by Rayne, Piper
“It’s not?”
She turns back around from the sink. I close up the containers of food and place them in her fridge. If I was hoping to gain more information about her based on what’s in her fridge, I’m out of luck. The thing is empty except for a carton of milk, water, a half-drunk bottle of white wine, and a six-pack of beer. Aren’t all chicks into greens and vegetables?
“I haven’t gone to the store yet,” she says from behind me.
“So, what? You eat out every night?”
“Let’s just say I know Rachel down at Lard Have Mercy.”
I shut the fridge doors. “You’ll have to come to my house for dinner one night.”
“Which brings me back to the fact that after we’re done with this paperwork, our relationship is strictly within the walls of Lake Starlight High School.” She places the dishes in the dishwasher and closes it.
“Why is that again?” I crunch my finished water bottle down until it’s have the size and grab another one.
“First of all, we work together. Second of all, I’m gone in three months and I’m not into the long-distance thing. Thirdly, I’m pretty sure your plan is to leave Lake Starlight as well?”
“Yeah, I’m hoping to head to California, but time will tell.” The impulse to check my phone rears its head, but I refrain.
“How many more reasons do you need to know that we’re not a good idea?”
“It doesn’t mean we can’t have fun while we’re both here.”
C’mon. You can’t blame a guy for trying.
“I’m not looking for a mess to clean up when I leave here, and I’m not dumb enough to think sleeping together won’t get messy.” She slides my fortune cookie to me and opens the cellophane of her own.
“Should we see what our fortunes have to say about the situation?”
She narrows her eyes. “No way. You probably had them fixed.”
I hold up my hands. “Yeah, before coming over, I hand-rolled and folded fortune cookies and had Li put them in the bag.”
She smiles. “On the count of three. One… two… three.”
We crack open our cookies and place the cookies on the counter to read the small papers inside.
“‘Don’t be a dick,’” she says.
“What?”
She holds up her fortune in front of me. Sure enough, it says, “Don’t be a dick.”
“‘Your cook spit in your food,’” I say, reciting the words from my own fortune.
We both laugh, though she seems a little confused.
“It’s Li’s idea of a joke. We went to high school together.”
She nods. “That explains a lot.”
We eat our cookies then sit back down at her kitchen table to do what I’m there to do—get myself and Elijah cleared from Mrs. Andrews’s claim, not flirt with the sexy new principal.
Ten
Holly
Lake Starlight is starting to feel like home. Back in Florida, other than the late-night cashier at the liquor store, no one was familiar. Here, Rachel always seems to be working at the diner, serving me almost every night. Francie’s husband, Jack, helped me buy a plunger when my sink backed up, and he already knew who I was when I walked into his store.
It’s nice to smile and wave and have people ask how I’m doing. And have them actually care about the answer.
I drive out of the downtown area toward the high school. A smile pulls at my lips when I park and see Austin in the courtyard. He’s talking to that dark-haired girl again. Phoenix, the one who called me Holly in the hallway. I meant to look up her file or ask Fay who she is, but the whole Elijah-and-JP thing snowballed into a day full of meetings and phone calls.
Phoenix huffs and rolls her eyes at whatever Austin’s saying. He touches her upper arm, and she flings it back. A few students look on, some of them laughing, spurring Austin to point in their direction.
I watch from the car. Austin has great relationships with all the students as far as I’ve been able to tell. Surely there isn’t more to his relationship with this girl who sneered my first name at me. Was that jealousy in her tone? No way.
I bring Dana up on my phone. She should be out of work by now and I really need her to tell me that I’ve watched too many Dateline episodes.
“What’s up, sugar plum? Still incognito from Daddy Warbucks?”
I hear traffic in the background. “Just out of work?”
“On my way to my car. What an exhausting shift. Not one ounce of sleep in the break room.”
“Don’t you mean you didn’t get a chance to let Doctor Montgomery cop a feel?”
She laughs. “Yeah, he switched shifts, so no more quickies in the break room. I do miss his Dr. Dick though.”
“Thanks for that reminder. I’d almost forgotten the explicit description you gave me afterward.” I sip my iced coffee that Carla had ready for me at Brewed Awakenings. She already knows my schedule. Perks of a small town, I suppose.
“I’m a doctor, not a poet. Aren’t you usually sharpening your pencils or organizing your paperclips now?” I hear her opening her car door and shutting it. “Hold up, you’re going to sync.”
I wait, my eyes trained on Austin and the girl. What is with their dynamic? It definitely goes beyond teacher/student. He keeps touching her arm in a kind way while she looks as though she’s giving him a blast of her crazy teenager hormones. He runs his hands through his hair, looking around the courtyard.
“Okay,” she says when the Bluetooth kicks in. Then she honks her horn. “One way, asshole!”
I move the phone away from ear.
“Yep, move along. I’m not saving your life today. I intend on twinkling my star until I pass out for ten hours.”
“Thanks for that.”
“Sorry.” She laughs. “The guy would not move out of the way.”
“Do you think teacher-student affairs really happen?”
