“Yes, you were, James,” she said. “The bell rang, classes resumed, yet Grace’s car had not returned to its parking spot.”
“That’s because I didn’t park there,” I said, making a mental note to tell my parents about this later. As delightful as it was to go toe-to-toe with Unger, this seemed excessive. Watching me leave for lunch? Waiting for me to return?
I know I wasn’t an angel like my sister, but really?
“Yes, youdidpark there!” Unger went from a five to an eleven. “This morning, you and Everett Adler—”
“We did,” I calmly cut her off, “but after lunch—which I spent withGrace,at herbedside—I realized that it isn’t really my place to park there. We may share a car, but I’m not the student body president. My sister’s special privileges do not extend to me.” I took a breath. “So when I came back from lunch, I parked by the baseball field.”
Principal Unger narrowed her eyes. “By the baseball field?”
I nodded. “You can go and check if you want. The license plate number is—”
“And you were in calculus today?”
“Mm-hmm,” I said cheerily, and stretched to tap her landline. “Ms.Olsen is only a call away….”
Unger glanced at the clock. “Yes, I will definitely be sending her a text on my way out.”
My eyebrows furrowed, because:
Textingdidexist among the faculty?
Unger was on her way out?
I asked. The second question, not the first. Both wereinappropriate, yes, but the second would give me more information.
“That doesn’t concern you, James,” Unger said, rising from her desk and slinging a purse over her shoulder. It had pugs all over it. “It’s my own private, personal business.”
Unger turned off the lights and shuttled me out of her office, but without locking the door. Mrs.Flamporis, bless her vanilla latte–loving heart, wished Unger a wonderful weekend when we passed her desk.
I smirked to myself.
Principal Unger was not only leaving school today, but she was also notreturning.
Interesting.
Interesting, and too good an opportunity to waste.
I gave it twenty minutes. Twenty minutes, long enough for Unger to walk out to her reserved parking spot, unlock and climb into her obnoxious Escalade, start its engine, queue up whatever travesty her Spotify playlist was, only to then remember that she forgot something in her office. Twenty minutes, long enough to return to the office, grab whatever she’d forgotten, and give an encore farewell to her colleagues before she made her exit again and got into her already running car, pressed play on her music, and drove off.
Twenty minutes, yeah.
Mrs.Flamporis laughed when I made my fourth visit.Class was very much in session, but she didn’t ask why I wasn’t in mine. “James!” She put down her nail polish. “Come on, pretty soon you’ll be calling this office home!”
“Funny you should say that,” I said, and gestured to Principal Unger’s office. “I actually left my sweatshirt in Principal Unger’s HQ, and was wondering if I could grab it?”
“Of course,” Mrs.Flamporis said, blowing on her red nails. Hopefully it was only her first coat. I needed all the time I could get. “Go right ahead. I’ve always said the air-conditioning here is too much…”
Luckily, the rest of the outer office was empty. Mr.Cowan was probably in the computer lab, dealing with yet another IT issue, while Vice Principal Navani was out doing whatever it was vice principals did.Evaluating gym classes?I wondered.Any excuse to flirt with Mr.Murphy?
I glanced back to make sure Mrs.Flamporis had refocused on her nails.
Affirmative.
So I silently slipped into Unger’s office. I didn’t flip on the lights or anything, instead dropping to my knees and sneaking over to the filing cabinet. The bottom drawer was locked; Unger had probably given VP Navani the key to return students’ phones after school, but that didn’t deter me. I didn’t need a proper key. One of Grace’s bobby pins would do just as well.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G…,I hummed to myself as I fiddled with the pin, my fingers fumbling only a bit. The lock clicked and popped off when I’d hitX.
