Chapter Thirty-Two
BETHANY
I showed up to work Monday with a bright smile on my face. It was amazing how things had shifted from bad to good in just a couple of days. My ex was being transported back to Richmond, and he wasn’t going to see the light of day for a while. In addition to violating my restraining order against him, he had a few drug charges pending, and he had broken his probation by leaving the city of Richmond. Not only that, but I reconciled with Gavin, and things seemed to be going back to the way they were before all that information about my past came to light.
“Hey, Sharon,” I said, stepping into the teacher’s lounge.
“Hey, boo.”
I wrinkled my eyebrows together. “What’s wrong? Somebody ate all the nightcrawlers from the doughnut box,” I said, laughing, as I slid my lunch box into the refrigerator. Normally, that would’ve at least cracked a smile on her face, but this time, she didn’t do anything. “Okay, it’s not like you to at least throw an insult back at me at the minimum. What’s wrong?”
She finally made eye-contact with me. Her deep, brown eyes possessed a mountain of sorrow as I walked closer to her and sat down at the table. “You used to be a stripper?”
Suddenly, my heart dropped from my chest and hit the ground like a bomb. My mind immediately went to Derrick as I shook my head. “Stripper? Wait, where did you hear that?”
“Things started floating around the school when you left Friday.”
“Floating around the school? What do you mean floating around the school?”
“Rumors. I don’t know where it came from, but late Friday afternoon, I walked into here and I overheard some teachers talking about you. They were like, ‘Yeah, that Bethany? She used to be a stripper in Richmond.’ I mean, they were going on and on about where you used to work and guys that used to talk to you. Well, guys that you used to fuck,” she whispered.
Just then, another teacher walked into the lounge. She avoided eye-contact with us as she popped something into the refrigerator, then left the room just as fast. We waited until she was gone before we continued. “That is bullshit, Sharon! Bullshit,” I whispered in a stern tone. “They are rumors, and that’s it! I didn’t fuck around with guys like that.”
“But did you used to be a stripper?”
“So what if I was? I am not one now. We all make mistakes, and I don’t think anybody in this school, outside of students, can sit there and boast about having a squeaky clean past. This is bullshit, Sharon, and you know it!”
“Listen, Bethany.” She scooted closer to me, “I am not judging you at all. I don’t care if you used to be a stripper, a prostitute, or a damned drug addict. You are not one now, and that is all that matters. Shit, I’ve done a lot of bullshit in my past, too, so I get it. But, the truth of the matter is that Principal Jones is old-school. He does things by the book, and if he gets wind that you used to be a stripper, then he will get rid of you. Not just because of that, but because once the parents find out, they will not want their children around you. It is fucked up, but it is the cold hard truth, Bethany.”
Tears swam at the bottom of my eyes. She was right. I knew that Principal Jones was not one to let something like this slide, but I figured I would be able to keep things quiet for the time being. At least until I finished school and found another job as a teacher. Now, I wished that I didn’t drag my feet when it came to finishing my degree. “Derrick! Fucking Derrick!” I said, slamming my fist on the table. I looked away from her as I replayed his words in my mind. “He did this. He started all of this bullshit!”
“What did he do?”
I faced her, “He cornered me last Friday. He said that if I didn’t take him out on a date, he would let everyone know what I used to do in the past.”
Her mouth hung open. “He said that?”
“Yes! He said that, and I know he is behind all of this! I know without a shadow of a doubt! He is a prick! A fucking prick!”
“I can’t believe this, Bethany! He seems like a spoiled ass little boy.”
I stood up from the table, knocking the chair over in the process. Just then, two more teachers walked into the lounge. Two women smiled at me but didn’t say a word as they walked over to the doughnut box. I was liked by everyone at the school, but it would only take something like this for people to show their true colors. In my mind, they were belittling me because of the rumors that were floating around the school. Before I allowed my anger to explode, I turned to walk out of the room. “Hold on, girl,” Sharon said, trailing behind me, “I don’t need you to do anything stupid!”
I charged down the hallway, headed straight for Derrick’s classroom. I showed up ten minutes before the first bell rang and children had just started to walk into the room and place their bags on the shelves. Sharon caught up to me, “Bethany, now is not the time, okay? The children are coming in. Just wait.”
“Wait?” I said, aggressively. “Wait for what? If it is already floating around the school, then I know Principal Jones has already heard it by now! He is ruining my life! My career!”
“But Bethany, this is not the best time to talk to him. Not when you are like this.”
I rolled my eyes at her, then continued my pace to Derrick’s room. Moments later, he stepped out of the class and looked down the hall in my direction. A smirk appeared on his face. “I told you so,” he lipped towards me.
I bit my tongue as I continued towards him. If it wasn’t for the children standing around, curse words would have bounced off the walls until they bludgeoned him to death. He folded his arms over his chest when I finally approached him. “I need to talk to you. Now.”
Sharon stood beside me as he responded. “Um,” he looked at his watch, “I have a class to teach. It’s funny, though, because if you’d given me a little time this weekend, I’m sure neither one of us would be in this position now. I tried to give you the chance to see how much of a gentleman I am, but since you didn’t afford me the opportunity, well… you got the other side of me.”
“That was weak, Derrick,” Sharon spoke up. “You didn’t have to do that. This is her job. You’re going to ruin her job just because she didn’t give you a date? Really?”
