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The monthly schoolboard meeting was tonight.
And word had gotten out about the lack of funds for the musical. Andwhythere was a lack of funds.
The room was packed. Absolutely packed. A huge section of the room was filled with Landrys, including Ellie and Leo, which made Becca’s heart swell. She really loved that family. But there were plenty of other people in attendance too. On both sides. Those who were here to demand answers about the reallocation of funds from one program to another and those who were here to defend the decision—mostly the parents and grandparents of football players, as well as some alumni of the program who still lived and worked in Autre.
Savannah, Daniel, and Sam were sitting toward the back of the room as well, and as Becca took her seat next to Fletcher she realized that she really did have a lot of friends. Good friends. People she would always be able to depend on.
She took a deep breath and found her dad, sitting up at the front with the superintendent and the school board members. Her mom was sitting with the Landrys. Crystal and Heather were there as well.
There were only two people missing. Toby. And Beau.
She had no idea where Toby was. She didn’t know if he was just running late or if he was so upset by everything that he’d decided to sit this one out.
Where’s Toby?she texted Sam from her seat.
A moment later she got a reply.Don’t worry. It will all be fine.
That was a weird response. But whatever. If Sam wasn’t worried, she wasn’t going to worry.
But Beau not being here hurt.
He was probably working. He didn’t keep set hours. He worked as projects came in, until they were finished. Or until something else needed his attention.
And this meeting didn’t really have anything to do with him.
She swallowed hard as her throat tightened.
It didn’t. He didn’t have kids in the school here. He wasn’t a teacher here. This meeting was really about getting answers and letting the board know that people were unhappy. She knew that there would be no solutions to come out of the meeting. Her dad had told her as much at home. There just was no money in the budget. The musical was screwed.
The board went through their agenda as usual until they got to new business and had to finally recognize the people in the room who had requested a chance to speak.
And there were a lot of them.
The back and forth went on for over an hour.
“Thank you all for coming and expressing your feelings,” Mark Jasper, the board president, and longtime resident of Autre, finally said. “We will take all of that into consideration and—”
“What are you going todoabout it?” someone shouted.
Mark sighed. Obviously, addressing shouted questions wasn’t how he wanted to conduct the meeting, and up until now, everyone had been good about only speaking when it was their turn and coming to the microphone and respecting the three-minute speaking rule—for the most part—but he probably also knew that if he didn’t acknowledge all the questions now, he’d just be fielding them at the grocery store and gas station and everywhere in between.
“We will review the budget,” Mark said. “As well as the proposal from Mrs. Waterson regarding how much would be needed for the musical. But as has been discussed, to be fiscally responsible—”
“Fuck that!” someone else shouted. “That new scoreboard and the fancy PA system weren’t fiscally responsible!”
“We should build the stageonthe football field,” someone called. “We can use the new bleachers for seating and that new PA system!”
“No way! That would damage the new turf!” one of the football field proponents yelled.
“Oh, how sad for your pretty grass that’s more important than our kids!” another voice called.
“Our team could be state champs!” one of the fathers of a player shouted. “You should all be proud of that!”
“I’m proud that I’ve never once watched this team play!” a voice toward the back yelled.
“Okay!” Mark banged his gavel. “People, we need to settle down!”
“Football isnotmore important than everything else!”
