Page 80 of Between the Lines

My brows pinch together.

“I’m not quite following,” I say, steepling my fingers together. “I am not in charge of the substitute agency.”

“Yeah, but we have end-of-semester testing, and I need a proctor. He said something about one of our long terms filling in. You know, that sweet little blonde thing?”

Joe pumps his brows up and down, and I consider stretching across my desk and gripping his throat until he turns purple.

“If you’re speaking of Ms. Benson, you’d better watch your tone, Mr. Petersen. She’s an employee in this building—ahuman beingat that—and you will treat her with respect.”

“Oh, hoh!” he guffaws, slapping his thigh. “Seems like I struck a nerve.”

I tense, the vein in my forehead straining further as amusement sparkles in Joe’s eyes.

“Anyway. We need someone who can proctor testing. Don said she’s still floating in between placements, so I just need you to get her through training, and we’ll be all set. From the looks of it, you’ll have no problem having some one-on-one time to teach her the ropes.”

I’m torn. On the one hand, I have a reason to see her. To talk to her. One that requires me to remain professional. On the other,ifIwrap my hand around Joe’s throat after that comment, I will probably lose my job.

“I will get Ms. Benson set up to proctor your class while you’re out.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will. Enjoy yourself with that, Nate.”

Joe guffaws, and that is the final straw. I push up from the desk and point my finger in his direction.

“I will not ask you again, Mr. Petersen. The insinuations about other staff members end now before I take this up with HR and file a formal report.”

He scoffs, like he’s calling me on my bluff, then shakes his head and walks out without another word.

God. Have I just made things worse?

I don’t get the time to reflect. I’m the administrator on duty for an annual IEP meeting. I enter the conference room where I find the student’s team of teachers chatting and laughing while awaiting the arrival of the parents.

“…can’t believe she’s finally doing it. Oh, hey Nate! How’s it going, my man?”

Aaron turns to me with a smile and extends a hand, to which I go in to shake. Instead, he claps his against mine, and then attempts some slick handshake that I completely fumble.

Be a normal teenager indeed.

I clear my throat, take a seat, and nod at the rest of the sixth grade team, keeping to myself as I ready my paperwork and pens in front of me. Without meaning to, I overhear the rest of Aaron’s conversation.

“She’s officially moving out?” Drake asks.

“Yeah, she had it out with her parents last night. Lucy and I are going to help her and Penelope with the move.”

My heart rate triples, and my cheeks inflame. My body goes rigid as I piece together the rest of the conversation.

“Who are you talking about?” I ask.

“Claire,” Aaron says with a curt nod. A mix of pride and sadnessring his eyes. “Benson. She uh, she’s moving in with Penelope this afternoon. I’m happy for her!”

“Yeah, good for her,” Drake adds.

My slew of questions lie in wait behind my teeth, because the parents of the sixth grader show up right on time for the meeting. My role in these meetings is twofold: I’m here so that Don doesn’t have to be, and because legally, the team needs an administrator present. I do little more than introduce myself—Nathan Harding, assistant principal—and let the special education teacher do her job. I wish I could say I handled myself professionally, but after those four words, I shut down on the outside.

Claire stood up to her parents. Claire is moving out. Claire ismoving in with Penelope Barker tonight.

Despite all of my attempts to push her from my mind for the betterment of us both, I am now sick with worry. Sick in wonder about how she is.

I wish these meetings were shorter, because the urge to go to her now, to check in and make sure she’s doing okay, to ask how the conversation went with her parents, to askwhyshe’s moving in with Penelope—was it her choice to move out, or did her parents displace her? Because if that’s the case, I’m going to be hot for a whole other slew of reasons—and to simply be there for her like she was for me have overtaken. I am trapped in a spider web of my own unanswered questions.

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