The Princess and the Principal

by Shanae Johnson

  “Wow, I didn’t know you earned your PhD.” Kylee said fingering the frame of his degree.

  “My EdD, too. But it’s out being framed.”

  She turned and her eyes went wide. “Two doctorates? Overachiever.”

  Ron was usually bashful in the light of others’ praise. But his chest swelled with pride under Kylee’s perusal. He’d always rushed to show her the Good Job sticker he’d earned, or the string of A-pluses on his report card, or the handwritten notes on a particularly good essay.

  “Dr. Kidd? Wow. I always knew you’d achieve your dreams.”

  Ron motioned her into a seat. But instead of sitting in his chair, he sat beside her, in the same seat her daughter had occupied only an hour ago. Their knees bumped and Ron felt a crackle of electricity.

  “And you?” he said. “Has the College Board swept you up yet? One of the elite to get perfect scores on their tests each time she took it. They must want you in-house to figure out how you did it.”

  “No,” she looked down. “Not the College Board. I’m working at a small test prep company. They’re called Thrive to Learn Systems. They have a lot of innovative ideas.”

  “Kylee that’s amazing. So, you’ll be in town for a while.”

  She nodded. “We’re here to stay. Molly and me. Not…”

  Well, that answered that question. Her ex was well and truly out of the picture. The road was clear for Ron.

  “Ron, about Molly?”

  “Hmm? Oh, right, Molly. She’s a great kid.”

  “But she was called to the principal’s office. Her teacher sent me an email about something to do with a ruler a couple of days ago?”

  “It’s nothing to worry about. Molly’s just trying to figure out her place here. I think she’ll be fine.”

  “Really?”

  “Have I ever steered you wrong?”

  “No. No, you haven’t.”

  Kylee chewed at her lower lip. Ron’s gaze fixed to the motion. He’d dreamed of kissing her since he’d seen it done on television.

  He hadn’t dated a lot of women in the last decade. Mainly because no one ever measured up to the dream of simply kissing Kylee. And here she was in the flesh, tugging at the oh so bitable center of her bottom lip.

  Kylee let go of her lip. Their gazes met. Ron watched as her breath caught. She’d caught him staring. He’d give anything to know what she was thinking right now. She wasn’t frowning. Maybe the thought of him thinking about kissing her wasn’t unappetizing.

  This was the perfect moment to find out. Not to kiss her. But to ask her out so that it might lead to that first kiss. Ron opened his mouth… and a knock sounded at the door.

  His secretary poked her head in. “The bell is about to ring, and they need you for bus duty since Mr. Martin is still on paternity leave with his wife.”

  Ron swallowed down his desire. It was hard to pass. “I’ll be right there.”

  Kylee stood. “I’m sorry. I’ve been keeping you from your duties.”

  Ron stood too. “Not at all. I always have time for you.”

  They were standing close enough for him to smell the berry scent of her shampoo. She tugged at her lower lip again. This time the right corner.

  She gazed up at him. It was clear her tongue was tied. “It’s really good to see you again, Old Man.”

  “You said that already, Ace.”

  “Well, it’s true. I really missed you.”

  “Said that too.”

  She smiled and then she moved to the door. Then she took a half step toward him. It looked as though she were about to give him another hug. But in the light of the open door, she retreated and stepped around him. “I’ll see you around, okay?”

  Before she could cross the threshold, Ron blurted out, “Kylee, we should see each other again.”

  She paused and turned. So did the phone receptionist, and the attendance receptionist, and the principal’s assistant.

  “To catch up,” Ron clarified for the prying ears. “It’s been ten years. We’ve spent less than ten minutes together. How about dinner?”

  “Dinner?”

  “Buster and Eden’s is still open.”

  “Are you serious? I can’t believe the health inspectors haven’t closed that place down.”

  “What are you talking about? Best chili dogs in all of Cordoba.”

  “I…”

  “Principal Kidd?” said his assistant. “They need you.”

  Ron looked from his assistant, then around the main office quickly filling with teachers, kids, and parents, and back to Kylee. He couldn’t press his pursuit of her in front of all these people. “We’ll talk soon, okay.”

  “Sure.”

  And with that, she collected her daughter and headed to the main door. Molly looked over her shoulder and offered Ron a wink.

  He’d seen Jason give that wink to many a girl. He’d seen it work to make Kylee stray. But on the kid, it was adorable, and it only made him like her more.

  Chapter Five

  The smell of burned broccoli filled the kitchen. Kylee pulled the back door open to let the smell out. But the wind didn’t dare venture inside the kitchen.

  Kylee had never been the best cook. Jason had reminded her of that time and again. But now that she was back in her childhood home where her mom had placed so many delectable dinners on the table, she wanted to try and emulate that for her daughter.

  “Mommy, can’t we just go to McDonald's?”

  Another fault of Jason’s. Here they lived in one of the most culturally diverse nations in the entire world where walking down any street the spicy smells of Indian dhals, the toasty smell of rising French croissants, and the bitter aroma of Ethiopian coffee beans would seduce the nose. Yet her ex had been a fan of American fast foods that had bullied their way onto the Main Streets.

