* * *
As Josie filed into the classroom for her first period class Thursday morning, Ms. Knox called her over to her desk.
"Josie," Ms. Knox informed her, "Principal Kerdan asked to see you as soon as you got in this morning."
Panic-stricken, Josie asked, "Why? What did I do?"
Ms. Knox smiled at her encouragingly and patted Josie on the shoulder. "I don't know, dear, he didn't say. But I'm sure if it's about you, then it's nothing serious. You certainly aren't any trouble."
Josie slung her bookbag back over her shoulder and pushed her way through the incoming students to get out to the hallway. Her heart dropped as she stopped to catch her breath; she was in serious danger of hyperventilating. Contrary to Ms. Knox's belief that it wasn't serious, Josie was sure that the only reason the principal would want to see her�and first thing in the morning�would be to tell her she'd been busted.
'Either Gus is going to kill me or Rigfort is going to fire me,' she thought, not sure which was the better option.
Josie slowly made her way to the main office, which was a long walk through several corridors. The halls were silent; all she could hear were her footsteps and the pounding of her heart.
'Get a hold of yourself, Josie, it's just a job,' she tried to convince herself. Then she berated herself for still being intimidated by authority figures. Taking a deep cleansing breath, she walked into the office and said to the secretary sitting closest to the door, "I'm Josie Geller. Principal Kerdan wanted to see me?" she said, sounding stronger than she felt.
The grandmotherly secretary smiled gently at Josie and said, "Just have a seat, I'll let him know you're here." She disappeared towards the back and then returned a moment later. If the woman had any idea what was going on, Josie could not read it in her expression.
Josie sat down in one of the hard wooden chairs and waited. She looked at the clock, glanced at the other secretaries working in the office, read some of the notices posted in the waiting area�anything to distract herself and calm her nerves.
A door opened and the principal stuck his head out and said with a businesslike tone, "Josie? Please come in."
She gave the principal a timid smile, got up, and walked towards the office door, which Principal Kerdan had left ajar for her. As she stood in the doorway, she sensed another presence in the room. Looking over at the chair on the far side of the principal's desk, she saw the back of a man's head, and her breath caught in her throat. 'Oh, no!' she thought, 'It couldn't be!'
But it could be. Sam turned around in his chair to look at her, his expression unreadable. As Sam acknowledged her, Josie's knees almost gave out and she stumbled a little over the threshold, but managed to make her way to the empty chair beside Sam that Principal Kerdan had proffered.
'Oh my God,' she thought to herself. As she took her seat, she glanced sideways at Sam, trying to read his face without being obvious. In Josie's mind, there could be only one reason why Sam and she would be summoned together like this. 'Not only is my cover blown,' she panicked, 'but they know about us and he's in trouble, too!'
Sam sensed Josie's discomfort, so he smiled at her and tried to reassure her with his eyes, but she was already too far gone to notice. All she could think was that they were both going to be fired and it was all her fault.
"Josie�" Principal Kerdan began, leaning across his desk toward her.
Sam's presence in the room caused the guilt to pound at her brain like the beating of the Telltale Heart from the Edgar Allen Poe story. She couldn't take it anymore and started to confess. "Please sir� let me explain�" but she broke off abruptly as she noticed Sam's meaningful stare from the corner of her eye. He was shaking his head at her almost imperceptibly.
"Oh, I understand completely, Josie." Principal Kerdan smiled at her, also noticing her panic and trying to calm her down. "There's no need for you to explain. I just wanted to discuss it with you personally."
'What?' she thought, completely dumbfounded. 'He understood!?'
Josie's expression was so comical that Sam wanted to laugh. But he didn't dare add to her obvious confusion.
Sam leaned over, placed a comforting hand on her arm, and told her, "Josie, I was just telling Principal Kerdan about our discussion on the possibility of you being chosen as class valedictorian but didn't feel you were worthy of the honor, since you had only been a student here for two months." With that, he released his hold on her arm and sat back in his chair.
Immediately Josie realized why she had been summoned there and tried to hide her sigh of relief.
Principal Kerdan nodded his agreement with Sam's statement and then began, "Young lady, you have a most impressive record and the highest GPA of any of our graduating students. And being voted Prom Queen certainly shows your popularity with the students. I don't think anyone would begrudge you the honor."
