Page 28 of Kiss Me at Christmas
“I do not appreciate my staff going behind my back,” he said finally.
“I’m sorry?”
“You should be. I had a call from Evaline Winter. She’s on the governing board of the school, did you know that? She holds a lot of influence.”
Harriet did not know that. A queasy wave washedover her. This was what her daughter might describe as a “squeaky bum” moment.
“What did she want?” She kept her voice even, but her brain had declared a code red alert and activated the melodramatic thoughts protocol:Do I get redundancy money if I get the sack? I’ll have to sell my flat to help make ends meet, get another job, what job? What if I can’t get another job? Maybe I could live in a caravan, how much are caravans? I’ll live in a field, forage for food, cook nettle soup, I’d need gloves to deal with the nettles, I’ll need a cauldron, have to learn to make fire. I’ll be like the bird lady inHome Alone 2…bull-phooey, he’s talking…
“To advise me that you are planning to produce a play in the old theater with some of our students, and that you and she had discussed making the space a student ‘community hub.’ ” He made air quotes around the last two words.
That sneaky cow!She was making it impossible for Harriet to back out of their agreement.
“I have to wonder why you felt it necessary to do this in secret,” he continued, barely contained seething in his voice. “She also called the dean. He is delighted. Your endeavors will be charted in the next newsletter. It smacks of an underhandedness that I can only assume was meant to ingratiate yourself to the governing board and perhaps grease your ascent up the career ladder.”
“I can assure you, Sebastian, that nothing could be further from the truth…”
He swiveled so quickly to face her that she wondered if he’d given himself whiplash. “You will not have my job,” he spat.
“I don’t want your job. I don’t even want to be putting on a play; it’s really all a big misunderstanding…”
“How so? Please elucidate.”
Cornell glared at her, his nostrils flaring so wide that she could see the hairs poking out of them like spider legs. His jealousy that—in his mind at least—she had been singled out by Evaline and the dean was so strong that his blood was almost certainly a violent green.
She opened her mouth to speak but realized that there was no way to tell him how she had ended up in this predicament without implicating the famous five or telling him that she had spent Tuesday afternoon at the police station, or that she was being blackmailed by an evil theater crone. She closed her mouth again.
“Fine,” he snapped. “Keep your secrets. But know this.” He leaned forward and pointed at Harriet. “I will be watching you. If your work is affected, if you take time off, if the students involved fall behind with their homework or attendance, if this extracurricular production causes you to shirk your duties or drop the ball even once, I will slap you with a disciplinary before you can sayMacbeth!”
Harriet sat up straight in her chair and met his eyes. “I think you know me well enough to be assured of how seriously I take my responsibilities to the students under my care, Sebastian.Ido not ‘shirk,’ and I certainly have no intention of dropping the ball on anything.”
Even as she said the words, she wondered how she was going to keep her many balls airborne. Half the emails she dealt with daily were forwarded on from Cornell, who seemed to think that correspondence was beneath him, and she had no doubt that he would make her life even harder now.
Cornell sat back in his chair.
“It wouldn’t be the first time you gave up, couldn’t cope.”
It was a low blow, but she had grown used to themfrom him. Everyone—including Cornell—knew that had she not changed jobs from the English department to pastoral care, she would have been head of the English department by now instead of him. Undermining her was how he eased his discomfort at being second choice. Hiding inside his large skeleton was a small, frightened man with a porcelain ego.
“We both know that isn’t what happened. I expected better from you.” She didn’t, but it sounded good.
“How dare you!”
“If we are done here, I have work to do, as you well know, since most of it is yours.”
She left Cornell in his office, his mouth flapping with outrage, but her triumph was short-lived, as the reality of her situation bolted itself to her shoulders like a concrete cape. Outside forces were backing her into corners.
She checked her phone as she rushed to make her tutorial meeting with her Year 13s. She had three messages from Ali:
What did Cornell want? Tell me everything!!
Do you need me to take your tutorial?
Would you like the good news or the bad news?
“For flap’s sake!” she muttered, hitting dial as her office came into view. “Hey, what’s up? Give me the bad news first.”
“The famous five have gone AWOL again. They must have left straight after break.”
