July 2018--And So It Begins
"The end of the school year is always hard because we have to say goodbye to so many lovely people. It has been my pleasure this past year to work with all of you. Actually, this has been my twenty-second year at LBHS, and it is with much regret that I must tell you that it is my last. I have decided that it is time to retire."
Regina's head whipped around so that her eyes locked on his. Her step-father's hand motioned for her to keep calm. His eyes didn't waver from hers; there had to be more to this story, but she knew this wouldn't be the time to ask.
"I won't completely disappear, but as many of you know, I went into teaching to make a difference in this community. I spend a few days a month filling in when we are shorthanded. How many classes did I substitute this year: fifteen or twenty? I have attended most of our athletic events and a few of our theatrical productions. But, as I've gotten older, it's become harder. The losses we sustained this year only made it more so. For this reason, I feel it's best if I move on and leave these shoes to be filled with someone younger and lighter of heart."
Sniffles began to be heard around the room as well as many people shifted in their chairs.
"How bad could it be? I mean, it isn't like he is the best principal ever." Emma joked with those around her.
"Yeah, but sometimes it's better to have the devil you know." Mal offered.
"I will be glad to talk to anyone who wishes to drop in to wish me farewell, but this morning I would prefer if we choose to celebrate."
Regina repeated to herself, "How bad could it be?" An ominous rock took residence in her gut.
*****
Regina parked her sleek black Mercedes in the faculty parking lot. "This feels wrong. I know Rumple won't be here. But, I guess he had to retire someday."
Emma squeezed her hand sitting on the console. "Are you ready to face this, or do you want to sit out here and enjoy the quiet for a few more minutes?"
Sighing, she appreciated the blonde's attempt at giving her time to adjust but knew this would be the beginning of a series of changes. Some for the better, but most probably wouldn't be. New administrations are well known for coming in and making their mark. They act like it's a new President stepping into the White House when it's more like the faculty all moved in with a new step-parent and have to redefine the rules. "I think we should go inside and see if we can find out who they appointed to replace him. I asked Belle. She paled and refused to tell me."
The hard-line of Emma's mouth spoke volumes. "Do you have any idea who it could be?"
"Best case scenario, they promoted an easily manipulated coach."
"And, the worst-case scenario?"
"I'm afraid to bring her name into this." Regina shivered, making the blonde's eyebrows raise.
"That bad?" Regina held the front door open for her girlfriend. "Imagine if Dolores Umbridge could be brought to life and given the position. How would you feel?"
Revulsion slithered through the blonde. "That's my least favorite Potter character. Even Voldemort had more consideration for his colleagues than she did." The sour expression on Emma's face worsened as they neared the library. "The meeting's in here, isn't it?"
"Mmm." Regina's brow furrowed. Her mind desperately tried to decide the perky music she heard came from their meeting location or elsewhere.
The brunette stepped back away from the still-closed doors and looked at her watch. "We don't need to torture ourselves yet; we have another ten minutes before the meeting starts."
Emma put one hand on the glass door; she stopped herself. "I agree. If I have to listen to Pharrell's Happy on loop all through this meeting, I may kill someone."
"You won't be alone in the carnage, dear," Mal muttered, appearing with a coffee.
"You okay?" The younger blonde asked, concluding that Mal's irritation stemmed from something other than the music.
"Have you looked at your class schedule yet?"
The couple shook their heads earnestly.
"I suggest you do," the older blonde huffed. "I want to know why I am suddenly teaching a mix of advanced and low-level courses. I haven't had to teach an intro course in five years. I have no intentions of going back to it now." The older blonde's nostrils flared, seething and trying to cover her growing rage. "I hope our new principal knows he isn't making new friends doing this."
She flung open the door to the media center and marched in with Regina and Emma on her heels. Emma internally cringed as Justin Timberlake began to sing in the background. "I've got this feeling…"
"Can we sit close to a bin? I think their musical selection is inspiring nausea."
