Harsh… but true.
Clearing my throat, I stuttered, “Y-yeah. Do you know where I can find him?”
The sound of hinges squeaking drew our attention to a door on the far right of the room, and the man himself walked through it, his eyes fixed on a piece of paper in his hand.
“Yo, you’ve got a visitor, Richards,” Dave called.
Raising his head, Logan frowned until he saw me standing there, no doubt looking as awkward as I felt.
Lips twitching, he changed directions and came over to us. “Why do y’all look like you’re about to be sentenced to life?”
Glancing nervously at Dave, who was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed on the two of us now, I whispered, “Because he looks like he knows every secret I’ve got.”
Smirking slightly, Dave shrugged one of his bulky shoulders. “Because I do.”
Holding her arm out, Ava said, “Congratulations, by the way. That election took a while to get sorted out, but I’m glad you won.”
Shaking it, he smiled back at her. “Thanks. I’ve been in the job for two years, but the fact the town hadn’t been able to elect me properly for the position was pissing me off. It took some time to talk the mayor into it because he thought it was an unnecessary use of resources, but we got there.”
“The mayor doesn’t do things the normal way,” Logan muttered. “If this uniform sticks for any length of time, it’ll be a miracle. And this morning’s ‘bullet clarification,’” he air quoted, “is giving my ass a headache.”
All of us blinked at his choice of words, but it was Dave who asked, “Why and how is your ass getting a headache?”
“When someone talks out of theirs, your ass is the area that listens. He talks out of his so much, my ass gets regular migraines.”
Frowning and shaking his head, Dave looked back at us. “Tabby told me you had an interview at the school today, I hope you get good news from them.”
“I think they’re going to ask you to do a background check on me, so just to let you know, I’ve never been in trouble with the law, I pay my taxes on time, I donate to charities, I even pick up trash on the sidewalk. I also just donated a ton of canned goods to the food bank because Pops was expecting the end of the world and had enough to feed ten families for a month…” I trailed off when his lips twitched. “Um, basically, I’m a good person.”
The people close enough to hear started snickering, or maybe they’d been doing it for a while, and I just hadn’t heard them?
“I’m sure you are. I’ll make sure to add that onto the paperwork when it’s completed.” And with that, he turned and strode back to the door he’d come out of.
“You looking for a sainthood?” Ava chuckled, nudging my shoulder. “The only thing you left out was the speech you gave in eighth grade demanding world peace and justice for the ozone layer.”
Why did people remember that shit? Seriously. I was passionate about it and thought when I was asked to give a speech to the school about world peace and the difference it would make, that I could add in the ozone layer and climate change. It wasn’t until afterward, when I was replaying it in my head, that I’d realized how much of a goober I’d sounded. I was also one of those people who woke up in the middle of the night and relived the embarrassment about stupid things I’d done. And that was one of the things that always came back to me, even now.
Laughing silently, Logan shrugged when I glared at him. “It was a passionate speech, Bex. I doubt anyone has ever forgotten it.”
Ass.
Shooting both of them a dirty look, I decided to move onto why I was here. “I just wanted to let you know about the interview.”
He immediately sobered up and straightened, his face looking serious now. “How did it go? I know you said they’d do a background check on you to DB but did they give any indication that you’d be getting the position?”
“They said that I was in a preferential spot for the position because of who I was and the fact I was already teaching high school English, but there’s no certainty until they call me with the job offer.”
“Tell him exactly what they said,” Ava hissed, nudging me harder than before.
Logan’s eyes were fixed on me, their intensity making me feel slightly weak. “Seeing as how Principal Teller’s still there, he said that so long as my background check and references are okay, he’d be offering me the job.”
“I’ll bet it was weird having an interview with the same principal who took the microphone out of your hand as you were lecturing us all about climate change and greenhouse gases,” he murmured through his grin.
“Yeah, you could say that. But I’m fairly certain everything will check out, and my school in Boston said they were sad to lose me, but they’d be giving me a glowing reference because of the work I’d done, so hopefully I’ll get the offer.”
Rubbing my shoulder, he pulled me into his side. “You’ll get it, Bex. Every job has formalities—well, some of them are delayed if you’re the sheriff of a small town wanting to have a free and fair election,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “DB will get right on his side of it all, so it’s just your old school you’ll be waiting on.”
“They’ve been really good about giving me my vacation time and sick days, so I feel shitty leaving them in the lurch.”
“Like no one else in the school would do what you’re doing if an opportunity like this came up,” Ava huffed. “Honey, they’ve had a substitute filling in for you while you took time off,
