoted to Vice Principal and then moved up to Principal a few years ago when the former principal retired. Dr. Janson had always been fair with me, I had never given him any reason not to be, but he had a reputation for being a bit of a bear and intimidating. As I looked at him and his dark gray eyes held my gaze, I could see how he had gotten such a reputation.
“What happened? What did I do? Did a parent complain? Is this going to affect my tenure?”
“Most definitely, this will affect your tenure and your ability to ever teach anywhere.”
“What!? What happened?”
“Did you have a friend, a male friend, come and visit you about a week ago?”
“Liam? He comes to my classroom all the time.”
“No, we’re not talking about Mr. Holt, but a different, more personal friend.”
