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I narrowed my eyes. A nervous feeling shot through my gut as I opened the envelope and scanned the text.
“Did he say why? There’s nothing in this note,” I said quietly. The kids were just beginning to filter into my room and I didn’t want any of them to hear my conversation with Ruth – especially not Brett.
Ruth shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “I hope everything is okay, though.”
Immediately, Andy’s face flashed to my mind. “Oh, god,” I moaned quietly. “They probably found out about those stupid drawings.”
Ruth shrugged. “Good luck,” she said. “The bell is about to ring.”
I slipped out of class as quietly as I could before the kids would notice something was up. As I walked down the quiet halls, I shivered. There was almost something ominous about the feeling in the air – almost like I was going to my doom.
When I got to the main office, none of the secretaries looked up at me. I had to walk up to the front desk and clear my throat before one of them noticed me.
“Hi,” I said nervously. “I got in this morning and Ruth told me that Principal Morris wanted to see me.”
The secretary looked at me with blank eyes. She was someone I’d spoken to many times – heck, she’d even brought me a slice of cake one day from a party in the teacher’s lounge. But right now, she was looking at me like I was a piece of trash.
“Should I go in?” I asked, feeling awkward when my words hung in the air.
The secretary bit her lip and nodded.
“Okay. Thanks,” I added, feeling stupider by the second.
The door to Principal Morris’s office was closed. I could feel the eyes of the secretaries glued to my back as I walked across the cheerfully-decorated office and knocked. Everything was covered with turkey decorations and smiling, cartoon pilgrims and native Americans.
“Hello, Prin
cipal Morris,” I called quietly. “It’s June Rogers. I got a note that you wanted to see me.”
“Come in.”
I bit my lip and flushed as I opened the door. Principal Morris was seated behind his desk, thumbing through a copy of The New York Times. He didn’t even look up when I shut the door. Suddenly, my heart started to thud in my chest. Something was obviously very, very wrong here…and I had a feeling it wasn’t going to end well.
“So,” I said nervously as I lowered myself into a chair facing the principal’s desk. “What’s up?”
Principal Morris sighed. He was an older man, with longish sideburns and a white beard that made him look a little like a walrus. Among the faculty and staff, he was generally well-liked. But he didn’t have a warm demeanor, and I’d never felt it more than I did right now.
“What’s the problem?” I asked nervously.
Principal Morris meticulously folded his paper and set it down on his desk. I cringed – it seemed like he was being deliberately slow.
“Well, June, I’m not going to lie. There is a problem.”
I exhaled a shaky, nervous breath. “Okay,” I said. “Can you tell me what it is?”
Principal Morris narrowed his bushy eyebrows at me. “June, Andrew Lipinski was fired this morning.”
My jaw dropped. “He’s the one who made those drawings,” I said quickly. “And he stalked me, outside of school. He tried to pull me into an alley and—“
Principal Morris held up his hand. “Please, June – don’t say anything else.”
“What’s going on?” I asked nervously. “What does any of this have to do with me?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Principal Morris said. “But I know that until we get to the bottom of this, I’m going to have you placed on leave without pay.”
My jaw dropped. “Me?” I squeaked. “Me?! But I haven’t even done anything,” I shrieked loudly. “This is all about Andy, it’s all his fault!”
“I’m sorry, June, this is our policy,” Principal Morris said. “Please, gather your things and you’ll be escorted from the building.”
