"It was not intelligent to damage the ego of a young boy. You can, with some impunity, insult an older man who has already been humiliated by life itself and will not take to heart the small slights of another human being. But a young man thinks these offenses mortal." — Mario Puzo
6:15 AM on Monday morning came about two hours earlier than it should have by Shawn's estimate. Groggily, he rolled over to turn his alarm off forgetting that his phone was his alarm, it was on the desk, and he was on the top bunk. After preventing an unpleasant fall from his bed, Shawn was fully awake.
Grabbing his clothes, he headed down the hall hoping to beat Julia to the kids' bathroom. He just finished getting dressed when he heard an unhappy knocking on the door.
"Grayson? Jamie? Whoever's in there: GET OUT!"
Shawn jerked the door open and gave her a disapproving look. "It's too early to be so loud."
"Shawn? What are you doing in there?" Julia was clearly not expecting him to be the one hogging the bathroom.
"I just got out of the shower what does it look like?" He pointed to his wet hair.
"Well, get out," she huffed, folding her arms over her waist. "I need to get ready for school."
"I'm not done."
"I don't care."
"If I get out now I'll never get back in before it's time to go." He shut the door in her face.
"Hey! Shawn!"
She pounded on the door until he cracked it open again.
"Are you trying to wake the dead?"
"I need in the bathroom!"
"Look, sis, I realize that you've been holding my place as the oldest for fifteen years now and I appreciate it, I really do. But I'm back and since I am, we can all take our rightful places in the sibling hierarchy and thus balance can be restored to the family. Do your part, huh?" He shooed her back so he could shut the door again.
No amount of banging on the door got him to reopen. It only got her reprimanded by her father when he came upstairs to see what all the noise was about. Julia was still glowering when Shawn finally exited the bathroom. He grinned at her grumpy face and the slam the of the door behind her as he headed down to the kitchen.
"Don't drink the coffee!"
Shawn was reaching for a mug from the cabinet when he heard Jon's warning. He turned and gave him a bewildered look. "Why not?"
"There's dirt in it."
"What?"
Jon nodded. "Jamie's been asking me for the last three days how you get coffee from dirt. I guess I should have been paying more attention to why he was asking. Apparently, he thinks coffee grounds are dirt. Since I wasn't giving him a satisfactory answer he tried to test his theory himself."
Shawn made a face. "Did he drink it?"
"Nah," his father took a box of tea out of the cupboard. "Audrey chased him out of the kitchen last night and cleaned up a trail of dirt he left. He must have gotten as far as putting the dirt in the filter before she caught him."
"How'd you'd find out?"
Jon scowled at him.
"Oh. Gross!"
"Yeah, it was. I'm making Audrey tea for today. We'll swing by Topanga's for coffee after we drop Julia off."
"What are you going to do after you drop me off?" Julia walked into the kitchen with wet hair she was trying to towel dry. She was still annoyed with her brother for cutting into her morning prep time.
"None of your business." Shawn couldn't help but tease her. He had to admit he was enjoying being the oldest.
Jon smiled as he listened to them squabble. He was immensely pleased and enormously relieved that Shawn was adapting so well to family life and the other kids. He only wished that it had happened much sooner.
Shawn followed Jon into the district building, fully prepared for immediate engagement with Katherine. In fact, he was prepared and hoping for an all out fight as soon as she saw him.
"Shawn," Jon said, stopping in front of the entrance to the office.
"Yeah?"
"About this week... I'd appreciate it if you'd call at least a temporary truce with Kat."
Shawn raised his eyebrows with a quizzical look.
"C'mon, I know something happened at dinner last night. Could we please leave it at Claudette? You two can pick it up next week if you want."
"Yeah, sure," he agreed. He couldn't help but add, "She was just mad I won."
"Won?"
Shawn smirked. "You're my dad and not her husband. I won."
"Are you kiddin' me?" Jon didn't even know what to make of that. "That's what last night was about?"
"More or less." Shawn pulled out the small digital camera he was using for the week and aimed it at Jon. "She's a sore loser."
The superintendent shook his head, feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the lens focused on him. "Why do I have the feelin' I'm gonna regret this?"
"Because that what history teaches us," he grinned. "History- that was you right? Or was it Feeny? Wait, wait- why is Cory coming to mind when I say history and teaches?"
Jon shook his head and laughed as they entered the district office.
Katherine was busy at the copier when the men entered the office. Shawn refused to react when she turned around, saw them, and locked onto Jon as though he wasn't there.
"Good morning, Mr. Turner," she said brightly. Jon returned the greeting as he stopped at the Payroll clerk's desk to say hello.
She turned to Shawn who bristled, ready for the insult. It didn't come. "Mr. Hunter, how are you doing?" She maintained a pleasant smile while waiting for his response.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shawn saw Jon watching them with a strange look on his face. He seemed as caught off guard by Katherine's addressing of him as he was. He could also see his father watching for his reaction. Not to be out done in pleasantness, Shawn smiled warmly, "I'm really good. You?"
"I'm great," she said making her smile even brighter than his. "I'm really looking forward to this week."
This was the most irritating conversation that Shawn had had in recent memory. Even last night's was no where near as bad because it was, at least, an honest one. There was nothing honest in this exchange.
Not being able to resist the chance to throw in a barb, he responded, "Me, too. I'm really excited about seeing what Dad does first hand."
