“Maybe I should writeLeast Expectations—life lessons from a disappointed young woman,” she thought. “Not a terrible idea.” She tapped the idea into her notes app. It had potential.
During her lunch hour in the faculty lounge, Harper got a text from Libby. The super said it could be several days before the ceiling was fixed, and they were turning off water to the building for a few days.
“Great. That’s just great.” She put her head in her hands and imagined how much dry shampoo she’d have to use to get through the week.
The biology teacher was gnashing and chomping potato chips like an animal. “That sucks.” Brad Tam chewed with his mouth open. Harper wondered if that alone would work with the jury as a reasonable defense during her trial for his murder.
The school’s longtime receptionist poked her head into the room.
“Harper, the headmaster would like to see you.”
“Uh-oh!” Brad Tam spit chip flecks out onto the table.
“I would say you eat like a pig, but pigs are more polite when they chew.”
He threw his empty chips bag at her.
“Lighten up, Miss Adler.”
She glared at him, pushed away from the table, gathered her things into her cloth tote from the Strand bookstore, and headed to her boss’s office.
The headmaster’s door was open, and he was staring across double computer screens. The bookshelves included lots of vacation photos with his wife and three young children. She knocked gently.
“Miss Adler! Please sit.” Phil Swift was in his fifties, losing his graying hair and going a little soft around the middle. He wore thick-framed, trendy eyeglasses and expensive suits befitting a headmaster.
“Please. Call me Harper.”
“All right, I will.” He folded his hands and rested them on his desk.
She put her phone in her bag, crossed her legs under her maxi skirt, and gave him her full attention.
“Harper, we have an issue. Anastasia Baldwin’s parents called today. They’ve filed an official complaint about you. They say you’ve been retaliating against their daughter with undeserved bad grades because you’re jealous of her.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Harper’s face burned red. “Why would I be jealous of a girl who cannot even write a complete sentence!”
“I know she can be a difficult student. But the Baldwins. Well, I don’t need to remind you.”
“Yes, I’m reminded byherevery time I try to give constructive feedback. I know her family built this school, but she doesn’t even try.”
“I understand that, and I hope you understand that once there’s an official complaint, I have to investigate. We must do this by the book.” He double tapped a small stack of papers with his pen.
Harper’s eyes filled with tears, worry welling up inside of her. The Baldwins were best friends of... you guessed it... the Laschers. Word had spread. And they were coming after her.
“Oh no. Please don’t cry. I feel terrible.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that my apartment flooded today, and this is so upsetting.”
“Tell you what. You and I have never really gotten to know each other. How about I take you to dinner this evening to cheer you up, and we can talk about how best to approach working with the students and parents at this school? We can go early. Say, five o’clock at the Grand Central Oyster Bar? Then I can catch a train home. What do you say?”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she said. “I’m sure you’re too busy for that.”
“No, I’d like to. It’s the least I can do for one of our most promising new teachers.”
It was the nicest anyone had been to her all day.
She hesitated a couple of moments, not wanting to be a bother but appreciating the gesture.
“Okay, sure. Yes, that would be nice.”