Chapter Nine
It was all over the school by the next day.
Memes with her half naked picture containing phrases like “teacher’s pet” and “Easy A” were passed around the university’s social media sites on a constant basis. The day after she’d been outed, Emily had even seen a few of these when she went to campus hoping the damage would be minimal.
She hadn’t been back.
“Is lover boy still going to work?” Audrey asked as she came into the kitchen, her smock from ‘Art for Keeps’ tied around her.
Emily looked up from the laptop open in front of her. Her advisor had agreed to allow her to do her master’s work from home for a few days. Overall, most of the University staff had been more than sympathetic.
Still, even they couldn’t hide the pity in their faces mixed with disgust when they looked at her. She felt like Hester in the scarlet letter. As though someone had pinned a red “A” to her chest.
“I don’t know,” Emily answered. “We haven’t talked in a couple of days.”
“Does that mean it’s over?”
As much as Audrey tried to hide her glee at that, Emily could see that she was more than happy. Her friend had never gotten over her dislike of Kurt.
“Not really,” Emily said. She told Audrey about the discussion they’d had, about what Kurt had asked her.
“But, isn’t all of that stuff moot now?” Audrey asked. “I mean, Malcolm Jennings probably knows what’s going on. The rest of the school’s talking about it.”
“I don’t know,” Emily said. “Kurt said Malcolm was on a business trip. He wasn’t supposed to come back for a couple of weeks.”
“Doesn’t mean he doesn’t know,” Audrey said. “Social media is everywhere.”
“Don’t remind me,” Emily said bitterly. Her cheeks still turned bright red when she remembered those memes.
“Either way, I really don’t think Kurt’s got the whole tenure thing to hide behind anymore,” Audrey said. “He’s got to either tell this Jennings guy off, divorce his wife and be with you or he’s got to let you go. He can’t drag you along for another year anymore.”
“He wasn’t stringing me along,” Emily said defensively. Even though she knew Audrey was right. The truth was, even before she and Kurt had been outed, she’d felt like Kurt was stringing her along.
Telling her to wait a year, no matter what, had felt as though he was doing what Kurt tended to do in tense situations. He tended to put off a decision as long as possible. He would try to shove the issue into a little box and loose it in his work. Like a folder full of difficult work might get lost in his office.
“Whatever you say,” Audrey said with a knowing look. “Point is, he’s got to make a decision now. And, if I were you, I would tell him to make one.”
With that parting bit of wisdom, Audrey said goodbye and headed off to work.
Emily turned back to the paper on her laptop knowing that she wouldn’t be able to get any work done now. Her mind was swirling with thoughts of Kurt and Malcolm Jennings and the whole horrible mess they’d landed in.
Once again, she knew Audrey was right. Stopping communication with Kurt even after all this started, maybe she was doing exactly what she’d accused Kurt of doing. Maybe she was trying to put off this potentially unpleasant confrontation as long as possible.
With a decisive thud, she closed her laptop and pulled out her phone. She was going to text Kurt. She was going to text him and tell him that, given what had happened, they needed to settle this once and for all.
No sooner had she pulled up his name in her contacts list then her phone vibrated in her hand. A text with Kurt’s name at the top stared back at her.
“Meet me at the Dr. Schneider’s Office. Malcolm wants to talk to both of us.”
Fear gripped her at first, almost instinctively. When she remembered Malcolm Jennings from the night at the dinner. The hardness of his small eyes had made her feel even then that he was not a man to be trifled with.
But, then she realized that, at the very least, she and Kurt would have to speak to one another. They would have to work this out. And, with Malcolm Jennings there, maybe Kurt could get him to be reasonable. Surely, he didn’t really want his daughter to be stuck in a loveless marriage. His reputation could not mean that much to him.
So, taking a deep breath and telling herself to at least attempt to see the positive in this, she quickly pushed out an affirmative reply and headed to the University.
Despite the positive spin, she’d tried to put on this meeting, her heart continued to thump all the way to the President’s office.
When she entered the lobby, Dr. Schneider himself greeted her.