Her cheerful demeanor flickered ever so slightly at the word "Dad."
"I know he's glad have you here."
"Mmhmm." Shawn took a step away from her and towards Jon.
She took a step forward. As much as he wanted to frown, Shawn maintained a steady smile.
"Would you like me to introduce you to the office staff?" she asked sweetly.
"No, thanks," he said, motioning to Jon with a jerk of his thumb. "I think Dad's going to do that. Appreciate it though." Quickly, he backtracked until he was at Jon's side, ready to be rid of the rather bizarre conversation.
This warm professionalism continued throughout the first hour of the morning and Shawn was greatly disturbed by it. Katherine was nothing like she had been the night before; she pleasant and professional, not clinging to Jon or rude to Shawn. Something was very, very wrong.
Jon had a list of meetings to attend out of the office and little time to prepare for them. By 7:45 he and Shawn were headed out of the building. Katherine's friendly façade flickered again. Jon's first meeting was the gathering of regional school superintendents and was a 45 minute drive away. Katherine obviously expected to attend the meeting with him.
"It's not necessary for you to go, Kat," Jon told her as she was getting her coat on.
The secretary paused and the idyllic expression on her face seemed stuck. Shawn watched her very closely. Something told him to discreetly begin to film. And so he did.
"Oh," she said, evenly not taking her eyes off of Jon. "You'll need someone to take notes. And deal with whatever materials are passed out. Then there's scheduling issues..."
"There won't be anything Shawn can't do," he said and opened the door. "Besides there's plenty that needs to get done here. And it does need to get done."
"Of course," she said with a smile that she then turned onto the younger man next to him. "I'll just follow up with you when you get back."
"Right," the superintendent said, motioning to Shawn to follow him.
As Shawn walked passed her, she smiled sweetly at him and said, "Have a good time, Shawn. I'll be here when you get back."
The way she said her last statement made it sound like a nicely packaged threat. It was then that Shawn realized with unsettling surprise what her game was and that he would have to tread lightly or anything he said or did would be used against him. It had happened before.
0o0o0o0
Everyone knew that Shawn Hunter had little interest in school. Most teachers were happy to pass him through their class as quickly as possible and perhaps receive a little homework on special occasions. Both teachers and student tried to forget each other as quickly as possible. Then there was his English Lit teacher who expected homework regularly and had the audacity to expect him to maintain a strong C+ average or else his social life would be directly impacted. This teacher also had this thing about becoming a better person which sometimes seemed more important than grades. The only other teacher to have any expectations for him that weren't of failure was his principal who also taught something- history. Maybe? Whatever the class, Mr. Feeny's expectations were even higher than Mr. Turner's. It didn't matter what your GPA was the man was convinced that you could do better. He was also all about personal growth. In spite of these annoying traits, Shawn liked both men very much. However, he had to fight both in the area of grades as he wouldn't be Shawn Hunter if he didn't. But ultimately, he would do as they asked; he knew they cared about him and his future. So these were the teachers typical of his school experience. There was one, however, who stood out among the rest and not for a good reason.
Katherine Tompkins.
She was a strange amalgamation of the types of teachers in his life. She wanted nothing more than to pass him through her class and be rid of him. Except when Jonathan Turner was around. Then she seemed to be very much like a female Mr. Feeny, as appalling as that was. However, that was only at school. He did not exist outside of the school premises even when she was standing in front of him in his own home. That was fine with Shawn; he didn't like her either. Then came the day right after one of her boring lectures where she made it clear that it was not just her classroom she wanted him out of.
Shawn and Cory slept through most of that class, or at least as much as was possible when an annoying alarm clock kept screeching for them to wake up and it wasn't possible to shut it off. This was nothing unusual though and both fully expected to be written up for it. They always were. Cory wandered up to her desk to pick up the pink slip that would go home yet again to his parents. Shawn headed for the door. Giving him his slip was pointless; it would end up in the trash where Jon would inevitably find it no matter which receptacle he buried it in.
"Not so fast, Shawn."
Shawn, with his hand on the door knob, responded with a slow, exaggerated turn and even more exaggerated roll of his eyes.
"What?"
"Come here, please." It was a demand not a request.
"You're wasting your time giving me that. It's going in the trash as soon as I walk outta here."
"I'm not giving this to you."
"Finally, starting to catch on, huh?," he quipped with a sardonic smile. "Took long enough."
Miss Tompkins looked like she was biting her tongue. Literally.
"That's all, Cory," she dismissed the other boy. "You can go now."
Cory gave Shawn a worried look over his shoulder and said as neutrally as he could, "I'll just wait for Shawn if it's all the same to you."
"It's not," she pointed at the door. "Go to your next class."
The boys exchanged looks and Shawn gave him a subtle nod that he was all right. He knew Cory would go no further than just outside of the classroom door and would witness anything that happened.
"Reading me the riot act is also a waste of your time and breath."
"This is going straight to Jon."
Shawn shrugged. It'd been almost a week since he'd brought one home; Jon was expecting it. His caretaker actually had a small chalkboard hung in the hallway between the bedrooms and bathroom that read: 5 days since Shawn brought home a pink slip. He grinned. That 5 would be back to a 0 after today.
"So what?"
"So I'm bringing it over tonight."