"I appreciate the honor, sir, really I do�but I couldn't possibly. It wouldn't be fair to the other students that have been here for four years. Please, I wouldn't want to take that away from anyone. What about Aldys Wells? Her marks must be up there with mine and I know what a wonderful writer she is," she said, looking at Sam for confirmation.
Sam agreed, telling Josie, "She was the other candidate I had suggested. What do you think, Jack?" he asked turning to him.
Principal Kerdan looked speculatively at Josie again. "Are you sure, Josie? You don't want to regret it years from now," he said kindly.
"I'm positive. I just wouldn't feel right about it," she replied emphatically. She though, 'I've already done that - for my college commencement!'
"Okay, Josie," the principal finally acquiesced. "Thank you for coming in. I had been hoping to change your mind about this, but I can see now that Mr. Coulson was right about your not wanting to do it." He turned to Sam. "You'll speak to Aldys today?"
"Yes, she is in my next class," Sam replied.
That settled, Josie pushed herself out of the chair, saying, "Well, I guess I had better get to class. Thanks for being so understanding, Principal Kerdan." She smiled charmingly.
"You're welcome, Josie," he answered. To Sam, he said, "Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Sam. We certainly don't want any of our students to be unhappy about having an honor such as this bestowed upon them."
Sam stood up and followed Josie out of the office and into the hall. They were both headed in the same direction.
As soon as they were around the corner and out of sight of the office, Josie glanced around, and seeing no one in the hallway, she gave Sam a slight punch in the arm. "Thanks a lot for warning me! I can't even begin to tell you how terrified I was!" she exclaimed.
Sam chuckled a little and rubbed at his arm. "I'm sorry. I didn't even think about it until I saw your face. I thought you were going to faint dead away in the middle of Jack's office!" He paused a moment, and then continued, "I guess I didn't tell you I also run the Grad committee� I'm still considered pretty new as far as tenure goes, so they nail me for all the committees around here," he chuckled.
Josie smiled back, and said ruefully, "I had totally forgotten about the valedictorian thing. When Ms. Knox told me that I was wanted in the principal's office 'right away', I thought for sure I had been found out. Then I saw you sitting there and completely panicked. I figured we had both been busted."
Sam dared to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and was about to tell her not to worry, that no one had any idea�when a door opened suddenly down the hallway and Aldys exited, carrying a hall pass. She was about to turn left towards the girl's washroom when she saw them. She stopped and stared, seeing the inappropriate-looking gesture.
Sam quickly noticed her and removed his hand from Josie's shoulder with a bit of a guilty look on his face. Then to cover it up, he called Aldys over to them. He said, "Aldys, I was going to wait and tell you after class, but since you're here, I might as well tell you now."
Aldys looked confused, but asked, "Tell me what?"
"You have been selected as class valedictorian this year."
Aldys beamed. "Really?" she asked Sam.
"Yes. Actually," he explained, "Josie had the highest GPA�by just a little�but she didn't feel that she had been here long enough to deserve the honor, so she declined. I was just telling her how much I understood and respected her difficult decision when you came out."
Aldys looked from Josie to Sam and back to Josie, considering. Deciding the explanation seemed plausible, she turned to Josie, "Wow! That must have been a hard decision to make."
Josie smiled at Aldys, "Not as hard as you may think. You're the one who really deserves it, Aldys. You're the one who was here all this time and earned it from the teachers in this school. I'm sure you'll be great."
Aldys blushed a little and said, "Thanks. I appreciate this, really I do."
Sam smiled at her. "So, I hope this means you're planning to accept. I don't know what we would do if you declined it, too!"
"Of course I accept, thank you. I have plenty to say," she said with a mischievous grin.
"I'm sure you do," Sam agreed. "And, please don't hesitate to ask if you need any help with your speech�and congratulations." He gave both Aldys and Josie a final nod before walking away towards his classroom.
Josie turned to Aldys and gave her a hug. "Yeah, congratulations! You are definitely the best person to do this. I would love to read your speech when you're finished."
"Sure, no problem." Then, Aldys gave Josie a questioning look and started, "Josie, is there something going on between�"
Josie interrupted, "Sorry, Aldys, but I really don't have time to talk now�I have to run back to Ms. Knox's class. You know how she gets, and I am not wearing that hat again! See ya in English?" she said, waving, as she practically ran away.
