The next day was basically a waiting game for Philby, so I spent the morning preparing for our mandatory scout meeting under special observation. I tried to find a project that would be Council approved that didn't have to do with cookies. I was getting a little tired of cookies, and sugaring up the girls wouldn't make anything better.
Kelly and I had decided that if we had to do a special meeting, we might as well work on a merit badge to look good. How bad could it get if we were following the Scout curriculum? Kelly had called the parents the night before, and they were only too happy to let us keep the girls after school for an hour and a half the next day. Kelly said they sounded tired. I could only imagine. One meeting a week was exhausting for me. These people had their kids the rest of the time. I had one cat and needed a nap.
So the next day, I met Kelly at the school. We signed in for our visitor's passes in the office and met the girls in one of the classrooms. To be honest, I was happy to have a little distraction from everything else going on in my life.
Juliette was already in the room when we got there. I wondered if she'd spent the whole day there, drooling and rubbing her hands with glee in anticipation of returning to the office with my head on a spike. Why did she hate me so much?
The whole thing felt weird. Like when someone's watching you but you can't see them. Except that I could see them. Or rather, her. Juliette stood in the corner of the room, clicking her pen. I was pretty sure I saw a bit of insane glee behind those eyes, but that could just be my paranoia talking.
"Okay, girls!" I clapped my hands to get their attention. "Today, we're working on the Your Future badge. What do you think that means?"
Ava's hand shot up, "What we're going to do when we grow up! I'm going to be a flower!"
"Almost right," I said. "But I'm pretty sure you can't be a flower."
"Why not?" the girl pouted.
"Because you're a girl. You could, however, be a florist—someone who sells flowers."
Emily raised her hand. "I'm going to be a princess!"
"Well, good luck with that," I said. "Anyway…"
"You can't be the princess!" Betty shouted. "I'm going to be the princess!"
And explosion of arguing broke out, and I glanced toward the corner. Juliette's lips were curled with glee, and she was frantically writing something on a clipboard. What had I done wrong already?
I held up the three finger sign for silence. The room quieted down.
"I happen to know that there's more than one princess in the world. So any of you who can marry into the inbred foreign royalty is welcome to do so in about 11 years. But for now, we have an activity that will help." I signaled Kelly, who started to pass around large squares of poster board and markers.
I continued, "We're going to break you up into groups of three and four to work on this. Has anyone played the Game of Life?"
Lauren stood up, "Aren't we all playing the Game of Life right now? Isn't doing it with a board game a bit redundant?"
Oh, great. A second grade philosopher. I ignored her.
"How many of you know this game?" I asked. Every girl raised her hand.
"Working in your group, you will turn this poster board into a board for your own game. Each space you draw will represent five years and what you will be doing at that time."
Kelly stepped up and showed them the board from the real game and how it worked. More than a few girls looked confused, which made me wonder what they'd thought we were talking about when I asked if they'd played before.
"You have 20 minutes!" I shouted. "Go!"
Kelly and I wandered around the room, making sure the girls colored on the paper, not on each other. Every few minutes I'd look at Juliette, who lurked in her corner like Nosferatu in that black and white movie. We didn't make any effort to acknowledge her. Hell, if I could get away with snapping her neck, I would have. But it probably would've been a bad example for the girls.
"Mrs. Wrath?" one of the Kaitlins asked. "Why is that mean lady here?" She pointed her tiny finger at the corner as if her loud voice hadn't already alerted the viper woman.
"She's from the Council," I explained. "She just wants to observe us."
The girl squinted, frowning. "Can't you just shoot her?"
Yes, I could shoot her. Children don't always make the most reliable witnesses, so I might get away with it. From the corner, I could feel Dowd's eyes burning into my back.
"I'm not going to shoot anyone…" At least not today. "Now get back to work before the time is up."
Kelly slid up to me. "Nice save. Did I notice a bit of hesitation?"
"Was she writing all that down on her clipboard?" I asked without looking at her.
"Yup. But I think you could take her." Kelly grinned.
"You think I could take her? I'm offended!"
"Ahem!" came a growl behind us. We turned to face one angry redhead. I guess she'd heard us.
"May I speak to you two ladies out in the hall for a moment?" Juliette's face was as red as her hair.
I gasped. "But we can't leave these children unsupervised! That would be against the rules and could possibly result in a dangerous situation!"
"Fine," the woman growled between her teeth. "How about over there, then?" She walked toward the wall on the opposite side of the room. I shrugged at Kelly, and the two of us followed her.
"You see," she hissed, "this is exactly what I was concerned about!" A purple vein popped out on her forehead. "Did I just hear that girl ask if you could shoot me?"
"All kids talk like that," I said. "They don't mean it."
"Oh, they don't, do they?" Juliette vibrated with fury. "I think you're a terrible role model, and it's going in my report!" She stormed back to her corner and glared at us.
I was starting to realize that this wasn't an isolated incident with her. Most likely, Juliette Dowd acted this way a lot. If that was true, the Council probably ignored her outbursts. So I was safe. Probably. Maybe.
"Time's up!" I called out.
The girls turned around and faced me as they giggled in their groups.
"Who wants to go first?" Kelly asked.
The four Kaitlins raised their hands. Of course they were together. Caitlyn stood up holding the poster board while Kaytlynn stood next to her and started speaking.
"Here's where you graduate high school and marry Zayn from One Direction." She pointed to a square with a bunch of stick figures with heads so hairy they looked like werewolves. What was One Direction? And why did they have hair like that? Was it good to marry this Zayn? Why would you want to marry a werewolf? Fearing the answers, I kept these questions to myself.
"Or a handsome prince!" Kaitlin called from the floor.
Kaytlynn nodded. "Oh right. Or a handsome prince." She pointed at the next square. "Here's where you go to Harvard—the only college in the world." A big red building that looked like their school was sitting on the page.
I didn't correct her comment that Harvard was the only college in the world because everyone knew Kaytlynn's parents were a bit on the helicoptery side. She probably thought that she had to go there or leave the family in disgrace. Who was I to question anyone's parenting skills?
"When you're out of college," she said pointing to a square that looked like a gray, smooshed building, "you go live in a castle and start your career as a surgeon or lawyer and have two kids, who also become doctors or lawyers."
Kelly stifled a laugh. But I was more concerned with what was next. Was that a picture of a…
"And here's when you're 30 and get to kill all the people who piss you off." Kaytlynn grinned, pointing at a picture of a bleeding stick figure with red hair.
"Oh—okay! Good job!" I said quickly. "You girls can sit down now, and someone else can go."
Kaytlynn frowned. "But I'm not to 40 years old yet! That's when you die because you're so old."
Kelly lost it and doubled over with laughter. She was no help whatsoever.
"How about you guys?" I pointed at Inez and her group.
Inez and Betty stood up, with Emily holding the poster board.
"They started too late!" Inez said. "You have to start here, in elementary school, where you join Scouts and learn about grenades and ninja throwing stars and stuff."
A roar came from the corner, and Juliette stomped over to me. "I'm writing this all down! Consider yourself officially under investigation!" Her eyes were wild, and she was pointing at me over and over. She kind of resembled a deranged hyena with index fingers and a manicure.
"I'm going back to the Council right now! Wait until they hear about this!"
Kelly and I stared as Juliette Dowd fled the room.
"Mrs. Wrath?" I looked down to see Lauren holding up a poster board covered with drawings of people shooting each other and bleeding as they squirmed in their own gore. "Can we go next?"