Chapter 27

TWENTY-SEVEN

The Monday after a long break is always bittersweet. I’m excited to see my students, but it’s hard to get back into the groove after having two and a half weeks off, especially when I spent at least a week of that time catching up on grading. But there’s always a little anxiety about how hard it will be to get back into school mode—for both me and my students.

Except today, most of my anxiety is about talking to my principal and finally telling her about my pregnancy. I’ve been getting looks all morning since there’s no way this dress hides my bump well. I’m grateful I was able to keep it under wraps for so long so Ty and I would have some time together to figure things out, but I’ve put this off long enough.Truthfully, I don’t want to hide it anymore, even if my bump wasn’t noticeable. I’m proud of my relationship with Ty, and I’m so excited to meet our baby girl.

Mrs. O’Dell’s office door opens and she steps out with a huge smile. “Hey Lexi, come on in.”

She moves around her desk as I shut the door behind me. “How was your break?”

“It was good. Ended too soon,” I say with a weak grin, my nerves getting the best of me as I take a seat across from her.

She laughs. “Doesn’t it always. But it’s nice to get back into the routine of things.”

“Definitely.”

“So, what’s up?”

I scrape a fingernail over my thumbnail in my lap, trying to quell my nerves. “Well, I have an announcement.”

Her face freezes. “You’re not quitting, are you?”

“No! No, I’m not quitting, but I will need to take some leave time at the end of the year.” She arches a brow, and I take a deep breath. “I’m pregnant. Due in May. I plan to work as long as I can until the baby comes, but then I’ll be taking maternity leave for the remainder of the year.”

Her face still seems frozen as she stares at me then down at my stomach. “You’re pregnant?”

I can’t help the smile that spreads as I say, “Yes.” My hand rests on my belly where I’ve been feeling her kick for over a week now. It’s surreal, but also incredible.Just touching my belly seems to calm my nerves.

“I didn’t realize you were—” She cuts off the rest of her sentence, and my smile fades.

“I’m what?”

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t expect this from you, Lexi. You’re not married or engaged last I heard. Your students look to you as a role model, and what kind of message does it send when you get pregnant without being in a serious relationship?”

She delivers her words as if she’s just a concerned friend instead of the thinly veiled insult it really is. My stomach knots as I stare at her desk, not even able to look at her as I process her words.

I knew I might get some looks, especially from a few of our more judgmental teachers, but I didn’t expect it from Mrs. O’Dell.

When I finally look up at her, she’s staring at my stomach, her lip slightly curled in distaste. She catches me watching her and replaces it with a smile that never felt fake before, but now I see it for exactly what it is.

“Is the father in the picture at all?” Her tone once again takes on that caring inflection which now feels like total bullshit.

I have to swallow around the lump in my throat. “Y-yes.” I don’t want to tell her it’s Ty, not because I’m embarrassed, but because now I’m questioning if she can be trusted with that kind of information or if she’d be the first person to run to the press.

She sits back in her chair, relief crossing her face. “Well, that’s something at least.”

I’m so stunned, I can’t even speak.

As if she has no idea the way her condescending attitude has impacted me, she continues, “I’ll need you to prepare a statement for me to approve before you tell your students. I want to ensure we don’t get any angry parent phone calls.”

“Angry parents?”

She looks at me like it should be obvious and she’s disappointed it’s not. “Well, obviously, many will be uncomfortable with their child’s teacher having a child in this way.”

I look around the room for a second just to make sure I didn’t experience a time warp when I walked in here. Nope. It’s definitely not 1950.

It hits me then that I don’t have to sit here and take this. So, I don’t. I stand from the chair and move to the door without a backward glance.

“Lexi,” she calls behind me, “where are you going?”

I don’t turn back as I respond, “Back to my classroom. I have work to do, and I’m not wasting my entire planning period being treated this way.”

I walk out of the office and down the empty halls, but instead of going to my room, I head to Blaire’s. We have the same planning period, so I know she’ll be free.

She glances up when I open the door, and as soon as she sees my expression, her eyes darken and she stands from her desk. “What did she say to you?”

I shake my head and realize I’m trembling, like a low-level vibration going through my entire body.

Blaire comes over and moves me until I’m sitting in her chair while she perches on the edge of her desk. She hands me a spare water bottle she pulls out of the mini fridge on the floor against the wall.

“What happened?” she asks after I’ve taken a sip.

“She basically scolded me.” I recount the whole interaction, and by the time I’m done, Blaire’s rage-pacing back and forth in front of her desk.

“So, just to recap to make sure I’m understanding this correctly, she basically, in so many words, suggested you were a slut and your students and their parents would judge you.”

“She didn’t call me a slut.”

She shoots me a look. “Please, that holier-than-thou attitude? The comment about whether or not the dad was in the picture? I bet she’d eat her words faster than she could blink if she knew the dad was Tyler Russell. She practically tripped all over herself when those guys were here.”

“She wants me to prepare a statement.”

Blaire’s eyes bug out. “She what?” She seethes, and for a second I think she’s going to stomp down to the office and raise hell, but instead she sits in one of her student desks and puts her head in her hands. When she looks up at me, her shoulders have sagged. “Lexi, this is completely unacceptable. This is the twenty-first century for fuck’s sake.”