Josie did not want to have to lie anymore to her new friend, but Aldys had seemed to be suspicious for a while now�ever since the prom. Josie had the feeling Aldys had either seen something or knew something that made her suspicious about her and Sam, but didn't know how she was going to handle it yet.
* * *
In fact, Aldys did suspect something was not quite right between Josie and their young, handsome English teacher. She couldn't help but notice how intently Mr. Coulson and Josie had gazed into each other's eyes when they'd danced together at the prom. 'Gosh,' she thought, 'they'd practically set the crepe paper on fire with the looks they gave each other!'
Ever since then, she had been looking for signs. Then things started clicking into place: the coincidence of seeing Mr. Coulson with his girlfriend at the restaurant and then Josie not showing up for lunch on Sunday, and then Josie's weird behavior on Monday. In the several times she had seen them together alone since the prom, they always seemed to be deep in discussion�and somehow did not quite appear to be teacher and student.
Aldys still wasn't sure, but she her suspicions grew every time she saw Josie and Mr. Coulson together. Something about their relationship was not quite right, although she couldn't put her finger on what it was. She didn't know how she felt about this or what, if anything, she would do about it if it were true. All this ran through her head as she walked on toward the bathroom.
* * *
Josie was juggling her books at her locker at the end of the day, trying to decide which ones to put in her backpack and which ones to leave behind. Aldys walked over to her locker and turned to Josie.
"Josie, what are you doing right now? I was wondering if you wanted to go to Nana's. I have some ideas for my speech I was hoping to run by you."
Josie hesitated, then answered, "Sure, but I can't take too long, I have a lot of homework and studying to do tonight."
"Great!" Aldys enthused. "Let's go. Umm, do you mind if we take my car? Yours sort of makes me nervous," she admitted. "I'll drop you back here after, okay?"
"No problem," Josie said, understanding her concern. After all, Josie herself wouldn't even ride in Bambi if she had a choice�
Aldys and Josie entered the coffee shop and managed to find a table. It was a popular hangout for the South Glen students and they often congregated there after school to gossip or study.
Josie dumped her bag on the table and offered to go up to the counter and treat them to coffee and a donut. As she returned to the table, she was trying to balance two hot coffees and a paper bag of donuts. She had left her cell phone on the table and suddenly it rang loudly, causing some of the students to look over at their table, annoyed. Aldys grabbed the phone and started to hand it to Josie.
Josie looked from the phone to her full hands and asked Aldys pleadingly, "Can you please answer that for me?"
Aldys pressed the 'talk' button and said, "Hello?"
"Hi, Josie. It's me."
Josie felt a shiver run down her spine as Aldys' face blanched. Aldys answered with a tight voice, "It's not Josie, hold on a sec."
Josie placed the coffees in front of them on the table. Aldys held the phone out to her and said, giving Josie a curious look, "I think it's Mr. Coulson."
'Uh oh,' Josie felt her stomach drop. She tried to think quickly, 'What excuse could she give to explain why 'Mr. Coulson' would be calling her on her cell phone?'
Nervously she went to grab the phone, but her hand was shaking so badly, she knocked over her coffee. Even though she jumped back, it still spilled all over the table and some on her hand. It was very hot. "Ow!" she exclaimed. Trying to balance the phone on her shoulder, she grabbed some napkins to wipe up the mess. Aldys was staring at her as she helped her clean up the mess. Josie turned away from Aldys' accusing face and said, "Hello?" hoping against hope that Aldys had been wrong and it was not Sam.
"Hi!" Sam's voice greeted her cheerfully. "What's going on? Who answered your phone just now?"
Josie thought quickly. Turning back towards the table so that Aldys could hear her side of the conversation, she said, "Oh, thanks for your concern. It's fine. No, I'm coming back for it later."
"Coming back for what?" Sam questioned, completely confused.
"Okay. Thanks again, Mr. Coulson. Bye," she said, hanging up on him. She shoved the phone into her bag. With a quick glance at Aldys, she excused herself to take care of her burned hand, walking off to the washroom to clean up and soak her hand in cold water. She took her time, soaking several paper towels to take back to the table.
Josie wasn't happy about it, but she knew she'd have to lie again to Aldys. She didn't have long to wait. As soon as she sat back down at the table, Aldys leveled her with a probing look and demanded, "Why was Mr. Coulson calling you, Josie?"