Shawn's eyes narrowed and his smile disappeared. "You trapped Jon into another date. So what?"
She glared at him. "So I'm coming over tonight before Jon and I go out. I have some things to discuss with Jon about your performance in my class. It's atrocious, you know."
Atrocious- that was new one he could add to his list of words from teachers that meant "Shawn's a problem I no longer want to deal with, get him out of my class".
"What's your point?"
"My point is that it's Friday. And I have a date with Jon. I'm coming over early."
Shawn gave her a dead stare. "And?" he prompted irritably.
He was clearly pushing her to the brink of a meltdown. Most teachers weren't this easy to topple. Most would fight with everything they had not let him know he was getting to them. It wasn't usually until the end of the year that they would crack and yet here they were just five months into the year and she was showing signs of a breakdown.
"I'm coming over tonight," she said again, trying to control her temper. "I have a date with Jon."
"Miss Tompkins," Shawn folded his hands in front of him and gave her a look of mock concern. "Do you have short term memory loss or somethin'? You keep repeating yourself."
"I have a date with Jon on the weekend. You will be staying at Cory's tonight."
Shawn frowned at her. "No, I won't."
"Yes, you will, Shawn."
"Uh, no, I won't," he argued. "Morgan's having a slumber party tonight and six little girls are all the guests Mrs. Matthews wants to deal with."
"You're going to the Matthews tonight."
Shawn gave her a perplexed look. He could not understand why she insisted on this as though she had some control over what went on in other people's homes. Part of him was tempted to show up at the Matthews' house and tell them him his social studies teacher told him he had to stay with them this weekend. That would most certainly get a call home to Jon and interrupt her precious date.
"No," he said, forcefully. Shawn paused a moment and considered his words. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Out of respect," he placed heavy emphasis on the word that meant so much to her, "to the Matthews, I'm not gonna to just show up uninvited on a weekend I know they're busy.
She glared at him. "Shawn, you aren't understanding me. I don't care where you go, just as long as you aren't at the apartment tonight. You can come back tomorrow afternoon."
Shawn stared in disbelief at her. What was she saying? Sleep on the streets if you have to just don't be around? Was she actually trying to kick him out of his own home? Yes, he decided, she was. She was trying to dictate when he could and could not be in his own home. And she didn't even live there!
The boy stared at her for so long with a look of shock that slowly turned to anger that she became slightly afraid of his reaction. His eyes flared with fury.
"You're not the boss of me!"
"Shawn," she sighed as though he was the most unreasonable person in the world. " Jon does everything for you. He's rearranged his entire life you and what good has it done? Nothing's changed. You're still the same awful student you've always been. For once in your life, stop being so selfish. Let Jon have his life back for a day."
The words hurt. Even though they were uttered by someone he didn't care about. To insinuate that he was somehow such a problem that Jon had to give up everything to appease him hurt deeply. He knew he shouldn't care what she said, but he did because deep down he worried that Jon shared her sentiments. If Jon wanted a day to himself without him, to have his old life back, then he could have it; they'd been through this before. But Jon and only Jon could tell him to get lost for a day. No one else. Not even Audrey.
Slowly, he backed away from her and towards the door. His expression never wavered; he did not let the tears that wanted to fall even get to the surface. Instead he stared her down until he got to the door.
It was in that moment that Katherine realized with horror what Shawn intended to do. And if he succeeded, Jon would be furious with her and there would certainly be no date that night or possibly any other night. She tried to block him before he reached the door but the boy was too fast for her. Her only hope was that she could reach the English Lit teacher before he did.
Shawn knew every short cut there was in the John Adams High and he exploited every one to get to Jon's classroom a full minute ahead of the social studies teacher. He knew Cory would be behind him somewhere.
It was a rare occasion that Audrey wasn't in the room with Jon, and this disappointed him greatly.
When Jon saw the look on Shawn's face, he quipped lightly, "Yeah, I wish she was here too."
"Where is she?"
Jon smirked, "Right behind you."
Shawn tensed, afraid that the horrible social studies teacher would be the one at the door. Slowly he turned and was deeply relieved to see the student teacher walking into the classroom, studying a paper she had in her hands.
"Hey, Shawn." Audrey greeted him with a smile and a squeeze of the arm as she passed by him on her way to Jon's desk.
Shawn let out a sigh of relief that they were both there.
"You okay, Hunter?" Jon asked. The fact that Shawn was sitting in his classroom looking out of breath and upset and without Cory was a bit concerning.
"No, I'm not."
"What's up?"
"Miss Tompkins."
"Oh, I guess you know," Jon glanced at Audrey. "I've got a date with her tonight."
Shawn didn't realize that he was holding his breath waiting for Audrey's reaction. The student teacher sat down in the chair Jon rarely used and appeared to be engrossed in the paper she'd walked in with. If she heard, and Shawn was sure she did, she did not give any indication that she had. Shawn knew that a quiet Audrey was an unhappy Audrey. He wrinkled his nose.
"Yeah. But, Jon, she told me I couldn't be at the apartment tonight. She told me to go stay with Cory." Shawn knew there was no way Miss Tompkins had Jon's approval on this, but still he felt panicked at the possibility.
"What?" The English Lit teacher wasn't sure he'd heard Shawn correctly. "Why would she say that?"