  “No, we’re having a home-cooked meal,” said Kylee.

  Molly moaned and whined and pretty soon the smoke alarm joined her. Kylee tugged off her checkered apron which read “Hot Stuff Coming Through.” She turned off the burners and yanked open the refrigerator.

  Five minutes later, dinner was served. She’d slapped together some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along with some orange slices and a glass of milk. All food groups were covered.

  “Great cooking, chef,” said Molly around a mouthful of choke sandwich.

  “Oh, hush you Molly-monster.”

  Molly giggled. Kylee found herself laughing as she swiped a dollop of strawberry jam off her thumb. It might not be gourmet, but it sure was fine dining. This was just what they needed.

  Dinners had been a tense affair the last few months of her marriage. Money had always been tight. Anything could set Jason off and launch into an argument that would end with a door being slammed and him being gone for the night, and sometimes into the next day.

  But there was no slamming of doors tonight. The fire alarm was quiet now that Kylee had backed away from the kitchen appliances. It was a peaceful, nutritiously-questionable, night at the Bauer castle. But Kylee still had to parent.

  “So, Molly, what exactly got you sent to the principal’s office today?”

  “Fairy magic,” Molly said as she pressed the rind of an orange into her mouth and gave her mother a citrus smile.

  Her daughter had the wildest imagination. Kylee envied her that. Kylee had always been a black and white kind of girl. That’s why she did so well with tests and numbers. Meanwhile, Molly spent time making curly cues with the L’s and Y in her name.

  “Molls, you have to take learning seriously. It’s how you’ll have a good future.”

  “I’m only in fourth grade, Mommy. Don’t I have years before my future starts?”

  Sometimes, Kylee worried her daughter was too much like her father. Head-in-the-clouds dreamer with no practical know how. At least Molly had a can-do kinda attitude. Even if her doing typically got her into trouble. Now that Jason was less of an influence in her life, Kylee would change that.

&
nbsp; “Besides, Principal Kidd set me straight,” Molly said after taking a gulp of her milk. “We’ve got it all worked out.”

  “Do you now?”

  It was so strange hearing her old best friend being referred to in such a lofty status. But Ron had always been great with kids. He didn’t really have a choice with the last name he had.

  “Yeah, he’s really funny, don’t ya think?”

  Kylee smiled. Ron always had a way of making her take herself less seriously. The two had been an inseparable pair for more than half her life. Seeing him again, that old connection felt ready to slip right back into place. In a way, it felt like they’d never been apart at all.

  “We should have him over for dinner one night.”

  It would be nice to have Ron back in her life on a regular basis. To sit next to him, and talk to him, and get another one of those hugs.

  Ron’s embrace had been so warm, so inviting. It had felt so good to be held, and by someone, whom she knew had only her best interests in heart. In fact, her heart was racing at the memory of being in his arms.

  Wait? In his arms? That made it almost sound intimate.

  It wasn’t intimate. He was Ron. Her buddy. Her friend.

  Her buddy who had grown into a fine young man - emphasis on fine. Her friend whose gaze had slipped down to look at her lips. He’d looked at her and talked to her like she was the only person in the world. And when he’d asked her to dinner, her heart had actually skipped a beat.

  It was madness. It was insane. He was Ron. Her heart should not be skipping a beat at Ron.

  But it had.

  But she couldn’t date Ron.

  He was the principal at her daughter’s school. And he was her best friend. And it was too soon after her divorce. And he was a man. And she’d sworn off men for the rest of her life.

  Plus, she was certain Ron wasn’t interested in her that way. He’d just been paying attention to her like he always did. He’d looked at her lips before. He’d hugged her before. It meant nothing.

  Ron was a great success. Meanwhile, Kylee had been brought low just as everyone had warned her would happen if she continued on with Jason. Ron had achieved all of his dreams. Meanwhile, Kylee was just getting started, ten years late.

  But it would be nice to have him as a friend again.

  “You thinking about Principal Kidd?”

  Kylee glanced over to see her daughter smiling with that mischievous glint in her eyes.

  “His eyes totally lit up when he found out you were my mom. Just like Scooby Doo when he sees a Scooby Snack.”

  Really? Just like Scooby Doo?

  “Now your eyes are going all Scoobied.”

  Kylee gave herself a shake and began clearing away dishes. “Ron -Principal Kidd and I… we’re just friends.”

  “Best friends?”

  “We used to be.” Kylee turned on the faucet to wash away the excess jelly from a plate.

  “Maybe now that you’re older, you could be more?”

  Oh. Oh no. Oh no, no, no.

  Was that what the mischievous look was all about? Was Molly trying to play matchmaker between her mom and the principal? Kylee had to nip that in the bud.

  But by the time she’d turned around Molly was gone. She’d have a talking-to with her daughter soon enough. Because dating, much less marriage, was the last thing that was on Kylee’s mind.

  Chapter Six

  Ron hated faculty meetings. He’d hated them when he was a teacher. He hated them even more as an administrator. Even now, when he was in charge of running the meeting, he wanted to be anywhere but in the school conference room.

