Page 17 of The Flirty Forward

“It is.”

Brielle stands. “I need to get home to make dinner. Let me know if you have any more problems. I can talk to Aiden; maybe he can do something about it.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I'm sure it will blow over.”

“Okay, bye Stephanie. I love you.” She hugs me, and my heart softens.

“I love you too, Bri. We need to plan a girls’ night sometime soon.”

Her eyes light up. “Yes, we should. Maybe the next set of away games.”

I smile. “It’s a plan.” I watch her go and can’t fight the lingering sadness. I get out my bag and get started with the grading I need to do. I tell myself that if I get my grading done, I’ll allow myself to spend time doing what I really love—writing.

I take a deep breath and start grading again. I hate feeling this way; I hate this sense of melancholy and loneliness. This isn’t me; I’ve been on my own for years. I just need to get myself together. I’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, I’m up extra early. After a good run, I shower and dress in my favorite black pantsuit with a hot pink blouse underneath. The blazer is fitted with a single button. I add gold hoop earrings and a necklace and my favorite heels. I add my makeup and leave my hair down. I take a look in the mirror. “That’s as good as it’s going to get.”

I leave early enough to grab a coffee at Anna’s. I’m feeling good when I pull into the parking lot at my school, but I slow down when I see the people gathered on the front sidewalk. I get a bad feeling as I drive past them. I keep my head down, but it seems like somebody pointed out my car because it feels like people are noticing me. Before I can even get out of the car, people begin to surround my car. Panic starts building in my chest, but I refuse to let it. I am a capable, professional adult. I can deal with this. I grab my coffee and my laptop bag and slide out of my car. “Excuse me,” I say to the first guy, who’s standing right in my path.

“Is it true that you refuse to date Sebastian Hart?” he asks.

“No comment,” I say and stride past him. I'm feeling pretty good about that one; that’s what they always say on tv, anyway.

“Are you Stephanie Winston?” somebody asks as I walk past. I keep my stride powerful and fast, discouraging people from trying to stop me. It doesn’t stop some people, though.

“Would you comment on your relationship with Sebastian Hart?”

"Will you be attending any of the Green Thunder games this season?”

I ignore each question and push towards the door. Thankfully, they can’t come inside. I breathe a sigh of relief when I close the door behind me.

“That’s crazy,” Rob, one of my fellow teachers says, looking out at the reporters. He glances over at me. “Did you have any problems getting in?”

“I managed it.” I shake it off as I make my way through the building and to my classroom, refusing to let it ruin my day. When I get to my classroom and check my email, I sigh in frustration. Principal Goodman asked me to stop by his office as soon as I get in this morning. I make my way to his office. “Knock, knock.” His door is open.

“Miss Winston, come on in.” He turns away from where he was looking out his window. “Did you have any problems getting inside?”

“I handled it,” I say for the second time already this morning.

“I apologize for not having somebody escort you inside. I didn’t realize they would be back again this morning.” He scowls as he says this.

“It’s fine, Sir. Nothing I can’t handle.”

He glances out the window and then back at me. “Be that as it may, it needs to be dealt with.” He says the words pointedly, and I get the feeling that he feels like this is my fault.

“I assure you I had nothing to do with any of this.” I’m careful to keep my voice professional, so he doesn’t see my frustration. None of this is my fault.

“There are more people out there than there were yesterday, and our social medias for the school are getting bombarded with questions and comments about you. This needs to stop before it gets truly out of hand; you need to find a way to stop it. Reach out to the Green Thunder team and see what they can do to manage this. If not, if this continues to be a problem, you won’t be able to come in to school for a few days or weeks until this all dies down.

“I can’t teach?” I ask, dumbfounded.

He levels a look at me. “I’m saying that we need to get this situation taken care of as quickly as possible before it escalates and before something happens to one of our students, or something happens that takes away from...what really matters here at school.”

I’m not an idiot. “You mean, you don’t want the school to look bad.”

“Miss Winston, let’s just deal with the situation before it becomes a bigger problem.”

Feeling like one of my students, I nod and walk to the door. “I’ll take care of it,” I say right before I walk out into the hall. In a daze, I make my way to my class. I sink into my chair, eye my coffee and wonder how quickly my day turned. I can’t believe I might not get to do my job for a few days. Anger burns through me when I think of Sebastian and all the problems he’s causing me. I turn to my laptop and look up the information for the Green Thunder. It takes me a few minutes, but I finally find it.Bingo.I put the number into my phone and wait for my call to go through.

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