"Because she doesn't want me around. She thinks she's gonna stay over night. She told me I could come home tomorrow afternoon."
Jon paled at the idea and gave the student teacher a quick, nervous look. "She is not staying the night, Shawn. I don't where she got that idea- it did not come from me."
Shawn had a feeling the emphasis that the idea wasn't his wasn't just for his benefit; he could tell his teacher was very worried about what Audrey might be thinking.
"It came from her," he said, wanting to back Jon up in case Audrey had any doubts. "She told me she didn't care where I went- Cory's or somewhere else. She just told me not to be there."
"Oh, you're gonna be there. Audrey and I've already discussed it; she's gonna come over and stay with you until I get back."
"Okay," the teen said, feeling some better. He slumped down in a nearby seat with a thump.
Jon and Audrey exchanged concerned looks.
"Shawn," Jon crossed his arms over chest and frowned. "What exactly did Kat say to you about tonight?"
Shawn inhaled deeply. "She said and I quote, ' Shawn, you aren't understanding me. I don't care where you go, just as long as you aren't at the apartment tonight. You can come back tomorrow afternoon.' She also said that you do everything for me. That you've rearranged your entire life for me and it hasn't done any good. Nothing's changed. I'm still the same bad student I've always been. She said I should stop being selfish and let you have your life back for a day."
Jon (and Audrey too) stared at him in surprise. Both looked appalled.
"She said that to you?"
Shawn nodded.
"Shawn," Audrey said, standing up and coming around to the front of the desk to stand next to Jon. "Are you sure you heard her correctly? That you weren't just upset and maybe read more into what she said?"
He shook his head. "I know what I heard. I couldn't believe it either."
Audrey looked astonished and Jon looked angry. Before either of them could say anything further, someone walked into the classroom; Shawn heard her before he saw her.
Jon didn't look happy to see the other teacher. In fact, he was infuriated that she had the audacity to walk into his classroom after what she had said to his kid.
"Jon," Miss Tompkins said as though absolutely nothing was wrong. She gave Shawn a small smile. "I need to talk to you."
"Yeah, I need to talk to you, too." Jon motioned her over to a corner of the classroom so they could have some privacy yet Shawn and Audrey could still hear what was being said.
Something was very wrong here, Shawn knew. Miss Tompkins knew why he was in here when he should have been in Mr. Feeny's class. But she was acting too casual, too nice, too normal.
Katherine listened solemnly as Jon told her what Shawn had told him. She listened and did not say a word to defend herself. She nodded in all the right places and made those awful cooing sounds of agreement. Then she pulled out the pink slip. Jon stopped talking and she took over. She told him about all the problems Shawn had been causing in her room and almost every incident she recounted was exaggerated. Shawn listened in horror as she then proceeded to blame him for their conversation and tell Jon with a sincere, straight face that Shawn had made it all up to avoid getting into trouble.
Jon looked conflicted and so did Audrey. Shawn couldn't believe that they were actually considering believing her over him. His pulse began to race. Although, he had to admit that Katherine's acting was so good that he would have considered believing her too, if he hadn't be a part of and witness to the conversation. Jon took the pink slip from her and said little else.
Shawn was dismayed. He knew Jon had to consider what she told him; he wouldn't be much of a parent if he didn't. But one of the two of them should have his back, yet it seemed that Audrey, too, was taken in by her lies. He was NOT going to cry with her in the room, but that's what he wanted to do. After all, if Jon and Audrey didn't believe him, what hope did he have?
It was clear Jon wanted Katherine to leave his room and she did. But as she did, she stopped in front of Audrey and insisted that the younger woman leave with her. Audrey's response lifted his heart:
"Oh, no, this is my classroom and you are not kicking me out of my classroom. Jon's the only one who can tell me to leave."
Shawn was elated by this. Katherine's cheeks flared red and she left without another word.
"Shawn," Jon sat back against the top of his desk. "What's the pink slip for?"
"Sleeping. Cory and I both fell asleep and got written up."
"Figures," his teacher said. He stared at the paper in his hands for a moment then looked up at Shawn. "Board goes back to 0 you know."
"Yeah, that number needed to be changed away," he joked, hoping Jon would find the comment somewhat amusing.
The English Lit teacher gave a small smile. He crumpled the pink slip up and tossed it in the waste basket.
"Cool," Shawn said with a grin.
"Don't get too excited, Feeny's still keepin' score."
Jon was quiet for a time, then got up, and walked over to where Shawn sat. He leaned down until he was almost nose to nose with the boy.
"Are you tellin' me the truth about what Kat said to you?" he asked. His voice was low and his expression solemn.
"Yes, I am." Shawn held his gaze and matched his teacher's seriousness.
"You didn't exaggerate or make anything up?"
"No, I didn't." Shawn was very careful not to so much as blink. He didn't want any shifting of his eyes to be misinterpreted as a "tell" that would make Jon think he wasn't being honest. "Cory was outside of the room the whole time. Ask him."
Jon held his gaze for a long moment, then shook his head, and straightened up. "I don't need to."
Shawn felt like he was going to pass out as waves of relief and happiness that his teacher believed him washed over him. He felt Audrey's hand smooth his hair out of his eyes. He looked up into her calm gray eyes and smiled.
Shawn got his revenge later that night.
