Page 30 of For Your Own Good

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EARLY WEDNESDAY EVENING,Teddy maneuvers his way around the back of his house. It’s dusk, making everything look grey. He can’t decide if that makes the garden look better or not.

Using his phone, he takes pictures of every plant, weed, bush, and tree. Back inside, at his computer, he runs each picture through a search to identify it and double-checks the information in a real book. No one knows better than he does how fake everything can be on the internet.

What a lucky state of affairs that he’d never cleaned up that garden. It’s filled with so many good things.

He stares at the pictures and taxonomic names until he gets a headache. The pain is right above his eyes, beneath the brows, and it feels like his nerves are exploding.

Closing his eyes, he sits back in the chair. Not his chair—it’s Allison’s. He has moved into her office to work, only recently realizing that she had the better space. A better chair, too. It belongs to him now.

But he’s not thinking about Allison for long. In his mind, he sees theBugle.

The issue came out today at noon, as always, so everyone could read it at lunchtime. Teddy did. He sat in his classroom, first reading Zach’s article about the memorial. He read it three times, searching for similarities to the essays Zach had turned in.

If he were 100 percent honest, he’d have to say the styles were similar. Thankfully, though, no one was putting him under oath, so he didn’t have to be honest. Not even to himself.

And Zach did mention Teddy’s name, because he’ll be speaking at the memorial.

Sucking up again.

He’s always been an ass-kisser—that’s how he gets away with being so cocky. Like the way he gives all of his teachers a Christmas gift. Teddy hasn’t received one yet, because this is his first semester with Zach, but one will be coming his way in December. Last year, Zach gave each one of his teachers a Montblanc pen engraved with their name.

Teddy saw them in the lounge. He specifically remembers Sonia mentioning that it was the nicest, most thoughtful gift she had received from a student. And that was saying something. Belmont students aren’t cheap.

Unlike Sonia, he isn’t moved by this kind of thing. Whatever Zach gives this year won’t improve Teddy’s opinion of him.

There’s also an article in theBugleabout Sonia. Her ten-year anniversary party has become so elaborate, a special committee has been set up just to organize everything.

With his eyes still closed, Teddy scoffs out loud.

It wasn’t that long ago that he had his own ten-year anniversary at Belmont. The only party they’d had for him was in the teachers’ lounge, where someone had hung up a cheapcongratulationsbanner and set out a plastic container of cupcakes from the grocery store. Teddy’s ten-year pin showed up in his department mailbox.

But Sonia is different. As a former Belmont student, she’s part of the family.

And she’s rich, too. She doesn’t even have to work, but she does, which makes it even worse.

Teddy opens his eyes, massaging his temples to try and get rid of the pain. He goes back to work identifying the plants in his yard. Earlier in the week, he’d used the sap from creeping juniper, which is what made Sonia so sick.

But there are so many other possibilities.

THE DRESS FITS.

Sonia doesn’t try it on until Friday, just in case the extra day makes a difference in her size. But when she slips it on first thing in the morning, it fits almost like it did when she first bought it. Sure, it’s a little tight around the hips and it rides up a little on her legs, but it fits.

“You look nice.”

Mark has just come out of the bathroom. He’s wearing no shirt with his pajama bottoms. They’re pulled down low because of his tummy. She’s not the only one who has gained weight over the years.

“Thank you,” she says, slipping into a pair of spiky heels. Not shoes she would normally wear to school, but today isn’t a normal day.

“Ready for the big party?” he says.

“Absolutely.”

“You sure you don’t want me there?”

No. No, she does not. This day belongs to her, and her alone. Not to Dr.Mark Benjamin, PhD and professor at Stanhope University. The same Dr.Benjamin who publishes an academic paper once a year. Yes, she loves him and, yes, she is proud of him, but in a roomful of educators, he is always the star.