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The nurse’s eyes bugged out, like they were going to fall out of her head. “How could you say that?” she asked. “You’re going to expose everyone else to this?”
“I’m telling you, she’s probably got a heater in her mouth,” Ms. Wright said. “She seems to be pretty good at getting out of school whenever she feels like it. I came down here to warn you before you released her. She’s been out for over thirty days this semester.”
That wasn’t true, and she had increased her number. I started to shake my head, but felt really weak and my throat was feeling scratchy. I didn’t have the strength to fight her right now, and didn’t care enough to. How could she not understand that this time I really was sick? I sighed sadly. How did she even know I was down here so fast? Was she monitoring me?
“Maybe I could sit in suspension again,” I said quietly, looking at the floor and accepting defeat this time. Kota wouldn’t like it, but at least I wouldn’t infect anyone. “Just until this fever goes away.”
“If you even have a fever,” Ms. Wright said. “No, you will go to class. I’m not going to allow you to get away with this continual line of excuses. You don’t get to go where you want to.”
“You can’t do that,” the nurse said. “There’s no way I will allow it.”
“You’ll allow it because I say so,” Ms. Wright said. “There’s no way she’s getting away with going home again after being out of school for so long. She’s cried wolf too many times, from my understanding. She’s going to have to suck it up.”
The nurse turned on her then, her eyes wide and her body in fight mode, with a fist around the thermometer still in her hand. “Have you gone insane?” she asked. “If I let this student go back like this, and her parents hear about it, I’ll be out of a job.”
Ms. Wright looked her dead in the eye. “Like what?” she asked. “She looks perfectly fine to me. I’m even willing to pretend she was never here.” She nodded to the thermometer in the nurse’s hand. “Turn it off. You never saw her today. She came to me instead for some guidance. That’s all. Or shall I talk to Mr. Hendricks about the nurse who won’t obey her superiors?”
The nurse sputtered, shaking her head. I just wanted to lie down and almost started to cry at the thought of going back to class.
There was another sudden movement by the door, and this time, I thought I’d finally passed out on the cot and had started dreaming.
Mr. Blackbourne, Dr. Green and another man were standing in what little space there was in the front part of the nurse’s office. Mr. Blackbourne was in his usual suit, with a flash of steel in his eyes as he faced off Ms. Wright. Dr. Green wore a green sweater and khakis, surveying the scene. The third man, in a dark suit, looked at all of the women in the room and was frowning.
“What is this?” Ms. Wright said, turning her back on the nurse and to face off with Mr. Blackbourne. “Who are you to barge in here? And what are they doing here?”
My cheeks heated and my eyes watered. Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green had finally come to defend me. Who was the third man, though?
“We need to have a little talk,” Mr. Blackbourne said in a quiet and yet powerful tone.
Dr. Green took one look at the girl in the chair and quietly went to her. He whispered a quick something to her and she instantly got up. Dr. Green escorted her to the door, and then shut it behind her after she left.
“I don’t know what you think you heard,” Ms. Wright said in a quieter, nervous tone, stepping sideways and away from me and the nurse. “I wasn’t serious. I was just trying to scare her a bit to fess up in case she wasn’t really sick.”
The third man approached Ms. Wright. He had salt and pepper hair and a handsome, angular face. “I’m afraid we’ve got ourselves in a bit of a pickle here,” he said quietly.
Ms. Wright pursed her lips tight and glared at him. She shifted her weight on her feet and then snapped at him like a viper. “I don’t know who you are, but you don’t have any authority here. This is none of your business.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, holding out his hand to shake. “I guess I’m not a familiar enough face around here. I probably should stop by more often. Joe Hertz, Mayor of Goose Creek.”
My lips formed a small “o” shape. Goose Creek was the name of the town the school was located in, so he might technically be an authority for the school. Mr. Blackbourne knew the mayor? I wondered if it was him who had asked the guys to come in and check out the school. My heart was beating a mile a minute. My breath quickened. I hoped I wouldn’t pass out just from the surprise.
The nurse reached for my hand, holding it in a reassuring grip. “It’ll be all right,” she said quietly to me. “You aren’t in any trouble.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. I looked at Mr. Blackbourne, who had the steel of his eyes focused only on Ms. Wright as the mayor spoke. Dr. Green, however, side-stepped them and quietly came to me. He gestured for the nurse to hand over the thermometer, which she did. He frowned down at the temperature and then touched my forehead. He drew a few calm fingers over my cheek and then urged me to open my mouth.