True to her word, Kat did show up at Jon's place fully expecting to go on with their date as planned. Shawn was prepared for this. As he watched Kat fawn over Jon and completely ignore him, Shawn was eating the coleslaw that had been in the back of the refrigerator for three weeks. It was as offensive and detestable as the woman in his home, but Shawn didn't need to eat much of it. He just had to choke down a couple of spoonfuls. Just before Audrey was due to come over, his stomach began to complain loudly at his poor choice of food.
Shawn sat the bowl on the kitchen counter and walked over to the adults. Katherine greeted him with a cold glare. He ignored her and turned to Jon. "I don't feel so good," he complained, putting a hand over his stomach. "I think I'm gonna throw up."
Jon gave him a funny look. "You were fine ten minutes ago."
"I think it's something I ate."
"The fridge is full of Au-" Jon stopped himself before he said "Audrey's leftovers". "Leftovers. How could it be something you ate?"
"The coleslaw wasn't great."
Jon stared at him in disbelief, putting his hand over his mouth for a moment. "The coleslaw should have been thrown out weeks ago when I asked you to clean the fridge out."
"Yeah, well, I didn't." Pain tore through his stomach. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"Drink some milk, Shawn," Katherine offered, almost sounding sincere. "That'll take of it."
As he opened his mouth to give her a rude retort about her ridiculous advice, his poor stomach had enough and promptly emptied it's contents all over Miss Tompkins' new shoes. It was a perfectly time disaster. Unfortunately, Shawn was in too much pain to enjoy it and the enraged shrieks it garnered from his most despised teacher.
Date terminated: mission accomplished.
Audrey came over anyway which is what Shawn was hoping for. It was just too bad that he was still in the bathroom when she came in. Jon sat on the ledge of the bathtub with a wet wash cloth in hand for Shawn to wipe his mouth on after he threw up. He regarded the boy with an amused look.
"You know, this wasn't necessary."
"No, it was very necessary," Shawn insisted. "I couldn't let her get her way after trying to make you think I was lying to you."
"Shawn," Jon made a face as the boy threw up again. "I wasn't about to go out with her after that. Here take this." He handed hime the damp cloth.
"Huh?" Shawn leaned back against his teacher's leg and looked up at him through vomit-induced tears
"I wasn't gonna go out with her."
"But Audrey came over."
"Yeah, for a game night."
"Humph," Shawn said, feeling nauseated again. "Well, that stinks."
"Yeah, it really does," Jon said, making another face.
Shawn gave him an exhausted smiled. "You gotta admit, it was worth the look on her face when she got hit. Perfection!"
Jon laughed and so did Shawn, but his stomach did not see the humor in it and he threw up again.
He may have spent a good part of the night in the bathroom and he may not have felt like eating any of Audrey's cooking. But being fussed over by his favorite people and falling asleep in front the TV with them was well worth it.
He'd do it all again.
Definitely.
Well, maybe not.
That coleslaw was rank!
0o0o0o0
As soon as they got to the meeting of regional school superintendents, Shawn was introduced to everyone in attendance; they all knew of him. It was still strange to be well known to everyone his family knew without knowing any of them in return but he was getting used to the feeling. It was certainly better to be known than not to be. Once the meeting started, Shawn found his attention drifting. Jon said there was no need to take notes; that office's secretary would do so and get everyone what they needed that afternoon via email. It occurred to Shawn that there were no executive assistants in attendance other than the one who actually work in that building. Katherine's presence, had she been able to attend as she wanted, would have stood out like a sore thumb. Shawn felt anger well up at the thought. From what Jon had told him, those in education could be some of the worst gossips when it came to their colleagues; Shawn could only imagine what they would say about a secretary who accompanied her married boss everywhere.
The meeting droned on for three hours about stuff Shawn didn't understand. There were lectures on the roles of education and business in economic development; a discussion on the challenges the school and students were faced with such as attendance, low participation by children living in poverty, class rigor. Shawn didn't find any of this particular interesting until the subject of troubled kids from low income areas sparked an accidental argument with Jon who disagreed with just about every conclusion that was made about such kids. The study being cited was absurd and sound like it had been written by someone who heard about these kids from a friend of a friend of a friend's sister's cousin. Shawn landed himself right in the middle of things with a sarcastic, under the breath comment about about middle class adults with nothing but studies by other middle class or above adults who had no experience in such matters. All attention turned on him and he found himself giving his first hand account and those of kids he knew from the trailer park in order to defend Jon's assertions about troubled youth.
Eventually, the meeting settled back into a monotonous drone that even Jon seemed bored with. Several times he took phone calls or answered text messages. Shawn found his mind drifting back to the time Katherine tried to portray him as a liar to Jon and failed. Jon had refused to go out with her for over a month after that, but eventually caved when rumors at school began to spread that there was something going on between Mr. Turner and Miss Andrews that drew significant attention from the student body. He resumed dating Miss Tompkins once the threat of Mr. Feeny getting wind of the rumors became real. His relationship with the social teacher was approved of by their principal and that was essentially the only reason he was dating her again. Dating Miss Tompkins also made everyone lost interest in their favorite teacher's love life.