Regina glared at her girlfriend. "Emma, please, can we not be more dramatic than Mal? Hmm." She gestured at the woman storming through the crowd to the front of the room. "I mean, look at her. She is going to explode at our new principal before the meeting starts." She yell-whispered through her teeth. Pushing between bodies, Regina clutched onto Emma's hand, dragging the blonde close behind her. They stepped beyond the gathered group of teachers swapping summer stories and found a large group of suits from the county office wandering around near the front desk.
Eugenia Wolf waved at Emma and Regina, wearing a friendly politician's smile. "I guess she's here to introduce our new boss," Emma commented as she followed Regina and Mal to a small group of comfortable reading chairs that someone usually blockades for these meetings. Yet, they failed to do so for this one.
"I'm going to wager that whoever they hired has never worked here because this is my preferred seat, and I haven't been allowed to sit it in during a meeting since my first year," Mal said pointedly.
Regina laughed. "If you hadn't snored loudly during the required annual training for administering the End of Course Tests, we wouldn't have lost the privilege."
Mal scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I don't teach a course with an EOC. It was a waste of my time to be there in the first place."
"Yet, it's required by the district." Emma watched the other two roll their eyes in sync. "I know it's an antiquated policy, but then again, we still don't have enough laptops for every student to be issued one. It isn't like we're known for our cutting-edge mindset."
A throat cleared behind them. "Too true. All of these issues will be addressed this school year." Superintendent Wolf narrowed her eyes at the three in a silent demand to behave well. "Ladies, I would like to introduce your new principal. Regina, I believe you will remember meeting Miss Blanchard-Nolan from Storybrooke Academy. I know that she will need to have support from those of us who have experience in the public school system. As you can guess, this will be a vastly different setting than when she served as an Assistant Principal at a private institution."
All three sets of eyes fell on a short woman with a pixie cut that lacked style. Her powder blue power suit and hair helmet reminded Emma of women from "Leave It to Beaver" reruns.
"It's always good to see you, Mary Margaret," Regina's words rang falsely in the blonde's ears. Mal smirked and withheld comment.
As each woman reached out to shake her hand, she clasped theirs between both of hers. Instead of giving the impression of a woman in charge, she seemed more clinging to the idea that they loved her already. "I know I can count on all three of these ladies. Us single girls stick together, right?"
"Right," came their half-hearted response.
"Miss Blanchard, why don't you continue to circulate. I need to speak with these ladies a moment." The superintendent's directive sent the woman into the throng of people allowing Mal and Regina the ability to sigh and glare at the woman.
"My God, woman, what were you thinking?" Mal demanded.
"It wasn't my call. The School Board is loaded with conservatives. They liked her stance on bringing family values into the schools. And, after those deaths last year, they wanted us to have something else to talk about, and Leopold's granddaughter taking over the school named after him, well, that was an opportunity they wouldn't miss. Personally, I can barely tolerate the insipid twit. I want the three of you to let me know the instant she does anything that feels detrimental to those of us in the 'family.'"
Emma's head ping-ponged back and forth between Mal and Eugenia. "Wait, is she suggesting?" The blonde whispered in Regina's ear.
Ms. Wolf's canine showed as her smile turned dangerous. "What, did little Emma not realize we all bat for the same team? Girlie, I may not fly the rainbow flag in front of my house, but I assure you that if my roommate left me, I would cry for the better part of a year. We met in college, and she's been the light of my life since the day she walked through my door. We don't hide what we are, but we also don't announce it. Most of the board members pretend not to notice. When one uses the Jesus card, I always remind them that he's the one that commanded us to love one another. They get real quiet after that."
Emma slid to the edge of her seat, her eyes never leaving the older woman. "I don't know anything about her. How badly do you think this is going to go?"
