Page 17 of Kiss Me at Christmas
She let that sink in.
“That’s not fair!” Isabel exclaimed.
“No, it isn’t. That’s why you’re going to help me.” She gave a sweet smile with just a hint of don’t-mess-with-me attitude.
Five mouths dropped open. One or two made a feeble attempt at protest, but she caught their eyes, squinting her own in challenge, and their voices dried up.
“When are we supposed to do it?” asked Billy.
“After school and weekends, I should think. It ought not to take too long; from what I saw the mess was mostly superficial. It’ll be like litter picking but with the benefit of being inside.”
Cue groans and profanity. She didn’t say anything. In her job you chose your battles with care.
“We didn’t do all of it.” Ricco sounded hard done by.
“Yeah, it was already a skank-hole when we found it,” added Isabel.
“I’m sure it was. Butwewere the ones who got caught trespassing.”
They had no answer for that.
“She can’t actually make us do it,” Carly said, smirking.
“No, I can’t. But if you’re not prepared to take responsibility for your actions, then I’m not prepared to keep covering for you.”
“When do we start?” asked Billy, his voice thick.
Her phone vibrated on her desk, and she glanced at the screen.
Unknown number:Ms. Smith, the finalized agreement of which we spoke yesterday is nowready. Please meet my client outside her property, the Winter Theater, at 12:30 p.m. today. Regards, J. Knight
Her first thought wasCripes!Her second wasWill he be there?Quickly followed byCripes!again. The possibility that he might be at today’s meeting had nothing whatever to do with her decision to wear the rust-colored shift dress that suited her skin tone and the lipstick to match. She felt the eyes of her students upon her and quickly scrabbled through her brain to recall what they were talking about.
“As soon as I get the go-ahead, I’ll let you know,” she replied to Billy.
“Can you not tell our parents about this?” Ricco asked. “I mean, I’ll tell them what I’m doing but just not why, if that’s all right. I promised them I’d stay out of trouble, after the last time, and I don’t want them to have anything else to worry about, you know, what with Dad and everything.”
Ricco’s dad had a chronic illness and couldn’t work; he probably wouldn’t work again. His mum worked long hours as a carer. They were good people stuck in a sad situation.
“What about health and safety, miss?” piped up Carly. “Insurance and stuff. From a safety perspective, we might not be able to go into a derelict building.” Clearly Carly was looking for legitimate ways out, which made a refreshing change. Carly did have a point too. She’d ask at the meeting.
“Health and safety didn’t appear to concern you when you broke in repeatedly and spent countless hours in there illegally,” Harriet countered.
Carly shrugged. “Yeah, but that was before—”
“Before you got caught? Or before you realized there would be consequences for your actions?”
“UUURRR!” Ricco laughed. “She’s got you there, Carly.”
Carly turned to him with her eyes squinted. “I’m trying to get us out of having to do free and illegal labor—what are you doing to help?”
“We can’t get out of it,” said Billy flatly. “We were there. We should help to clean the place up.”
“I agree with Billy,” Leo added timidly. “We can’t make Miss Smith do it by herself, not when she took a bullet for us.”
Ricco nodded. “Yeah, we owe her.”
The rest of the group made pained noises of assent, and then the other students began to filter into the common room and the discussion was dropped.
