Page 29 of Working for the Teacher

“I need to talk to you about Ryder Kane.”

“I figured you might.” He sets down his pen, folding his hands on the desk. “I don't think there's much left to discuss.”

“There's plenty left to discuss, because whatever you were told about yesterday isn't what happened. I was there. I was standing right next to him the entire time.”

“That's not what I was told.”

“Then someone is lying. Mason interrupted the class, said some genuinely cruel things to me in front of the other students, and I pulled him into the hallway to talk to him privately. Ryder was working nearby, heard part of it, and stepped in because Mason wasn't listening to me. He talked to him. Calmly. By the end of it Mason apologized to me and went back to class. That's the entire exchange. Nobody threatened anybody.”

“As I said, that's not what I heard.”

“From who?”

“I have several sources.”

“Several sources,” I repeat, because the phrase is so vague it's almost funny. “Can you name one of them?”

“I'm not obligated to disclose that information to you.”

“Convenient.”

“This conversation isn't going to change the outcome, Ms. Hayes. I'd suggest you get to your classroom before the bell rings.”

I want to keep arguing, but I know from experience that nothing productive happens in a conversation with someone who has already decided he's won it.

I turn and walk out, hands curled into fists at my sides. I don't have proof. I don't have anything beyond my own word against whatever version of events Reyes has already decided to believe, and my word clearly isn't worth much to him.

There has to be something. Some way to actually make him listen instead of just tolerating me long enough to get me out of his office.

I almost make it to my classroom when I glance up at the ceiling. There's a small camera mounted in the corner, angled to cover most of the hallway.

I stop cold. The realization lands in my stomach like a stone. This is where the conversation with Mason happened. Somebody has actual footage of that conversation. Actual video, timestamped, showing exactly what happened and exactly what didn't.

Reyes would have access to it. He didn't need several sources. He probably watched the whole thing happen in real time, or pulled the footage the moment the complaint came in, if there even was one, and he knows perfectly well that nothing in that hallway looked like intimidation. He's not confused about what happened. He's choosing to pretend it happened differently, because the version where Ryder threatened a student is the version that lets him get rid of him.

Anger climbs hot and fast up the back of my neck, and I don't even notice the first students filtering past me until one of them says my name twice.

“Ms. Hayes? You okay?”

“I will be. Go in and take your seat, please.”

Later that morning, Mason lingers after the bell.

“Ms. Hayes,” he says, hovering near my desk while the rest of the class files out. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“That guy yesterday. In the hallway. Is he your boyfriend or something?”

The question catches me off guard enough that I laugh before I can stop myself. “That's not something we can talk about, Mason.”

“He's pretty cool, though. For, like, an adult.”

“Yeah, he is.”

Mason nods, apparently satisfied, and turns to leave. That's when the idea hits me.

“Mason, wait.”