But it wasn't her last attempt to drive a wedge between him and Jon. Katherine just changed her tactic greatly. Oh, she still tried to make him look like a liar, but this time it was through gaslighting: taking the meaningless things he did or say and twist them out of context into something they weren't. She became much more subtle and did get Jon to doubt him on occasion, but his teacher never issued any consequences for the things he was accused of or said much about it to him at all. There was no way to prove who was telling the truth on these minor matters so Jon just let it go. During this time his teacher was very on and off again with Katherine and occasionally dated other people. Had they dated steadily there was no doubt that eventually her tactics would have caused a real problem for Shawn. Finally, Jon ended things completely with the social studies teacher. Of course, the two of them walking into the apartment with Audrey between them while Katherine was already inside waiting for Jon to return certainly helped put the final nail in the coffin of their relationship. That was another proud moment for Shawn. He would never forget her face when he called them "mom" and "dad".
What troubled Shawn now was that the way she acted at the office that morning was exactly how she acted back then. She was very good at her act then and he shuddered to think how refined that performance had gotten over the years. And what he could get away with as a kid could be grounds for arrest as an adult. He knew he had to be very careful in every interaction he had with her from now on and had to document everything. He made a note to get a few extra SD cards to have on hand so he wouldn't have to worry of running out of storage space on his camera during the course of the day. Anything he said or did could be used against him and he had to have proof that he was in the right, even if he was wrong. There was so much more at stake than there was when he was a kid: Jon's job, Jon's marriage, Shawn's relationship with him.
Shawn chewed on his bottom lip, very preoccupied with what his dad's secretary was doing at that very moment.
"That was," Shawn paused trying to put his thoughts into words as they got into the car after the meeting, " very boring."
Jon gave a short laugh. "I know."
"Do you have to do that every day?"
"Pretty much. Some meetings are better than others."
Shawn wasn't sure he actually believed that. "What's your usual day like?"
"Why?"
"I'm trying to figure out how much coffee I need to bring with me. What I had this morning wasn't enough!"
Jon laughed again. "I spend a lot of time reviewing literature to keep up with topics concerning education. I visit schools and classrooms a lot. I've got dozens of emails to read and respond to and I never get through them all. I have to talk to parents and staff members, review policy and legislation. Then there's meeting with people in the community. And anything else that comes up."
Shawn made a face. "Are all your meetings three hours long?"
"No," Jon drummed his thumbs against the top of the steering wheel. "Some are longer."
"Are you kiddin' me?" His dad's oft uttered catchphrase seemed appropriate to use here. He turned in his seat to better see the man driving the car.
Jon grinned. "I wish, kid. I wish."
It was after one o'clock when they made it back to the district office. Cheerful Katherine was there to meet them and insist sweetly upon lunch- which Jon declined citing work obligations. Then Shawn did what Katherine had been trying for months to do- he got Jon not only to agree to lunch but to actually not work through it. Throughout the conversation that convinced Jon to finally take a break, Katherine's placid, professionalism flickered slightly every so often. It was like watching a hologram on an old TV show like Time Trax. Disturbing to say the least. Carefully, but with intent to add insult to injury, Shawn politely invited her to join them. He thought the hologram might go out, but it didn't.
Too bad.
Lunch arrived and much to everyone's surprise Jon really did set work aside to eat and talk. Word soon spread throughout the building about this and every employee stopped by to see if this was true and to talk with their boss. Shawn was amused by how much Katherine struggled to maintain her holographic demeanor through this; she was clearly bothered by all the bodies that were in the superintendent's office. She was unable to get more than a few words in with Jon because of the all the different conversations going on. Shawn hadn't meant for it to be a party, but it worked out well; his dad was taking a break and Katherine was unhappy. Win-win for him.
Shawn excused himself to use the restroom. When he returned everyone had gone back to their posts as the lunch hour was nearly over. Everyone, that was, except Katherine. Shawn lingered in the doorway and was horrified to hear Jon laughing. The secretary was standing in front of Jon's desk leaning over. She had her back to him. Quietly, Shawn took his phone out and pulled up the camera. He flicked the controls over to video and began to record. He waited half a minute then made his presence known.
Katherine turned and gave him a big grin and a wink as she sauntered by him and back to her desk. Shawn glared at her retreating figure.
"Hey, Dad," Shawn said cheerily as he turned to face Jon. "What's up?"
Jon sighed. "I've got a phone conference in five minutes and I cannot be disturbed during it."
"You want me to hang round outside? I can take pictures of the office or something." Shawn internally cringed at the idea; he did not want to spend more time in the same vicinity as Katherine than he absolutely had to.
"No, no," Jon said, shaking his head. "I don't mind if you stay. Just if anyone comes in, get them out."
"Got it."
Jon paused a moment before sitting down on his desk. He had a look of confusion mingled with surprise on his face. "You know, Kat just came in and apologized for last night."
Shawn froze. That wasn't good. "She did?"
"Yeah," he said, as though the apology was very strange thing for her to give. "She brought up some stuff from the past last night and it was pretty unpleasant until you showed up. She said she owed you an apology, too."
Well, crud, Shawn thought with disgust. Now I have to apologize to her first.
"Yeah, well, we owe each other one, I guess."
Jon smiled to himself. "I'm really glad you're here, Shawn. Mondays are usually the worst, but this one has been really good so far. Hang around, huh?"
Shawn grinned. "You got it, Dad." He took a seat and got out his camera to snap a few shots before the phone call came in.
