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My heart sank. “You can’t do that in front of my students,” I protested. My eyes filled with tears as I realized this was really happening – it wasn’t some horrible dream, and I wasn’t going to wake up any time soon.
“I’m sorry, it’s out of my hands,” Principal Morris said.
He didn’t sound sorry.
“Okay.” I stood up, my chin wobbling with the force of my emotions. “Fine. I’ll leave. In fact, I’ll leave right now. I don’t need anything from my classroom,” I added with a sniffle.
“Oh, and June?”
“Yes?” Please, please tell me this was all some kind of sick joke, I thought. Please, help me!
“Don’t forget to shut my door on the way out,” Principal Morris said. His head was already buried back in the paper. “Damn secretaries like to leave it open.”
My heart sank. “Yeah,” I said. “I won’t forget.”
Chapter Thirteen
Thomas
Just as I was leaving the office on Monday, my phone buzzed in my pocket. When I saw it was June, I grinned.
“Hey, you,” I said. “I was just thinking about you. What’s up? This is the first time you’ve ever called me,” I teased. “Start of something new?”
June didn’t reply.
“Hello?” I pulled the phone away from my ear and frowned, wondering if she’d accidentally pocket-dialed me. But when I held it back to my ear, I could hear her.
She was sobbing.
“Thomas,” June managed to squeak. “I’m in trouble.” She broke down again and my ear was filled with the hysterical cry of her sobs.
“Hey, hey, what happened? It’ll be okay,” I said quickly.
“I need to talk to you,” June sniffled. “Are you busy?” There was a pause and I could hear her blowing her nose.
“Not really.” I looked down at my watch. “I was supposed to meet Marlene but I can cancel. Where are you?”
“I’m at…at ho-ho-home,” June sniffled and sobbed. “Please, just come over whenever you can.”
I licked my lips. “I’ll be there soon, just hold tight, okay?”
We hung up and I broke into a run as I ran into the parking garage and climbed behind the wheel of my Porsche. Thankfully, rush-hour traffic hadn’t taken full effect yet, and I was able to navigate from Manhattan to Brooklyn with relative ease. Still, it was a long way to Crown Heights and the sky was darkening by the time I pulled up in front of June’s building.
The elevator was broken so I raced up the stairs, pounding on the door until it swung open. June was curled up on the couch, wearing yoga pants and a stained t-shirt. Her face was red and streaked with tears. When she saw me, her chin crumpled and she started to cry again.
“June, what’s going on?” I shut the door and flew over to the couch where I pulled her into my arms and rocked her back and forth. For the first time, I noticed how small, how fragile June’s body was. I could feel the knots in her spine through the thin skin of her back, and she sobbed so viciously that for a moment, I was almost frightened.
“Baby, you have to talk to me,” I said, smoothing June’s sweaty black hair away from her forehead. “Come on, June, just tell me the truth.”
June sniffed. “Something bad happened at school,” she said after a long moment.
“Oh, shit,” I said. My heart sank. “Was it Brett? Did he get in trouble again? Goddamnit,” I added. “I’m so sorry, June.”
“No…” June trailed off. “Nothing like that.” She bit her lip. “I work with this guy named Andy. He asked me out before and I said no, but then…” She blushed hotly and buried her face in my neck. “I felt so guilty that I asked him for coffee.”
“Okay,” I said nervously. “I don’t like where this is going.”
June sighed, her small body filling with frustrated air. “I know,” she said flatly. “Anyway, we had coffee. Just once. And then I saw your assistant, what was her name? Heidi?”