Really? He was going to examine me here in the midst of all of this? Despite me wanting to ask questions, he continued his inspection. The nurse must have been familiar with him, because she found a tongue depressor and passed it to him. He examined my throat, using his own flashlight on his key ring to look.
“I’m sorry,” Ms. Wright said, her eyes wide now, as she stepped closer to Mr. Hertz. She never reached for his hand. “You’ve come at a bad time. This girl has had multiple unexcused absences and I’ve been trying desperately to keep her in class. You have to understand, I was only trying to...”
“I know it must be tough being the counselor for this school,” the mayor said calmly. He put his hand down when it was clear she wasn’t going to shake it. “It can’t have been easy since Mr. Hendricks has been forcing more of his own duties on you. I understand he’s been promising you the principal position at this school.”
If Dr. Green hadn’t been examining me, I would have groaned. If Mr. Hendricks stepped down, she would become the principal? How horrible! In truth, if I’d been a good student and went to class like I should, I didn’t know how much worse she would be. Mr. Hendricks used students and teachers to spy on each other, on top of whatever else he was doing in secret.
Ms. Wright pointed at me. “Students like her are allowed to get away with almost anything around here. And who does the school board turn to with their questions? They look at me, not him. I’m the one responsible.”
Mayor Hertz shook his head, a small, tight smile turning up his mouth. “That’s what he makes you believe, is it? He does put a lot of pressure on you. It’s not your responsibility, it’s up to parents and the students themselves. We’re simply record keepers. Did he tell you that you could possibly go to jail, too?”
Ms. Wright didn’t speak out loud, but nodded her head, the puffy curls around her face shifting.
“He’s been spreading a lot of lies,” the mayor said. “It’s why I’m here today. To set the record straight with the faculty. I’ve gotten special permission from the school board to come here and let everyone know your jobs are secure for now.”
Was this why Mr. Blackbourne had been so quiet about his plans? He was going to bring in the mayor?
If the school board knew, I wondered if Mr. Hendricks’s partner, the super intendent, knew this was happening. And the third person in their group? The one we didn’t know the name of yet? What about him?
Suddenly, it made sense to me. They were trying to get Mr. Hendricks’s plan to backfire. His overstretching threats against their jobs were being pointed out now. When Mr. Hendricks’s power got revoked, when people saw his empty threats for what they were, what power did he have?
“But I need your help, Ms. Wright,” the mayor said. “He’s done a lot of damage here. I’m interested in saving the reputation of this school.” He nodded in my direction. “But I need you to s
top pointing fingers at this girl. She’s on a special mission here at this school. In truth, she’s only on loan.”
The lie was spoken so smoothly, that even I almost believed it.
She squinted her eyes at him. “Do you mean...”
“Yes,” he said with a small smile. “You were asked to ignore seven students on your registration and without much of a reason as to why. She was supposed to be among them—an eighth—but in secret from everyone else. I know you’ve been asking around about these students, and she’s done her very best to blend in while still being tasked to do what she was brought here to do.”
“You should have just told me sooner,” she said.
“I’m about to let you in on a very sensitive secret mission of mine. We may need your help to pull it off.”
They were going to try to work with her? I gripped the edge of the cot, wishing my head didn’t feel like it was full of cotton so I could focus better.
Dr. Green rubbed my back soothingly. “Hang in there, pumpkin,” he whispered.
“What do you need me to do?” Ms. Wright said, desperation in her voice. “You have no idea what it was like to work with Principal Hendricks. He’s...” She stopped, swallowed.
Mayor Hertz held up a hand, cutting her off. “I’m going to want to hear all about it,” he said. “Right now, though, I need you to do a little spy work for me. Nothing dangerous. Your job isn’t in jeopardy. We need you to pass along a message.”
“What message?” she asked.
“I need you to quickly go to Mr. Hendricks, wherever he is, and calmly let him know that you’ve been through all the student files, and outside of the usual troublemakers, there’s absolutely nothing wrong. I know after you went to him about the letter you got from the school board, he told you to give students hell and start suspending everyone, yes? That he’d fire you, or the school board will do much worse, if you were found neglecting your duties? Prove to him that you have completed your investigation and everyone is on the right track. No need to call in the school board, even.”
