Chapter 2

I felt a jolt.

A teacher’s duty? I turned his words over in my mind and nearly laughed out loud.

There were sixty teachers at this school. If anyone had taken that duty seriously, it was me.

In my ten years of teaching, I had always worked harder than my students whenever the SAT drew near.

I stayed up late preparing lessons, studied past tests for likely topics, and put together study guides.

When my students were overwhelmed, I even skipped Thanksgiving dinner with my family to drive over and help them through it.

Every time my students set a new school record, an administrator would smile and pat me on the shoulder.

“Thank you for all your hard work, Ms. Cruz. Don’t worry, you’ll be on the promotion list next year!”

That promise had kept me here for ten years.

It was never fulfilled.

I rubbed my stinging eyes and forced myself to stand straight.

“Mr. Platt, I’ve never let this school down. Every year when the SAT came around, I worked even harder than my students. I thought that if I kept doing my job well, the school would eventually recognize it.

“Now, I realize how wrong I was. You lectured me about my duty as a teacher, but where was the school’s sense of duty to me when it made that announcement?”

Dom’s face darkened.

“Watch how you speak to me. The school had its reasons for that announcement. We can’t rely on one star teacher forever, and the class switch is only temporary.

“You may be assigned to Class Seven on paper, but you’ll still be teaching Class One. The school won’t forget what you’ve done.”

I stared at him. It was ridiculous.

Did he think calling it a school decision made their dirty little scheme any more respectable?

I had no desire to argue with him any longer. I snorted.

“So, I’m supposed to thank you and the school for remembering that I exist?”

With that, I turned and walked out.

I had no place among people who operated like that. I was actually grateful he had stopped hiding it.

He made me realize that it was time to leave a place I should have walked away from long ago.

I hurried into the restroom and stared at myself in the mirror for a long time before I managed to get my anger under control.

Then, I heard Monica’s voice coming from the hallway outside the restroom.

“Annie really has no idea where she stands. I heard she went to Mr. Platt and threatened to quit. It’s as if she’s in any position to make demands.”

I stopped on my way out and listened.

A moment later, I heard Dora Gelber, the vice principal’s assistant.

“Who does she think she is? Does she really think she’s that important? You’re different, Monica. Between us, Mr. Corvin looked into her a while ago.

“Her family’s broke, and her mother’s in the hospital, with medical bills coming in every month.

“She can talk all she wants, but could she really bring herself to quit? If she walks out today, her mother could be dead by tomorrow.”

Dora’s voice was sharp with contempt. Her words hurt more than I wanted to admit.

So, that was why they thought they could do whatever they wanted to me.

They knew my mother was sick. They knew I needed the money.

No matter how hard I worked or how much I did for the school and my students, I was still nothing to them.

How was I supposed to accept that?

Every colleague who had joined the school around the same time as me was already considered a veteran teacher. Every one of them had received a substantial raise.

I was the only one still teaching the school’s most demanding class, worrying over every student while counting every dollar of my paycheck each month.

I had thought that if I kept my head down and worked hard, the people in charge would eventually notice.

At that moment, I learned just how wrong I had been.

My lips twisted into a bitter smile. I stood there in silence.

“Enough about that miserable woman! She’s just sulking. She’s worn that same pathetic look every year for ten years. Do you really think she’d quit? At her age, who else would hire her?”

Monica giggled and hurried to agree.