The older woman slowly stood. "I'm hoping for a Reagan era faux happiness with a little bit of shade thrown our way. I'm expecting her to slowly slide into the most annoying homophobic tyrant that's ever been appointed here, and that includes the time we hired Jerry Falwell's second cousin."
Mal smirked. "No offense, Eugenia, but the moment she starts having new decrees nailed to the hall walls will be the moment I show up at your doorstep with a legal team."
Eugenia smiled genuinely. "I look forward to it, dearie. Please don't let us have a single Umbridge moment because I don't believe we have anyone the caliber of the Weasley twins to slow her down if she takes that route."
All three women snickered at her response. "I am going to talk to Mr. Lewis. I believe the man deserves as much forewarning as all of you do. Please, ladies, please watch his back. I know you don't run in his circles, but 'family' sticks together. Right, ladies?"
Mal uttered, "Of course. Besides, I love his Dame BeBlondie. She's my hero. It's a shame he only becomes her a few days a year."
Emma's quizzical look caused Mal to laugh a little. "Oh, honey, you have so much to learn. Just wait till Christmas this year. Reggie and I will take you to the best drag show you've ever seen." After a few minutes of watching the room mingling, the three decided to claim chairs in the section they usually used for these meetings. They grabbed a table with four chairs, intending to leave it empty, but when the music died and some flickered the lights, a man the blonde didn't know sauntered over and took the seat. His perfectly coiffed blonde hair and immaculate stubble suggested that he engineered his rumpled look. His white linen shirt emphasized his tan.
"Genie said that we should stick together, so I thought I should introduce myself." He offered Emma his hand; she noticed the glossy nature of his nails. "I have the best manicurist. Pardon my manners, Dr. Swan. I should have done this a year ago. My name is Thomas Corneilus Lewis, III. Thom Terrific to friends and fam. I'm the choral director, among other things." He smiled in her direction, giving her the impression she'd found a long lost older brother. "Hello again, my beautiful ladies. How have you been?"
Regina bit her lip. "Well, I'm sure you figured out that Dr. Swan and I have grown quite close. Mal has recently realized she's in love with another friend of ours, so; I guess you could say we are finally getting our shit together, as it were."
He guffawed. "I only said that to you once. That was what 5 or 6 years ago, honey. Don't hold a grudge, please. You were struggling so much to get over that high maintenance tramp. You deserve better. I guess the Swan here will have to show you what good lovin' can do." He clapped his hands together, emphasizing his point.
Someone tapped a microphone harshly. "Is this on? Great." A middle-aged generic that Emma didn't recognize fiddled with the cord sticking out of the end of it.
"Who is he?" she asked the table.
"That is mister know-it-all Jackson. I think he's now the chairman of the School Board, but I can't be certain. With the way that bunch argues, I am not sure if he or Dr. Lee or her other POC friend on the board, Mrs. Lee, is the current chair."
"Why do I feel like I have a lot to learn about these people?"
Mal patted her hand. "Oh, Emma. Forget it. Just know the good old boys' network is alive and well. We have two black female board members that call them on their shit. But, understand all of them, and I mean all of them have forgotten about the children. It's been a pissing contest for years."
He whistled into the mike making everyone in the room jump. "Okay. I need it quiet in here. I would think teachers would behave better than this."
Regina rolled her eyes. "He says that every damn time he comes to a meeting," she said under breath.
"My name is Jackson Johnson. I'm sure all of you know that I am THE (he placed special emphasis on the word) chairman of the school board. We had the privilege of selecting your new principal. Someone that will guide you into the twentieth century."
Emma facepalmed as soon as he said the mistake.
"She is tech-savvy and into twinking and facecalling people. I hope you will give a warm welcome to a woman that her name is synonymous with integrity. I would like all of you to give a warm welcome to Miss Mary Margaret Blanchard-Nolan."
