Page 55 of Rock Bottom Girl

“Why’s she so mad anyway?” I asked.

Floyd pointed over his shoulder into the gym. There was a velvet backdrop set up.

“It’s Picture Day.”

24

Jake

“Principal Eccles,” I said, stepping into her office. “How goes the molding of young minds?” I was pouring on the charm. It was a leftover from my youthful indiscretions. Trips to the principal’s office still made me a bit uneasy.

“Jake, I never thought I’d see the day,” she said with a small smile.

“What day?” Okay, I was definitely nervous.

She held up a neat stack of papers and waved it at me. “This day.”

“Sorry, I’m late.” Marley barreled in the door out of breath and pink-cheeked in a way that made me immediately envision her naked on rumpled sheets. My rumpled sheets. “One of the freshmen put their combination lock on backwards, and well…” Her torrent of words slowed when she spotted me making myself at home in the chair.

“This will just take a quick minute out of both your days,” Principal Eccles said, sliding matching paperwork toward us both. “I heard the news that you two have entered into a personal relationship.”

Marley’s face went an even brighter shade of pink, and her brown eyes widened. “Oh, uh, that isn’t exactly—”

“Have a seat, Mars,” I insisted, tugging her into the chair next to mine and kept her hand in mine once she was settled. She looked at me as if I’d gone and lost my damn mind. Maybe I had.

“As I was saying to Jake here,” Principal Eccles continued. “I never thought I’d see the day when he’d be signing one of these contracts. But I guess we all grow up eventually.”

“Contracts?” Marley repeated. She yanked her hand out of my grip.

Oh, this was going to be good.

“Here in the Culpepper School District, we don’t like to do things like forbid staff from dating,” Principal Eccles launched into her HR speech. “What we do ask is that teachers who enter into relationships continue to set a good example for the students.”

“Naturally,” I said.

Marley’s head whipped in my direction. The look she shot me telegraphed a loud and clear “WTF?”

“We, uh. That is, Jake and I haven’t exactly defined what this thing is,” Marley said weakly.

“And that’s exactly why we have this contract. We certainly don’t expect our staff to give up their romantic lives just to be teachers. But we do require you to set a standard. One-night stands and short-lived, volatile relationships teach these hormone-addled teens that monogamy is, for lack of a better word, lame.” She slid two pens across the desk at us.

“It’s up to you to prove the opposite. So all I ask is you date exclusively for the remainder of the semester. Preferably the entire school year. But given both your histories and the temporary aspect of Ms. Cicero’s position here, that would be rather lofty.”

“You want me to sign a contract to be in a monogamous relationship with Jake Weston for the rest of the semester?” Marley looked pale like she’d just been given three months to live.

“Great summary, honey,” I said, cheerfully patting her bare knee. The woman was going to need CPR from the looks of it. “We’re happy to sign the contract,” I told the principal.

She looked relieved.

“Thank God. When Amie Jo sprinted in here purple-faced with the news, I was worried I’d have a problem on my hands,” Principal Eccles sighed. “She seemed rather insistent that there was no way the two of you were actually dating.”

“I can’t imagine why she’d think we weren’t being honest.” I was the epitome of innocence. “Can you, sweetheart?”

Marley didn’t answer to the endearment, so I kicked her.

She jerked out of her shock coma. “Oh. Uh. No. I can’t imagine, dear? Babe? Jake.”

I reached out and took her hand again. From all appearances, it looked like a sweet gesture, but I applied a little more pressure than necessary.