A shiver runs down my spine. Slowly, I turn to face her.
Amy looks completely different than she did at her wedding. She’s wearing less makeup, and I can see the age lining her skin. Her blonde hair looks dull and washed out under the fluorescent lights. I breathe out slowly.
“Amy,” Luke says coldly. “You look well. How was the honeymoon?”
“Mrs Martins!” Donny whines, making Luke flinch. “Did you hear what he said?”
“It’s Mrs Tran,” Amy says, looking annoyed. “Luke and I aren’t married anymore.”
“Oh. Sorry.” Donny points at Zack. “But he was going to punch me in the face! You need to make him leave!”
Zack rolls his eyes. “Oh, suck it up, ya big baby,” he booms. “You’re not fourteen anymore. Quit whinin’ to yer teachers, it’s pathetic.”
Amy shakes her head, turning to me. “Layla. Do you want to explain why they’re all here? The invitation said you could bring a plus one.”
“Actually, it said ‘partners are welcome’,” I point out.
Her eyebrows shoot up. “So it’s true?” She sputters. “You… you really are with all three of them?”
I nod. “Turns out, you can have more than one boyfriend! I’m starting a collection.”
“Aye,” Zack booms. “A lovely girl like you deserves more than one boyfriend.” He pours a cupful of wine, sniffs it, grimaces, then takes a gulp. “Gotta check it ain’t bad,” he tells me when I side-eye him.
Amy stands a little straighter. “Zack, you need to leave. I can’t let guests come into this school and threaten to assault one of our former students.”
“Donald here was verbally attacking Layla,” Luke points out. “Shall we throw him out as well? That only seems fair.”
“I was not!” Donny shouts. “I was just saying hello to her!”
“You called her loose,” Josh spits from behind me.
Amy sighs heavily. “You really haven’t changed at all, have you, Layla? You got here three minutes ago, and already the allegations are flying. You must be the most desired woman in London.” She regards Luke coolly. “Do we have any proof that Donald was harassing Layla? I have to say, given your circumstances,” her eyes drop to our joined hands, “I’m not particularly inclined to believe you.”
Luke’s face flushes red. He pulls away from me, squaring his shoulders, but I cut him off before he can really lose his temper.
“Oh, I have plenty of proof,” I say sunnily. “About four years’ worth, I’d say. Don’t worry, you’ve already got it all on file. Just pop into the staff room, you’ll find a folder full of complaints I’ve made, with all the proof you need. Emails. Scans of lewd drawings. Photographs of graffiti on my personal property. Hey, the janitor even helped me rip a couple of CCTV tapes that show Donny here trying to get under my skirt in the car park.” I glance across at Donny. “I think you were eighteen, then. A legal adult. I hear you’re in politics now, right?” I whistle under my breath. “Wouldn’t want that getting out now, would we?”
“What?” Luke barks.
Donny scoffs. “Does the tape also show you kicking me in the balls?”
“Ah. So you do remember it. Funny, you seemed to be suffering from some sort of selective amnesia when the school counsellor asked you about it.”
Amy takes a deep breath through her nose. “Well, this is a very concerning accusation, Layla. I’ll be sure to look into it. Although unfortunately, we’ve switched up our student records system, so it’s unlikely any of this evidence still exists.” She pulls a sympathetic face. “I’m very sorry.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” I say cheerfully. “I have copies of everything. Dated and time stamped. I even got most of them signed off by you and other staff members. I know these things can be tricky.” I smile at her blandly. “I wanted to make sure you couldn’t possibly lose anything.”
“Good,” she says through gritted teeth. “That’s great, Layla. But I don’t think—”
I interrupt her, pointing to the line of green metal lockers behind her. “Do you never get the lockers cleaned? It’s been ten years, and my old one still has skank scribbled on the door. God bless the poor kid who got assigned that one.”
“Of course we have the lockers cleaned,” Amy spits. “They’re scrubbed down every year.”
I squint. “Hey. You’re right. That’s not my locker. This one says dirty slag. Hey, Luke, isn’t that a hate crime?”
Luke draws himself up to his full height. “Yes,” he says, his voice icy. “It is. You know, Amy, this is very concerning. I think it would be best that I make a report to the council, so they can perform an inspection of the school’s student support procedures.”
