Maybe This Time (The Educators Book 3) Read Free Page A

it?”
    Somehow Gage couldn’t imagine Tom Speranza caring at all how Stephanie poured her heart out in the writing. In his many conversations with Gage over the phone, the guy was only interested in academics. Gage played along to keep the peace, but in reality, he thought the guy was an asshole. “Is that your main concern here, Stephanie?”
    Her eyes blazed fire at him. “So what if it is?” She turned to her teacher. “Will you go get it from him?” Her tone was over-the-top insolent with him, but all sweetness and light when she addressed her teacher.
    Delaney looked to Kane, who said, “I’ll get your journal.”
    “You won’t read it?” Steph asked.
    Gage had the urge to touch her, as Delaney had. But he didn’t think Steph would welcome a show of affection from him. The knowledge made him exasperated, so he said with more snap in his voice than he wanted, “Steph, your journal will be fine. We need to talk about why you’re behaving this way.”
    “As if you care.”
    Delaney’s eyebrows shot up at Steph’s accusation. He wondered if she recalled him telling her he was worried about his daughter.
    “I do, care,” he said simply.
    She turned to Delaney again.
    “I agree with your dad.” Delaney’s voice was so confident it seemed to calm Steph down.
    Again, the principal intervened. “We have to address what happened after Mr. Speranza took the journal which, by the way, he told me he did because you were writing in it during class.” To Delaney and Gage, Kane said, “She told the teacher to f-off.”
    “Oh, Steph,” Gage said.
    “I was pissed at him. He had no right.”
    “We’ve talked about your language.”
    Her chin lifted. “Ms. Dawson lets us use any words we want in our journals.”
    “She does?” Gage frowned. That didn’t sound good.
    Even the principal seemed taken aback, but he recovered quickly. “Let’s not deal with class rules. Stephanie, you’ll be in detention for two days. Teachers will bring work to you. And you have to apologize to Mr. Speranza.”
    “No.”
    “No?”
    “He was wrong, too.”
    Jesus , Gage thought.
    This time Delaney covered her hand. “I’d like to talk to Steph alone, Mr. Kane. I’m free second period. Can I get her out of detention then to see if I can help her work through this?”
    “Do you think I should apologize?” Steph asked her.
    “Yes. You have to respect your teachers.”
    “You told us when we read The Perfect Family that people have to earn our respect.”
    “They do. But I also told you in certain settings—like school or a job—that doesn’t always happen and we have to capitulate sometimes.”
    “That means gives in,” his daughter said to no one in particular. At least she was learning vocabulary.
    Dylan checked the clock. “All right.” He scribbled out a slip. “Take this to detention, Steph.”
    “I gotta go to my locker and get my books.”
    “Do that, then go straight to room 202.” When Steph gave him her Screw You look, Gage felt his muscles tense. The principal leaned forward. “I’m letting Ms. Dawson take the lead on this now, young lady, but if you don’t cooperate, I’ll take further steps.”
    “Like what?” the girl challenged.
    “Stephanie!” Gage hated her tone.
    Kane’s eyes flickered with annoyance. “You’ll be removed from Mr. Speranza’s class.”
    “But he’s the only one who teaches idiot earth science.”
    “It’s not for idiots. It’s for students who don’t excel in the sciences. Like you excel in English. In any case, I’ll remove you from his class and you’ll have to go to summer school to pass the course in order to go on to eleventh grade.”
    Gage could see his daughter’s eyes, the exact color of his, assessing whether being taken out of Speranza’s class would be worth the punishment.
    “And know that the course is taught by Mr. Speranza in the summer, too, so you won’t get out of working with him.”
    Steph gave him a disgusted look, one Gage was