I was completely irritated.
Stupid! Ridiculous! Who thought it was a good idea to reopen the school?
I had really wanted to spend the day with Tessa. After my confession, she hugged me. She didn’t tell me what a piece of shit I was or run out the door. We’d spent two glorious days together, and she made sure I was smiling the entire time. Miriam was forgotten, and as for Ally, well, the pain was dulled.
When the alert came in last night that the school would open for regular classes on Friday, we were both bummed. The past forty-eight hours had been absolutely the best of my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
The rain wasn’t the kind that made me want to stand outside and spin around while trying to catch raindrops on my tongue. It pissed me off. It made me cranky. It was soggy, gray, and wet. Why bother having school on a Friday? It was dumb as far as I was concerned. I could have thought of a hundred other things to do, but here I was, headed towards class. The campus was fairly quiet, and I was guessing a lot of the students probably chose to enjoy their very long weekend and would skip regardless. That was fine with me.
I rounded the corner and froze. Everything suddenly went into slow motion. Dean Scribbs was sitting at my desk, and she didn’t look happy. She knew. I knew she knew and I didn’t know what to say. I stood in the doorway, coffee in one hand and briefcase in the other. She looked at me with a mixture of disgust and self-righteousness.
“Did you need something?” I asked, not even trying to be all that nice. She was about to fire me. No point in kissing her ass now.
“We need to talk. Now. In my office,” she said, standing and walking towards me. She narrowed her eyes and somehow managed to look down her pointed nose at me, even though I was much taller than she.
I nodded, turned, and followed her out the door. I wasn’t going to argue. This job had been great, but what I had with Tessa was far more important. As we made our way down the empty hall, outside, and across campus, she never spoke. I didn’t bother asking what was happening.
We entered her very large, though sparsely decorated office.
“Sit, please,” she said, gesturing to a chair.
She walked around the large cherry wood desk, sat and then scooted forward to rest her elbows on the surface, assuming a praying pose while looking at me.
“There are some serious charges being leveled against you, Professor Dunlap. We have a problem,” she started.
I nodded, pretending to care. “What kind of charges are we talking about?”
The word was purposeful. We both knew I had done nothing illegal. She was hoping to intimidate me by using such a loaded word. It wasn’t working.
“A student has brought it to my attention that you have been spending time outside of the classroom with another student, engaged in activities of a sexual nature.”
I nodded but said nothing.
She cleared her throat. My nonchalance was making her uneasy. Good.
“Tessa McShane is your assistant and a student here at the school. A romantic relationship with her is against school policy. She will be immediately expelled, and you, Mr. Dunlap, will likely be asked to leave after next semester.”
I grinned. It was a ‘fuck you’ grin, and she knew it. “Tessa will be expelled, and I keep my job. Double standard, isn’t it? Do you actually think that is an acceptable solution?”
Her response was nothing more than a blinking of her eyes.
r /> “Where did you hear these accusations?” I asked, suddenly curious as to who could have possibly known.
The dean leaned back in her chair. I watched her debate whether she should tell me or not, “Another student. Jennie is her name. You needn’t know anything more than that.”
I smiled. Of course. My favorite student, Jennie, who couldn’t bully me into giving her an easy A. Jennie who wanted all of my attention, and when I refused to fall for her silly nonsense, she was trying to get back at me by hurting Tessa. It still didn’t answer all of my questions. How did Jennie guess?
“An immature, spoiled student who is angry because I wouldn’t let her skip an assignment she felt was too hard has made these accusations.” I stopped. “They are only accusations, you realize. There are no charges here, let’s get that cleared up.” The dean looked uncomfortable. “You are telling me, that you have already made decisions about my future and the future of another student because of one young girl’s accusations? Is this correct?”
At first, it looked as if Dean Scribbs would back down, and then she leaned forward. “Are you admitting to having a sexual relationship with Miss McShane?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think who I have sex with is any of your business. I asked you a question. Can you or will you answer?”
Spots of red bloomed on each of her cheeks. She was getting pissed. Good. I was already very pissed. “I don’t need to ask you anything. It is quite clear the accusation was dead on. You are a professional, Mr. Dunlap. We hold our professors to a much higher standard. I’m quite disappointed in your behavior,” she said, in a haughty tone.
I guffawed. “Are you? I’m quite disappointed with the way you handle yourself and your student body. Where’s the investigation? Who’s verifying what Jennie told you? We haven’t had class for two days, so when was this accusation made? I have a lot of questions that I expect answers to.”
She glared at me. “This meeting is over. You have the day off. Your classes have been canceled.”