Mr. Principal

by Summer Cooper

  It’s funny that both my closest friends had traveled the world and lived in different countries, leading exciting lives, while I hadn’t even held a job in nearly a decade.

  Suddenly, I didn’t feel so hot. And then I felt ridiculous. They were my friends. And it had been me who had let that friendship falter. Piper had invited me to join her on a trip or to visit her countless times, even before Meredith had been born. I’d declined them all. And then afterward, when she and Carter would meet up somewhere in a foreign country, they always tried to convince me to come visit and I never did.

  I understood that life sometimes happens. Sometimes friends fall out of touch. But we hadn't fallen out of touch. I hadn’t prioritized my friendships and had been lonely as a result.

  “You know, we should all get together for lunch.”

  “Tacos Tuesday like we used to do?” Carter asked with a smile.

  I was about to groan and mention that salsa gave me bad heartburn now, but I didn't want to sound like the old lady I felt I was.

  “You're on,” I said. “You in, Piper?”

  “Yep.”

  The magician appeared not so magically next to us.

  “My time’s up but I don't mind sticking around.”

  “Off the clock?” Piper asked flirtatiously.

  “Anything for you, birthday girl,” he said with a charming smile.

  I looked at Carter and he looked at me. The other two were too into each other to notice as we slithered away.

  “Well, he seems nice.”

  Carter shrugged. “Better than her falling for a clown.”

  “Agreed.”

  The noise level of the party had increased to a kind of deafening roar.

  “I think I need a little air,” I shouted to Carter.

  “Me too,” he said, tucking my elbow in his and leading the way.

  I didn’t know Piper knew so many people. There were at least thirty people there now and only a few faces I recognized. I shouldn’t have been surprised because, as they say, Piper never met a stranger.

  We made our way to a little bench in her front yard and I sat down. Carter stayed standing and leaned against a tree.

  Surreptitiously, I looked at him. I remembered back in college how I would be stressed out about exams and he would take me to go get a burger and watch some wacky foreign film. And I thought about how he always let me hang out with him and his parents whenever family day happened on campus.

  My parents had always been too busy to show up. And the one time that they did show, they spent most of their time criticizing me for some imaginary slight.

  Carter’s parents had been the exact opposite of mine. His parents, although divorced, were a unified front. They were super supportive, and both had remarried so their partners were also pretty great. For family day at school, Carter never had to worry about who wouldn’t show up. Both sets of parents with their new spouses always did. I joked with Carter that his two sets of parents seemed more like polygamists than anything else since they all got along so well.

  Carter had said it had taken years for them to reach that point. I’d marveled at them, not knowing that years later I would be struggling to do the same. I wasn’t at the point yet where I could happily hang out with Becca and Tom and not let it bother me.

  Just thinking about co-parenting made me exhausted. I stretched and let out a big yawn. Suddenly, I was tired.

  “Getting tired?”

  I shrugged self-consciously. “Yeah, kind of.” Who was I kidding? I could barely keep my eyes open. It was time to go.

  “I think I’ve had enough partying for one night. I should go find Meredith.”

  My shoulders were tense again. I rolled them and reached a hand around to rub one side that was full of tension.

  Carter stood up from the tree he had been leaning against and came and sat next to me on the tiny bench.

  “Turn around,” Carter ordered.

  I did as he said and sighed when his warm hands massaged my shoulders. “That feels great,” I sighed.

  All the tension from my shoulders melted and I leaned against Carter, my back against his chest. He smelled yummy. I wondered why I didn’t notice before. I wondered if it was cologne or some sort of scrub that his wacky mom had given him. I knew she ran a shop on Etsy selling all sorts of all natural, organic goodies.

  He stopped rubbing my shoulders and then started stroking my arms. His touch gave me goosebumps and felt kind of familiar, intimate even.

  “What are you doing, Carter?” I asked softly, not moving, but feeling I needed to say something before things progressed further.

  “Warming you up,” he said, his mouth close to my ear. “You have goosebumps.”

  I shivered then a little but not because I was cold.

  “Carter—” I started, turning to face him.

  “Hey, Mom. There you are,” Meredith said, appearing on the front porch with Tom and Becca at her side.

  I instantly sat up, pulling myself away from Carter’s embrace as they approached. And then I remembered that I was supposed to be Carter’s girlfriend. But I also didn’t want Meredith to think Carter and I were an item.

  Confused, I just sat there, trying to figure out what to do next. Carter made it easy for me by letting go of me and standing up. He took my hand and helped me up too.

  Meredith grinned when she saw us together, “I knew you liked my mommy,” she said, giving Carter a wide smile. Hmmm... I guess I didn’t have to worry about her reaction.

  Tom again looked at us as if he wanted to punch Carter in the face. Jealous much? I thought to myself with a self-satisfied inner grin.

  “Do you think it would be okay if Meredith spent the night?” Becca said. “I know we normally get her on Wednesdays, but since it’s spring break and all, do you think maybe I could take her to go pick strawberries with me? My mom and I used to do it when I was a kid, so I thought she might like to go too.”

