FROM: VINELLI, KELLIE
Sent: Monday, October 9
To: [All Staff]
Subj: Morning Middle School Memo!
Good Morning Faculty! Just a quick reminder that many of our students’ guardians have NOT signed photo release forms! Please do not share images (including video) of your students online in any capacity! This includes field trips!
Have a great day On Purpose!
Kellie Vinelli, Principal
I’m right back where I was last year. No. I’m worse off than that. Not only have I let myself believe a woman could have feelings for me, again, but now I also have to meet with my perky boss and problem-solve a social media disaster. I wonder if I need to call my union rep…
Unable to stand being alone with my thoughts a second longer, I drive in to work obscenely early on Monday. Where I am, of course, also alone with my thoughts. And the smell of adolescent feet. I try grading papers at my desk, but the sound of my pen scraping along exams irritates me. Everything irritates me, from terrible teachers’ lounge coffee to the feel of ball-point pen on copy paper, to Samantha fucking Vine using me as a prop to bolster her image in the press.
I stand up and hurl my pen and hear someone laugh when it clatters to the ground. I turn my head to see Doug leaning against my door frame, munching a donut. He points at me. “Any idea what prompted Vinelli’s latest memo?”
I frown at him and walk over to pick up my pen. Doug walks into the room and sits on top of one of the student desks. He offers me a donut. I frown at it, but accept it when he continues to shake the donut at me. I don’t even like donuts, but I eat most of it before I even realize I’m doing so. He pulls a travel coffee mug from the crook of his arm and slurps it for a bit while I brood.
“Samantha’s been using me,” I finally mutter, and then close my eyes because I hate how it feels to say that out loud.
Doug sighs. “Tell me why you think so.”
I press my palms to my desk and I feel my nostrils flare. “So you haven’t seen the viral video of our students, shilling for her company? She’s been crafting this for months.” My mind spirals as I blurt all my dark assumptions to Doug. “Her snap instinct was to have nothing to do with our students, and then she relentlessly demands we go there for a field trip? Her team must have seen us coming a mile away.”
Doug taps his fingers on the desk. “But didn’t our kids reveal that they were the ones who made that video? Not her or anyone from Vinea?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, they made the video on devices conveniently donated by Vinea. She’s probably got trackers on all of them, mining all the kids’ data for her cloud or whatever it’s fucking called.”
Doug stares at me and I slump back in my seat. He says, “AJ, you’re really assuming the worst here. I saw the two of you together at the book party…she didn’t look like a woman using people for her own gain.”
I roll my eyes. “Back then she was just trying to get into my pants.”
This gets a laugh out of both of us. Doug leans forward and the desk tips a little. He rights himself and shakes his head. “Sometimes people like doing things for other people. There’s that whole theory about love languages…acts of service…”
I snort. “Service makes her feel shitty. She’s been doing service for her entire family for years. All kinds of shit for her siblings that they should do for their own damn adult selves.”
“Like drive her grandmother to church every week?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? And you know it’s not called church.”
He holds his hands up. “Sorry. Synagogue. But AJ, do you drive your grandmother out of obligation? Do you resent it? Do you have ulterior motives in researching citizen science projects for your kids to pursue?” He raises a brow and I growl at him.
Just then, Leo saunters into the room shaking his cell phone. “Saw Vinelli’s email, dude. Then I saw the video. Hashtag Learn with Vinea!”
“Shut the fuck up, Leo.” As soon as I say it I wince. “I’m sorry.” I dig my fingers into my hair and tug, groaning.
Leo looks at me, then looks to Doug, who says, “He’s back to thinking Sam had ulterior motives in humping him.”
Leo cackles. “Humping! I think the kids are calling it vibing right now, right?” Doug shrugs. Leo turns to me and sits on the edge of my desk. “Look, this is about Lara and you know it, AJ.” Turning to Doug, Leo says, “His ex left him because she’s a gold digger and it fucked with his head.”
“That sucks, man. But I don’t think you have to worry about that with Samantha…”
My eyes flash when I look up. “Oh no? You don’t think she’s also using me to get ahead? Remember the viral student video where the kids’ parents didn’t sign release forms? Causing me to have to sit in a room with exclamation-point-Vinelli?”
Leo starts shaking his head and running a hand across his throat and I look past his shoulder to see Margot standing in the door to my room. She looks like she’s been crying. “Mr. T?” Margot wrings her hands.
“Margot. I’m sorry you had to hear some of that. What can I do for you?”
Doug and Leo act like they’re getting ready to leave but they take their sweet time about it, so I know I’m not going to get out of talking through this with them. I take a deep breath as Margot approaches my desk. “I think I did a bad thing.”
Leo arches a brow and Doug leans forward. She looks between them and back to me. “Me and some of the kids were talking…about how I heard you say Ms. Vine is getting a bad shake in the media.” She bites her lip and rocks up on her tiptoes. “We wanted to help and show people how awesome she is.”
Doug whistles. Leo moon walks out of my classroom. I stare at Margot for a few beats. “Margot, nobody is angry. But what did you do? Specifically?”
She bites her lip again and fidgets with her hair. She shrugs. “We added some stuff to that thank you video we made and then…” She swallows and shrugs again. “We all posted it online.”