Chapter 17
Alice had arrived about half an hour later with her son Ethan, so the boys could play together while the adults talked. Beca had sent them to David’s room with a promise of drinks and cookies later.
Jesse and Aubrey had offered to leave, but Beca had told them to stay. They were their best friends after all and Beca was preparing for the worst. After she had assured Alice that anything could be discussed in front of their best friends, Alice sat up straight at the edge of the couch and cleared her throat a few times before starting.
“Well, ehrm, this is awkward, I really don’t know how to tell you this, but I also didn’t want you to find out tomorrow at the start of your workday, so well, I’ll just show you…”
Alice took her phone and opened the photo gallery.
“These pictures were sent to all parents from your class, Ms Beale.”
There were pictures from Friday night, which looked pretty tame, according to Beca (compared to what they had been like in college), but as Alice continued to swipe through the pictures, there were some pictures of them entering the building after their date on Saturday, that were a lot less innocent.
Beca’s face had gone completely blank and Chloe was biting her lip. Their hands in between them on the couch had found each other and their fingers were now linked.
“That creep has been following us? What the fuck? I knew I never liked him.” Beca yells out.
Aubrey looks at Beca and asks: “Really Beca, that’s what you’re getting from this? Think about the consequences for Chloe.”
“Yes, this is what freaks me out the most, dude, someone has been following us, probably Chloe mostly, for God knows how long. And I worry about the consequences, a lot, but the stalker thing scares me ..”
Chloe gently squeezes Beca’s hand and says:
“I agree with you, babe. Thuis man is even more crazy than I always thougth he was. We just have to hope that the board can see reason. We’ll just tell them our story and hope for the best.”
Alice wants to say something, but she feels a little out of place in the group of friends. Finally she says:
“I don’t know exactly what consequences there will be, but if it helps, the parent committee will not just accept your dismissal, Ms Beale, and some other parents have already expressed their support too.”
Chloe smiles at Alice and says: “Thanks, Alice. And please call me Chloe.”
“So Alice, just to clarify, did he send the pictures only, or was there a message, and do you know if he sent it to the parents only, or to other people too?” Beca asks, her mind racing to try and come up with a way to solve things.
“Well there was an accompanying message, but that was just so nasty that I wanted to save you guys from it. But let’s just say that if you remove all words you wouldn’t use in front of your five year old, what you’d be left with is: ‘Beca is out on a mission to turn all women into lesbians, and Chloe is willing to throw herself at anyone who can help her ahead in life.’. And as far as I know, the message we got was only addressed to the parents, but I can very well imagine he sent one to the board as well.”
Beca sighs and turns to Chloe. “Chlo, I’m cancelling my meetings for tomorrow, and I’ll come with you. Or no, do you have the number of the school board, or principal? We can call them and explain, being proactive is good, right?”
Chloe puts her hands on Beca’s shoulders. “Becs, calm down.”
“Fuck, Chlo, how can you not be freaking out right now? I’ve seen you freak out over a whole lot of things, but now…”
At that moment Chloe’s phone rings.
“It’s the principal.”