“I know.” I’m not shaking anymore, but a feeling of dread mixed with exhaustion pools in my stomach.

“What are you going to do?”

“Write the statement.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“What can it hurt?”

She stands up as if she can’t sit still because she’s so enraged on my behalf. “Because it’s none of her damn business! It’s literally no one’s business but yours and Ty’s. They don’t have a right to an explanation. All they need to know is you’re pregnant and will be taking the rest of the year off once the baby comes. That’s it.”

I let out a heavy sigh. “Maybe if I’d gotten pregnant with any other guy that might be true. But Ty is a public figure. The press will be all over this, and nothing will be private after that.”

Her face pales as if she hadn’t processed that. “Shit,” she mutters.

“Yep.”

“You should talk to the union rep. There’s no way what she said to you is appropriate. I can understand you wanting to write some kind of statement because of Ty’s job, but I don’t think she has the right to demand that of you. She wouldn’t ask that of anyone else.”

“I’m not going to get the union involved. At least not right now. I’ll write the statement and be done with it.”

Then she perks up, and her smile grows wicked. “You should have Ty hire a fancy PR person to write up the statement you’ll use for the press and use that for O’Dell and your students. The kids will just be excited about Ty being involved. They’re not going to care how it happened. If their parents want to be judgy assholes about someone else’s life, that’s for them and hopefully their therapist to work through. That’s not your responsibility. And O’Dell can go fuck herself.”

I laugh. “I’d pay money to watch you say that to her face.”

She points a finger at me. “Don’t tempt me. No one gets to make my best friend feel like shit and get away with it.” Her expression softens. “I’m serious, Lexi. You did not deserve this treatment. You know that, right?”

I nibble my lip and then nod. I know I don’t deserve it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t expect some form of this treatment. Maybe it’s because of my upbringing or because so many people have let me down, but it’s often easier to expect the worst than to be blindsided. If anything, it’s a testament to how much hope Ty’s brought to my life that I wasn’t prepared for O’Dell’s response.

By the end of the school day, my mental exhaustion and physical exhaustion are competing to make me feel like I’ve been hit by a bus, but I can’t leave until after our staff meeting. I grab a snack and meet Blaire outside my door so we can walk to the auditorium together. We’re two of the last ones to get in and get settled in our seats. Blaire elbows me, and when I look at her, she nods her head to the front corner where O’Dell is talking to one of the assistant principals, Melanie Peters. Right as I look at them, they both look away, and that knot in my stomach that O’Dell put there earlier today tightens.

“They keep staring at you,” Blaire whispers. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

I don’t either, but O’Dell wouldn’t do anything since I haven’t had time to prepare the statement she wants. Or at least I hope that’s the case.

But not ten minutes later, I’m reminded why hope has always let me down. O’Dell starts our staff meeting as usual with announcements. She shares that the head custodian is retiring at the end of the year and reminds us that the sub shortage is a problem and to always leave lesson plans on our desk and have emergency plans drafted just in case a fellow teacher has to cover us. And then she dashes all my hope when she says, “And one of our own is expecting. Lexi Kemper is pregnant and due in May. She’ll be out the remainder of the year once she delivers, so we’ll let you know once we have a long-term sub set up.”

Everyone turns to face me, and the usual suspects shoot me dirty looks—the same ones I definitely expected that behavior from. I get several smiles from other teachers, some indifferent looks, and then some questioning.

“I hate her,” Blaire mumbles, her glare pointed directly at O’Dell. “That was completely unnecessary and something she should’ve cleared with you first.”

“Agreed, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

“I still think you should get the union rep involved.”

Maybe she’s right, but I’d rather not. I have nothing against our union rep, but I’m conflict-averse, and it feels like getting the union involved will only make this a bigger deal than it already is.

By the time the hour-long staff meeting is over, I’m beyond done with this day. Not even the idea of my date with Ty tonight can get me out of the poor mood I’m in now. And it doesn’t get any better when no fewer than four people ask me when I’m getting married, about my relationship, or who the dad is.

I can’t get my purse and work bag fast enough, but I hustle out as quickly as I can while Blaire plays interference. I shoot her a grateful smile and then book it to my car.

Once inside, I rest my head against the headrest and close my eyes, hoping the silence will give me one moment of peace, one moment to find the happy place I’ve lived in since Thanksgiving. But all I hear is O’Dell’s condescending voice and the barrage of questions from other staff members. My eyes pop open, and I stare unseeingly out the windshield as reality hits me with its full force. Today was nothing compared to what will happen when the press finds out.

I’d felt sick and hurt when Ty first asked for a paternity test, but now I understand what he was talking about. No one’s doubting it at my school, but then again no one knows that Ty is the dad. The press doesn’t have the best history of giving the benefit of the doubt. A sliver of worry still remains over whether that test is really for the press or because he doesn’t believe me, but I need to trust him.

With that thought, all I can think about is getting to him. Forget canceling our date tonight. I need his strong arms to wrap around me and remind me what we have. I need him to make me feel special in the way only he can, especially after being made to feel less than by so many people who I expected better from.

I turn the ignition and head straight to his place.