Dream On (Stories of Serendipity #2) (27 page)

She swallowed hard.  Her file.  That followed her around for the rest of her professional career.  “Thank you, sir.”

At home that night, she looked through the documents, more carefully.  She knew Steven was behind this.  He had a friend on the school board.  She had no idea how he wou
ld have gotten the pictures of The Church, unless he was having Dalton followed.  And she was almost positive he hadn’t been back there since they’d started seeing each other.

The rage she’d felt while looking at the pictures in Dr. Cahan’s office hadn’t subsided, like she thought it would.  She was angry.  Angry at herself for having put herself in this situation.

She re-read the letter.

To:  Serendipity ISD School Board

From:  Stuart Callahan

Re:  Alyssa Fuller

I am concerned with actions taken by one of our instructors at the High School, Alyssa Fuller.  She is my son’s tenth-grade English teacher.  While I have no complaints about her teaching ability, her personal life is bleeding over into her professional life, and as a parent, I don’t appreciate the lessons she is potentially teaching my son.

She has been seen in the company of a less than savory characte, at school functions and in front of students at other functions.  Some of her behavior at these functions has been questionable, at best.

She is a grown woman, and I understand adult actions, but the lack of self-control at these functions is alarming, to say the least.  Her “boyfriend” is known for his sexual appetites, and a logical person can assume that anyone seen with him in a romantic capacity would also indulge in these same activities.  It is said he participates in the BDSM culture and most can assume that includes drug use.

Our teachers here at Serendipity are expected to set a certain example for the students, both professionally and personally.  I am not going to point out Ms. Fuller’s lack of church attendance, as that has been deemed by the Constitution to not be a worthy cause for championship.  However, it does illustrate a lack of morals, which we expect to find in our teachers here in Serendipity.  Her flaunting of this particular relationship with Dalton Colt is a viable subject for discussion, of her professional capacity.

I don’t want a teacher for my son who would participate in such depravities ---  sexual escapades, drug use, and only the good Lord knows what else.  This is what she is teaching my son with her actions.  Please consider this carefully, as our future is in your hands.

Sincerely,

Stuart Callahan

Alyssa suppressed her ind
ignation and dropped the letter to the floor.  She knew Stuart.  He was one of those parents whose child could do no wrong, even though the son in question, Dane, hosted some of the wildest pasture parties in the county.  Dane came to school on Monday morning, bragging about his conquests at beer pong, and the number of joints he smoked on Saturday night. 

She should have known something like this would happen.  The letter was unmerited, she knew.  It painted both she and Dalton in an unfair light.  But there it was, in black and white, and delivered to her boss.  And his boss.  And in this town, the Superintendent’s boss was the school board, so it had actually been sent to her boss’s boss’s boss.  Great.

She had no choice.  She had already broken things off with Dalton, for her children’s sake.  Now, in order to keep her job, she would have to sever all ties with him. 

Grabbing her cell phone, she deleted all of the voice m
ails he had left her last night and today.  Some of them were sweet, some were downright pathetic.  He had apparently gotten progressively drunker as he left them, the last one, barely coherent, a begging, pleading Dalton, she had never met before.

And one she would not ever know.

Deep down in her heart, she knew Steven had done this.  She wasn’t sure how he had gotten to Stuart.  As far as she knew, they weren’t friends.  But she hated him for it, nonetheless.  He had ruined her chances at happiness with Dalton, and it made her feel a rage, deep down. 

She was overwhelmed with the foreign feeling.  Not even during his most manipulative days of their marriage had he ever done anything so underhanded.  She felt betrayed.

Even when he had broken their marriage vows, she hadn’t felt this betrayed.

He had to hate her in order to what he was doing to her. 
He was ruining her relationship and her career.  If she lost her job, she wouldn’t be able to support the children and would lose them.

Dalton was in the recliner, staring at his laptop, thinking
of Alyssa, when his mother came in and sat down in the recliner next to him.  She had been doing better this week, getting out of the house to run errandsand talking to him more.  He was glad for her.  She was moving on with her life, but his own losses kept him miserable.

“Dalton, honey, we need to talk.”

He closed his laptop, and looked at her, forcing a wan smile to his face.  “Sure, Mom.  What’s up?”

“Mrs. Fletch stopped me in the grocery store today.  I know she’s a busy body, and don’t really put much stock in what she says, but she talks to everybody, and I can’t be sure that everybody doesn’t listen to her…”

“What did she say, Mom?”

“She said some things about Alyssa that were rather alarming.  And they concerned you, too.”

He straightened in his seat.  “Like what?”

“That you guys are d
oing drugs together and you take her to Dallas, to some depraved club there.  I told her that wasn’t true, but I have no idea who all she’s already told…”

Dalton
stood abruptly and started stalking across the living room, furiously running his hands through his hair.  “My god…”

“She also told me the school board is having a special meeting with her to question her about the accusations.  They’ve been getting letters from parents.”

“They can’t fire her.”

“I don’t know.  There’s something about moral turpitude in those teacher contracts…”

He stopped pacing and looked at his mother, disbelief coursing through his body.  “What can I do?”

She shrugged.  “I don’t know, son.  I sort of liked her, despite her…flaws.”

Dalton suppressed the anger bubbling up inside of him.  “She has no flaws, Mother.  Alyssa is perfect, but nobody seems to see that but me.”