Amy is livid. “Luke,” she snaps. “You are blowing this completely out of proportion. For God’s sake, you don’t even work here anymore.”
“I’m still on the student board,” he reminds her peaceably.
She turns her scowl on me. “Did you put him up to this?” She demands. “Why? Because I wouldn’t listen to you when you came whining to me every single lunch break, wasting all of my free time? Because I released those pictures of you whoring around at my wedding?”
Luke stares at her. “Wait. It was you who released the pictures? You said you didn’t know who did it!”
Amy rolls her eyes. “Stop looking at me like that. It was my right.” She jabs a finger at me. “She turned up without an invite, dressed like a goddamn hooker, and went around snogging my guests. It was embarrassing. And you’re so goddamn stupid, I knew you’d never see what kind of a person she was, so yes. I took some shots on my phone. I wanted to give you proof that she was cheating on you.” She throws up her hands. “And you don’t even care! I don’t know what the Hell is wrong with you, Luke, but this little four-way you’ve got going on is disgusting. You used to teach children, for God’s sake. What do you think parents will think when they find out one of our former professors is a damn pervert?”
Her voice rises on the last word, and I see people throughout the room turning to look at us. A couple of my old PE teachers share a knowing look. Luke flushes.
Suddenly, I’m starting to regret my little plan. I thought we’d get in here, show off a bit, and come out again. I didn’t think about how bad it could look on the boys to all be seen with me. Apparently, my reputation as a total slag is infectious. I don’t want that on anyone else. It hurts.
Behind me, Josh’s grip on me tightens.
Luke swallows. When he speaks, his voice is very calm. “This has nothing to do with me or Layla. It’s about the wellbeing of the students.”
“But—”
Luke frowns. “That’s what our main focus as teachers is, right? Because if I’m telling you there’s an issue with child safety, and your first instinct is to sweep it under the rug, we’re going to have an issue.”
“There’s no issue with child safety!” She protests. “She’s making all of this up!”
Luke finally breaks. “FOR GOD’S SAKE, AMY!” He shouts, jabbing a finger at the lockers. “Someone has painted a slur onto a young girl’s locker! Someone is harassing a child. A minor. The proof is there in black and white, and I’m not going to let you ignore it just because you don’t want to handle the goddamn paperwork!”
Everyone else in the room goes silent. In the background, cheerful 90s pop plays through the CD player’s tinny speakers. Zack noisily scoops up a handful of crackers and starts crunching through them like they’re a tub of popcorn.
Amy takes a deep breath. “Perhaps we need to have a word in private, Luke,” she says coldly.
“I agree,” Luke counters, dipping to press a hard kiss to my cheek, and then stalking away to examine the lockers, leaving Amy to scurry after him in her little kitten heels. I watch them go, my eyes huge. What the Hell have I started?
“Nice,” Zack says, holding up a cracker to my lips and feeding it to me. “I love when he gets all righteous.”
“You probably shouldn’t crash the party and then eat all the food,” Josh mutters under his breath.
“Sorry, mate, you want one too?” Zack obligingly shoves a custard cream into Josh’s mouth.
Donny, who’s been watching everything go down with growing dismay, finally steps forward. “I need to speak with you,” he tells me lowly, not meeting my eye.
“Aight,” Zack straightens, dusting cracker crumbs off his hands. “Lead the way.”
Donny scowls. “Not with you,” he spits. “With Layla.”
“I assumed,” Zack counters. “If you think you’re going anywhere alone with my girl, mate, you’re even dumber than you look. She just told us you tried to grab her in a parking lot, for Chrissakes.”
“Yeah,” I say, amused. “And I almost broke his fingers. I don’t need a bodyguard, guys.”
Zack sighs dramatically. “Fine. Yell if you need me, love.” He smacks a kiss on my forehead, then turns back to the food. “These taste like shit,” he mutters to Josh, grabbing another handful of crackers. “Reckon I can eat them all before we have to go?”
Josh ignores him, his fingers clutching at mine like he doesn’t want to let me go. I carefully extricate myself from his grip, stroking his lapel. “I’ll be fine,” I say quietly. He catches my knuckles and dips down to kiss them, then silently lets me leave.