She huffs. “Yeah. I mean, didn’t you ever have a teacher you were hot for? Those young ones who just graduated from college? Oh, I had this TA once and damn—”
“Heard the story already. So, you think it’s not just something in books and on television?”
“Hello? You see it on the news, don’t you? If people are getting caught, there’re way more that are getting away with it. Why?”
Austin has turned, and I stare at how rigid his back is now. Phoenix is eyeballing him with a look of teenage rebellion. She did call me Holly. She obviously likes to push the limits…
“Oh no, I get that it’s been a while, but even if the kid is eighteen, don’t do it.”
“No!” I yell. “Dana, do you not know me at all?”
“I did, but then you ran off to Alaska. People change.” The rumbling of her tires on the highway is a drone in the background.
“I’m still me.”
“If you say so.”
“Listen, that guy, the Jeep guy—”
“He’s really a student? You had it all wrong?” She gasps. “Well, you can claim insanity. Or shit, just come back, I’ll totally be your alibi. We can make up that you have an evil twin and she pretended to be you.”
I laugh and shake my head. “No, there’s this student. Phoenix. He’s talking to her outside and it looks heated, personal. Every other time I’ve seen him with someone, he has a totally different demeanor.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Another girl comes out of the door, and I blink. Wait, what?
“What’s with you always spying on people from your car?” Dana asks.
“I’m not spying. I just happened to pull up and there they were.”
“And you didn’t announce your arrival.”
“Well, you find out more about people from afar than what they tell you.” I sip my iced coffee again, taking in the scene. I had no idea there was a set of twins at this school. “Another girl just joined them, and I think she’s Phoenix’s twin.”
“Well, you know how men are with twins. It’s a wet dr
eam.”
The other girl touches Phoenix’s shoulder and looks at her with sweet eyes. Phoenix circles her arm to get her sister’s hand off her shoulder and stomps away, middle finger in the air. Her twin stays back and talks to Austin. He’s nodding, then shaking his head. Now he’s ushering the other girl into the building.
“Oh my god, I’m going to be sick. He just touched the other girl’s lower back.”
“Gross! You slept with a pervert?”
“I didn’t know.”
The first bell rings. Shit.
“I gotta go.”
“To call the police, I get ya. Call me later.”
I click End and toss my phone into my purse. Is he really screwing around with his students?
The entire way into the school, my mind runs over everything I know about him. He did sleep with me the first night I met him. In his Jeep. He does have a close relationship with Elijah. Maybe…
“No,” I mumble. There’s absolutely no way. I trust my gut. It’s never steered me wrong before.
I walk into the office, and Fay is there, her smile contagious.
“Good morning, Holly.” She stands as I walk through the half door to head to my office. “Here you go.”
I glance at the paper she hands me. Bailey Timber’s Annual Founder’s Day Celebration. There’s the logo I keep seeing on all the lampposts.
Oh, it’s Austin’s family’s company. The entire town celebrates in their honor? Maybe he is a little entitled after all. And usually entitled people don’t feel as though they have to follow the rules. Rules like not sleeping with your seventeen-year-old students.
“You have to come. Gary, my husband, is finishing up his float for the union. It’s always a great day. The Baileys put up a carnival in the library parking lot, and Main Street is closed for the day. Everyone celebrates, eats, shops. There’s an auction at night to raise money for a different charity that the townspeople vote on every year, then the Baileys match the money. They really are the sweetest family.”
I stuff the paper into my purse, still distracted by what I saw in the courtyard. “Great. I’ll try to make it.”
Fay’s eyes scrunch up as I head into my office. I didn’t mean to dismiss her, but I need to get to the bottom of this. There’re always secrets hidden under any aura of perfection. Add on money and it’s the next Dateline episode.
I sit in my chair, booting up my computer so I can search up Phoenix’s name. She has to be the only one in this school, since it’s not a common name.
Fay buzzes me through the intercom.
“Yes, Fay?”
“There’s someone on the phone who’s interested in buying the building?”
“What? Tell them it’s not for sale.”
“I did, and they said it’s on Craigslist.”
I straighten in my chair. “What? I think someone is pranking you.”
I watch through the glass as Fay hangs up the phone, then her fingers move a million miles an hour on her computer keyboard. A minute later, just as my computer pulls up the log-in screen, she stands and knocks on my door. As though I don’t see her through the glass.
“Come in.”
“The guy wasn’t lying. It’s right here.” She lays the ad on my desk.
Commercial property for sale. It gives specifics about the square footage and says, “available immediately if you act fast.” The number is mine, telling them to ask for Holly Radcliffe.
“Seriously? This town,” I mumble.
“My money is on JP.” Fay sits on the edge of the seat across from me.
“I doubt he’d chance it when he’s already spending his afternoons in detention.” I pick up my pen and tap the desk.
The phone on Fay’s desk rings. Fay rushes to stand, but I hold my hand up to stop her and press the button for the line that’s ringing as I pick up the phone.
“Holly Radcliffe,” I answer.
A man on the other line asks about the building.
“No, it’s a public school. It is not for sale.” As I hang up, I log into my computer and pull up Google to find a contact number for Craigslist. “We’ll figure out who did this and get it stopped.”