Mary looked at her hands, twisting them fitfully.  “I know you care for her, Dalton.  And I’m glad she came into your life, if for no other reason than it brought you back home to me.”  She stood.  “The special school boar
d meeting is open to the public and will be Thursday night.  You might think about going.  She may not have many people there to speak for her.  And you’re reputation will be on trial, too.”  She said quietly. 

Dalton could see there was more she wanted to say, but thankfully, she was keeping it to herself.  He could see the war being waged behind her eyes and knew the guilt by association thing would not only apply to Alyssa, but to his family as well.  The town would drag Mary and Richard through the gauntlet, for raising a son like him, and Renee might not be able to show her face at the grocery store, either.

Dalton turned and threw a fist at the wall behind him, denting the sheetrock.

“I’ll take care of this.”  He stomped out of the house, went to the barn and retrieved his motorcycle. 

He needed to ride.

Chapter 22

The anticipated school board meeting left Alyssa a bundl
e of nerves.  Her future as an educator rested on it.  If the school board decided to listen to Stuart, Steven, and whoever else arrived to say something horrible about her, she was doomed.

She enjoyed living in a small town, the eight or so years she had lived here.  The atmosphere was welcoming, and she liked knowing who her neighbors were. 

Now she was getting a taste of the other side of the coin.

Rumors ran rampant in a town
this size.  She had heard them and even been the subject of some.  But none of the rumors had the power to break her like this one.  Her integrity was being called into question, and it hurt.

The meeting was being held in the board room of the administration building.  It was set up with the u-shaped conference table on one side, filled with leather chairs, and on the other side was seating for an a
udience.  When Alyssa walked in to see every chair full, she shuddered.  Peering at the faces, trying to decide if they were friend or foe, she felt an overwhelming light-headedness, before breathing deeply, and looking at her feet.  She couldn’t faint here, she needed to stay strong.  This was her future.

Jessie was at her side in a heartbeat, pulling her into a hug.  “It’s gonna be okay, ‘Lyssa.  We’re here for you,”  she whispered in her ear.

“Thanks,”  Ayssa muttered.

The Superintendent’s secretary motioned for Alyssa to sit in a chair at the conference table.  Thankful for some place to sit before her knees buckled, she lowered herself into the plush leather chair.

A gavel banging startled her, and she looked at the President of the school board, as he said, “I move that we start the meeting.”

Somebody else seconded the motion, and
the meeting was underway.  The Superintendent’s secretary had put an agenda in front of Alyssa, and she glanced at it.  The only thing on the agenda for this evening was her.  She felt a sinking sensation in her stomach before the butterflies took flight.

“It has been brought to our attention that there may be some moral ambiguities concerning one of our teachers on staff here at Serendipity high school, and we are here tonight to get to the bottom of it.  I have made copies of the documents that were sent to us, and we have some speakers here tonight to give both sides of the story.  This is an open meeting, so if you have something to say, you may sign up to speak, and y
ou will be given a turn.”  The President passed around a piece of paper on a clipboard, for members of the audience to sign their name to. 

Alyssa watched the clipboard as it made its way around the room, astounded that almost every person there signed their name to it.  She recognized them all.  There were parents, students, and teachers, as well as her friends Jessie and Summer.Predictably, Steven was sitting in the front row, refusing to meet her glare.
  When the clipboard got to the back row, she almost gasped aloud when she saw him.

Dalton was sitting on the last seat in the back, dressed in a suit and tie, looking at her intently.  He smiled encouragingly at her, but she could see he was nervous.  His hair stood up in all directions, as if he’d been running his hands through it, and there were dark circles under his eyes.  He looked a mess.

Tearing her gaze away, she listened as the school board members went over the documents in the envelope that she had memorized.  The audience reacted to them with audible gasps and murmurs, as each document was scrutinized aloud by the board members.

After they had examined the documents, they turned their attention to Alyssa.

“Do you deny  you have been participating in uncouth activities, Ms. Fuller?”  The President fairly sneered at her.

Alyssa swallowed hard, and summoned her courage.  “Yes, sir.  I do.”

“Explain yourself.”

“Well, Dalton Colt and I had a brief relationship, but it’s over now.  I do apologize for the public displays of affection around students, and I admit they were inappropriate.  We never did drugs, nor did we participate in any…”  She breathed deeply, aware there was an audience.  “questionable sexual activities.  I feel like this is a play by my ex-husband to build his arsenal for a custody hearing.
This is a load of insinuations and downright lies, and I am humiliated that my personal life is being dragged into the public like this.”

The P
resident cleared his throat.  “I agree.  I don’t wish to be discussing your private life, either, Ms. Fuller.  But since it has been made public, we have a duty to find the truth in it.  If you have been behaving with moral turpitude, you are in breach of your contract, and subject to dismissal.”

Alyssa swallowed, again, willing the tears to stay at bay.  “I understand.”

“Do you have anything else to say, Ms. Fuller?”             

“Only, that this isn’t true.  None of it.  I kissed him in public.  That’s all.”

“Then we will hear from members of the community.  First on the list is Kimberly Lundy.”

Alyssa sat back and listened as one after another, her co-workers stood up for her.  They talked abou
t her capabilities as a teacher and how effective she was.  Each one gave glowing praise of her abilities and her results, one even citing her students’ outstanding standardized test scores, which made the school district look good.  Cody was there, and he even spoke positively of her professionalism in and out of the classroom.