Bayview Heights Trilogy (5 page)

She scanned his hair, then gave his clothes
the once-over. “That meticulous haircut and those suits of armor
you wear give you away before you even open your mouth.”

“And then?”

“Then you say things like, ‘Hats in the
classroom?’ ‘Are you qualified to teach Phys. Ed.?’ I gotta tell
you, you’re going to have a tough time these ten weeks.”

“I’m beginning to see that.”

“And my guess is you couldn’t care less about
one lonely teenager.”

Big black eyes with hair to match flashed
before Mitch, almost taking his breath away. She couldn’t be more
wrong. “Now who’s being biased?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you accuse me, based on my
appearance, of having a prejudice against your kids, then you turn
around and stereotype me.”

“You just beg to be stereotyped.”

He arched an eyebrow.

Her face flushed—very appealingly—and it made
him mad that he noticed. “Oh, all right. I guess I’m stereotyping
you.” She stirred her drink, then looked up at him. “These kids are
my hot button.”

“No kidding.” When she just stared at him, he
saw a fleeting vulnerability in her face. It led him to ask,
“Why?”

She cocked her head, probably assessing the
sincerity of his question. Again, it reminded him of one of her
students.

“You might as well know,” she said finally.
“I was just like them when I was in high school.”

“You were in an alternative program?”

Cassie shook her head, sending thick, unruly
strawberry-blond locks over her shoulders. “No, there weren’t any
At-Risk programs at Bayview Heights then.”

“Bayview Heights?”

“I was a student there eighteen years
ago.”

He stared at her, searching for the girl she
would have been. Then he whistled. “You must have been a handful.
Your lucky teachers.”

That brought a smile to her face. “Some of
them are still there.”

He grinned. “Oh, they must love you.”

Cassie laughed, not the girlish laughter he’d
heard in the pool hall, but a sultry, all-woman sound. He shifted
uneasily in his seat.

“We do have some run-ins,” she told him. “But
Taylor’s on the program’s side, so we get what we need despite the
stick-in-the-muds who should have retired years ago.”

“What happened to you?”

Cassie watched him carefully, and he wondered
if she’d tell him the truth. “A teacher helped me see what I
could
be instead of what I was. It changed my whole
life.”

“And now you want to change others.”

“Of course.” She raised her chin again. “It
can be done.”

His heart constricted. “Not always.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you
lose them.”

She opened her mouth to protest, then her
gaze turned thoughtful. “Are you speaking from experience?”

“Only from what I’ve seen on the force,” he
said quickly.

“Well, I’m going to win.”

“Especially with Battaglia.”

“With them all.”

“By betting their attendance on a game of
pool?”

Cassie shook her head. “I might have known
that would stick in your craw.” She studied him for a minute.
“Don’t you ever think with your heart instead of your head?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like in
Wuthering Heights
.
The kids and I discuss acting with your head or your heart.”

“You teach
Wuthering Heights
to
those kids?”

“
You’ve
read
Wuthering
Heights
?”

For a moment, they stared at each other. Then
they laughed simultaneously.

“I guess we’re both guilty of stereotyping,”
he said.

“I guess,” she confirmed. “Anyway, it’s not
healthy to always act with your head. You lose out.”

“Well, Heathcliff wasn’t such a winner. And
he was all heart.”

“No, but Hareton made it.”

“Hareton operated with both his head and his
heart.”

Cassie gazed at him, surprised, and pleased,
by his insight. “You know the book pretty well.”

“I like the classics. And other kinds of
fiction.”

“What kinds?”

“Mysteries. Westerns. Bestsellers.”

“Oh, good, bring one to class tomorrow. We
have SSR for two hours. Sustained Silent Reading.”

“You let them just read in English class?
What about the curriculum?”

At the perennial question about innovative
language arts techniques, Cassie felt her pulse accelerate. It was
a challenge she loved to meet. “What do kids do in typing class,
Captain?”

“Type?”

“In art class?”

“Draw?”

“In technology class?”

“What’s that?”

“Shop,” she answered with a grin.

“Cut boards?”

