“Sure.” I followed him to an empty corner of the room as the other teachers mingled in small huddles.
“You’re the one who is organizing it this year, right?” he started.
I crossed my arms over my chest as I nodded.
“I think we are going to have to cancel.” His head hung as my jaw dropped.
“What? Why?” I snappishly spit out.
His voice was soft as he explained, “We just don’t have it in the budget right now. We’re all going to have to make sacrifices for the time being.”
“But the parents are all lined up. I have guest speakers coming in, and it isn’t costing the school that much money. I’m right on budget.” I was rambling, and I could feel my entire body getting hot. “The kids are all excited about it. How can we disappoint them like that?”
“I’m sorry. My hands are tied.” He started to fumble with his black silk tie again, and I saw red.
“You can’t do this,” I shouted, my voice louder than I had intended.
“Please keep this between us until I can figure out a way to break the news to everyone. I know you have already worked extremely hard organizing it, and I felt the need to give you a heads-up before an announcement was made.”
“I am not going to stand for this. I am sorry. I know money is tight, but that is no excuse to hinder the education of our children and let the entire school down.” I pulled my purse higher up on my shoulder and stormed away from my new boss. I blew past all of my coworkers who were still clustered around as they whispered to each other and stared at me. I didn’t care if I was causing a scene. If I had spent one more minute talking to Blake about him canceling career day, I might have punched him, and that wouldn’t have been good for anyone.