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“Nah. I’ve had boyfriends before. Some of the parents get their noses out of joint about a queer teacher, but the school and the district have my back.”
“Good. Because word will get around.”
“Oh, I know.” I grimaced. “Monday is definitely going to be… interesting.”
It would. It absolutely would.
But the way Tanner was smiling at me right then?
Yeah, whatever came would be a hundred percent worth it.
I was right—Mondaymorning wasdefinitelyinteresting.
The teachers’ lounge went quiet the instant I stepped through the door, all eyes shifting to me. I halted and watched everyone suspiciously. “What?”
It was Jill, one of the P.E. teachers, who spoke up first. “You’ve been dating Tanner Jeffries and you didn’t say anything?” She fanned herself. “Pleasetell me you’re going to bring him to the end-of-the-year barbecue. Because I’ve been good all year and I deserve a chance to ogle a hockey player in person.”
I laughed, coming fully into the room so I could get some coffee. “Uh. We’ll see.”
I caught Darren’s eye, and he just chuckled before sipping his own coffee. I had to wonder if the rest of the faculty had discovered the article about me and Tanner—because yes, there was an article—organically, or if he’d come in and said, “Have you seen this?”
Eh. I couldn’t be mad at him. I was hardly embarrassed about my relationship with Tanner; there were definitely worse things people could gossip about. This was a million times better than when everyone had fallen silent whenever I’d walk into a room, shooting me looks full of pity and making stilted small talk with me as if I might not notice the awkwardness. Because the aftermath of breaking off my engagement to Keith hadn’t already been miserable enough. Ugh.
So, yeah, if people wanted to chatter and gossip about me dating Tanner—bring it.
Then Principal West walked in, and the pointed look she shot me had everyone scattering with murmurs of “I should get to class” and “I need to make some copies.”
Great. She was a tough but fair principal, and she was generally easy to get along with.
But she didnotlike surprises. Especially not surprises that could become PR issues for the school or the district.
She poured herself some coffee, then faced me. “So. You’re in a relationship with—” She hesitated, furrowing her brow. “One of the Yellow Jackets.”
“I am, yeah. With Tanner Jeffries.”
“I see.” She sipped her coffee, and she was silent for a moment. “It would have been nice to have a heads-up before this went public.” She pushed out a breath through her nose. “But I suppose it is still your private life, even if it’s in a very public sphere.”
“Well, I would’ve said something, but it was kind of spontaneous. We didn’t actually plan to come out that night.”
She pursed her lips. I thought she was going to tear into me, but to my surprise, she just sighed again. “If this had been fifteen or twenty years ago, I’d be more concerned. But you’re out as gay, and there’s nothing scandalous about Mr. Jeffries besides him being a public figure.”
I tilted my head. “You’ve done some digging?”
She shrugged unapologetically. “I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t. I have to be on top of these things in case parents or the schoolboard decide they have an opinion about it. The last thing any of us needs is to find out that your high-profile boyfriend has some kind of record.”
Okay, she wasn’t wrong about that. A teacher at one of the elementary schools caused an enormous stir last year when she married a man with a DUI conviction on his record. It happened several years ago, and he’d made restitution and stayed sober ever since, but the way some of the parents had freaked out, you’d have thought the man was a sex offender or something. I got it—people wanted to protect their kids—but sometimes the reactions could get way over the top and out of control.
A gay teacher’s celebrity boyfriend having something interesting on his record? Oh, yeah,thatwould ruffle some feathers.
Good thing no one knows about his—or my—burner account.
That thought almost made me visibly shudder, and I just quietly thanked Principal West for being diligent but relatively chill. Then I headed out of the teachers’ lounge toward my classroom.
And speaking of causing a stir…
“Heeey, Mr. Cole!” someone called out as I stepped into the classroom. “Are you really with Tanner Jeffries?”
“What’s he like?”
