Chapter 48

11:15 a.m., Thursday

Regan walked across the campus to her last class before lunch. She had sent Andy a text about adding minutes to his phone. He had responded with a thanks as he raced between classes and promised to call her at lunch.

She had 45 minutes until he could talk to him and she was anxious. Her classes that morning had been a bust. Her English instructor, a young woman in her mid 20s, had given her a nod but the lesson was boring. Her calculus professor had glared at her – and the lesson was still boring.

Now, Regan understood why her instructors had offered cool receptions: Word of what had transpired in Ms. DuMont's office had spread around campus like a wildfire – passed by Emily Greyston.

The chemistry teacher had started as soon as she left the building. She had contacted several other instructors to marshal her allies in a bid to replace DuMont at the top of the school's hierarchy. Gwendolyn DuMont had no more qualifications than Emily Greyston. Both had been teachers at the school when the last headmistress had retired more than a decade earlier. Greyston had not applied then, thinking that the board of directors would seek out someone with a master's in administration. Instead, they appointed Gwendolyn DuMont, who possessed the same degree from the same university that Emily Greyston had – albeit two years earlier.

DuMont had ruled the school for 13 years but the handwriting was on the wall. She was 61 years old and Greyston figured the board would offer to let her retire rather than oust her from her position. The only question in Emily's mind was if the board would wait until after the term ended or force her out immediately.

Emily figured that immediately would probably be better. She believed that she had positioned herself in a prime spot to be the interim headmistress – and thus become the frontrunner for the full-time position.

But not everyone agreed with Emily's assessment. The younger teachers believed that the next headmistress should come from their ranks. Several had achieved master's degrees in administration during their tenure at the school and a few had applied for open principal's positions in the public schools – only to learn they made more money as a teacher at C-B than they would as an administrator in most public institutions.

The faculty was divided almost entirely down the middle. A few of the older teachers disliked Emily Greyston so they had thrown their support to the consensus candidate from the younger ranks – a history teacher who had completed her master's and had begun a doctoral program.

Regan's civics instructor fell well on the elderly side of the equations. She was the longest-tenured teacher at the school after Emily Greyston but she had no desire to move up the food chain. She was content to finish out her remaining four years and retire with a hefty pension. Susan Allenworth hated anything that rocked the boat – and the Riley family had been shaking it since they walked into the doors 16 months earlier.

Regan was the first one in the class, courtesy of calculus ending a few minutes early. The instructor offered an icy stare that followed Regan from the doorway to her seat. The anger that Regan had put away earlier in the morning returned full force.

"The lesson for today: Don't grab a tiger by the tail unless you know for certain you can deal with its teeth," Regan said. "Probably something you want to think about before you open your mouth to me."

"What has transpired is a travesty!" Allenworth stated.

"If you're talking about a pair of fossils trying to get to my mother through me, then I'll agree," Regan replied. "But if you're talking about a student standing up for her rights, then I'm afraid I'm going to shut you down right there.

"I didn't cheat on the exam. You teach government and you seem somewhat competent so you understand the rights of the accused. I have the right to face my accuser. That was denied to me. I have the right to see the evidence against me. That was denied to me. I have the right to talk to my parents since I am a minor. Ms. DuMont attempted to deny that to me. They accused me because I studied for a test and got a good grade! That's not evidence. That's not even circumstantial evidence. Then your girl, Emily, spilled the beans about old DuMont's plan to toss me out of here – and she did in front of the board president. Not one of her brightest moves."

"I'm sure Miss Greyston behaved properly," Allenworth stated.

"Get real!" Regan shot back. "If my mom and dad weren't there, she'd have piled the shit on me in a heartbeat. But she re-evaluated the situation when she walked in the door and threw the headmistress to the tiger to save herself. Let me make something perfectly clear: I told my mother everything... everything ... that goes on here. The board is counting on my family to provide sizeable donations in the future to ensure they can pay your hefty salary. That means we call the tune and the board dances to whatever we pick.

"If you think differently, you're deluding yourself. So right now, Gwen DuMont is packing her bags and updating her resume while Old Miss Greyston is dreaming of how nice her things will look in the headmistress' house. That won't happen. I give you my word that if Emily Greyston is promoted to headmistress, all financial support from my family will cease – every single penny except for the scholarships we endow will end immediately. We will very likely transfer our scholarship students to other institutions by the fall. My mother is going to insist that the next candidate have qualifications that far exceed a teaching certificate. If the board balks, well, she'll probably just replace the board. Enough of the students here have families beholden to my mother that she probably can get a new board in place in a month or so.

"So, you best toe the line or you'll find yourself on the unemployment line right beside the Gargoyle – with no retirement and no pension. You might get hired at a public school but you won't work there long enough to qualify for retirement. You'll get to spend the last few years of your career surrounded by the very people you despise if you piss me off. So I'm urging you to be very careful about how you treat every last student from now on. I'm through playing the mouse. I'm the tiger now and I'm ready to bite every last one of you on the ass if you piss me off."

Joy had been the next person to arrive at the class but she held the students outside the door – but not out of earshot of what was transpiring inside. She watched as the instructor's face changed from red with anger to white with fear. When Regan had finished, the teacher said nothing, just turned around and started writing on the whiteboard with a marker.