About thirty minutes into Jon phone conference, a loud noise that could only be described as squawking was heard outside from the outer office. A thunderous stomping sounded it like it was headed straight for the superintendent's door. Jon motioned to Shawn to see what was going on and not it let whatever it was in.
As Shawn shut the door behind him, he found a very angry woman a good six inches taller than he glowering down at him.
"I want to see Superintendent Turner now!" she bellowed at him.
Shawn stared at her not sure of what to do. He tried to look around around her for some help. Katherine stood behind the woman, yelling almost as loudly at her to be quiet.
"I will not!" she rounded on Katherine and advanced threateningly towards her. "I've asked and asked for a meeting and you refuse to schedule me. I'm here now and I want to see him. I won't leave until I do."
"Fine," Katherine snapped at her in frustration. "Security will be happy to escort you out."
If the noise level did not come down significantly, Jon was going be disturbed and his meeting interrupted. Without thinking, Shawn took a step forward and said: "Uh, ma'am?"
"What?!" The woman, wild eyed, swung around angrily on him.
Hurriedly, Shawn stepped back and put his hands out in a nonthreatening gesture. "Can I help you, maybe?"
"Who are you?!" she roared. Her once neatly smoothed back dark mane was becoming as unraveled as she was.
"I'm the superintendent's son." He tried not to cower or show any fear, but in all honesty he was just a bit afraid he was going to get hit.
The woman stopped her ranting at stared at him uncertainly.
He seized the opportunity to add, "I'm Shawn. You are?"
Behind them Katherine let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't waste your time, Shawn. You can't reason with her. She's one of the worst teachers the district has."
The woman in front of him flinched, much to his surprise. She blinked rapidly a few times then said at much lower volume, "I'm Theresa Donovan. I really need to see Superintendent Turner. I've been trying to see him for months now."
There was something in the woman's reaction to what Katherine said about her that felt familiar to Shawn. She looked exactly how Shawn had felt when the former teacher told him how much he'd ruined Jon's life. He felt an overwhelming sympathy for her.
"He's in a phone conference right now that can't be interrupted," he paused for a moment. There was something in the woman's eyes that looked almost sorrowful, defeated even. "Maybe you could tell me what the problem is? I'm sure if my dad has time after his conference he'll talk to you."
Theresa Donovan considered his offer. Finally, she gave a heavy sigh and wearily hung her head. Shawn guided her over to a chair. Katherine regarded the scene before with disdain, unhappy that Shawn was entertaining the woman who had made her life miserable for the past few months.
"What's wrong?" Shawn asked, pulling up a chair to sit next to the woman.
For the next twenty minutes, the woman who swept into the office with larger than life fury became a small, weepy woman who had been pushed to the brink of despair. She told Shawn of her struggles at a school whose faculty was petty and cruel to a new, plus-sized teacher who wanted to infuse her elementary classroom with fresh, new ideas. She had been struggling to reach and care for her students- many of whom lacked weather appropriate clothing and food on the weekends- but had been dismissed by her supervisors who didn't want to deal with the issues. Another issue that make her the target of cruel gossip was that she had three children very close in age. A three year old, 18 month old twins, and she was pregnant again. Her husband had just started a new, well paying job, but until he established himself with the company he was on the graveyard shift, leaving her with the bulk of the childcare that he had been doing prior to the new job. She was in desperate need of a mental health break but her principals had refused and threatened to make her life miserable if she tried to pursue it. They not only did not support her, they allowed the other teachers who were supposed to be a part of her third grade team ostracize and punish her for not falling into line with their tired lesson plans that had not been changed in years and did not serve their students well. There were too few subs for their school for her to take a break was the establishment's excuse for not allowing her time off. She found little help in the teachers' union who sided with the administration because they had connections to the group. She had been told that if anyone could help her, it would be Superintendent Turner. And that was why she was so desperate to see him.
Shawn sat quietly through her story, listening and supplying tissues as she needed them. He felt bad for her. He knew just from what Audrey was experiencing how much hormones could mess with a woman physically and mentally and she claimed what she was going through wasn't even that bad. He couldn't imagine what having so many kids so close together and another one on the way would do to a woman, never mind the other stuff.
"My dad will see you," he told her, confidently. This was most certainly the type of person his dad would go out of his way to help.
"Shawn!" Katherine exclaimed, rebuking him for the first time that day. "You can't make that decision."
Shawn wanted nothing more than tell off the woman who's perfect demeanor had finally broken, but he held his tongue.
"I'll talk to him," he promised Theresa.
The woman nodded and thanked him profusely. "You're the first person who's taken the time to listen to me."
"I'm happy I could."
Theresa sighed wearily and wiped her nose. "You're Shawn?" she asked, thoughtfully.
"Yep."
"The one with the travel vlog?"
"Yeah."
"I've heard your dad mention you at board meetings." For the first time, she smiled and Shawn could see that she was much younger than he originally thought. "Are you working for him now?"
Shawn smiled at the thought and shook his head. "I'm doing a piece on him for my new vlog. I'll be here for the rest of the week."
"That's too bad it's just a week," she squeezed his hand. "You'd be a welcomed face around here." She shot Katherine a dirty look.
After awhile Shawn went to see how Jon's conference was coming. His father was just hanging up as he walked in.
"You gotta minute, Dad?"
