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When You're Around

Chapter 37

Jess woke up the next morning tired as hell but it didn't even phase her as she had a huge smile on her face. She thought of last night and her phone call with John. They ended up talking until three in the morning and Jess could have talked much longer if John didn't suggest they both get some sleep and talk tomorrow. As she was getting dressed for work, she let out a low giggle of anticipation as she thought of their impending phone call later today.

Once she was dressed she walked out of her room to make herself something to eat. "Hey," She said when she saw Chloe sitting on the barstool at the counter in her pajamas, with a highlighter in hand as she read from a bunch of papers spread out in front of her. "You're up early."

Chloe glanced up and offered a small smile before looking back down. "Just want to be prepared for my meeting." She said as she took a sip from her coffee mug.

"Oh that's right, that's today." Jess said and instantly felt bad for her friend. Just yesterday she saw her boyfriend cheat on her and now she was one meeting away from losing her job.

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, I found something interesting. Listen to this," She said as she flipped through a little booklet of papers to find what she was looking for. "This is the Guidelines and Rule Book for Teachers of Emerald Elementary." She explained as she gestured to the small book. "So listen to this," She repeated as Jess glanced down at the book and saw quite a few yellow highlight marks; her friends finger under one of them as she read. "Teachers have a right to privacy and private matters must not effect one's job," She paused and jumped to another sentence on the page. "Teachers cannot be hired or fired based on personal relations that positively or negatively effect one's performance without reasonable cause."

Jess smiled as she saw Chloe look up at her with a small look of hope present in her eyes. "That's great! Good thing you're going through that,"

She nodded. "We'll see though. I have this strange feeling that the boards minds are already made up and no matter what I say, it's not going to change their minds."

"Hey, think positive. In my opinion, they just want to be in control and shake you up a bit. I doubt they're going to fire you for such a stupid reason." Jess said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Chloe shrugged. "Yeah, well I hope so. Just in case, I've filled out these puppies." She said as she held up a small pile of papers.

Jess frowned and grabbed the papers from her friends hand. "What's this?" She asked as she glanced through the papers. "Wait." She paused and looked at her friend. "Are these applications?"

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, just to some of the elementary schools in the area that are hiring. I know you think I'm not going to get fired but I have to be realistic about this. There's a fifty fifty chance I will be out of a job after today and I can't afford to not have a job this year. If I send these out today, they'll get them in time to look them over and see if they want me before the school year starts."

Jess nodded sadly at her friend. It broke her heart to see her going through this. "Alright, well I better get to work. Good luck at your meeting, I'll see you tonight."

Adam didn't know what he was doing here. All he remembered was Randy calling him last night, telling him about what happened with Sam and Chloe and the next thing he knew he was leaving the St. Louis airport heading toward Randy's house. He ran a hand over his face as he sat in the back of the cab, watching the scenery go by. Randy had originally suggested he come down to Tampa to see him so he could get out of St. Louis but Adam knew his friends time with Lindsey was precious and didn't want him leaving her before he needed to. They were flying out for work tomorrow so it wasn't that big a deal for him to leave a day early. It's not like he really has anything waiting for him in Tampa anyway.

Even though he was here for his friend, he couldn't help but wonder if every car that passed his held Rachel Macguire. He didn't know what it was about this girl but he couldn't get her off his mind. He had a feeling he would be searching for where she lived while he was here and pay her a visit.

He paid the driver once the cab pulled up in front of Randy's place and carried his bag up the walkway to the front door. He knocked a couple of times and waited patiently. The door flung open and he saw Linds holding the door open, with Randy standing behind her. "Uncle Adam!" She yelled before launching herself at the man.

He laughed as he pulled her into his arms and spun her around. "Hey munchkin," He said before setting her back down on the ground.

She put her hands on her hips. "I'm not a munchkin!" She protested. "I've grown a whole three inches since last time you were here." She said and held up three fingers to prove her point.

He raised an amused eyebrow. "Is that so? Ok, you win. You've moved up from a munchkin to tiny." She looked at her dad and threw her hands up as if she her life was so hard. Randy laughed and watched her run upstairs to her room before he turned to his friend.

"Thanks for coming man," Randy said as he offered his friend a hand to shake.

Adam smiled. "No problem." He reached into the plastic bag he was carrying and pulled out a six pack of beer. "Thought you might need this."

Randy laughed and accepted the alcohol. "Thanks," He said as he led the way into the living room.