“It is more than that, Sharon. It is about way more than that. It is just the principle, you know? And, speaking of,” he looked beyond us, “good morning, Principal Jones. It is a fine start to the week, yes?”
He didn’t respond to Derrick, and soon, he stood right beside us. The smile that usually covered his face in the mornings was replaced with a solemn glare. “A word please, Ms. Pope?”
I lowered my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Derrick’s smirk. It tormented me because I knew what was coming and his rumor was the prelude to it all. “Yes, sir. Lead the way.”
He started walking towards his office, and before I could follow him, Sharon grabbed my hand, “Just be honest with him, okay? That’s all you can do.”
I wiped a tear from my eye and nodded my head, then followed him down the hallway. I kept a few paces between us as if I was a student trailing its teacher. Some children smiled and waved at me as I walked behind Principal Jones. I forced a smile onto my face and waved back at them on my way in. Once we got inside, he closed the door. “Have a seat, Ms. Pope.”
I smiled as if nothing was wrong. “Sure thing, Principal Jones. What have I done now?” I asked, jokingly. “I promise you that I did not eat all of the bagels.” He sat down in his chair behind his desk and propped one leg over the other. His foot bounced around as he connected his fingertips. I could tell that he didn’t want to make eye-contact with me. His cheekbones gyrated inside his mouth. A few awkward moments passed by before I spoke up again, “Sir? Is something wrong?”
He exhaled. “I um, I just want you to be honest with me right now, okay, Ms. Pope? Honesty is what matters most.”
“Oh. Okay, sure thing.” I knew what was coming. I glanced at his desk. A picture of him and his wife faced me. It was a picture I had admired since the first day I stepped foot into his office. I imagined me and my husband in the same pose if we were fortunate enough to make it to that age.
“What type of career did you have before you moved out here to Roanoke?”
His light blue eyes looked fragile as he zeroed in on me. A wave of shame flooded through my veins like heroin. Hairs stood upright on my arms like they were infused with static. I twiddled my thumbs in silence, wanting to come up with a lie, but knowing that it would only delay the inevitable. He knew the truth. That is why I was in here in the first place. I wiped a tear from my eye before it had a chance to fall. “I um,” I took a deep breath. “This is hard for me to say, sir. It’s a part of my past that I am ashamed of. I made some mistakes. Well,” I wiped another stream of tears, “a lot of mistakes, but it has made me a better person. Sir,” I said, looking directly at him, “I used to be a–”
“Don’t,” he said, cutting me off before I could finish my sentence. “Don’t say it, Ms. Pope. I believe I already know what is going to come from your mouth. I heard the rumor on Friday before I left, and I brushed it off. You are like a daughter to me, Bethany, so I did not want to believe it. However, for the sake of the school and the parents, I had to look into it. So, I checked with the board to see if they could prove the rumor to be false. But, to my dismay, they couldn’t.”
Heartbreak pumped through the room like poison gas, and I could do nothing but inhale. I knew my time here at the school was over, and after a long meeting, he confirmed what I already knew would happen. He allowed me to keep the things in my office until the evening so I could avoid the embarrassment of moving everything out during the day. He embraced me, and with that, I left the school with tears blurring my vision on the way out. As soon as I got into my car, I cried out loud. I couldn’t believe that everything was over. My past almost destroyed my relationship with Gavin and nearly killed me, and it had even taken my only source of income. I had no idea what to do, and finally, I found the strength to start my engine and head to the only place I knew I could go for comfort.
April opened the door to a sea of tears as I stood on the other side. I couldn’t get a word out. I fell into her arms and cried on her shoulder. “Sweetheart, what is it? Did Gavin do something to you? I will skin him alive if he hurt you!” I shook my head no as she pushed the door closed, then led me to the couch. She handed me a Kleenex and said, “Here, sweetie, dry your eyes. Now, I’m going to need you to calm down,” she said, rubbing her stomach, “You know I am pregnant, and I am already emotionally unstable, so you have to calm down because I will either start crying myself or I will want to hurt someone. I am going to get another box of Kleenex though because it looks like we will both need it.”
She pushed herself up from the couch, then waddled down the hallway as I tried to calm myself. After she came back, only silent tears fell from my eyes. I was ready to talk. I told her what happened to get me fired. “That bastard! Can’t he get sued for that? Defamation of character? Slander? Something, shit!”
“No,” I said, “well, I don’t know. Even if he could, I don’t have the money for a lawyer or anything like that. I have enough money to help me float for the next two months, but after that, I am shit out of luck.”
“Damn it. I didn’t think guys would be so petty that far along in their lives. Like, grow up. You know?”
“Yeah. On top of that, my ex showed up this weekend.”
“What?”
“Yeah. He showed up at my house, pulled a gun on me, and everything. Luckily, I found a way to call Gavin without him knowing and before anything could happen, the police showed up. They shot him in the leg because he refused to put his gun down.”
“No shit?”
“Yeah.”
She scooted to the edge of the couch, “Wow. You had one fucked-up weekend. Then you get fired?”
“I know. It seems like when things start to get better, they then get ten times worse. I should be used to it by now though.” I dabbed my eyes with Kleenex. “Gavin decided to work things out with me, and then a day later, I get fired.” I laughed at the backwardness of my life.
I didn’t know how Gavin would take the news of me getting fired, but I had to be honest with him. I didn’t want him to find this out on his own like he did with my past. I was hoping for the best between us, but as always, I prepared for the worst.