PART 3
"Bargaining"
As the guidance counsellor, it's my job to help the students whenever they come to see me. Oddly enough I didn't get any visitors today. I've never had an easier day before. All I had to was finish grading the family studies test and I'd be home free. I had four more left. I was about to start the first of them when my phone rang.
"Hello! Ms. Kenner's office." I said.
"Oh, good, you're still at school." said a young man.
"Not for very much longer. Who is this?" I asked, realizing that I didn't actually know.
"It's Mars. Mars McDonald." said the voice.
"Ah, the school paper editor," I said "What can I do for you?"
"It's kind of awkward to say over the phone," said Mars, sounding very embarrassed, "Why don't I tell you in person?"
"You mean tomorrow? Is that why you called? To schedule an appointment?" I asked, confused.
"No, I mean now." said Mars. Just then, the line went dead and I heard three sharp knocks on my door. Bewildered, I scrambled up to my feet and opened the door."Hello, Ms. Kenner," said Mars, he held up his cell, indicating how he had just been talking me, "I was hoping we could have our meeting now."
"Um, Mars, I'd rather not. I'm really tired and I just want to finish grading my papers and go home." I said, urging him back into the hallway.
But Mars wouldn't move. Instead, he pulled a laptop out of his bag and opened it. Then, while resting it on the crook of his arm he used to touchpad to select something I couldn't see. "I'd like you to see something." said Mars, ominously.
Even though I knew Mars was smart enough not to attack a teacher, he still looked truly psychotic at the moment. He glared at me and then handed the laptop to me. "Why don't we sit down?" I asked, my voice cracking.
"Fine." said Mars, closing the door and sitting down at the table across from me.
I pressed play, and a video popped up. It looked like surveillance footage. But then I noticed that it was pornography. Or at least, I thought it was. Now, personally, I was turned on by it, but, being a teacher, I had to pretend otherwise.
"What is wrong with you!? Why would you even think of showing me this?"
"That's not porn, that's footage from the surveillance cameras I put in Mr. Hartford's office," said Mars, "Look at the faces of the two people."
I stared hard at the paused movie. The video quality might not be very good, but there was no denying that the two people were Monica Dawson and Mr. Hartford. "It looks like... Monica Dawson and Mr. Hartford," I said, trying to sound shocked, "Why are you showing me this?"
"Just wait, it gets better," said Mars, "Press the "Next" button."
I did as he said. Once the video loaded, it felt like my jaw had dropped. I was looking at another surveillance video from Mr. Hartford's class, only this one needed no explanation. It was me and Mr. Hartford having sex.
"Look familiar?" said Mars.
"All too familiar." I said.
"Now that you've seen that, I can get to my point," said Mars, "Since I'm in charge of the school's tech group, the principal asked me to test out a new set of security cameras."
"Yeah, I heard about that," I said, "She told all the teachers not to worry if we happened to see any cameras."
"So, I chose a couple of classrooms at random and set the cameras up," said Mars, almost as though he was ignoring me, "It was a simple job, and I always jump at an opportunity to use cameras."
"Okay. So?" I asked, not really sure what his point was.
"Then, a week later, I gathered up all the cameras and went to show the footage to the principal," said Mars, looking livid, "When she saw this she got furious, for the same reason you did."
"Well, why didn't you just get rid of that footage before you showed it to her?" I asked, trying to gain the higher ground.
"I couldn't have even if I wanted to," said Mars, "The SD cards in the camera are password protected. If I broke through the password, then it would leave a trail of evidence. Besides, how should I have known that there would be anything like this in the footage?"
"Okay, I see your point," I said, "So what happened?"
"She suspended me for a week for being in possession of pornography," said Mars, "Now, I'm ahead in all my classes, so I won't be missing anything. The problem I have with the suspension is that it goes on my permanent record."
"Which had until now been flawless." I said, finally catching on.
