Cooper’s mouth dropped open, then quickly snapped shut. “I was just joking. I didn’t really make a classified ad.” He swallowed uncomfortably and straightened. “When did you get here?”
Her hands went in the air. “You’re not even sorry about this. My boss had to call someone to cover for me. Are you trying to get me fired? Is this all a joke to you?”
During Ms. Nash’s tirade, my father strode into the lobby. He wore a suit and tie, which meant he’d been meeting with clients. He always looked commanding when he entered a room, a person who naturally took charge of a situation. Despite the trouble I was in, I felt relieved to see him.
He shot me a look brimming with disapproval, and I became a little less relieved.
“This has got to end,” Cooper’s mother went on. “If you get expelled, you’ll be kicked off the football team and lose any chance of a scholarship. Did you stop to think about that before you went hauling convertibles around the school grounds?Did you even once consider that legal charges could be brought against you?”
My father’s gaze slid to Ms. Nash, and his eyes widened. “Nicole?”
Her attention snapped to him, but instead of recognition, only confusion creased her brows. “Yes?”
He straightened his shoulders. “Tate Seibold. I’m in your spin class at the gym.”
They knew each other?
“Oh ...” Still no recognition on her part. She was trying to place him.
He gave her a meaningful look. “We’ve talked after class a few times. I suggested once that we go out to lunch sometime...”
The recognition hit her. “Tate.” Her eyes flicked over him again, pleased with what she saw. “I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you in a suit. You’re usually wearing shorts and a tank top.”
My father wore a tank top to the gym? That was not something a forty-eight-year-old man should be doing.
“You look really ...” She was about to say good. The word was already there in her tone. “Professional,” she said.
Oh, shemeantgood. Dad’s gym clothes may have been tacky, but his suits were tailor-made.
I glanced at Cooper. He seemed equally horrified by this turn of events. My father knew Cooper’s mother. He’d actually asked her out, and I could only be grateful that she’d turned him down.
The expression on her face, however, said she was reconsidering.
After staring at each other with stupid smiles plastered on their faces, my father remembered where he was. “I doubt theschool will expel your son. If they did, they’d have to expel all the students involved, and no one would be happy about that.”
Meaning, the football team pulled serious weight at school and everyone knew it.
Dad shot me another look of disappointment—in case I’d missed the first one. “We won’t press charges. I’m well aware that Madeline shares the blame for this. She’s far too impulsive sometimes.”
No, I wasn’t. Was I? I slunk down in my seat.
“Kids,” he continued with an unspoken sigh. “What can you do? They don’t think about consequences before they act.”
“Exactly,” Ms. Nash agreed, as though the two of them were alone instead of standing in front of said children. “They think pranks are funny and don’t know when to stop.”
My father thrust his hands into his pockets. “I apologize for anything Madeline has done. I should have been on top of what was happening, but as a single parent, well ...” He shrugged and pressed his lips together like it was a painful subject. “My attention is often split more ways than I’d like.”
Granted, my dad worked long hours, but why was he apologizing for me? I’d only been standing up for myself.
Ms. Nash nodded. “I know what you mean. Being a single parent is twice the work and twice the worry.”
They went back to gazing at each other like this was some meet-cute from a romance novel, and both of them were in this together—two overworked single parents against their ungrateful children.
Mrs. Tsuru strode into the lobby, her expression all sternness and impending judgment. “Mr. Seibold, Ms. Nash, if you’d come with me, I’d like to speak to you before I bring your children into my office.”
Our parents followed after her without a backward glance. I couldn’t help but notice that Ms. Nash had a spring to her step and that she smoothed a hand over her hair.
Cooper stared down the hallway until they disappeared. “What was that?”
