Chapter 26
Reese was starting to feel like a zombie from lack of sleep. Her heavy heart was still filled with worry for Garrett, and her mind seemed to be focused on everything except her students. She was looking forward to the plans she’d made with Skyla, Hallie and Orly at Madigan’s, but she still had almost half an hour left in her last class.
The seniors only had a few more weeks left to work on their projects before they were due to be delivered to the museum, and Reese still had at least two more art periods to cover before their junk journals would be complete. She was teaching the class on autopilot, hoping against all odds that she was making sense as she recited everything from her lesson plans. But the students seemed eager to learn and the work they were producing was impressing not only the museum director, but Principal Ryker as well. He’d actually sent her an email congratulating her on doing so well in her first year of teaching.
When the bell finally rang, she announced the homework assignment and turned back to her desk to collect her things when she heard a loud voice yell, “Watch it, Madi Padi!”
Reese spun around in time to see one of her tall male students with broad shoulders, who’s name escaped her at the moment, push his way past a slender young woman who seemed to have a knack for art. Reese remembered her name was Madison Grier because she’d been so impressed withthe assignments Madison had turned in. The girl had serious potential as an artist.
“Are you alright?” Reese asked as Madison shoved a book into her backpack.
“I’m fine,” she said, clearly annoyed at being asked.
“Why did he call you that?” Reese demanded.
Madison shrugged, her slender shoulders rising and falling. “It doesn’t matter.” She zipped the backpack closed and flung it over one shoulder, then shoved her way past Reese and out the door. Reese watched her leave, then looked down, noticing a finely ground white substance covering the chair where her bag had just been.
Reese didn’t know much about drugs, but she’d experimented enough in college to know what that was. She ran out into the hallway after Madison and found talking to another girl right outside. Reese waited until the other girl walked away, then approached. “Would you please come back to the classroom, Madison? I'd like to speak with you.”
Madison looked up at her in surprise. “Why? Class is over.”
“Look, we can talk now or we can go to the principal's office and talk then. Your choice.” The last thing Reese wanted to do was involve Principal Ryker after Garrett’s warning to stay away from him, but this wasn’t something she could in good conscience allow to continue.
Madison sighed and led the way back to the art classroom. “Is there something you want to tell me?” Reese asked, gesturing at the seat with the white powder residue on it.
Madison stiffened. “No. Are we done?”
“I know I’m new here, but I’m pretty sure that the amount of drugs you have on you is enough to have you expelled. Now, I’m not here to make your life more difficult. In fact, I think you have a real future in art if you choose to pursue it. But I do need you to be honest with me right now.”
Madison sank into the chair next to the one she usually sat in for class. “It’s not mine. I swear.”
Reese leaned against the table. “Okay. Whose is it then?”
Madison shook her head, her eyes glistening with tears. “I can’t tell you. Please, can’t you just forget you saw it?”
Reese gave her a pinched smile and shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that. Let me see it. All of it.”
Madison didn’t move, and for a second Reese thought she might not have heard her. “Madison? Either you show me or you show Principal Ryker, which doesn’t mean I won’t be telling him about it by the way.”
“It won’t matter if you do,” Madison said.
Reese knew there was a strict no drugs on school property rule that all students and faculty had to adhere to. “Of course, it will matter, Madison. He could expel you for this.”
Madison shook her head. “Don’t you get it, Miss Graham. He won’t. Or even if he does, he’ll just find someone else to sell it.”
“Wait, what?” She asked, surely not understanding Madison’s implication.
Madison bit her lip and drew in a ragged breath. “They’re his drugs,” she whispered as if there was someone else in the room that would hear her. “He makes them and he forces us to sell them.”
“Forces us? Who’s us?” Reese asked.
Madison shrugged. “Losers like me who no one cares about.”
“Madison, you’re not a loser,” Reese said. “How did you get involved in this?”
“My mom had an affair and when she broke it off, she didn’t want to tell my dad. I guess she decided she still loved him and their marriage was worth saving. That was my freshman year. When Principal Ryker found out she wasn’t going to tell my dad, he decided to use that as leverage against me.”
Reese had so many questions, it was hard to keep them all straight. “How did Principal Ryker find out about your mom’s affair?”
