“I’m really disappointed in you, Miss Miller.”
Principal Margaret Carver scowled at the history teacher sitting in front of her desk. Ever mindful of body language and the power of posture, Carver made a point of getting out of her chair when addressing subordinates who earned her ire.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” Denise offered weakly. “I made a mistake with the calculator. I had no idea it would cost the school so much money.”
Carver was difficult enough to deal with on a normal school day; but she was aa terrifying virago whenever a teacher violated one of her many rules or, even worse, went over budget for classroom projects. In this instance Denise had mistakenly initiated a non-refundable order that ended up more than a thousand dollars over her limit and Carver was as pissed off as Denise had ever seen her.
“I’m not going to dock your pay this time, Miss Miller,” she hissed ominously. “But I am going to make sure you never forget how important the school’s finances are. Meet me outside the boy’s bathroom at 2 pm sharp.”
Denise tried to project nonchalance to the passing students while waiting nervously for the principal to arrive. She knew Carver would have some sort of devilishly diabolical punishment in mind for her, but what could the boys’ bathroom possibly have to do with it? Knowing Carver, the answer would not be pleasant, and Denise shivered as her mind raced with possibilities.
Indeed, Maggie Carver ran the school as her own little fiefdom and had seen to it that the faculty was largely made up of sycophants and spineless educators too worried over their own paychecks to put up any meaningful resistance to whatever schemes she might come up with. The few independent-minded teachers like Denise had to keep their heads down and hope they wouldn’t be ratted out by one of the many spies who constantly kept Carver informed as to any behaviors that could even arguably constitute a misprision under the school code.
Even before the current misstep that gave Carver an excuse to punish her, Denise had already committed a more serious offense– she was popular and well-liked by the students. Having attended the same school for her own high school career, Denise had been a cheerleader and still had connections with alumni who now had their own offspring walking the same hallways. Moreover, it was no secret many of the hormonally charged adolescent boys harbored crushes and fantasies over their history teacher and her curves at 36D, 30, 36. Her naturally bubbly and flirtatious personality drew attention and Carver hated her for it.