Josie fed her the lie she'd concocted while soaking her hand in the bathroom. "Mr. Coulson saw my car was still in the parking lot and was worried that I had car trouble again. He helped me out once when I needed the battery charged."
"He knows your cell phone number?" Aldys asked incredulously.
"Umm�yes, actually, he does. I gave it to him when we were working on the Prom Committee. I was away from home a lot those couple of weeks, and if he needed to talk to me about the committee stuff, I wanted him to be able to reach me."
To Josie's relief, Aldys decided to drop it and changed the subject to her speech.
After an hour or so, Josie pleaded her heavy homework load, and Aldys drove Josie back to her car.
"Thanks for your help, Josie. See you tomorrow!" Aldys waved as she drove off.
Josie settled into the driver's side of the car and started to fish around in her bag for her cell phone so she could call Sam back. She was sure he must have been completely confused by their rather surreal conversation. But as she listened to his answering machine pick up, Sam suddenly walked out of the school and towards her car the parking lot. 'What was he still doing here?' she wondered, hanging up the phone and dropping it back into her bag.
As Sam approached, he pointed to the passenger door, so she leaned over and unlocked it. He climbed in and closed the door behind him. Then he turned towards her, a puzzled look on his face.
"Hey, what happened? Ever since I realized your car was still in the lot, I've been watching for you. I saw Aldys drop you off just now. Was she the one who answered the phone before?" he asked.
"Yes, she was," Josie replied. Then she asked Sam, "Why are you still here?"
"I was worried when I saw your car in the lot and figured I'd stick around for a while and find out if you were coming back for it."
Josie was concerned about being seen with Sam sitting in her car. She glanced around nervously, but Sam reassured her. "We're in a pretty secluded part of the student lot and everyone is gone for the day, Josie. Don't worry about it."
Turning back to Sam, she moaned, "Oh, Sam, I'm sure Aldys suspects something now. I didn't even stop to think when I asked her to answer my phone that it could be you calling." Then she explained about how she'd been so nervous that she'd spilled the coffee and the story she had to tell Aldys to explain his telephone call.
"I hate lying to her, Sam; almost as much as I hated lying to you. I've just decided that this is the last undercover job I'm ever going to take. I am definitely not cut out for it."
"Sam, what are we going to do about Aldys? I almost told her the truth today, but I caught myself at the last moment. Do you think she might report her suspicions to someone? I don't want to get you into any trouble�"
"From what I have seen of Aldys," he deduced, "I don't think she would report us without confronting one of us about it first. But it still might not be a bad idea to tell her anyway, just in case. Think about it, okay?"
Josie nodded absently, and looked down at her hand, which was still burning.
Sam reached over and gently took her right hand. "Here, let me look at that," he said, concerned. There was an angry red splotch about the size of a quarter on the back of her hand between her thumb and index finger. "Does it hurt?" he asked her, still holding her hand.
"Yes, but I'm trying not think about it." But her face betrayed her misery; she was feeling a good amount of pain from the burn.
Josie jumped a little as Sam lifted her hand up to his mouth and kissed softly over the red spot. "There," he said with a smile, "does that help?"
Josie could barely breathe. "It helps."
They sat there in silence for a minute, the tension in the air surrounding them.
Josie commented, "Gosh, I'll be glad when this is over and I can go back to my boring old job. If I still have a job, that is."
"It's been tough for me too�all this pretending. Having to see you every day in class and pretend that I'm not crazy about you," he admitted.
After another moment, he asked, "Is there some way we can get together over the weekend? I can't stand the thought of going two whole days without seeing you�" he said softly, causing Josie to get butterflies in her stomach.
"Hmmm�if I just happened to show up somewhere, and you just happened to be there, no one could fault that, could they? Where can we go that we won't run into any of the students?"
Sam wanted to suggest his apartment, but thought better of it. Instead, he joked, "The South Chicago Library?" Then he sobered and said, "Seriously, I'll think about it and let you know tomorrow. I should go back to my office now; I'm working on the final exam. You should go home and soak that hand. I don't want to hear any excuses about not writing your exam." He grinned at her.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Coulson, sir," Josie teased. "Can you call me later?"
"I was just going to suggest that."
They said goodbye with a quick kiss, then Sam got out of the car and walked back into the school with a sigh. 'Boy,' he thought as he watched Josie drive away, 'the next week is going to be a long one.'
* * *
To be continued...
* * *