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I smirked, thinking again about the night we had shared. I supposed if I got too nervous in front of the kids, I could always think about her. That would be certain to put a smile on my face…
As I stepped into my shoes, I watched Scarlet stir around in the bed. I waited for a second, hoping she would wake. I wanted to talk to her, to at least ask if I could expect to see her after I’d finished my lecture. To ask if she wanted to grab lunch or meet up for dinner…
But she only rolled over, snuggled farther under the sheets, and continued her slumber.
I guess I wore her out, I thought, grinning to myself.
Not wanting to disturb her, I found a scrap of paper and scribbled my phone number onto it with a message that read: Please feel free to order any room service you want. See you soon. -Tobias
I stared at the note for a moment, thinking that I probably should have written something a little more poetic, but my mind was drawing a blank and my time was running short. So I quietly left the hotel room and set off for Hullen Preparatory Academy.
It was finally time for me to face my day.
CHAPTER 6
Tobias
“I really can’t thank you enough for agreeing to do this for us, Tobias,” said Headmaster, Vince Greene, beaming at me.
“And I thank you for having me,” I said, politely smiling back at him. Time had been good to Headmaster Greene; he practically looked just as I remembered him, save for his thinning hair and a few extra pounds. I recalled him being a whole lot more laid back than people tended to give him credit for. During my time as a student, he’d had the reputation of being strict, and a lot of the students hadn’t particularly liked him very much. Admittedly, I had initially been one of them. I’d gotten into major trouble once, having almost gotten into a fight with another kid in gym class when I’d thought he intentionally thrown a soccer ball at me. Both of us had been sent to Headmaster Greene afterwards for a pretty brutal scolding. He had been so livid, I had been convinced he was just moments away from pulling out a ruler and beating us both with it.
A couple months later, when I had been sent to Headmaster Greene yet again, my stomach had been turning in knots. But it turned out that he had only wanted to congratulate me on a job well done with a presentation I had done.
“You have a lot of potential, Tobias. Something tells me that I’m going to hear nothing but good things from you once you leave here. Promise me that you’ll live up to your potential, all right?” he’d said, and then shared a root beer with me in his office. My whole perspective of him changed from that point on.
“Man, you’re still alive? I thought Headmaster Greene had killed you or something. He kept you forever, didn’t he? What did you do this time?” Anderson had said to me after school that day.
“You won’t believe how cool he really is,” I’d told him, and then recounted what had actually happened.
When I had arrived on campus, Headmaster Greene had greeted me like an old friend. Initially, I had been convinced that some of his friendliness towards me was because he knew that I was a billionaire and was expecting a generous donation from me. But as he began showing me around the school grounds, pointing out all the changes and new developments that had occurred since my time as a student, I realized his warm feelings toward me were genuine.
“Nothing makes me happier than to see a former student doing well,” he said, as we walked through the corridor to where I’d be giving my lecture. “I’ve dedicated my life to this school and its students, you know. Your achievements feel like my own.”
I glanced sideways at him, detecting a bittersweet tone to his voice. Casually, I glanced at his hands, noticing that they were free of rings. I wondered if he had ever been married or had kids of his own, or if he had simply been married to Hullen for all these years.
“Well, this school did right by me,” I said. “So, it definitely shares a role in my success.”
Headmaster Greene smiled and gave me a pat on the back. “Here we are,” he announced as he stopped outside of a classroom door.
“Oh boy,” I said.
Headmaster Greene laughed. “You’re not nervous, are you?”
“Just a bit.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine,” he said, sounding far more confident than I felt. “Come on in. I’ll introduce you to the class. They’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
And with that, he opened the door. The voices of chattering students instantly drifted out into the halls. As Headmaster Greene ushered me inside, they all stopped. Before I knew it, I had several dozen young sets of eyes staring in my direction.
“Good morning, class,” Headmaster Greene said cheerfully. “I know you’ve all been looking forward to this day, and now it has finally arrived. So sit up straight and please give your undivided attention to Mr. Tobias Gentry. Mr. Gentry is one of our most successful alumnus. He was an amazing student during his time here at Hullen Prep, and he’s became even more amazing in the years following. So please, let’s give Mr. Gentry our warmest welcome.”
The room broke out into applause, and Headmaster Greene beamed at me, his clapping being the loudest of all.
Jesus. This was unexpected. So much for saying some big words and boring them to death.
Carefully, I made my way to the front and center of the room, trying my best not to puke at the thought of so many judgmental adolescents staring at me, undoubtedly looking for weaknesses.
Get a grip, I told myself. You are a grown man. You have no right to be intimidated by a bunch of teenagers. You are a powerful and successful businessman. These kids can only hope to be you one day…
