Page 29 of Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl
I glance down to find that the stains are drying, which I think might be making them worse. “You’ve no idea.”
“You could always cancel your class,” Martin offers. “You get at least one bad-vibes-free pass*every semester. And no offense, but you’re really giving bad vibes right now.”
“None taken.” I squeeze past the desk to my mailbox. “And I’d hate to use my free pass so early in the semester, so I think I’ll just power through.”
“Well, it was good to finally meet you,” Anton says. “And, um, sorry you had to see—”
I hold a hand up. “Don’t sweat it. I’ll let you two get back to business, but maybe drape a sock on the doorknob next time.”
Martin snorts as I close the door.
“She’s funny,” Anton says.
It’s a coping mechanism, I nearly call back to him.
As I spin away from the door, I run directly into Dr. Salaza—I mean, Miranda.
“Maddie!” she says. “Are you okay?”
I motion down to my destroyed outfit. “Nothing a trip to the dry cleaner can’t fix.” And thank god it’s free.
Her smile is tinged with slight pity. “I just wanted to say I really enjoyed your class I sat in the other day.”
I force myself to stand up straight, because all I want to do is shrink back at the mention. The class wasfine. Except that the tech in the room wasn’t working and I had to lecture without the assistance of my slides, which are really pretty and a little bit funny. They give me something to hide behind when I’m feeling a little unsure of myself or like I have no business acting as an authority figure to a class full of people who are close enough in age to be my peers.
“Did you get a chance to send in that IT request for the lecture hall?”
“Yes,” I tell her. “They say I should be all set now.”
She nods to herself. “Good, good. Maddie, it’s not my place at all, but I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing beyond teaching. We haven’t really talked much about your personal life prior to Astra, but... I know what—or rather who—you left behind in California.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I wasn’t looking to dig up your past or anything, but I remember you saying you’d worked on campaigns and did some charity work in your interview, so I was curious and... well.”
I nod, a sigh blowing my hair back from my face. “I wasn’t really the image that the Wade family was going for.”
She rolls her eyes. “Would it make you feel any better if I told you that Gentry’s father got so drunk at the correspondence dinner in DC one year that he pissed his pants and then blamed it on a waiter, saying a glass of water had been spilled on his crotch?”
A quiet laugh slips past my lips. “It actually does help quite a bit. Poor waiter.”
“Yeah, people like the Wades are always looking for a fall guy... or girl. Either way, I’m sorry for whatever happened, but for what it’s worth, you don’t strike me as the type to be a politician’s arm candy.”
I give her a tired smile. “Yeah, the general consensus was that I didn’t really have the looks to be anyone’s arm candy.”
She rolls her eyes and mutters something under her breath. “You’re not hearing me, Maddie. You know, I read up on how you completely salvaged part of the Wade Foundation after the embezzlement scandal and managed to save face for the family. I can’t help but wonder if you’re less politician’s wife material and more politician material.”
I don’t really know what to say. Thank you? Pretend that I’ve never even considered the idea? Because I have. Plenty.
But I’ve never had the money or connections Gentry has. And if people had a problem with a state assemblymember standing next to a fat woman, I can’t imagine they’d be all that thrilled to vote for one.
I’m honored that Miranda would even think such a thing, however. Not because I don’t think I could do the job, but because someone else sees it too. It’s nice. It’s validating. Even if it’s never going to happen.
THIS PARTICULAR SECTIONof Intro to Government is very heavy with Greek life students and athletes. Even though it’s probably not fair to judge any of my students, it’s very hard not to slip into old fat-kid trauma where I am in natural opposition with this exact demographic.
Being unshowered and covered in coffee stains is not helping the situation.
The class is already full, which means I have an audience as I walk to my podium. A group of carefully unmade up girls in very chic athleisure watch my every step as they whisper back and forth.
