Page 54 of Exactly What I Needed
“Let’s get drunk tonight. Pregame my birthday,” I blurted out, ready to drown myself in alcohol and forget everything for just a bit at least.
“What?” she gasped.
“I’m being serious. Your parents and my parents go out for the evening, and we get drunk.”
“Oh, my gosh! Yes!” She squealed. “I’ll set everything up and call the girls!”
“Perfect. I’ve already packed a bag to stay the night at your parents, so I’ll leave right after the district meeting.”
“I still can’t believe you want to get drunk and party before your actual party! Okay, I love you! I’ll see you this evening!” And she hung up the phone without another word. I slumped forward, no longer interested in my food. Nothing sounded good at this moment, nothing felt delicious. I wasn’t hungry at all anymore. Pushing the container away, I leaned back in my chair as my phone buzzed again.
This time, I stared in annoyance at my screen. Danny had texted me.
Your parents and I are here! So excited for your birthday tomorrow.
My parents and him? Seriously? He’s making it seem like this was completely acceptable. At least when my dad texted me next, all it said was that he and my mom were excited to see me later. Nothing about being there with Danny. Nothing about Danny at all.
I shook my head, placing my phone screen down on my desk. I was exhausted and done. Already entirely done, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was still at work, I would’ve broken my own rule concerning alcohol and already started drowning myself in my sorrows.
Everything was a mess. One I’d created. If I could at least make it through the meeting, then I’d be able to forget the implosion that I’d caused. That’s all I needed was to make it a few more hours, and I couldbecome mindlessly drunk for the first time in my life. It was my turn to not be the designated driver, the sober friend. I’d already fucked things up enough by letting myself fall in too deeply with Asher, what’s one more screw up?
Shaking my head subtly, I doodled on the meeting’s schedule. They were talking nonsense that could’ve been emailed, like usual, and I was already checked out. We hadn’t even made it to the reason we were here in the first place yet, and even Elysia was bored sitting beside me. She too leaned against the table, her chin in her hands.
“How much longer do you think this is going to be?” she muttered in my ear, and I shrugged my shoulders.
“They haven’t even gotten to the topic of the concert, so who knows,” I whispered in return, and she groaned quietly. Luckily, we were near the back of the room at the district building, so the superintendent hadn’t noticed us.
However, as I scanned the filled room, teachers tucked into every corner, I couldn’t help but realize that we were not the only ones checked out, and I feared that his ignorance of it all would disappear soon.
And I was right. Within five minutes of my observation, he stopped talking and crossed his arms. “Since almost nobody is paying attention, I already gave each principal instructions for how to handle next Friday. Find what room your school has been assigned to and please meet them there.”
My mouth fell open.
“What was the point of us being here if he wasn’t even going to be the one to address the schedule change for next week?” Elysia gasped beside me. I shook my head.
“No freaking clue,” I grumbled. We both rose from our seats and waded through the crowd out into the jam-packed hallway. Following signs, we eventually found ourselves in a smaller room that reminded me of some of the classrooms I’d sat in back in college.
There were no large tables, only chairs with small desks that flipped up and down on one side. Each row sat a little higher than the one in front of it so you could easily see the whiteboard. Our principal stood at the head of the room, waiting patiently as we all slid into separate seats. Muffled voices filled the room while he sifted through a few papers, running his hand over his thinning, gray hair.
He glanced up from the papers as we all quieted down and then tugged at his coffee leather belt that held up his khaki slacks. Walking to the center of the room, he smiled apologetically.
“If I’d known that you weren’t needed at the first part of the meeting, I would’ve simply said to meet me here. But I only learned about it five minutes before the superintendent began. Anyway, I’ve got a few things to go over before we discuss the topic that everyone is here for.” He went over our usual meeting topics concerning safety and reports and budgets as well as upcoming field trip dates and whatnot.
Then the juicy topic began. “So, believe it or not, the superintendent has decided to leave it mostly up to each individual principal on how we handle next Friday. I’d like to hear your thoughts because I don’t quite understand this obsession with Void.”
“I don’t get it either,” one of the older science teachers grumbled. The head of our music department stood up, her mouth hanging open.
“Oh, the ignorance. These students have all come together and found common ground in a single band. They have powerful lyrics and captivating voices and—”
“And feed into getting sexualized by their fans. Maggie, I’ve seen some of the videos on social media,” he interrupted, and I chuckled quietly.
Elysia furrowed her brows and glanced toward me.
“It’s art, Hubert. Art!” the music teacher continued. “My students and I have spent the past couple weeks dissecting some of their songs. It’s poetic, and it’s not their fault that some crazy fans decide to post videos like that.”
I snorted again.
“In my opinion, that still doesn’t justify cutting a day in half. We have to make it up some other time, and everyone is okay with simply letting it happen?” he grumbled, and a few mumbled agreements filtered into the air.