Fay smiles and sits back. My other line rings, so Fay leaves to answer it.
Twenty minutes later, the Craigslist guy finally figures out that we were pranked, and although he took the ad off, he won’t tell me who placed it. Not that it matters. I’m pretty sure they used a fake name, and it’s not as though the high school has the resources to track down an IP address.
“I’ve never talked to that many people in such a short amount of time.” Fay looks winded, standing in my doorway.
“You could’ve let them go to voicemail.”
“I didn’t want anyone looking to buy missing out on another building because they think this one is up for grabs.”
I swear Fay isn’t real.
“This is probably one of those senior pranks, you know?” she says.
“Call a school meeting in the auditorium. Just the seniors. Starting in five minutes. Best to nip this kind of thing in the bud and if they’re all confronted together it’ll be easier to suss out who did it before they can all get their stories straight.”
Fay cringes.
“Whoever did it, needs to be punished.”
“Okay,” she agrees.
On my way to the auditorium, I pass Austin leaving his classroom. Great.
“Hey,” he says, coming to walk beside me.
“Hey.”
“What’s this about? I heard someone put the building on Craigslist?”
“That they did.”
His raised eyebrows tell me he hears the ice in my voice. “You know kids. The senior pranks are starting.”
“Senior pranks won’t be tolerated. I understand you like to be lenient with the rules, Mr. Bailey, but I do not.”
“Mr. Bailey? We’re back to being formal, are we, Miss Radcliffe?” He opens the auditorium doors.
I walk through, seeing the students all finding their way to seats.
Fay idles inside the doors, a girl biting on her lower lip standing next to her.
“Principal Radcliffe, this is Lyndsey. She has something to tell you.” Fay practically pushes the girl toward me.
I cross my arms. “Do I need to have this assembly?”
“No. You don’t,” Lyndsey says, her eyes on Austin instead of me.
“You’re kidding me, right?” he says to Lyndsey.
She shakes her head and bites her lip some more.
“God damn it!” Austin turns the other way, running right into Phoenix. He grabs her arm and leads her from the auditorium.
“Mr. Bailey!” I yell. “Fay, please close these doors and keep the students busy for five minutes. Bring Lyndsey back to my office when you return.” I head out into the hallway and they’re mostly clear. “Coach Bailey!”
Austin stops, turning, not taking his hand off Phoenix.
“Let her go,” I demand then catch up with them.
He scrunches his eyebrows at me.
“Yeah, Austin, let me go.” Phoenix laughs. “You’re not supposed to touch the students.” She’s smirking at him.
He releases her and asks me, “You know who this is?”
“I do. And I have to say I’m shocked.” I can feel the anger heating my face.
“I meant to tell you, but—”
“Can I go? I’m not really in the mood to hear some heart-to-heart between the two of you.” Phoenix walks back down the hall.
“Stay. You are in so much trouble,” Austin grates out.
“Phoenix, let’s go to my office,” I say with a calmness I don’t feel. “If you did call Craigslist, I’m sure it’s a cry for help.”
“Cry for help?” Austin asks. “It’s been nine years.”
The air leaves my lungs. “You’ve been with her for nine years?”
“Yeah. I was twenty-two and you were what?” He looks back at Phoenix. “Eight?”
&
nbsp; Phoenix rolls her eyes.
This cannot be real. I have to be on one of those 20/20 “What Would You Do” shows.
“What will her mother think? She probably trusts you…” My hand covers my mouth.
“If you want to ask her, go up to Union cemetery. Though I don’t think she’ll answer you,” Austin says with what I think is restrained anger.
“Your mother is dead?” I turn and ask Phoenix.
“Stiff as a board.”
“Phoenix!” Austin screams at her.
“What? It’s the truth. Our parents are dead! Why are you the only one who can say it?”
Austin’s nostrils flare and he clenches his hands at his sides.
“You’re related?”
Austin stares at me for a long time, looks between myself and Phoenix a couple of times, then his face morphs into one of disgust. “You thought…? Of me? God, no!”
“Eww!” Phoenix’s head rears back as though she’s been slapped.
“I’m her older brother. Her name is Phoenix Bailey!” Austin says.
Oh, God. This is definitely going to make Buzz Wheel, isn’t it?
Eleven
Austin
Phoenix and I are seated across from Holly in her office to discuss my sister’s stupid prank. My knee bounces, and I’m having trouble keeping my anger in check. Both from the stupidity of my sister and Holly. How could she think I’d be some slimeball and do that with a student?
Holly’s eyes flash to mine a few times. If she’s looking for reinforcements, she’s crazy. Phoenix has been acting up for over a year, and clearly I’ve failed at keeping her in line, so I’m no help here.
“I have to suspend you,” Holly says.
“She’s not sitting around the house all day,” I say.
Phoenix glares at me.
“What? So, you can think of new ways to be an asshole?” I ask her.
“I don’t think we should name-call,” Holly says in a placating voice.
“I’m calling Savannah, so expect a visit from her today,” I say to Phoenix.
“Great.” She crosses her arms and looks in the other direction.