Chapter 3

I looked straight at Neil Lawrence.

I couldn't believe he would force my wife to abort our child just to shut up a parent throwing a tantrum.

I didn't give an inch.

"Director Lawrence, I've never seen a rule that says a teacher's pregnant wife damages the school's image."

"You think you can scare me by waving a dismissal in my face? I don't scare that easily."

Neil, contradicted to his face, shot up out of his chair.

At that moment the office door pushed open from outside.

The principal walked in.

"I could hear the shouting all the way down the hall. This is unacceptable."

Hunter's mother lunged straight at him.

"Principal, you have to hear me out!"

"Your teachers are bullying people!"

She squeezed out two tears and launched into a wailing accusation against me.

She painted me as a terrible teacher who'd gone slack on the job because his wife was pregnant, who mistreated students and had a rotten attitude.

Neil jumped in to back her up.

"That's right, Principal. This Andrew Whitney has always thrown his weight around just because his class scores well. Thinks he's above everyone."

"Now he won't even give a parent the time of day."

"I tried to do the decent thing just now, told him to apologize to the parent and settle it quietly, and he talked back to me!"

Out in the hallway, at some point a crowd of teachers had gathered to watch the show.

A few of them, the ones who'd always been jealous that I'd won Teacher of the Year, started up with their snide little comments from the doorway.

"Oh my, Mr. Whitney's always been so high and mighty. Of course he can't stomach being talked to like this."

"Watching his wife that closely? Worried the kid isn't yours?"

"If you're so worried, sit home and watch her. Instead of taking up space here and doing nothing."

"Poor Hunter, such a smart boy, stuck with a homeroom teacher who won't take responsibility."

I looked at these colleagues piling on while I was down, and felt nothing at all. Just how absurd it was.

The principal heard out Hunter's mother and Neil, and his face darkened.

"Andrew Whitney, you have absolutely no regard for order or discipline!"

"Do you have any idea what day it is?"

"The district superintendent is about to arrive for a surprise inspection!"

"And you pick this exact moment to blow up into a huge fight with a parent!"

"Are you doing this on purpose? Trying to embarrass me, set yourself against the school?"

I looked at him coldly.

"Principal, Director Lawrence never actually investigated what happened."

"This parent is the one causing trouble. She demanded I be her free driver, and when I refused, she used her son's scraped knee to shake me down."

"Now she's not only demanding sixty thousand dollars, she wants my wife to have an abortion."

"Since the superintendent is coming, this works out perfectly."

I looked the principal straight in the eye and said, one word at a time:

"Let the superintendent hear both sides and see whose fault this really is!"

At that, the principal flew into a rage.

"Who do you think you are? You're not fit to stand in front of leadership."

"The superintendent has a thousand things to deal with. He has no time for your household nonsense!"

He turned and shouted toward the door.

"Security! Where's security? Get in here now!"

Two uniformed guards shoved through the crowd and hurried in.

"Principal, you called for us?"

The principal pointed at me and gave his order, seething.

"Andrew Whitney, as of this moment you are suspended. Go home right now and think long and hard about what you've done!"

"You two, get him out of here!"

"Without my permission, he does not set one foot in this school!"

The guards moved toward me at once, one on each side.

But Hunter's mother suddenly started screaming.

"No, you can't just let him walk out!"

She shoved one of the guards aside and planted herself between me and the principal, hands on her hips.

"Principal, you're covering for him!"

"He bullies me and my son like this, and all you do is suspend him to think it over? Since when does anyone get off that easy!"

"Let me tell you, today he's going to bow and apologize to me and my son in front of every teacher in this school!"

"Then he wires me sixty thousand dollars in damages right away, and takes his wife to the hospital for an abortion!"

"Otherwise I'll go stand at the school gate and block the district officials right now!"

"I'll file a complaint straight to leadership, let them see for themselves how this school lets its teachers bully students!"

I gave a cold laugh.

"Fine. Go file your complaint."

"I'd love to see whether the superintendent sides with an extortionist parent, or with a teacher just doing his job."