“So, in English class, we read and
write.”

“Makes sense. I guess.”

Impressed by his surrender—and not pleased by
her reaction to it—she said, “Good, then maybe you’ll learn
something this rotation, too.”

She didn’t like the way his eyes trapped her.
It made her think of the girls’ and Zoe’s comments about him. “Oh,
I believe I will.”

Nervous, she started to rise. “Well, I’ve got
some errands to run,” she said a little breathlessly.

He grabbed her wrist. His hand was big,
strong and powerfully male. She didn’t feel threatened— but his
touch made her weak. “Wait a minute, we still haven’t settled the
issue of the bet.”

Tugging her arm away, she sat down fast.
“There’s nothing to settle. My methods may be unorthodox, and I may
not be everybody’s favorite. But get one thing clear, Captain. I’ll
do anything to keep those kids in school and to help them
succeed.”

“Anything—even accepting me into your
classroom?”

“Anything,” she said, standing. “Even
that.”

THE TEACHERS’ CAFETERIA was crowded during
sixth period, but Cassie and her principal managed to find a table
in the corner to share lunch. Cassie wanted to give him a progress
report on Lansing. She knew Seth was going to keep close tabs on
this phase of the program, partially because his job demanded he
know everything that was going on in the school, and partially
because he knew she wasn’t pleased about hosting the law
enforcement stint.

Absently spreading her bagel with cream
cheese, she watched Seth settle in.

“So, how was the first week?” he asked.

Cassie smiled. “Not as bad as I thought it
would be.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You mean I was
right? If so, I’d like to hear those words come out of your
mouth.”

“It’s too soon for such a sweeping statement.
I only meant that it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

With mock exasperation, Seth said, “I should
have known.” As he bit into one of his two hamburgers, he said, “So
tell me.”

Before she could respond, they were
interrupted. “Seth, a kid is smoking out by the bus to the training
center.” Both of them looked up to find Jerry Bosco staring down at
them. He was in his fifties and so out of shape his face flushed
with any exertion. He jammed his hands into his pockets to deliver
the last blow. “One of yours, Cassie. A ninth-grader.”

She started to rise. Seth stopped her. “I’ll
handle it.”

As he left, she glared at Bosco. Besides
disagreeing with his approach to teaching, Cassie disliked Jerry
Bosco because he’d spearheaded a committee three years ago that had
recommended some school policies that had eventually hurt the kids.
After a trial period, Seth had abolished all but one of the new
rules. “You know, Jerry, Seth does have to eat. You could have
followed procedure and brought the kid to one of the vice
principals. Carolyn Spearman or Alex Ransom could have handled
it.”

“The contract says when we feel threatened,
we’re to find an administrator immediately.”

“Convenient for you, isn’t it, Jerry? You
never have to get your hands dirty.” She glared at him. “Who is
it?”

“Baker.”

“You felt threatened by Baker? He’s a
pipsqueak.”

Before the argument could escalate, Seth was
back. He took his seat and started into his second hamburger.

“What did you do?” Bosco asked.

Seth looked up at him. Outwardly calm, Cassie
could tell he was not happy by the firm set of his jaw. She also
knew Seth had reason to doubt Bosco’s word from some ambiguous
situations in the past. “Nothing. He didn’t have a cigarette by the
time I got out there.”

“I saw it.”

“Then you should have taken him to the office
at the time of the violation and written a referral.”

“He should be suspended.”

“He would have been if you’d followed
procedure.”

With a disgusted look, Bosco turned and
left.

“Talk to Baker, Cassie,” Seth said
sternly.

“I will.”

“Now, tell me about Lansing.”

“Well, he seems as inflexible as Bosco.”

“Tell me some good things.”

Cassie took a bite of her food, choosing her
points carefully. “He’s written with us every day, reluctantly, and
shared a few of his thoughts on the book he brought in to read. But
it’s been like pulling teeth. He offered to help Nikki brainstorm
for her research paper. Then he almost flipped when he found out
they could research any person they wanted and she’d picked
Madonna.”

