The first time, Lena brushed it off as nothing, a harmless compliment. She had hall duty before the staff meeting, so walked in after the bell, once everyone else had already entered and taken their seats. "You look nice today, Lena," Monte said as she gestured for Lena to join her at the head of the conference table.
The second time, it seemed like an accident. She, Monte, and their two librarians crowded around Lena's desk, anxious to see the result of their grant application. If they received the grant, they would have five thousand dollars designated for purchasing and promoting books featuring diverse main characters. Lena refreshed the grant award page. Nothing yet. Mr. Gibbons leaned over her shoulder and Mx. Price sat at her elbow. Monte stood over her.
"Try it again," Mx. Price suggested. They checked their watch. "It's 11:01 now."
Lena refreshed the page.
"We got it!" whooped Mr. Gibbons.
"Oh, I already have a list of books we need," Mx. Price said. "We can get those orders in and have the new books here before Christmas break."
"That's fantastic," said Monte. She placed her hand on Lena's shoulder and leaned over her. Her chest brushed against Lena as she pointed on the screen. "There's the official award letter - would you print that out and I'll take a copy to my meeting with the Board tonight?"
The third time, Lena looked noticeably uncomfortable. She had a PTA meeting that night and decided to stay at school for the few hours in between. She was eating dinner at her desk, going over end-of-year teacher evaluations, when Monte stopped by her office. "You're sure you don't need me at the PTA tonight?" Monte asked.
Lena shook her head. "The administration isn't usually represented at the PTA, unless there's something they want to talk with us about. I'm going as a parent."
"Oh." Monte visibly deflated. "Too bad. I have a date tonight with a guy I met online and I was hoping for an out. I tried to let him down gently after the first date, but he doesn't seem to get it. Staying with you would have given me a great excuse to cancel."
Lena smiled, the expression tight and tense. "Sorry I'm no help here," she said.
Monte smiled back, seemingly unaware of Lena's stiff posture. "See you tomorrow."
The fourth time, Lena got up and left the room. She'd gone to Monte's office for a meeting about salaries. Some of the grants Monte wanted to apply for required linking teacher salaries with students' test scores, but Lena maintained that they should stick with their old formula that combined experience, level of education, student evaluations, and administrative recommendations.
When she arrived at Monte's office, the door stood open and Monte was nowhere to be seen. The front desk receptionist saw her hesitate in the doorway. "A third grader bit Sra. Rosin, so Monte had to go deal with that," he said. "She'll be back in a minute if you want to wait in her office."
Lena sat in one of the chairs opposite Monte's desk.
Monte hurried in a few minutes later, pulling the door closed behind her. "I'm sorry," she apologized with a smile as she sat behind her desk. "So, I found a couple grants that require that test scores be a factor in setting teacher salaries, but not the only factor. We can still set our own metric for giving raises, just within a certain range. Do you want to pull your chair around and take a look?"
Lena did, coming around to join Monte in front of the computer. She left several inches between them and sat back in her chair as Monte pulled up the website.
When Monte switched to her browser, her dating profile filled the screen. "Sorry," Monte said, quickly clicking to open a new tab. "I was on my lunch break before Sra. Rosin called."
Lena clenched her jaw, her posture stiff and unyielding. "Why was there a picture of me on there?" she asked.
Monte had the good grace to look embarrassed. "I needed a profile picture," she said. "And my best selfie was of us at the end-of-year party this summer."
"Take it down," Lena stated. She stood. "I have parent meetings all afternoon that I should prepare for. I'm sorry, but can we talk about the grants later?"
"Of course," Monte said. She stood as Lena walked to the door. "I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have… I'll get a new picture."
Lena didn't reply. She hurried back to her own office.
The fifth time, Lena left work early. Jenna had decided to try her hand at online dating - again - and asked for help putting together her profile. Lena closed her office door and sat down at her desk with lunch and the password for Jenna's account.
"Oh, Jenna, you're a mess," she muttered as she read through her friend's profile. There wasn't anything bad, per se. Jenna just didn't have the knack for presenting herself in the best light. Lena got started, making small changes. Nothing dramatic, and certainly nothing dishonest, simply shifting the tone of the profile so that Jenna came off as more confident and less desperate.
Jenna's pictures were a good choice, at least, and in the few minutes Lena was online, she saw several people visit Jena's profile. One name caught her attention.
Lena knew she probably shouldn't look; there was no reason for her to see Monte's dating profile. But, then again, there was no reason for Monte to be looking at Jenna's profile after they'd broken up at Brandon's concert and caused so much trouble for her and Stef. Not caused, Lena corrected herself. I caused it, by not telling Stef about the kiss. Monte and Jenna's breakup just brought it to the surface.
Monte had changed her profile picture. Lena scanned through her other photos to see if the picture of them together was still online. She was relieved to find it had been taken down.
The synopsis at the top of the page listed Monte as bisexual/questioning. Lena scrolled down. She should close the window. She should go back to editing Jenna's profile.
Lena was just about to click away when something caught her eye. In response to a question about sexual fantasies, Monte had written "supervisor/subordinate role play - a recent favorite."
Lena slammed her laptop shut. She pushed back from her desk, threw her computer in her bag, picked up her keys, and walked out.
The next time, Lena spoke up. She'd gotten to work early, and was the first to put on a pot of coffee in the teacher's lounge. When she heard someone else come down the empty hall, she turned. Monte walked into the lounge. "Oh, thank god," she said, inhaling the rich scent of coffee. "I didn't get coffee before leaving the house and I was not looking forward to waiting for a pot to brew."
Lena turned back to the counter and stirred in her cream. "Well, there's a pot here waiting for you," she answered.
Monte came over and looked next to the coffee pot for more cups. There weren't any. She touched Lena in the small of her back. "Excuse me," she said. Lena twisted away and stepped to the side, and Monte reached up to the cabinet overhead to pull down a new roll of cups.
Monte unwrapped the sleeve and stacked them next to the coffee maker.
"That isn't okay, Monte," Lena said.
Monte looked up. "What?" she asked. She plucked a cup off the top of the stack and poured her coffee.
"That," Lena said. "You touching me. It's not appropriate."
Monte laughed. "Oh Lena, really? That's… that was nothing! I asked you to move so I could get to the coffee cups."
"It's not just that," Lena said. "There have been several things-"
"Like what?" Monte asked. "Look, I know things were uncomfortable for a while, but you are the one who said we could still work together - you and Stef decided that, not me. I have been nothing but professional, even after you accused me of starting that ridiculous tweet."
"Professional does not include touching me or commenting on my appearance," Lena said firmly. "I need you to respect professional boundaries."
Monte looked exasperated. "Lena, I'm trying here. This is not like I'm some gross old man sexually harassing you. This is a small school and a close work environment. I respect that you don't want to be friends, but I had hoped that we could at least be friendly about it."
They heard the front door open and another set of footsteps echoed down the hallway. Monte stopped speaking. Mx. Price walked into the teacher's lounge, tugging a rolling-cart full of books behind them. They looked up, at Lena and Monte's tense expressions as they faced each other off in front of the coffee bar. "I'm sorry," Mx. Price said slowly. "Am I interrupting something?"
Monte smiled at them. "Not at all," she said coldly. "Ms. Adams Foster and I were just finishing in here." She shot a glance at Lena, then turned and walked out.