Page 31 of Troublemaker: The Big Picture Edition

That was why I had to leave the club all of a sudden that night. On that night that we aren’t talking about. When we didn’t meet for the first time or dance together or kiss. When you didn’t run off and I didn’t follow you to the ladies’ room. Ryder’s mom had been calling me because she just found out she got a job on tour. So I had togo get him. She can be a little manic when she’s excited about a dance gig. I just didn’t want him to be around that all by himself.

Otherwise, I would have stayed. I would have made sure you found your friend. I would have asked you to go somewhere else with me. I would have kept kissing you for as long as I could have.

But, as you said, we move on.

And as I said, I’ll see you in a few weeks.

Best,

Mr. Vega

TO: ALEX VEGA

FROM: EMILIA STILES

Subject: Yeah, that would have helped

I mean—if you had mentioned Ryder’s mother leaving like that. Not the part about you kissing me more. You mentioning that does not help. At all.

You don’t have to apologize for omitting that information, though. I’m sorry if I’ve overreacted. I hope that Ryder does change his behavior in class now that we’ve spoken about it.

But I mean, youarea director. Isn’t it your job to direct people? Can’t you direct your son to be less disruptive at school?

Just wondering,

E

TO: EMILIA STILES

FROM: ALEX VEGA

Subject: So much for moving on…

For someone who claims to want to put things behind herself, you seem to be more interested in moving forward with the conversation rather than moving on. If you would prefer to continue this conversation over gelato, Ryder’s offer still stands.

But to answer your question—people usually think it’s a director’s job to be manipulative. To tell everyone what to do. It’s not. It’s my job to tell a story. It’s my job to answer a hundred questions a day while letting other people do the job that they were hired to do. It’s my job to make decisions. The big picture. That’s my job. It’s my job to know what the big picture is and to remember it. All the time.

That is also my job as a father.

The big picture is that my son became the most important person in my life as soon as I found out about him.

The story I want to tell my son is that he is amazing, and that people are good, and the worldis a safe and wondrous place. And that I’m here to listen to the things he needs to say, whenever he needs to say them. Within reason.

I understand that he needs to learn to control himself.Don’t we all?But some of us grown-ups are still honing those skills. Maybe we should cut the seven-year-olds a little slack.

How do you like teaching at Silver Lake, anyway?

TO: ALEX VEGA

FROM: EMILIA STILES

Do you really want to know how I like teaching at Silver Lake, or are you just being polite?

TO: EMILIA STILES

FROM: ALEX VEGA

I think you should know by now that I’m not all that polite.