Miss Nolan took her place at the front. Her voice reminded Emma of the higher-pitched tone of the freshmen girls. "Good morning, everyone. I am so proud to be here at this beloved institution. As Jack stated, I want to bring us to a more competitive market. We have allowed ourselves to fall behind the times in what we offer our students. We need everyone to have Twitter accounts and use them to communicate with your students. If you noticed when you walked through the building, the cafeteria is off-limits for now. At this moment, and I am so excited to tell all of you this, we have graduate students from the university helping us unbox and ready laptops to be issued to every student. We will be able to use Google Classroom and Googlify our content. It's time to shake the dust off and bring us into the modern age."
"We need our best and brightest star teachers to educate the struggling learners, not the students that learn no matter who is teaching them. Many of our AP teachers will discover they have introductory courses as well. This is a new best practice that we need to accept as it is a mandate from the state. And, yes, this does mean most of you will have at least three preps and only one planning period." She ignored the grumbles running through the room.
She paused and smiled brightly at the group. "I want us to return to what LBHS once was. We were the county's flagship school."
Thomas snorted and then pretended to sneeze. "That was back when we were the only high school," he whispered to Emma.
"I also want us to remember that even though our nation is becoming eviler slowly that we are a family first place. We celebrate the values of our parents and our grandparents. We need to put our best foot forward and show what good Christian people we are."
"Maybe if you had, you wouldn't have lost those students last year."
Angry, Emma's hand shot up above the heads of the room.
"Yes, Miss Swan?"
"It's Dr. Swan. But, I'm curious as to which student you think we could have done something about? Are you talking about the kids killed by their father? The ones we kept reporting to DFACS, but they left them in the care of him and his soon to be ex-wife? Or, are you referring to Mr. Nolan, who I believe was your cousin? He died in a car wreck while making a film of himself driving. I am at a loss here. I can't see how anything we could have done differently would have changed the outcome. How could our stance on family change those events?"
In the back of the room, applause began but steadily spread through the room. Whistles and catcalls. "You tell her, Swan," came from the coaches in the back.
Miss Blanchard-Nolan glared at the crowd. "Settle down. To answer your question Dr. Swan, if we had shown the kids our love, their parents wouldn't have been divorcing, and Henry wouldn't have felt the need to show off for everyone."
"You're delusional."
"And you are--" Everyone felt her next word would be fired. But, that isn't the way hiring and firing go at a public school. More than one person smirked, knowing the woman had a lot to learn.
Jackson Johnson snatched the microphone from her hands and laughed uncomfortably. "What Miss Blanchard-Nolan is trying to say is that we help our students channel different energy. They need to focus on making their lives have value in today's business climate, not being a hotshot making videos. We need to make a difference in our community. As the Teacher of the Year at this school, I know Dr. Swan that you want to do what is best for all of us. We need to keep in mind that the community looks to us for answers. We have to be a united front for the masses." He said united front through gritted teeth. "We need to all get along and curtail our tempers."
Understanding his hint, Emma nodded and took her seat. She set her jaw and caught Miss Wolf's eyes from across the room. She relaxed, knowing that her nod of approval meant far more than any words uttered by her new administrator.
"Can I have one more round of applause for the school board members before they go on to the other schools?" Miss Wolf stated, accepting the microphone from the chairman. "We will all disappear now since I believe it is time for you to start your Growth Mindset training. Miss Blanchard-Nolan's secretary posted the assigned groups and the room in which your training will take place. Today, lunch is on your own, but tomorrow it will be catered. The PTO will be hosting a barbecue in your honor. I will pass the microphone to your other new administrator James Shepherd. He's coming to you from Storybrooke Middle. James, this mike is for you."
She handed it over, patted the man on the shoulder, and followed the rest of the county delegation out of the room. She paused at the 'family' table and left a card between Mal and Regina's elbows.
Meet me at 12:15 at Tiana's cafe. We need to talk.
*****
When they arrived at the cafe, the three women found the older woman sitting in the sunroom. "I hope you ladies don't mind. I ordered all of us the special. I don't have much time, and we need to have this conversation where no one is listening."
