Page 24 of The Write Place

“I’m sitting right here and you’re talking about me,” Daniel muses. We ignore him. Ben leans back behind Jenny to talk to Daniel.

“Get used to it, buddy. These two can ignore an entire room full of people to talk to each other if they want to. I’ve seen it,” he says. We ignore him, too.

“Why would they be mad about either of those things?” I continue. “He’s offering books. Do these people not like books?” I have to fight to keep my voice lowered.

Jenny shrugs. “I don’t know, but you know them. Anything new and some of them go off the deep end.”

“They think it’s super fun having some writer sit in the back of your classroom and watch you all day? Please. If they want the pleasure, they can have it. They’d last an hour.”

“Literally sitting right here.” Daniel points to himself, and at that Jenny does address him just as Ken walks past to the front of the room.

“Better buckle up, Danny Boy,” she says, and he grimaces. “I have a feeling this whole meeting is going to be people talking about you like you’re not even here.”

“Good morning, everyone,” Ken speaks over those of us who are still quietly talking. Daniel turns to me and mouths, “Danny Boy?” I shrug, showing my palms to indicate I had nothing to do with that nickname. He shakes his head incredulously, and Ben laughs quietly again.

“Good morning,” Ken says again, now that everyone has mostly quieted down. “I’d like to start today’s meeting by introducing you to our esteemed guest, in case you have not had the chance to meet him. Award-winning author Daniel Evans has been in our building the past few weeks shadowing our very own Mackenzie Milcrest as research for his upcoming novel, and we are very fortunate to have him here.” Daniel plasters on his most charming smile and waves, though from this close to him, I can see the smile doesn’t meet his eyes.

There is a smattering of applause, but Marty is already speaking up from the side of the room, running a hand through his graying hair and pushing his shoulders back self-assuredly. “A few of us are glad you brought that up, Ken, because we have some questions.”

I shake my head. Of course it’s Marty. He teaches like he’s a year away from retirement, yet somehow, this man finds endless energy to cause trouble during department meetings. I brace myself as Jenny stifles a groan.

Ken is too professional to show any annoyance when he addresses him. “Yes, Martin. What questions do you have for me?”

“Well, for starters, what was the process to be selected to be shadowed?” Marty folds his arms across his puffed-out chest. To his credit, Ken is unruffled, and simply inclines his head in that “good question” teacher way.

“To be honest with you, Martin, there was no process. It was a relatively last-minute request from my former place of employment, and Mackenzie was kind enough to help us out.” He motions toward me. Underneath my fake smile, I’m storming. Play nice, I repeat over and over in my head.

“There should have been a process, Ken.” Marty can’t let it go, which is no surprise. “Giving Mac first pick at things is inappropriate and unprofessional.” I bristle at the audacity of calling Ken inappropriate and unprofessional. Play nice. “And I’m not the only one who feels that way. I’m just the only one who is gonna have the courage to speak up.” This is his go-to line, and it’s anyone’s guess whether he is feigning support to seem more credible or he really does have a faction of cowardly followers.

Jenny snorts at this, and I squeeze my lips together to keep back the laughter. Daniel, to his credit, seems completely unfazed, though I notice he hasn’t taken his notebook out and is paying rapt attention to what’s going on.

“I see where you are coming from. I do. But it truly was last minute, and we are indebted to Miss Milcrest for her willingness to take on this extra responsibility. Now, moving on…” Ken clicks a key on his laptop, which is hooked up to a projector at the front of the room, to start his presentation, but Marty isn’t done.

“I hear there are books we’re getting out of this deal?”

I feel Daniel tense next to me, so I look at him out of the corner of my eye and shake my head warningly. “Not worth it,” I mouth to him. He gives me a skeptical side-eye but stays silent.

Ken tries not to sigh. “Yes, Martin. That is one of the agenda items for today’s meeting…”

“And I suppose Mac gets first pick for her classes?”

“That was negotiated, yes.”

“Negotiated?” Marty shifts in his seat so he’s a little taller. “I thought you said she offered her help.”

“She reasonably requested one set of novels for her classroom in return for volunteering to host Mr. Evans. Now if we could just…”

At that, Marty leans to the guy sitting next to him and says, quieter but loud enough for the room to hear, “He probably picked her because she’s got a pretty face.”

And that’s the moment I lose my cool. I’m used to Marty causing a stink about stupid stuff no one really cares about, but he has never directly involved or insulted anyone before. I stand abruptly, my chair making a very loud scraping sound against the linoleum floor tile. Every head in the room whips toward me. Coffee sloshes out of the top of my cup and splashes on my hand, but I tell myself to ignore it, even though my hands are shaking, and my heart is pounding. I narrow my eyes at Marty.

“How dare you?” My words are quiet and precise, but I know everyone hears me. Marty starts to laugh as if I’m crazy and holds up his hands to show his innocence.

“I’m just kidding, Mac. Chill.”

“Don’t gaslight me, Marty. Ken asked me because Daniel wanted to see someone who is good at their job. If he had asked to sit and watch someone hand out worksheets and ignore kids all day, I’m sure your name would have been at the top of the list.” A few people chuckle at this.

“Low blow, Milcrest,” someone says from the other side of the room, but I can’t tell who it is because I’m too busy seeing red. I whirl on whoever it was, anyway.