Page 142 of For Your Own Good

“Obviously. Ten minutes?” Zach says.

“Meet me outside my dorm.”

He’s still smiling, now at the thought of seeing her. They’re together, he and Courtney. Really together. It seems so obviously perfect now that he has no idea how he missed it for so long.

More than once, he’s wondered if they had Crutcher to thank. If all those horrible things hadn’t happened at Belmont, maybe he and Courtney wouldn’t be a couple.

Zach goes to the closet and changes into a clean shirt, checking himself in the mirror on the inside of the door. Next to the mirror, high on the right-hand side, a Teacher of the Year plaque is already hung up.

Crutcher’s award.

One day after school, Zach had slipped it right into his backpack and walked out. He was angry that afternoon. Angry that Courtney was still in jail, that so many people thought she was guilty, that Mrs.B was dead instead of Crutcher. He hadn’t planned to keep the plaque, but after his parents pulled him out of Belmont, he’d never had a chance to return it. Now he’s glad.

Because of Crutcher, Zach has changed his mind about his future. Forget finance, and forget becoming a lawyer.

Zach is going to become a teacher. And when he does, he’ll return to Belmont.

Someone has to save the kids. It’s for their own good.