Seth shook his head. “Who cares what they
research, as long as they get the skills?”

“That’s what Nikki told him.”

Cassie smiled, thinking about the young girl
who had a big crush on Captain Lansing. “You should have seen him,
in his Brooks Brothers suit scrunched in the comer with Nikki in
her black Def Leppard T-shirt and pierced eyebrow. I could almost
see him counting the number of piercings. Her mouth really got to
him.”

“Her mouth? She has her mouth pierced?”

“Well, more precisely, her tongue.”

“Oh, Lord.”

“And then today, when he saw me in this—” she
plucked at her red T-shirt with Bayview Heights emblazoned on the
back “—he couldn’t believe the teachers and students wear them
every Friday.”

The principal shook his head. “Not my idea of
appropriate dress, either,” he said, glancing down his chest at the
red shirt peeking out from under his suit.

“Yes, but you gave your approval.”

“After the faculty advisory board voted ten
to two to buy them and wear them for school morale.”

“You were pretty good about going along with
us. Too bad the ten or so teachers who disagreed aren’t as gracious
about wearing them. Like Bosco.”

“You’ll never win ‘em all, Cass.”

“Maybe.”

Seth chuckled. “I think…”

“Phone call, Seth.” The message came from the
other side of the room.

“Don’t take it,” Cassie said. “You have to
eat.”

Giving her an I-have-no-choice look, he rose
and made his way to the phone.

As she watched him abandon his meal for a
second time, she wondered why anyone would want to be a principal.
She’d much rather be in the trenches.

Cassie pulled a book out of her bag and
nibbled on her bagel. She thought again of Lansing. He’d brought in
a novel the day after the pool hall incident. As usual, Cassie
covered the room to check on what each student was reading. They
were sprawled on the couches, lying on the floor, sitting on tables
propped up against the wall. Lansing had looked horrified, but he’d
said nothing, taken a seat at a desk and opened
Wuthering
Heights
. She’d smiled when she saw it, and he’d looked up at
her with challenge. Cassie had noticed for the first time how
thickly lashed his eyes were. They were deep green that day, and
intense. Then he’d smiled, and her pulse speeded up. Uncomfortable
with her decidedly feminine reaction, she’d turned away.

She had herself under control by the time
they shared their reading. Lansing hadn’t volunteered to discuss
his book, but Johnny had pointedly asked what he was reading and
why. Lansing had held Johnny’s gaze steadily....

“
Wuthering Heights
. I read it when I
was your age, but people see books differently years later.”

“We read it,” Johnny said defensively.

“Yeah? What did you think of Heathcliff?”

“I thought he was a jerk. He should have
ditched Catherine when she married the other guy and found a new
squeeze.” Johnny angled his chin. “What did you think?”

Mitch said, “I agree. She wasn’t worth all
his suffering....”

“Sorry,” Seth said as he came back to a
now-cold lunch. “That was Hal Stonehouse. I asked to be notified
right away if any of the kids were in trouble. Did you hear what
happened with Youngblood last night?”

Cassie shook her head.

“The captain found him about midnight curled
up in a warehouse sound asleep.”

“What did Lansing do?”

“Took him out for breakfast.”

“
What?
”

“Apparently, he took the boy out for
breakfast, then brought him back to the group home. Mitch insisted
the proprietors punish Youngblood for breaking curfew, but the kid
was pretty amenable after his talk with Lansing.”

Cassie’s mouth dropped. “No one said anything
today.” She was torn between pleasure at Lansing’s response to a
very troubled boy and annoyance that he didn’t tell her about
this.

“Looks like this thing is working, Cass.
Getting to know the cops, seeing them as adults who can help,
rather than the enemy.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“When does Lansing get to do his part in the
program?”

“Next week. He teaches his first lesson on
Friday.”

“What’s he starting with?”

“Violence prevention.”

“I was thinking of asking him to do a
presentation for all staff on how to break up a fight.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Cass, it’s helping. I can feel it. This
could really be an asset for Bayview Heights.”

“Yeah. Okay. You’re probably right. I’m
reserving judgment, though.”