Chapter Twenty-Eight: Bearing My Soul:

Now I wonder why I kept this all to myself? I’m guessing it’s because everything happened so fast. Mom wasn’t exactly the person I needed to talk to. She’d try and convince me to stay. I don’t exactly want to do that.

“What exactly do you want?” Mrs. Washburn asked. I sat back and shook my head.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” I said. “My former students aren’t helping either. They keep sending me news updates.”

“News updates?” she asked. I showed her my phone. Mrs. Washburn read over my screen. She gave off a low whistle.

“Wow,” she said.

“Yeah,” I said. “It keeps getting worse too.” I shoved my phone back into my pocket.

“Did you…?” Mrs. Washburn began to ask.

“No!” I said.

“Of course not,” she said. “But still…”

“What?” I asked with an eyebrow raised. She narrowed her eyes at me.

“Why exactly did your principal fire you?” she asked. I frowned as I tried to think.

“I don’t know,” I said. “He didn’t really tell me.”

“That’s illegal,” she said. “You should sue.” I froze. That hadn’t crossed my mind.

“You think so?” I asked.

“If he didn’t give you a reason to fire you, then yes,” Mrs. Washburn said. I didn’t know what to think.

“What about my apartment?” I asked. She shrugged at me.

“Not much you can do right now,” she said. “Have you been following the news about that case?”

“No…” I said. I pulled out my phone and pulled up Google. With one quick search, I got my answers.

“They still haven’t found him,” I said. “But some of the former tenants are filing a lawsuit.”

“Are you going to join?” she asked.

“I haven’t thought about that either,” I said. I sat back weighing my options.

“You have to take something back from all of this,” Mrs. Washburn said. “If you can’t your job or apartment back, you could get some sort of compensation.” What she was saying made sense.

“Yeah,” I said. “You’re right!” I rose to my feet.

“I’m going to join that lawsuit!” I shouted. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Mrs. Washburn said. Spoony poked his head inside.

“Oh, there you are,” he said. I gave him a strange look.

“What is it?” I asked. Spoony pressed his palms together.

“Uh… There’s some lady here to see you,” he said to me. “She said that she’s a lawyer for the representing the tenants from Lust Grove Apartments.” Mrs. Washburn turned to me. My jaw tightened. This all seemed a little too convenient. How did she find? Who was she?

“Did she say what here name was?” I asked.

“Mrs. Weiwei, I think,” Spoony said. That was all I needed to hear. I moved from the desk and bolted out the door.

“Nate?” Spoony asked. I didn’t hear a word he said. I was already out in the main part of the library.