“I’ll take my chances,” I said, stepping toward him.

“Now get out of my classroom before my students come back.” He smirked, adjusted his tie, and walked out, leaving the door wide open behind him — a small, deliberate discourtesy, the kind of man who leaves a door open so you have to get up and close it yourself.

I closed it.

Then I sat down at my desk and wrote down everything he’d said, with the time and date, because I had begun to understand that I was going to need a record, and that the record was the only armor I’d be issued.

Chapter 13 — Bernadette

That evening I sat in my living room grading spelling tests, the house quiet but for the wall clock.