Page 31 of For Your Own Good

Not today.

“Oh, spouses don’t usually come to these things,” she says. “It’s a school thing.”

“All right.” He leans forward to kiss her, but she moves, not wanting him to mess up her lipstick. He kisses her on the top of her head. “Congratulations. You deserve this party after all your hard work.”

Yes. Yes, she does.

She walks down the stairs, taking her time so as not to twist her ankle wearing those high heels, and goes straight to her car. No breakfast this morning—there will be plenty of food at the party. No, thesoiree.

On the way to school, Sonia smiles as she thinks about that word. Sure, it’s a daytime party and not an evening affair, but it’s still a soiree. And she’s the guest of honor.

She parks and gets right out of her car, not bothering to repeat her mantra. Of course today will be a good day.

20

IT’S VERY EARLY,at least thirty minutes before Sonia usually arrives. Frank, the math teacher, walks toward the front door. He’s always here before everyone else, because it’s quiet and he can get his work done. Since he has a toddler at home, she can understand why.

Ingrid Ross’s SUV is parked by the side door, the back of it still open. Ingrid comes out of the building wearing her usual yoga pants, and Sonia feels a pang of jealousy. Ingrid gave birth to a child and still looks better than Sonia ever has.

She takes a deep breath, reminding herself that Ingrid is setting up a party forher.

Her intention is to go straight to her classroom. The official pin ceremony isn’t until lunch. She walks down the hall, pausing just briefly outside the dining hall. The Stafford Room is on the other side of it.

No. She’s not going to check on things. It’s not her place.

Sonia continues to her classroom, puts all her things down, and heads for the teachers’ lounge to get her coffee.

Instead, she ends up at the door to the dining hall. Maybe it would be okay to take a quick peek, since it’s so early.

As soon as she walks into the Stafford Room, Ingrid sees her.

“Sonia! Congratulations on your big day.” She walks over and gives Sonia a brief hug. Their bodies barely touch. “We’re still setting up.”

Sonia nods, smiling as she looks around. A long table has been covered with a linen cloth and topped with a series of tiny roses inside glass bowls. Two of the other moms are hanging a largecongratulationsbanner above it. Although the room is only half-decorated, it already looks amazing. Sonia should have known it would; Ingrid never does anything halfway. “This is lovely. Really, thank you so much,” she says.

“Oh, of course. It’s our pleasure.”

“I just wanted to stop by and thank you,” she says. “I’ll leave you to it and get ready for class.”

“Absolutely. We’ll see you soon.”

Sonia takes one more look around before turning to the door. She opens it and finds a woman standing there with her arms full.

The woman looks startled at first and then says, “Sonia! Congratulations!”

Sonia recognizes her as Connor’s mother. “Thank you so much. I’ll see you later.” She holds the door open for her to enter. She has a coffee machine in one hand and a jumbled box of coffee pods in the other.

ZACH TAKES HIStime after fourth period. He doesn’t rush to put away his things or grab his phone, and he stops in the hallway to scroll through his messages. While everyone else heads to the dining hall for lunch, he lags behind, waiting for the hallways to clear.

On a normal day, the teachers would still be around, working in theirclassrooms or heading up to the lounge. Today, they’re all going to Mrs.B’s anniversary party. All Zach has to do is wait for everyone to clear out.

Once they have, he heads straight to Crutcher’s classroom.

The desk has been cleared off, and there’s no sign of his laptop. Zach knew it wouldn’t be here, because Crutcher is the type who would lock it up. Like anyone would steal that ancient computer.

He’s more interested in what Crutcher keeps in his desk.

Between theBleak Housepaper and the letter he sent with it, he should’ve been removed from Crutcher’s shit list. Any other teacher would’ve done it, but not this one. Zach didn’t even get a thank-you email. Nothing, just nothing.