“Maisy, I do care about you and your future. I want the best for all my students.”
“Then you shouldn’t have messed with Harris and put a black eye on Redwood Prep.”
I exhale to calm myself. “What are you talking about?”
“Do you really not know?”
“Of course not.”
“Redwood Prep’s been around for hundreds of years. We’re the most prestigious academy in the state. We’re in the top ten of the entire country.”
She doesn’t need to tell me. Kids wouldkillto get into Redwood. Futures are made here. Network opportunities. Legacy deals. Practically a red carpet, no—an airplane runway, to success.
I was able to teach here without having a Masters DegreebecauseRedwood Prep was my alma mater. But many of the other teachers needed to qualify with a bunch of certificates and earn a high status in their chosen field just to get their foot in the door.
“If you knew,” Maisy purses her lips, “then why would you embarrass our school like that?”
Shock rattles in my chest. “Maisy…”
“So what if Harris was stealing money? You think anyone here didn’t know?” She thrusts her hand out toward the hallway. “You think anyone here would miss a couple thousand or even a couple million?”
She says that so callously, without blinking. Without even hearing the ramifications of her words.
I’m starting to believe that my view of the students—from Sol to Maisy and even to Zane—was completely skewed. Was it stupid naïveté or optimism that made me so blind?
“A little of both.”
I glance behind Maisy’s head and Sloane is there, sitting at a desk in the front row and chomping on an apple.
“Although I wouldn’t call it being ‘stupid’. Some people always see the worst in the world and complain about everything. But no one calls THEM stupid. So why should you call yourself that?”
“And here you are, running your mouth?” Maisy’s still talking and I tune back in to realize I’d missed a good chunk of whatshe said. “Calling reporters, airing Harris’s dirty laundry, now his suicide?Thataffects us. Who’ll want Redwood Prep students if Redwood Prep no longer stands for being the best of the best?”
“Someone died and that’s all she can think about?”Sloane takes a bite of her apple.“I say you fail her just to spite her.”
“Let me get this straight.” I struggle to clear my head and focus on Maisy’s concerns. “You don’t have a problem with Jinx who has anappexposing all the scandal and gossip that goes on at Redwood Prep, but you’re upset that I called reporters to talk about a crime Harris committed?”
She folds her arms over her chest. “Jinx is entertainment.”
“She has the ear of the school. In fact,severalschools follow her app.”
“They only care about Jinx because of us. It’s not the other way around. Don’t you get it?” Maisy scrunches her nose. “She’s like that servant who brings in lions and slaves to fight in the middle of a colosseum. She’s not the one who kills Caesar. She’s got no teeth. The only power Jinx has is the one we,” Maisy taps her chest, “give her.”
That seems a little arrogant to assume. I’ve seen first-hand how one word from Jinx can ruin a life. Mine in particular.
“The only reason she’s still yapping is because she’s anonymous. If anyone knew who Jinx was,” a hard look enters Maisy’s eyes, “they’d shut her up for good.”
The bell chimes.
Maisy looks down at her watch. “Are we done here? I have trig now.”
I nod.
Without another word, she tosses her designer book bag over her shoulder and stalks out.
“That was harsh.”
“That was Redwood.”
