The faculty room was busy, filled with colleagues and members of the board of trustees, who’d stopped in to celebrate with the teachers and administration. It was one of the brightest rooms in the school, and the large arched windows offered a picture perfect view of the quad. A few students were outside, trying to make a snowman from the fluffy powder that had fallen a few days before. There were conversations going on all around her, Christmas carols playing, and Kate was glad she’d come in today rather than staying home. The camaraderie and the holiday cheer were healing.
But just like the kids, the faculty was a mixed bag. Kate knew who her friends were and who she wouldn’t trust for a second. As in most schools, there were dedicated people who wanted to do good work with the students. They were kind, nurturing, and fun. Another group, however, measured a student’s worth by the size of their mommy and daddy’s bank account. So, it really shouldn’t have surprised her when the assistant headmaster, who was also a St. Andrew’s graduate, walked into the room with a group of some well-heeled young alums in tow.
They sauntered over to their favorite teachers, and Kate popped one of Julie’s perfect cookies into her mouth.
“Some things don’t change,” said Julie. “One is more pretentious than another.”
“Maybe,” Kate nodded. “I keep thinking it takes a lot of effort to maintain that kind of façade. They must be exhausted.” Picking up another cookie, Kate vowed to exercise after the holidays.
“Merry Christmas, Mrs. Nicholls.” Suddenly chilled, Kate turned her head and watched Chelsea Connor walk toward her table. Chelsea had been a presence since she started seeing David, but she never thought she’d be having a conversation with her. “Or are you going by Adams since your husband left you?”
The room went quiet when she spoke, her voice being just loud enough to command everyone’s attention, which, Kate figured, was exactly the plan. She was, without a doubt, a beautiful young woman, but knowing the kind of person she was, what she’d pulled with David, Kate knew this was going to be a bumpy ride.
Chelsea’s long blonde hair fell over her shoulders like twisted silk. Her eyes, which were ice blue, nailed Kate with a stare that could only be described as hateful. No, this was not a social call; Chelsea was out for blood.
Kate still hadn’t spoken. The words caught in her throat. Not that there wasn’t anything she could say; the girl was evil incarnate, same as always, and now she had a reason to make her old teacher one of her targets. The first lob was nothing compared to what was coming. “Daddy told me he saw you at the hospital not too long ago. Is everything okay?”
“Fine. Thank you for asking. What brings you here, Chelsea?” Natural concern about her health had the other teaches exchanging looks, but Kate waved her hand indicating all was well.
“I’m just visiting,” Chelsea said. “I haven’t stopped by in so long, and I figured I had to see you since we have so much in common.”
Her former student had a lethal grin plastered across her face, and Kate knew she was in real trouble. “In common?”
“Based on what I’ve heard, it seems that we’re fucking the same guy.”
Kate would say the room went silent, but it didn’t. There was a little chatter and a few muffled exclamations, but all Kate could really hear was the sound of her heart pounding in her chest. In her wildest dreams she never, ever expected her life to be spread open like this—but then again, she shouldn’t have underestimated Chelsea’s willingness to shock people.
“Chelsea, this is not a conversation we are going to have—”
Chelsea cut her off. “We’ll have it if I want to have it.”
Kate stood up, straight as a needle, while Chelsea relaxed and leaned against a small bookcase, examining her manicure. The girl did not care. She didn’t think she had anything to lose, which told Kate this was going to get even uglier.
“You’re embarrassing yourself, Chelsea.”
“What? Don’t want them to know you had an affair with a much younger pro hockey player?” She leaned over and faked a whisper in the assistant headmaster’s ear. “My boyfriend. He dumped me.”
Kate pushed up her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. “He was going to do that regardless.”
Why didn’t she stay quiet? Chelsea’s eyes turned stormy, her skin flushed.
“You don’t know anything!” Chelsea’s scream echoed in the room, bouncing off the large windows. “You know nothing. It was going fine until he went to California and met you.”
Kate was, at first, stunned at her information. However, it didn’t take long to figure it out; it had been from David or his friends, or his friends’ wives, or their girlfriends—the information sources were bottomless.
“You need to leave.” Kate was still trying to get her to calm down, even though it was pretty much pointless. Every word that came out of Chelsea’s mouth made her situation that much worse.
“I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving until everyone in this school knows what a whore you are.”
She could handle this if she was alone, but even when a phone rang on a nearby table, no one moved. There was a slowing down of time, and everything seemed to hang, the tension in the air, the guilt, the anger and the words. A few more teachers wandered in and they stood quietly, assessing the situation. “Chelsea…”
“You’re disgusting. David picked you up in a bar and now you’re pregnant? My God, what is wrong with you? He was mine. Not yours, mine. Mine!”
The tantrum was too much. Kate snapped. Hormones, sadness, humiliation, and anger all churned inside her. There was a hissing in her ears—all the years of being put down, told what she could and couldn’t do, came out in one massive explosion.
“You don’t own him! He made his decision. David knew what he wanted and he wanted me. Not you.” Kate advanced and Chelsea took a step back, then another. “What makes you think you have the right to come here and behave this way? This is a school. A school.” Kate looked around the room at the stone cold faces of her colleagues. “These were your teachers, Chelsea. You’re embarrassing yourself, your father, and making everyone uncomfortable because you didn’t get your way. This is all about you not getting what you want.”
By this time, Julie and the assistant headmaster were at her side, trying to calm her down. Kate rightly assumed that no one had ever spoken to Chelsea that way, and hearing it in front of a room full of teachers and trustees, people who knew her father, made her so angry she shook. When she picked up her purse, she fired one last shot. “You are a pathetic woman, Kate Nicholls. He’s going to drop you just like he dropped me. And for the record, no one ever had to pay David to take me to bed.”
She turned toward the door and the teachers parted for her like the Red Sea.
“Pay?”
Chelsea looked over her shoulder and smirked. “You were part of a bet. I think each guy had to give David a hundred bucks when he got you in bed. Nice windfall for him. I think he should get a bonus though, considering he got you pregnant at the same time.”
Kate turned her back and braced herself against one of the tables before facing Chelsea and uttering her last words. “You need to get out of here. Now.”
Chelsea winked and smiled, and her smugness almost had Kate lunging at that perfect face before she strolled out like she was the queen of the world. The assistant headmaster left with her, as did some of the trustees. Yeah. This was bad.
Kate was staring at her hands, fighting back the rage, when Julie approached. “You okay?”
She started to nod, but stopped and shook her head no. “No, not really.”
“I’m going to go and find out what they’re doing with her. Be right back. Don’t worry.”
Kate nodded. “Thank you, but I’m beyond worry.” Julie nodded and Kate tried to smile.
The teachers started to leave the room, the festive mood having been ruined. A few nodded in support, a few scowled in disgust, and Kate had to face the facts. Most of what Chelsea said was the truth. She had been picked up in a bar, she did sleep with him the same day she met him, and he had gotten her pregnant. Even the revelation that she may have been the subject of a bet didn’t upset her. It just confirmed what she knew to be true all along—everything was a game.