  I wanted to say, “Aren’t you still a kid?”

  But instead, I looked at Meredith who had her hands folded together as if she were begging while she beseeched me with her eyes saying, “Please...please...please.”

  “Sure,” I said, “Who can resist a face like that? But what about a change of clothes…”

  Becca waved her hand in reassurance. “Oh, she has a full wardrobe at our house. With lots of tiaras, I made sure of that.”

  She took Meredith’s hand and the two looked at each other like they were best of friends. And that’s when it hit me. I didn’t need to be worried about Becca and Meredith’s relationship. It was totally different from the relationship I had with Meredith. It was almost as if they were sisters, strangely enough.

  I mean, hey, they were close enough in age to be related.

  I bent down and kissed Meredith on the head and she hugged me tightly. “Have fun, sweetheart. I’ll pick you up tomorrow evening. Sound good?”

  “That sounds great, Mom. I’ll save you some strawberries.”

  “Please do,” I said straightening up.

  Tom didn’t say a word during the whole exchange, which was fine with me. The less I had to talk to him, the better. In fact, I figured maybe I would just contact Becca instead when I needed to discuss anything that had to do with Meredith. It would stop me from being a jerk to him if I just didn’t have to talk to him.

  Maybe I would eventually get to the point that Carter’s parents had. Except I didn’t have anyone, but Tom did. I wondered if that would change any time soon.

  “Bye, Mommy. Have a good night. Bye, Principal K.”

  “Principal K?” Tom asked.

  “Carter’s the new principal at Meredith’s school. They sent out a notice.”

  “Hmm...” was all Tom said before turning away from us. “Let’s go, hon,” he said, and I didn’t know which lady he was talking to, but Becca waved good-bye to us happily and took Meredith by the hand.

  They skipped away together, laughing as if they were best of frien
ds.

  “They’re like sisters,” Carter said, reading my mind.

  “Yeah.”

  “I guess that’s a good thing,” he said with uncertainty in his voice.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. This whole co-parenting thing is new to me.”

  “Considering that you divorced recently, you’re doing a pretty good job.”

  “Really? You think so?”

  “Well, you’re not shouting at each other in public or repeatedly taking each other to court, so yeah.”

  I winced. “Sorry. I guess you experienced a lot of that.”

  He shook his head. “Luckily, they stopped being bitter and angry long enough to realize they were doing more harm than good.”

  “How are your parents, by the way?”

  “Great. They’re happy I’m home. Now they get to guilt me into celebrating every major holiday with them.”

  I laughed. “You’re lucky they love you.”

  He shrugged. “I’m glad to have them. It’s great being home. I’ve missed them. I’ve missed Piper, and of course I’ve missed you.”

  “I missed you, too.”

  We stared at each other and I couldn’t help but recall a night around eight years ago that I knew at that very moment he was also thinking about. It was a night that neither of us had apparently forgotten or talked about.

  “I’m going to head in and tell Piper that I’m leaving.” My voice sounded breathless, but I couldn’t help it. Emotions I’d buried a long time ago were starting to surface and I needed space to process them.

  It seemed he did too. He moved out of my way and said, “Yeah. I think I’ll head home now. Tell Piper I’ll catch up with her later.”

  “Will do,” I said as he turned and walked away without another word.

  I stood there and just watched him walk away. Watching Carter walk away was something that I was accustomed to doing.

  I shook my head. Who would have thought that such a fun night would bring up ghosts from our past?

  With that thought, I opened the door and walked back into Piper’s house, determined to not think about the night years ago when I almost lost one of my best friends.

  Chapter Four

  “Mom, Mom. This one is so funny. What do you call a cow on the ground?”

  I shrugged as I turned the wheel of the car. “I don’t know. What do you call it?”

  “Come on, Mom. Try to guess. Come on.” I’d given Meredith a riddle and joke book for her birthday a few months ago and she thoroughly enjoyed reading a joke or two to me each morning while driving her to school.

  “Okay, okay. Ummm, a sleeping cow?”

  She laughed hard. Deep belly laughs that shook her whole body. Her laughter was contagious, and I started smiling too.

  “Nooo,” she said in between giggles. “Ground beef. That’s the answer.”

  “Ground beef?” I said, smiling. “Now that’s a good one.”

  “Yep,” she said contently.

  She had come home with a ton of strawberries after her trip with Becca. I knew we’d be having strawberries covered in whipped cream for dessert. Either that or we’d be having lots of smoothies.

  I pulled into the drop-off line and she scampered out, running quickly to catch up with friends.

  “I love you, pumpkin,” I called to her.

  She kept on running and then abruptly turned around, blew me a kiss, and went running again up the school steps.

  “That’s my angel,” I said softly.

  I was about to pull away when I saw Carter chatting with a group of ladies. They started laughing at something he’d said and I knew instantly that the new principal was getting some very special attention.

  I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize the van in front of me wasn’t going anywhere. To my chagrin, I went into it as I tried to pull away.

  There was a loud bang and then a screeching sound as I attempted to dislodge the license plate from the van’s rear.

  I gave up and prepared to be mortified and yelled at—the story of my life.

