The Principal glared at Kristen and me. “As I was saying… Oh, hell. What was I saying?”
“Mr. Yankovitz? May I say something?”
“Yes, James.”
“My name is Jim, not James,” I corrected the Principal. I heard that hated name a few times today, and it was starting to get on my nerves. “I’m sorry if anything I did caused any problems. If I have done anything to offend Ms. Taylor or to disrupt her class, I truly apologize. Since she has put me on detention, I have made every effort to be quiet and not do anything that could possibly disrupt her class.”
“Jim, that’s not enough,” the Principal answered. “Not participating in class can also be disruptive.”
“I am participating, but since Ms. Taylor complained that I was being disruptive, I’ve been extra careful so that nothing I do can be mistakenly taken as being a problem. I actually enjoy English class.”
The Principal said, “I think there has been enough drama here for one day. Mrs. Cummings, I again apologize for having to bring you down here today. Ms. Swift… Kristen? I thank you for helping to sort this problem out, although calling your father might have been a bit unnecessary. Mr. Proilet, I also thank you for helping out.” It was very obvious that Ms. Taylor was omitted from the recipients of Mr. Yank’s thanks.
The Principal then turned to Ms. Taylor and said, “Reneé, do you see any more need for Jim to remain on detention?”
The English teacher looked completely defeated. “No,” she said, quietly.
Inside my head, I shouted, “YES!” I was happy, but I made it a point not to gloat. Ms. Taylor already achieved a bit of a victory when I apologized to her, especially since I still didn’t think I did anything wrong.
As we were leaving, Mr. Yank quietly asked Ms. Taylor to remain behind for a few moments.
My music teacher shook my hand and introduced himself to my mother. “Jim, I told Kristen what was happening when I heard Reneé talking with Ms. Tomago in the faculty room. I also decided that Mr. Yank might be a better arbiter for this situation. Mrs. Cummings, I’m proud to have Jim in my class. He’s extremely talented, and he goes beyond just being a student and actually helps the other students learn. You should be proud to have raised such a well-behaved and talented young man.”
My mother stood speechless at Mr. Proilet’s remarks, but found her voice. “My son is indeed a very special person. Thank you for what you’ve done in this situation. I never doubted Jim for a moment, but at one point, I was afraid that something bad would happen to him unfairly.”
With a serious look on his face, Mr. Proilet said, “I would never permit that, Mrs. Cummings. If anything happened to Jim, I would have fought it tooth and nail. I would even resign my position if such an injustice were allowed to stand.”
My mouth hung open in shock when I heard my music teacher make that last remark.
Kristen just beamed at me and hugged me.
After the situation with Mr. Yank in the front office, Kristen drove us to the apartment. “Your father came all the way from Denver? When did you call him?”
“Right after school, when Mr. Proilet told me what was going on. Daddy wasn’t in Denver, he just canceled a meeting there. He actually canceled it a few days ago.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing that Mr. Swift didn’t really lie, but he definitely stretched the truth a bit. I noticed that Kristen sometimes did the exact same thing. “So, he’s going to Denver tonight?”
“No,” answered Kristen. “Daddy and Mom are going to Chicago, to a certain hotel. It’s their anniversary, and they always celebrate it at that same hotel, in the same room. It has a special sentimental value for the two of them.”
“That sounds romantic,” I said, smiling.
“You might even know the room number, Jim,” Kristen said with a grin. “You were there a few months ago!”
I looked at my sweetheart in awe. Every day, this little vixen manages to surprise me.
As Kristen and I departed for the apartment, I thought about what my mother said to me. It was only a couple of months ago that she was suspicious about me being a nefarious drug dealer. Now she told me that she no longer worried about me, and supported me completely and without question when she was told that I was acting up at school. I’m not sure what changed her attitude toward me, but I am damn glad that I didn’t need to use any of my lucky tickets to change her mind.
The truth was that my mother was my counterweight in the world. The two of us shared a closeness due to the abuse we sustained at the hands of her first husband, my father. My outburst to Merry on New Year’s Eve about my father seemed to open me up to considering our closeness. Yes, Mom worried that I might be dealing drugs in the past, but I realized now that she didn’t want to see me walking in the same footsteps as my father.
My mother loved me very much. I knew that her love would never fade, nor would she ever love anybody else that way. In the same way, I loved my mother, and my total unwillingness to take advantage of her using my tickets was a good example of it. She was the only person about whom I ever made such a commitment. I even managed to follow through on that commitment!
I wondered if, when I have a child—maybe even with my lovely Kristen—will I be able to love that child as whole-heartedly and unselfishly as my mother loves me? It would be a pretty tall order.
I noticed that I wasn’t being very communicative, so I asked Kristen, “What’s on the agenda for tonight?”
“First, you will put on a lingerie show for me. I’m getting even for those silly polka-dot boxers you made me wear. Then, I get you home by ten o’clock. It’s a school night.”
I sighed, and found to my relief that the lingerie that she wanted me to wear was really men’s briefs, although she also insisted that I wear some sort of corset.
We ended up giggling uncontrollably and fucking each other silly. I got home at 10:15, but my parents never made any complaint.
My English class had a substitute teacher for a week before Ms. Taylor returned to class. Nobody ever said anything about it, and most students probably thought that she was sick with a severe cold or something. Of course, Kristen and I, as well as some of the faculty were suspicious that this was a mini “vacation” that was actually requested of her. Eventually, Ms. Taylor would transfer to a school in one of the other suburbs of Chicago during my junior year.
A few days after the incident, Ms. Tomago, the Assistant Principal, was transferred from our high school to be a teacher at an elementary school downstate. She would claim that the new job was more in line with what she wanted to do with her life. I would find out later that her transfer was a direct result of what happened in school that day.
Through the rest of my stay in high school, Mr. Yank would always go out of his way to greet me when we passed in the hallways.
Sometimes, it pays to be a good student.
Chapter 13—Party Planning
On Tuesday, Kristen took a day off from school to meet her parents in Chicago. She told me it was something to do with her inheritance, which was going to be fully hers in just a few weeks.