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“Someone’s in trouble…”
“What did you do?”
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m so amazing that I’m making all the other teachers look bad?”
Dawson Woods, the assistant football coach and physical education teacher—not to mention Evan Moore’s boyfriend—grinned. “I wouldn’t take that bet.”
“Smart man,” English teacher Maisie Jackson said with a smirk.
Dawson tapped his temple and winked. “Not all jocks are dumb.”
Maisie gestured to my lunch. “Want me to take this to your classroom on my way back?”
Her classroom was across the hall from mine, and she was determined to be my friend no matter how standoffish I tended to be.
I glanced at the time on the clock, sighed, and nodded. Unless this was the speediest chat ever—and chats with Principal Simmons never were—I’d be lucky to get back to class with enough time to scarf a few bites.
“Thanks, Mais.”
She winked. “Anytime, but you’ll have to repay me with tacos and tequila.”
After my experience in Omaha, I didn’t want to get too close to my colleagues. Maisie wasn’t really like my last teacher friend, Alexa—not with her exuberant personality, stylish clothes, and impressive Afro—but grading dates and whispered jokes during faculty meetings hit a little too close to home. I didn’t want to remember my friendship with Alexa or what had become of it.
So I headed for the office without acknowledging Maisie’s teasing request to have dinner.
“You wanted to see me?” I asked when I arrived at Principal Simmons’s open doorway.
She waved me in, already looking distracted. She’d been promoted from vice principal when Ned Stevens retired last year, and she took her job as seriously as I took mine. Unfortunately, our visions didn’t always align. Last year, she’d been skeptical when I wanted to launch my after-school mentorship program. Not because she was against mentoring kids—who would be?—but because I wanted the focus to be on community outreach and not academics. Ellen Simmons was all about elevating Granville High—she just couldn’t see that character-building was as important as study skills.
“How are you doing today, sweetie?”
Uh-oh.That kind of opening meant I wasn’t going to like what was coming.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ve got my next class starting soon.”
She nodded. “Right, right. But it’s important to check in with each other. You’re just doing amazing work for this school, Clark. I hope you know how impressed I’ve been.”
“Thank you…”
“I had my doubts about your GrasshopPeers program, but I have to admit, it went over great with the kids, the parents, and the community, so…well done.”
I nodded. “So how bad is the news you’re about to give me?”
She laughed. “Not that bad. But sheesh, Clark, you’re so cynical.”
I smiled tightly and she relented.
“All right, yes, you probably won’t like this. I’ve gotten two requests from elementary teachers who have heard about your mentorship program. They have a couple of kids in need of some extra help.”
“It’s a little late,” I said hesitantly. “The semester has already started, and I can really only manage so many kids with these projects we do.”
“Yeah, the timing isn’t great, but you won’t have to worry about the project, at least. These two kids need academic mentorship.”
“And by that you mean help with their schoolwork?”
“Yes. They need a little extra attention, perhaps some help catching up on the material and learning good study skills.”
“You know that’s not the point of my program.”