  Ten seconds later, that’s exactly what happened. “What the hell? What in the holy hell? Did you not see me sitting there? What the hell?” the furious mom said as she stared at the damage I’d caused.

  “It’s not too bad,” I said, once I summoned the courage to get out the car and look at it.

  Her eyes widened, and I swore she was going to hit me at any moment. “Not too bad? Not too bad! There are scratches all over the back of my car. And look at my license plate. It looks like it was attacked by the Cookie Monster.”

  I let out a nervous giggle. Cookie Monster? From Sesame Street? You could tell she had a young child.

  “So you think this is funny?” She balled up her fists and I tried not to run away. “You suck, you know that, right? Thank you for screwing up my day. Now my insurance rates will go up and then how am I going to afford this fancy private school?”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it. I didn’t know what to say.

  “Forget it. You don’t understand.” She looked at my car and then said with derision, “If that vehicle of yours is any indication, you’re either the nanny or your kid is here on scholarship, so what do you care about tuition?”

  Hold on. What was she trying to say? Was she calling me poor?

  I narrowed my eyes, “Just because I don’t drive a stupid Range Rover doesn’t mean I have to take abuse from you.”

  “Abuse? I’ll show you abuse!”

  She stepped up and her face was only inches from mine. I’d never been in a fight before. I didn’t know how to throw a punch, but I figured I could just tackle her to the ground and bite her. Sort of like what toddlers did at the playground.

  Before I had the opportunity to try my toddler style karate, Carter grabbed me by the sweater and pulled me away. He stepped in between us and said, “Ladies, how about we calm it down a little, stop exchanging insults, and not make a scene in front of the children.”

  “She started it,” I yelled like an elementary schooler.

  “What? Bitch. You hit my car!”

  My mouth fell open and I pointed at her and then looked at Carter, “She said the B word.”

  “Wow, you’re real mature.”

  “Ladies, let’s go, inside. My office. Now.”

  He didn’t wait for us to follow. He just turned around and marched toward the office. Feeling terrible, I sheepishly followed behind him.

  The other parent wasn’t sheepish at all. She huffily stalked past me, hitting me in my shoulder as she followed behind Carter.

  “Hey,” I said. “Watch it.”

  “Watch it? From someone who bumped my car?”

  “Bumped exactly. It was just a bump.”

  She growled at me. Literally growled at me and I jumped back.

  “Ladies, please. My office, stat,” Carter ordered as he opened the door and stood there waiting for us to walk past him.

  The other mom went past me. And I sheepishly walked past Carter, but not before he shot me a little smile.

  I guess I wasn’t in trouble, after all. Carter would protect me… if the other mom didn’t find a way to kill me first. Twenty minutes later, the other mom left the office in a better mood. Carter had really put on the charms and the other mom had not only apologized to me for calling me poor, but she had also been really patient while I looked for my insurance information.

  “You know, you need to stop coming to my rescue.”

  “Then stop getting in trouble.”

  I looked around. “I’m in the principal’s office again. Apparently, I can’t stay out of trouble.”

  “You’ve always had a penchant for getting into trouble. Remember that time you and Piper went streaking across campus and got locked out of your dorm?”

  A startled laugh burst from my lips. “My nether regions were freezing.”

  He smiled and said, “It was fifty degrees outside. You two were crazy.”

  “Yep. We were.” />
  I wanted to stay there reminiscing about the old days, but I knew I had to go. “I guess I’ll leave. I know you have work to do.”

  He nodded. “Plenty.”

  “It’s weird seeing you look so official. I never pictured you as a principal.”

  He laughed. “It isn’t what I pictured either, but I don’t know. It fits.”

  “You look good behind there.”

  “Thanks,” he said, standing up. “Try not to bump into anyone else, okay?”

  I sighed. “I’ll do my best but I can’t make any promises.”

  His administrative assistant knocked on his door and then poked her head in. “Your meeting with the board is in five minutes.” Just as quickly as she interrupted, she disappeared.

  “Let me get out of your way.”

  “You’re never in the way,”

  I looked away, suddenly uncomfortable and made my way out of the office, “Don’t forget tonight’s play,” he called to me.

  “Oh, crap, I’d already totally forgotten. I’m a terrible mom.”

  “Nope. Just a busy one. I only remembered because Becca called the school this morning to confirm. Like bright and early this morning.”

  I couldn’t help it. I was annoyed. I already had to share my daughter with Becca every other weekend courtesy of our custody order. And she spent one day a week over at their home, as well. And now Becca planned to attend school events? Great.

  I wish I could be the better person and not be bothered by the fact that my ex had married so quickly, but this time last year I’d been married. It was a whirlwind of events and my emotions were everywhere.

  The next day as I made my way to work, I was still feeling out of sorts. I felt like I was living my life on auto-pilot. I totally didn’t feel like going to work, but I had to do what I had to do. That’s what Tom’s grandmother used to say. She was a sweet lady and had come a couple of times to campus to visit Tom and Piper.

  As soon as I pulled up in front of Primrose, I saw Lucy outside taking a smoke break.