"Alright so tell Uncle Adam the problem." He said as he reclined on the couch, propping his feet on the coffee table in front of them.

"I already told you." Randy said as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he clasped his hands. "Damn man, she won't even talk to me. I called last night and she didn't want to hear it, though I was able to tell her about Sam telling the school about us before she hung up. I've tried calling her a couple times today and she won't pick up."

"She's probably nervous as fuck," Adam said loudly, forgetting about the 3rd grader in the house.

"Hey!" Randy said. "Linds is upstairs, don't curse like that."

If Randy wasn't so serious Adam would have laughed. "Sorry," He cracked a smile. "Listen, Chloe's meeting is today, she's probably ridiculously nervous and you're the last person she wants to talk to on today of all days."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dude, the reason she's in trouble with her job is because of a relationship you two had together and right now she's probably wondering if there even is a relationship any more." Adam explained.

Randy groaned and leaned back on the couch. "You're right,"

Adam grinned. "I'm always right."

Chloe walked into the conference room at Emerald Elementary and immediately cursed herself. She knew she should have waited until the last minute to walk in here. There were only a few members of the board and she didn't want to sit around and chat with people that were in the end probably going to fire her by the end of the day.

She smiled politely at the members as she walked past them and took a seat in the middle of the opposite side of the table. She kept herself busy and spread out her notes as she waited for the meeting to get started. She ran a clammy hand nervous over her thigh and immediately wished she'd worn jeans to be more comfortable. She'd decided to wear a black pencil skirt, a deep purple sweater and burgundy pumps to appear more professional.

"Alright everybody," Principal Turner said snapping Chloe out of her thoughts. "Now that we are all here, we can jump into this meeting." She turned her attention to Chloe. "We are all very aware of why we are here and we wanted to give Miss Ryan a chance to say her peace. Miss Ryan…" She said, signaling Chloe should take this time to say what she needed to.

Chloe nodded and noticed that she was seated on one side of the table and everyone else was on the other. Talk about drawing the line. "Thanks," She said before clearing her throat. "Um, I just wanted to thank you all for holding this meeting and giving me a chance to explain." She said nervously. Almost like a light switch, the nerves transformed into anger as she looked out at all the judgmental faces looking at her, daring her to say something that would get them to change their minds. And dammit, she would, if not for her job then for her pride. "First and foremost, I would like you all to know that in no way, shape or form do I regret the relationship I entered upon, despite how you all may feel." She said with a triumphant smile. She took pride in the way some of the members of the board turned to face each other in shock. "Now that that is out of the way, I would like to bring your attention to the Guidelines and Rule Book for Teachers of Emerald Elementary. If you would all turn to page 77, paragraph 12." She paused to allow everyone to find the page. "It says teachers have a right to privacy and private matters must not effect one's job," She trailed down the page. "And if you turned your attention to paragraph 16 on the same page, it says teachers cannot be hired or fired based on personal relations that positively or negatively effect one's performance without reasonable cause." She read word for word and looked up at all the surprised faces as they looked from one another as if asking each other if they had ever noticed this clause. "Now, if you ask me, firing me because of my private relationship is not reasonable cause." She paused dramatically and closed the book. "Listen, I'm just going to cut right down to the chase. Yes it is true, I entered into a relationship with a father of one of my students. However, that wasn't until after the school year ended and his daughter was no longer one of my students. I just want you to know that entering into a relationship with a man is no reason to fire me or anyone else for that mater. I love my job here and if you decide to fire me, I will miss it and all the kids I've taught and missed out on teaching. I seriously hope you think long and hard about this before you make any rash decisions. I am aware that Sam Orton was the one who informed the school of my relationship with her ex and in no way do I think this is any of your business." That certainly resulted in many murmurs. "It is clearly a private, family matter and I think it is repulsive that she would put my career at risk to simply get the last word or one up me." She looked around at the faces as she gathered up her things so she could get the heck out of here. "I love Randy Orton and no matter what the verdict of today may be and no matter if Sam Orton thinks she has won, I will always love him."

The board looked around at each other in shock as they shared some whispers. "The board will discuss the matter and let you know mid-week if your services at the school are needed any longer." One of the board members said and Chloe nodded before grabbing her things and leaving in a rush.

A/N: Ahh, thanks for all your reviews last chapter, i loved them! Hope this chapter didn't suck too much. Oh and on a side note, i am seriously just starting to notice how handsome Wade Barrett is. lol