Page 50 of Besties
She stood again, but this time she had a resigned look on her face. “I’ll have to give this some thought, but I’m starting to believe I may have overreacted. It’s just…. These kids are important to me, and the thought that your company—anycompany—would give up on them? It angered me.”
“Don’t apologize. Please. In your shoes, Mr. Ryland would have probably done the same thing. He’s passionate about his work, just like you are.” I hoped to hell that Richie was going to forgive me for what I was about to do. “Tell you what. How about if we donate ten computers to your study lab? We won’t add any of our software to it. This is a gift from Teaching Time to you, so you can use them however you deem necessary.”
“Oh, I couldn’t—”
“Yeah, you could. This is for the kids. This isn’t about hurt feelings, it’s about mending fences, moving forward. I told you before, we were willing to work to earn your trust again, and we will. Even if it takes longer than I thought it might, we’re in this for the full ride.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Her voice was strained, her eyes pinched.
“Nothing to say. Well, other than do you prefer Windows or Mac? Oh, how about five of each?”
“Mr. Henry—”
“Max, please. May I still call you Amelia?”
“Yes, of course.” Her cheeks darkened just a bit more. “I’m sorry, Max. I wish I had done things differently. I mean, we’re constantly telling our kids to use critical thinking skills, but I acted out of hurt and anger. What does that say about me?”
“Speaking as someone who quite often acts before he thinks, I’d say it tells that you’re passionate about what you do.” I stood and held out my hand. “Like I said, there is no reason to apologize to me. You’re doing what you need to for your students, and I get that. And as I mentioned, we still want to be a part of your success, and to once more try to earn your trust in us.”
She shook my hand. “Thank you for coming. I look forward to talking with you again.” She bit her lip. “I should warn you, the conversations I’ve had with some of the other principals? They’re going to be very angry with you, and some of them may not listen. With some of the things I’ve heard, I think this could get very ugly for you and Teaching Time.”
I tried to reassure her with a smile. “I’m not afraid to be honest with people. I’ll go in there, ready to do battle, but also be willing to listen and see if I can’t fix some misconceptions about us. I’m not sure where all this started, but I’m going to do my best to stop it now.”
You know the old saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”? I thought I was going to be as successful with the others as I was with Amelia. Flying high with at least a bit of success, I thought maybe I could get through this, no problem.
I got my chip knocked off my shoulder the second I walked into East High School. When I thought I could do this easily, the truth smacked me in the face. Almost literally. The principal, Jerome Waterson, met me at the door, with security in tow. The two men stormed toward me, grabbing me by the arms, and dragged me back to the exit.
“Mr. Waterson, please—”
“If you come back onto our property, I will have you arrested.”
He turned and stalked away.
“Whatever you’ve heard is a lie. Teaching Time has done everything we could to be a good partner in business.”
That stopped him in his tracks. “Wait.” He came closer and got up in my face, his own twisted with undeniable anger. “I am not a violent man by nature, but right now I want to punch you so damn hard, your dentist will be set for life. You cost these kids their dreams. There’s nothing you can say that’s going to give them those things back. I strongly suggest you get the fuck off my property, and pray I never see you again.”
I took a deep breath. I understood his anger. Some of these kids depended on money from outside sources to get them into college, and if they were kept from being eligible, and somehow Kramer was the cause of it, then Teaching Time had to bear some responsibility.
“Then let us help with the costs of their education.”
Thatbrought him up short. “What?” He nodded to the guys who had my arms pinned, and they turned me loose.
I swallowed hard, knowing that even though Richie said to do what I had to, I was costing him a lot of money. Still, I’d already made the offer, so couldn’t very well take it back.
“We’ll give them scholarships to help defer the costs of their college. All I want is a few minutes of your time. I’ll be honest with you, I’m playing catch up here and trying to find out what happened. If you want me gone after, I’ll go. That won’t change my offer of helping the kids, so you know. Mr. Ryland wants your kids to succeed.”
“Then why the fuck did he leave us high and dry?”
He must have realized how loud he was, because he lowered his voice.
“These boys and girls worked damn hard to get to this point. A few of them were skirting eligibility, so we went to Teaching Time to get help. The WIAA told us that if we had a firm plan within the month, they’d accept it and let our kids play. The three who needed the help? Their parents agreed to tutoring with Teaching Time. We worked out a plan and got it approved. Then Teaching Time didn’t show up. When we tried to contact someone, we got the runaround, and then our calls went unanswered. So you tell me, how the hell do you fix something like this?”
I wish I had an answer.
Chapter13
I leftthe school without protest after promising our assistance with a scholarship. The only good thing to come out of it was that Mr. Waterson at least seemed impressed by the offer, even if he obviously still didn’t believe me. I got into the car, pulled out my phone, and dialed. Better to face the music now and admit what I’d done, than tell Richie later.
