“You’re right about that,” Celeste said.
“I see it all the time,” Simone added.
“Ladies, please.” Leslie held up her hands and spoke as calmly as possible in an attempt to stave off the bevy of complaints being hurled at lightening speed. She waited until the other three ladies seated around the table quieted before continuing. “Everyone feels passionately about this subject, but if we all continue to talk over each other, we’ll never get this figured out.”
“What’s there to figure out?” This from Celeste. “We all can see what’s going on here. Mr. Franklin has decided that he knows what’s best for our children. Barely a child himself,” she finished with an aggravated huff.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Simone pointed her mug at Celeste. “He can’t be more than twenty-five. What makes him think he knows better than the rest of us?”
“I heard that he taught for a few years in New Orleans before coming to Gauthier,” Leslie said. “He has to be older than twenty-five.”
“Fine, twenty-six, then,” Simone retorted after taking a sip of tea.
“I don’t care how old he is or how cute he is,” Janice said. “What I care about is the Lock-In. I’ve personally worked my butt off to make it a success, and I don’t appreciate someone who just moved here thinking he can come in and change the way we’ve been doing things for years. We need to figure out how to handle this problem.”
“First, we need to make sure there actually is a problem,” Leslie reminded them. “It’s all hearsay at this point.”
Although, if the news Celeste had shared turned out to be true, they definitely had a problem on their hands. Actually, GEMS’s interim assistant principal was the one with the problem. Threatening the PTO’s major fund-raiser was the equivalent of swinging a bat at a nest of angry hornets.
“Well, someone needs to approach Mr. Franklin so that we can get to the bottom of this.” Janice pointed to Leslie. “I think you should do it.”
“Me?” Leslie yelped. “Why me?”
“Because you’re the PTO president. It’s your job.”
Great.
Leslie wouldn’t say she’d been railroaded into the PTO president position, but she had not been the most willing candidate. She’d caved under the mountain of guilt at having missed so many volunteer days last year. She’d accepted the position because, for the most part, being the PTO president at Gauthier Elementary and Middle School was an easy job.
Until Gabriel Franklin had decided to rile up every parent in the entire school.
Leslie splayed her fingers over her forehead and massaged her temples.
“So, when are you going to meet with him?” Simone asked.
“Yeah, Leslie, when?” Janice piped in. “It needs to be soon, before he decides to change something else.”
“Exactly!” Celeste pounded on the table for emphasis. “You need to tell Mr. Franklin how we do things around here.”
There was a light rapping on the wall before Leslie’s sister-in-law, Shayla, peeked around the divider that had been added to the rear section of The Jazzy Bean to create the illusion of a separate meeting room.
“Excuse me, ladies,” Shayla said softly. “I hate to intrude, but do you mind keeping it down? A few of the college kids are studying. It’s midterms.”
“We’re sorry,” Leslie said. “Please apologize to them. We promise not to get too loud again.”
Shayla sent her an understanding smile before going back into the main part of the coffee shop.
“Look,” Leslie said. “Before I approach Mr. Franklin I will need all the facts surrounding the supposed cancellation of the Lock-In. Nothing official has been sent home with the students.”
“But Ardina said she heard Mr. Franklin and Mr. Williams talking about it in his office.”
“We can’t rely on Ardina’s word alone,” Leslie said.
“Why not?” Celeste asked. “Ardina knows everything that goes on at that school. Nothing gets past her.”
“I think Leslie is right,” Janice said. “The PTO shouldn’t approach Mr. Franklin with this until there’s some type of official announcement.”
Finally, someone talking some sense!
Janice turned to her. “But you can still approach him off the record. Tomorrow night is Parent/Teacher Conference night. You need to take Mr. Franklin aside and find out exactly what he’s up to.”
“That’s a good idea,” Simone said.
“Yes, do it,” Celeste added.
“Wait, wait, wait.” Leslie’s hands went up again. “Didn’t we just agree that we shouldn’t do anything until we’re sure he’s made an attempt to cancel the Lock-In?”
“You know how these people operate,” Janice said. “He and Mr. Williams are probably scheming behind the scenes this very second, coming up with a bunch of reasons to cancel it. They’re going to just throw it on us at the last minute without giving us a chance to make our case.”
“I can’t believe Mr. Williams would go along with this,” Celeste said. “He knows how much the money we make from the Lock-In helps with the activities the PTO puts on throughout the year.”
“I don’t want to sound disrespectful or anything,” Simone said. “But Mr. Williams is getting up there in age. Who knows what kind of fast talk Gabriel Franklin is using on him?” She turned to Leslie. “You need to take care of this.”
“Why do I have to be the one who approaches Mr. Franklin if it isn’t in an official PTO capacity?” Leslie asked. “Any one of you can do it.”
“Because you’re better at this than we are,” Simone said.
If that isn’t the biggest load of bull.
“And you have to meet with him anyway since Cassidy is in his class,” Janice said.
“So is Willow,” Leslie pointed out, speaking of Janice’s daughter, who was also one of Cassidy’s best friends.
“Yeah, but she’s struggling in science. Our conversation will be uncomfortable enough as it is.”
“Come on. You can do this, Leslie,” Celeste encouraged. “We need the lowdown on his motives.”
“Yeah, who knows what he’s trying to do. He may be—”
Leslie put up a hand, cutting off Simone before she could voice whatever nefarious plot had popped into her head. “I think we’ve had enough speculation for one night,” she said. If they weren’t careful, by tomorrow there would be a rumor that Gabriel Franklin was trying to dismantle the entire PTO.
“I’ll talk to him.” Leslie finally capitulated.
“While you’re at it, ask him about these drills he’s set up for the fourth-grade class, too,” Janice said. “The kids have enough homework.”
“That’s to help them prepare for the state test,” Leslie said. “You can’t fault him for wanting the kids to be extra prepared.”
Shayla peered around the dividing wall again.
“We were just wrapping up,” Leslie told her before she had the chance to speak. “No need to throw us out.”
“I wasn’t going to throw you all out,” Shayla said with