Only then did Joy release the smiling students. She sat down next to Regan and poked her in the ribs.

"You were GREEAAT!" she said. Regan looked at her blankly. "Oh, come on! Tony the Tiger. We heard all of that."

"Oh," Regan replied with chagrin.

"It was awesome," the girl behind Regan chimed in. She was a scholarship student but from a private corporation, not from Regan's family. "She's looked at me like I'm shit since she found out my family doesn't winter in Aspen. Screw her!"

By lunch, almost every girl in Regan's class had either commented or given her a smile or a nod as they passed.

"Like I said," Joy told her as they walked to the cafeteria. "You were GREEAAT!"

Noon, Thursday

"Would you rather I sit somewhere else?" Elizabeth asked as she stood beside the table where Andy sat.

"No," Andy said in confusion. She had sat beside him in class just a few minutes before. Elizabeth put her tray down and took a seat.

"You just seem to be trying to avoid me," she said.

"It's not you," Andy said. "I've just been trying to put the last week into some sort of perspective."

"Good luck with that," Chris said as he plopped down beside Elizabeth. He was a guy and knew Andy would tell him to get lost if he was trying to avoid him. "This last week ... man, it's been nuts"

"You're not wrong," Andy agreed.

"Lupe is moving in tonight," Elizabeth said. She had wanted to tell Andy the news since this morning but decided to wait until she figured out if he was mad at her first.

"Good," Andy said. "She told me last night that she enjoyed the day at the admin building. She said she learned more than she would have in class, too."

"I talked to her last night," Elizabeth said. "Uh, she wanted me to remind you to drop of her application on your way to work."

"It's already in my car," Andy assured her.

"Any plans for tomorrow night?" Chris wondered. "Joy and Ruth said they could stay with Regan if something is happening."

"My grandmother is coming to town," Andy said.

"Your grandmother?" Elizabeth asked in an icy voice. "Then I will have plans for tomorrow. I will be wherever she is so I can kick her ass!"

"Uh, my other grandmother," Andy corrected. "Evan's mom – the Dowager Countess Smithfield. That's her official title."

"Oh, sorry," Elizabeth apologized.

"You know Andy's grandma?" Chris wondered.

"No," Elizabeth said, "I'm sure I'd like her less if I'd met her."

"She booted Mom and me out of the house a few weeks after my grandfather died," Andy explained. "That's where Mom and I lived until I was eight – with her and Grandpa."

"Dude, that's cold!" Chris said.

"It's horrible," Elizabeth stated. "As much as I dislike Chuck, I wouldn't suggest we put him out on the street to fend for himself."

"You know, Rico wasn't playing last night," Andy said looking directly at Elizabeth with a serious expression on his face. "If he touches Lupe – or even bothers her – Chuck is going to be in a world of hurt."

"I know he wasn't kidding," Elizabeth said. "But he gave Chuck a warning. Chuck didn't just come home one day to find a beating waiting for him. That's what your grandmother did."

"Well, yeah," Andy said.

"What did I miss last night?" Chris cut in.

"Andy and two of his ... friends ... came over to inspect Lupe's living arrangements," Elizabeth said. "They let Chuck know pretty clearly that Lupe is off limits."

"Is this girl hot or something?" Chris wondered.

"No," Andy said.

"She will be soon," Elizabeth said at the same time.

"Yeah, maybe," Andy admitted after a moment. "She's a kid, Chris. She's maybe five-three and 80 pounds."

"She's five-feet-five," Elizabeth corrected. "She pretty but she's still a little thin, probably 100 pounds. She's starting to fill out some. I think she was neglected at home for many years and it's taken Rico and his crew a year or so to get her weight back up. I would say, if she stays with my family through the summer, she'll be 110 or so and she'll be extremely pretty."

Elizabeth saw Andy roll his eyes and she frowned at him.

"She's got the start of a nice body," Elizabeth pointed out.

"I've seen almost all of it in the past few days!" Andy replied. "She showed me most of her butt on Monday and she unbuttoned her shirt to show me her boobs last night."

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"Why?" Chris wondered. Andy decided to answer Chris' question first – because he thought Elizabeth's query superfluous.

"She is testing out her sexuality on me," Andy replied. "At least that's what Rico thinks."

"Rico knows she showed you her bust?" Elizabeth cut in. "And you're still alive?"

"Rico saw it all from the doorway," Andy replied. "I'm walking a pretty thin line."

"I'll bet," Elizabeth said.

"Not with Rico," Andy explained. "It's with Lupe. I'm trying not to encourage her but at the same time, I don't want to be a total jerk. I told you about Monday night."

"Not me," Chris pointed out.

"She showed up at the apartment in a pair of cutoff jeans and a crop top," Andy said. "I think she had to have had them since she was 10. I could see the top of her panties in the front and the bottom of her buns in the back. Last night, while I was helping her with her application, uh, it was really fucking hot in the apartment. Mom and I got an air conditioner Sunday so I went to get it. Rico went to change clothes before we went to scare Chuck and ... Lupe unbuttoned her shirt. She wasn't wearing a bra either."

"The girl is... ," Chris said but trailed off.

"She's been so sheltered that she's never been around guy," Andy finished. "The kids at school all make fun of her because she's smart. Rico has kept the boys in the building five miles away at all times. She's..."