“Then there’s Autumn. She’s sharp and already bored.”
Christin laughs. “I love it. She sounds just like you.”
“The kids are irritated that summer’s over, but curious. It should be a good year.”
Emery leans closer to her camera. “Okay, then why do you look like someone announced you lost your classroom funding?”
I brace before admitting, “Mark Espias is in town.”
All three of them react at once.
“Hell to the no!” Emery shouts.
“Why is he breathing your air space?” Maya snarls.
Christin just raises an eyebrow. “And?”
“I shut him down less than politely. Then he insinuated ‘college people’ were asking about me.”
Christin’s voice is lethal. “I’ll destroy him. Give me five minutes.”
Maya groans. “Don’t go to jail, Chris.”
“I won’t. Plus, I’m insulted you’d think I might.”
Emery growls. “You don’t owe anyone from that time access to you.”
“I know.”
Gradually, our call shifts back to stories about students, to laughter, and Maya’s obsession watching her man cook. I feel every ounce of tension that slipped inside of me from the moment I ran into Mark ease every time I laugh.
After we disconnect, I smile. This is my life now. Students who challenge me. Friends who protect me. A town that knows me for who I am, not who someone tried to make me into.
And nothing—not Mark, nor memories from a former life—will penetrate the heart I worked this hard to rebuild.
I had no choice when I decided to move back to Willow Creek. Despite it being where I grew up, it became obvious it was the only place I could defend myself as well as reach my goals.
It was the only place I could finish what I started after the scandal.
Still, I can’t say I haven’t been happy. People don’t treat me like the cautionary tale of a teacher gone wrong. Nor do theybring up my exploits when I was a student here, myself. But I did have to defend myself before the school board even though I knew I hadn’t done a thing wrong.
After all, I had proof.
I openly addressed the rumors. I didn’t walk into the school board meeting begging to be believed. I walked in with timestamps. IP logs. Forensic confirmation. In addition to Christin’s photography professor documenting that it was obvious from the angle of the photo, it had been taken without my consent, the girls got my former college roommate—Aio—involved since her work-study program was in the computer lab. She determined my school account had been accessed from locations inconsistent with my activity for the previous two months—namely, the Delta Phi house.
I presented all of this evidence, including statements from my girls who had been with me at the time the photo was supposedly posted to DormLust.com.
The school board unanimously decided not only could I finish my teaching requirements but if I did so successfully, they were prepared to offer me a job.
I refused to waste a second of this gift. I devoted myself to work. During the day, my mentor showed me how to manage a classroom without raising my voice, how to hold space for questions without letting anyone derail me. At night, I studied to get my masters degree so I could qualify to hold different positions at higher education levels.
While I always thought becoming a math teacher was something I’d do because I was good at numbers, it became a calling. After all, it’s one of the few languages taught that can’t be interpreted by nuance. Equations either balance or they don’t. A solution is correct or it’s wrong.
Also, there’s no pain in numbers.
Despite the girls urging me to release the proof they’d collected, I wanted nothing else to do with Oklahoma Plains University. I didn’t want vindication. I wanted a life that didn’t require defending.
In Willow Creek, I found it. I’m now the youngest STEM teacher in county history. There are days I wonder if I would be the same teacher I am today had Brennan not destroyed me?