The three nodded. "Thomas and his husband had a meeting with their lawyer so that he couldn't make it."
The older woman nodded once. "That's understandable. They've been trying to adopt for the last few years. I'm sure it has to do with that."
"I'm sorry I didn't hold my tongue," Emma said, looking into her drink like it held the answers to her future.
"Don't be. Someone needed to remind her that she's not Jesus Fucking Christ no matter if she thinks she's pure as the driven snow."
Eugenia's bitter snark loosened the tongues at the table.
"What do you need us to know?" Mal asked, never one to wait on decorum.
"Thank you, Mallory. I've always appreciated how you cut to chase. Once I realize they were set on hiring that Reagan era bible-thumping Karen I realized I needed to make this into a comedy in the making. We all know that soon I will retire. I have no fucks left to give like Gold didn't when he went. I need all of you to pay close attention to the rumor mill. I should have fired your new assistant principal and used his morality and integrity clause to do it. But, I think he's the key to this thing."
Emma's brows furrowed. "How?"
Then, the brunette started giggling. "My God, the rumors were true then."
"Clarify the rumor, and I will answer the question?" Wolf's smirk clearly stated she knew where Regina was headed.
"I heard Mr. Shepherd was caught having sex with one of the teachers at Storybrooke Middle."
Eugenia snorted. "Oh, honey. You don't know the half of it. We were doing an unscheduled drop-in visit last March, and his poor, unsuspecting secretary helped me find him. It took us more than fifteen minutes. He wasn't answering his radio or his cell. He was screwing Annabeth, the gifted pullout teacher, and yes, that pun is intended. Some idiot on the school board decided that was the term for the floating gifted education teacher at the middle school level. I never thought it would be so appropriately named."
"Wait a minute, you mean he was fucking the minister of first baptist's wife."
Mal's eyes grew large. "That explains why they suddenly have a new preacher."
"It also explains how we managed to keep it so quiet. The baptists didn't want to embarrass their people. Shepherd's wife, the editor of the paper, guaranteed it wouldn't hit the local media. And, you know, the school district never wants negative press. We chose to demote him rather than create a media frenzy."
Regina leaned forward. "I don't see what this has to do with Blanchard."
"You will." Eugenia's canines appeared in her smile again, making her ready to bite. "He's known for sleeping his way through the faculty. A few of my sources say he's not even picky if they are female."
All three women looked bemused. "This could get entertaining."
"If what I heard about Gaston is true, this could get very, very entertaining indeed." Emma burst out laughing. "Oh, God, why is this the year I have to be the well-behaved Teacher of the Year?"
"You are looking at it all wrong, honey. The school district loves you because they have already posted your image, written a blurb about you in the paper, and if what I hear is true, you will make it to the final five choices for the county-level Teacher of the Year competition. That means you have a get out of jail free card. The school board will be bending over backward not to get upset with you this year. No one else in that room could have asked the questions you did this morning and get away with it. Enjoy the tiny bit of immunity it garners you; you will only have it for a few years. Then, it vanishes."
Emma’s smile grew. “I hate to admit it, but I’m looking forward to the minute she figures out that she wants us using Twitter and it’s blocked by the county office.”
Regina shivered. “I’m not looking forward to any of it. I can use Word and PowerPoint. The whole idea of Googlifying, I already hate that word, everything makes me more than a little ill.”
The younger blonde shrugged. “It’s ridiculously easy. I can show the two of you how to use it and get you up and running in less than an hour. But, I’m not telling them that.”
Wolf laughed. “And, I wouldn’t if I were you. She’s forgotten that no one in the building should know how to use any of it. I’m sitting back and letting the shitshow begin. I hope you ladies keep me informed. I’ve paid for lunch. You have my private number; use it. “ With that, she left leaving them to decipher everything that had happened and it was only lunchtime.