  He was constantly buried in paperwork, on the phone with concerned parents, getting an earful from teachers and their needs, facing issues with the school building itself, and then there were the kids. He’d rather be actively participating in any of those other activities than being trapped in an endless meeting.

  Thankfully, the meeting was coming to a close. The teachers were all itching to get on the road before the rush hour hit. But when Mrs. Steen rose, a collective sigh rang around the room.

  “We need to begin preparing for the state standardized tests,” said Mrs. Steen.

  Jaws tensed, strained temples were rubbed, and tired eyes were rolled. For once Ron wasn’t the bad guy in the room. There was a perception that when a teacher left the classroom to join the Main Office they were going to the dark side. As if now he was on the wrong side of The Force. But they were all on the same side with the same goals; to be a force for good for the children of their community.

  Aside from the common ground of wanting their students to succeed, most teachers had little appreciation for standardized testing. The current state and national testing systems were more of a comparison made amongst schools than an assessment of student achievement and areas for improvement. So, in essence, the teachers were being tested.

  “We all know the Board of Education wants data-driven results when it comes to testing,” Mrs. Steen continued.

  “But that shouldn’t mean they can control what we do in our classroom,” said Mr. Collins, another veteran of the school system that had been around when Ron was a student in these halls himself. “We take up so much time preparing for these standardized tests we don’t have any time to actually teach.”

  Ron agreed. In the span of two decades, education had changed so drastically. He’d taken a couple of standardized tests in his formative years. But they’d all been to collect data to help teachers teach better. None of them had determined how much funding his school would receive or give Barton a grade that prospective parents would weigh in deciding where they wanted their future students to attend. Certainly, none had determined the job security of his teachers or the entire school.

  Nowadays principals were caught between the Board of Education who wanted data-driven results, the teachers who wanted control of their classrooms, and parents who wanted to see their kids succeed. But it was the new policy, and Ron had to push the policy.

  “We need to have everyone handing in lesson plans every week to make sure all the children are getting an adequate education,” said Mrs. Steen.

  “The requirement is not for weekly lesson plans,” Ron spoke up. “You can turn them in unit by unit.”

  “But we need to be sure to evaluate,” said Mrs. Steen.

  “There is no requirement to evaluate everyone’s lesson and make them similar,” said Ron. “Where you have a strength, Mr. Collins might have a weakness.”

  “Weaknesses shouldn’t be tolerated when it comes to the future of our community,” she said.

  “Forgive me,” said Ron. “Weakness is the wrong word. We all have our own strengths. If we use those strengths to teach the lesson, the children will get what they need.”

  There was a rally of head nods and grunts of agreement. Ron had worked hard to earn the trust of the people gathered around. He’d worked with most of them for the last decade either being one of their students, helping in their classes as a teaching assistant during college, or being a colleague.

  He may have been young, but he’d proven himself in the halls, conferences, and of course the endless meetings. They knew he understood where they were coming from and would have their interest at heart.

  “We still have to evaluate the new test prep company,” said Mrs. Steen.

  “We already have a prep company,” said Mr. Collins. “We’ve been with Here 2 Learn for the last five years.”

  “And for the last two years, we’ve had problems with the company providing us outdated material, lessons that didn’t meet the competencies, and late delivery of results.”

  Half of the room nodded in agreement at Mrs. Steen’s assessment of the test prep company. The other half crossed their arms and fidgeted with the pens and papers in their hands, clearly uncomfortable with change.

  “There’s a new company that’s getting some attention,” Mrs. Steen continued. “They’re called Thrive Learning Systems and
they’ve been using very innovative testing methods.”

  Ron perked up when he heard the name of the company. He remembered it because it had been uttered by Kylee’s lips. He’d paid very good attention to her mouth when she’d been speaking. When she’d been quiet, too.

  “We don’t need to try anything new now,” said Mr. Collins. “Let’s stick with the known.”

  “No, actually,” said Ron, sitting up taller and commanding the room once more, “I think we should look into this new company. Besides if Here 2 Learn knows it’s got competition, that might encourage them to make improvements.”

  There were more nods of assent than shrugs, so Ron took it as a good sign.

  “If that’s all,” he said, “we can adjourn the meeting.”

  Every teacher gathered his or her stack of papers and rose. Except for Mrs. Steen. Ever since he’d been chosen as the newest principal of Barton two years ago, she’d been on his back. Suddenly, the thought of Molly Romano putting glitter on her eraser brightened Ron’s mood.

  “I want to put a few things on the agenda for the next staff meeting,” she said. “We’re still facing overcrowding in the classes.”

  “There’s been population growth in the city,” he said. “I’m looking to hire more teachers, but there are budget constraints.”

  “You’ve spent a lot of that budget on anti-bullying when some of us believe it should go to test prep.”

  “We have the budget meeting coming up at the end of the school year and I will be happy to take your concerns then, Mrs. Steen.”

  “There’s also the issue of the Romano girl. If I’m going to prepare my students for this test, I can’t have antics like that in my class. She might fare better in Mr. Collin’s class.”