"That's about all I have," Jon sighed. "Why?"
"There's someone you really need to meet."
While Jon spoke to Theresa, Katherine glared daggers at Shawn for his meddling as long as her boss wasn't looking. Shawn ignored her. As it turned out, Jon was scheduled to be at Theresa's school on Thursday to look into other complaints about the school. He added her concerns to the top of his list with a promise that he would get things sorted out for her. She thanked him copiously and looked as though a tremendous weight had been lifted from her shoulder.
"We'll see you Thursday," Jon told her as she headed out of the door.
"We?" She turned a bright smile to Shawn. "Does that mean you'll be there too?"
Shawn grinned. "That's the plan."
"Great, I'll see you then."
After Theresa left, Jon turned to Shawn with a very pleased smile.
"Nice work, kid," he said with tremendous pride in his son. "Thanks for that. You saved me a lot time and misunderstanding by listening to her first and getting to the bottom of things."
"I'm just glad it all worked out," Shawn responded, following Jon back to his office.
And it was nice that it all worked out in front of Katherine, too, he thought triumphantly.
Although, truth be told, Shawn- who once thought himself incapable of being of use to anyone- was pretty proud of himself too.
By the time Julia showed up at the district office after school, Hologram Katherine was back. Julia, who was not accustomed to acknowledging or being acknowledged by Miss Tompkins, was not prepared for the niceties that came at her from the woman. The teen could not figure out what was wrong with Miss Tompkins and her seemingly sincere interest in her. She could only stammer out half- responses before collecting herself enough to escape to the sanity of her father's office.
With the door firmly shut, Julia remained in front of the door knob and quietly locked it. Shawn caught her doing this and nodded approvingly. She smiled at him and turned her attention to their father. As surprised as she was by Miss Tompkins' attitude, she was even more surprised by her father's. Julia could not recall in recent months the last time he had been in what anyone would call a good mood. But he was definitely in a good mood now and she didn't know what to make of it. There was a worried nagging in the back of her mind that her father's mood was somehow connected to Miss Tompkins. She tried to shake that fear off as Shawn had been there the entire day and he would not allow something like that to happen.
Jon greeted his daughter with a hug and kiss and Julia didn't let go of him. The three of them stood around his desk talking about her day. A phone call from one of the building principals came through and ended the conversation. As Jon went to pick up the receiver, he commented:
"You know if I could have Shawn during the day and you in the afternoon all the time, Jules, my days would be a lot easier."
Relief that her brother was the cause of their father's mood crashed over her in waves. She felt her knees go weak and she thought she might drop to the floor and not be able to get back up. Shawn grinned at her, completing understanding the look on her face. He put an arm around her neck and pulled her over to the corner where he had a couple of chairs waiting for them.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," she replied, sinking heavily into the chair. "Shawn, Miss Tompkins was super weird to me when I came into today."
"You mean she was super nice."
"Yeah. It's super weird."
"The weirdest," he agreed. "She's been like that almost all day."
"What's she on? She's never like this."
Shawn couldn't help but laugh. "It's her con."
"I'm lost."
Shawn took a deep breath and related the story of how Miss Tompkins tried to convince their father that Shawn was a liar and the events that followed that. "So you see, we have to be very careful around her. Me especially. I don't know what her objective is but I do recognize the game."
"So what do we do to get rid of her?"
"Nothing right now. We have to wait and play the long con."
Julia, who was a fan of the show Leverage, gave him a funny look. "So we're pulling cons on each other? You're the mastermind I guess?"
Shawn chuckled. He'd seen the show she was referencing a few times. "Something like that."
"Who am I?"
"The Floater or maybe the Face," he said, after a moment, not sure it was a good idea to be thinking in those terms.
"Oh," she sounded disappointed. "I kinda wanted to be Parker."
Shawn squinted at her. "I hope a thief isn't necessary. I'd like to stay away from that as much as possible."
Julia smirked, then sat up suddenly as she remembered something he needed to know. "Oh, Check your email at four. DeAndre is sending you the app."
"Why four?"
"IDK," she shrugged. "He said he finished the app last night and attached it to an email to be sent to you at four."
"You didn't ask why?" DeAndre's meticulousness worried Shawn just a bit. He hoped the kid didn't work for the mob or something.
"If DeAndre does something, it's for a reason. I just go with it."
Shawn pulled out his phone. It was five to four.
"Hey Shawn. How come Dad's in such a good mood?"
Her brother shook his head. "I'm not really sure. I think it's the first time he's had any real help around here."
"Figures," she huffed. "Miss Tompkins's too busy in her fantasy world to do her job."
"Let's be grateful for that, Jules. If she was real help, imagine how much time she'd be spending with Dad on the regular. I think it's a big part of why Dad's so stressed; she actually makes more work for him because he can't trust her get things done."
Shawn's phone lit up notifying him of an incoming message. "Oh, hey, there's the email!"
As brother and sister read the app instructions, neither one of them realized that the wall they were sitting against had a vent high above their heads that led directly to the outer office facing Miss Tompkins' desk. This space they were sitting in was originally a part of the main space and had been enclosed to give the superintendent a larger office. Because of the way the expansion was done this area was not as soundproof as the rest of the inner office. Thanks to the space's acoustics and the silence of the after school hours, the secretary was able to hear everything they said.