Seated in one of the lobby’s cheap green chairs, anyone might have thought that he was a junior professor worried about his class attendance or, perhaps a job applicant waiting to be seen by the president.
Very few would guess that this small, nervous looking man with his balding black hair, large framed glasses and bow tie actually was the university president. And the simpering smile that could not mask his nerves as he stood to shake her hand did not improve the image at all.
“Emily! I’m so sorry you have to go through this,” he said. “I know it’s been a rough couple of days for you.”
Not able to answer, Emily gave him as good a smile as she could muster. Though, she thought it probably looked more like a grimace. The sympathetic look in Dr. Schneider’s face intensified when he saw it and he beckoned her towards the seat next to his.
The two sat in a tense filled silence for several moments. Beyond Dr. Schneider’s door, Emily could hear Malcolm and Kurt’s voices very distinctly. Try as she might, however, she could not hear what was being said.
“They’re still talking,” Dr. Schneider said unnecessarily. Emily, again not sure how to answer, nodded. Another several moments passed in tense silence.
“I got your final draft,” he said finally. “Of the book, I mean. I’ve got to say, it’s very, very good. Just a shame the University won’t be able to let you take the credit for it.”
“What do you mean?” Emily asked turning to him.
Dr. Schneider looked at her in surprise, his eyes wide behind his spectacles.
“I…I’m sorry, I thought you would know all ready by now,” he said haltingly. “Though, I suppose they’ll discuss it with you when Malcolm calls you in. See...after this scandal…Mr. Jennings won’t let your name appear anywhere on the book once it’s published. You won’t be mentioned in the acknowledgments either.”
“Oh,” Emily said. She found she didn’t have either the breath or the heart to say anything more. It wasn’t that she desperately wanted the fame or the prestige of being credited on this book. To tell the truth, in the beginning, she’d assumed that she wouldn’t be. And, she’d been fine with that.
What bothered her was Malcolm Jennings attempt to erase her from Kurt’s life all together. It was as though he was trying to make Emily’s very existence disappear entirely.
“I’m sorry,” Dr. Schneider said again. “But, it was one of Malcolm's conditions for letting Kurt stay on staff. And, with the promise of this book…what it will do for the University’s reputation…I just can’t afford to lose Kurt Schmidt as a professor.”
“One of his conditions?” Emily asked hurriedly, her stomach plummeting once again. “What were the others.”
Dr. Schneider opened his mouth to speak but after a moment, his eyes darted nervously to his own closed office door.
“I…shouldn’t say,” he answered. “I’m sure they’ll talk to you about it.”
Emily was about to nod in acceptance again. But, then she began to think about why she should. It seemed to her that between her and Kurt and Dr. Schneider, there was a whole lot of accepting going on. All of them accepting what Malcolm had to say without a word of disagreement.
In short, too much accepting and not enough fighting.
“Why should you lose Kurt?” she asked. Dr. Schneider turned to her in surprise, his eyes once again wide behind his huge spectacles.
“Well, I thought…with the scandal and everything…I mean, I hope I won’t but…”
“You’re the president of the University, aren’t you?” Emily asked putting a stop to Dr. Schneider’s stammering. “Shouldn’t you make the final decision about who stays and who goes?”
“Of course,” Dr. Schneider said somewhat defensively. “And I do have the final say. But, you have to understand. Malcolm Jennings is- “
Before Dr. Schneider could finish the thought, he jumped and let out an undignified squeak when the office door opened.
Malcolm Jennings strode out, head high and face blank as stone.
“Emily,” he said to her. “I’ll see you inside now. Dr. Schneider, I’ll call you when we’re ready for you.”
Emily stood and, as she passed Dr. Schneider, he looked as though he wanted to say something either apologetic or consoling.
In the end, however, he looked up at Malcolm and then back at the floor.
Emily knew she shouldn’t have expected much of a fight from Dr. Schneider. He wasn’t the fighting type. He was too much like Kurt. An intellectual who hid in his books and was more than a little uncomfortable with confrontation.
That was when she realized that if any of them were going to fight against Malcolm Jennings, it would have to be her.
So, as she passed through Dr. Schneider’s office door, she gave the man her darkest glare and prepared herself for battle.