I stare at her blankly. “Video?”
She lifts an eyebrow. “On Brookline’s Instagram?”
“I don’t have Instagram.” After Troy’s affair became public knowledge, I started getting messages of sympathy from acquaintances I barely knew. Most were just fishing for gossip, and I finally shut it down by deleting the app altogether.
Carole’s eyebrow lifts a little more, and she pulls an iPhone out of her skirt pocket. “Our student council runs an account. They mostly post about fundraisers and our sports teams, but last week someone posted a video from your class. I’m sorry, I thought you knew about it.”
She taps her screen to start the video, then hands me her phone. And there I am, telling Kaitlin I wouldn’t have a job if I hadn’t learned calculus. I guess I should be thankful that the filmmaker didn’t catch the beginning of the speech, when I told everyone about my ex-husband’s affair. It’s still painful to watch, though, and I cringe when I hear myself say that maybe the point of math is just to stretch your brain.
I open my mouth to apologize to Carole, then pause and close it again. When it comes down to it, I’m not guilty of much. I didn’t know someone was taking a video, and Isure as hell didn’t consent to it being posted to Instagram. And in terms of the rant itself . . . I didn’t say anything worse than shut up.
And I remember Luke’s reply, when I was worried Vanessa would complain.If you’d said shut the fuck up, bitch, she might have a case, but . . .
In spite of everything, my lips quirk into a smile. I’m not going to apologize, and if Carole wants to fire me, so be it. It might not be easy, but I’ll find a new job. Maybe I’ll freelance as a high school math tutor, or dust off my computer skills and start a website design business. The idea doesn’t seem nearly as daunting as it did a few weeks ago.
I look up to see Carole studying me intently. “Before this video, our most popular post had a hundred and ninety-eight likes,” she remarks.
I glance back at her phone and realize that my video has more than thirty thousand likes. There are over two thousand comments, too, and I spend a minute scrolling through them. There are some trolls, of course, but most of the comments are positive. A lot are from other female teachers, especially those who teach STEM subjects. Commenters have added tags like#teacherrant, #stretchyourbrain, #womeninSTEMand, oddly enough,#hotlibrarian.
I glance back at Carole, wondering what she thinks of thehotlibrarianhashtag.
“I take it you didn’t know someone was recording,” Carole says.
“No.” I wonder who shot the video; probably not Vanessa, since I’d have noticed if she had her phone out. She’s probably responsible for posting it, though, no doubt in the hope of humiliating me.
“If you give me the password to the account, I’ll takethe video down,” I offer. I’m a bit surprised that Carole hasn’t deleted it already.
“Well,” Carole says thoughtfully. “If you’d like it taken down, I can do that, of course. But I wondered what you would think about leaving it up.”
“Leaving it up?” I repeat.
The ghost of a smile crosses Carole’s lips. “I think it’s inspiring, and a lot of people seem to agree. In the past forty-eight hours, we’ve had over fifty parents inquire about enrolling their daughters for next year.”
“Wow.”Iguess I’m not getting fired today. “Yeah, I’m okay if you want to leave it up.”
“Thank you,” Carole says. “We’ve also had a number of people ask for your name and contact information. Parents interested in a tutor for their kids, as well as some other private school principals. Probably looking to poach you for their schools.”
Poach me?“I don’t even have a teaching degree,” I say numbly.
Carole shrugs, as though a degree is a relatively insignificant detail. “I haven’t given out your name yet, but if you’d like me to, I will. Of course, I’m hoping you’ll stay at Brookline.”
I realize I’m gaping at her, and I make a conscious effort to shut my mouth. “But my contract was only for a year.”
“I wanted to talk to you about that,” Carole says. “I’ve received very positive feedback about your teaching.”
My surprise must show on my face, because she smiles. “I know the senior students pretty well by now,” she explains. “There are a couple I talk to, just informally, when I want to know what’s going on. They say your lessons are clear and organized, and they like you.”
I’d thought I was doing an okay job, but this is higher praise than I expected. “Thank you.”
“The teacher you’re covering for is only coming back part time next year,” Carole continues. “So I was planning to offer you a permanent contract. We’d want you to work toward a teaching degree, of course, but there are a number of colleges that offer it online. You could continue to teach two classes and do it part time.”
“Oh . . . uh . . .” I stall for time, because it’s too much to process all at once. I never thought teaching would be a long-term thing, but maybe . . . Liam will be in kindergarten full days next year, so it might be possible.
“You don’t have to decide today,” Carole tells me. “But think about it, Melissa. The work you’re doing here could probably count toward your practicum, and we’d be prepared to cover part of the tuition for Teachers’ College.”
“That’s very generous.”
“We’d like to keep you here,” she says, standing to leave. “The students are probably wondering what’s going on in here, so I should let you start your next class.”
