Tempted By The Badge. Deborah Fletcher Mello
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As Joanna bound the test papers with a large rubber band and a sticky note detailing the class and time, her friend and associate barged into the room.
“You’re on break now, right?” English teacher Angel Graves gushed, tossing a look over her shoulder.
Joanna nodded. “I’m chaperoning fourth period study hall and grading these test papers. What’s up?”
“Haven’t you heard? The administration is in an uproar and there’s been two police detectives in the principal’s office since this morning. Someone’s in some serious trouble. Mrs. Magee says it’s about to hit the fans!”
Joanna shook her head from side to side. “Mrs. Magee gossips too much! I don’t know why you pay that woman any attention,” she said, referring to the office secretary.
“I pay attention to her because she’s that inside line to everything that goes on in this school. You should give her more credit. Besides, aren’t she and your mother old friends?”
“Which is how I know she gossips too much!”
“Yes, but she always has the best gossip!”
Joanna laughed as they made their way out of the classroom and down the hall toward the other end of the school building. Their conversation was easy and casual as they maneuvered their way through the throng of students hurrying to their next period class before the late bell sounded. “So, who did what this time?” she asked.
“It’s serious. They’re claiming teacher misconduct and inappropriate contact with a student.”
“Are they saying who?”
Angel shrugged. “Only that the student is a senior.”
“I just can’t believe it. I know some of the men around here are slimy, but I can’t imagine any one of them doing such a thing. That would just be horrific!”
Angel shrugged her shoulders. “You’re preaching to the choir! I wholeheartedly agree but you just can’t trust people like you used to.”
Joanna shook her head. “I swear, if it’s not one thing around here, it’s another. Last week it was all about the district wanting to close our doors and sell off the building, and the week before that our accreditation was supposedly in jeopardy. It’s anything that will get the school board up in arms. That last school board meeting lasted an hour longer than necessary. I can just imagine what a scandal like this will have them ranting about.”
“Yes, you can. They’ll revisit the dress code, insist on psychological background checks to detect predatory tendencies, maybe even contemplate a no-touch, no-tell policy. You know the drill.”
“No touch, no tell! Now you’re being funny,” Joanna said with a soft chuckle.
Angel laughed with her. “You have to have a sense of humor if you plan to make tenure.”
“I already have tenure.”
“Retirement, then. Either way, if you don’t laugh at foolishness like this, you’ll go crazy.”
Their banter was suddenly interrupted by someone calling Joanna’s name loudly from the other end of the hallway.
“Ms. Barnes! Ms. Barnes!”
The two women exchanged a quick look before turning in the direction of the high-pitched squeals piercing through the thick chatter of students crowding the hallway. Marion Talley tossed up a slight hand as she stomped her size-eleven heels in their direction. Before reaching their side, she admonished one student for cursing, a second for groping his girlfriend inappropriately and sent a third to the office for the length of her skirt. She herself wore a black knit dress that hugged one curve too many, remaining baby weight from her two middle-school-aged daughters still clinging to her midsection and hips.
Joanna forced a smile to her face, her mouth bending upward as she feigned interest in the woman who chaired the school’s English department. Marion Talley spent every opportunity she could find to make Joanna’s life miserable. The two of them had history that took them both back to their own high school days, resentment harbored over teenage antics that should have been long forgotten.
“Mrs. Talley, what can I do for you?” Joanna asked, mindful of all the ears shuffling past them.
“I was hoping to catch you before you left your classroom. You must have rushed out before the students. You do know leaving early without permission is grounds for disciplinary action. If someone were to tell, of course.”
Joanna bristled slightly, the little hairs against the back of her neck rising.
“Cut the crap, Marion,” Angel snarled under her breath. “You know she left her classroom the same time you left yours. You’re always trying to start something.”
Marion narrowed her gaze on the other woman, her face skewing with irritation. She bit back a comment, turning her attention onto Joanna instead.
“Mrs. Donato would like to see you in her office. I’m headed down to cover your study hall.”
“Did she say what it’s about?” Joanna asked.
Marion smirked. “No. But then there’s so much going on around here today. I’m sure it’s nothing, though.”
Joanna gave her another smile. “I’m sure, too.”
“Humph!” Marion grunted as she turned on her high heels and stomped back in the direction she’d come from.
When Marion was out of earshot, Joanna muttered under her breath, “I really wish she’d fall into a large hole and disappear.”
Angel laughed. “I know two sophomores who would gladly make that happen for you. Just give me the word.”
* * *
Minutes later Joanna sat in a wooden chair across from Valentina Donato, the school principal, and a police detective from the Chicago police department. A uniformed officer stood at the door. Joanna was shaking and on the verge of tears.
“Your union rep will meet you down at the police station, but you might want to consider hiring your own attorney,” Valentina was saying.
Joanna shook her head. “I didn’t do anything.”
“I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding,” Valentina said, “but we have a legal obligation to have the charges levied against you investigated. The allegations are very serious, Joanna! David Locklear claims you had a sexual relationship with him and that you held that relationship over his head and threatened his grades. We can’t just ignore that.”
Joanna