Because that’s how he operated. He was talking about himself. He did whatever it took to succeed—to earn his top rankings, his bonuses, his awards, and raises, and all the things that blinded him to what should be most important…his students. Their mental and physical education. Their emotional nourishment, and everything Ms. Howard strived to be.

Not him.

Never Tanner.

I stared up at him, wondering for the first time ever if he’d always been this bitter, solely-focused-on-himself person, or if he had once dreamed of being a principal. Of being in charge of so many young minds throughout the decades. Had the power corrupted him? Or had he been corrupted and sought the power himself?

“I’ll check on you in a few hours,” he said, turning toward his door. “And don’t worry,” he continued. “I’ll personally let Ms. Henderson know that Code Club is done.”

I ground my teeth as he shut the door behind him.

It didn’t matter—if he’d ever been good or not.

He wasn’t now, and his abuse of power had gone on for far too long.

Question of the Day

ManofSteel4419 asks: “Last year, one of my older brother’s friends took things too far at a party. We were both drunk and she advanced. I was shocked, tried to tell her I was… Fuck me, this is hard. Tried to tell her I was a virgin and had a girlfriend (she was away on a family trip the night of the party). She forced herself on me. I tried to stop it, I did…but the alcohol didn’t help and she overpowered me.

The next morning, she acted as if I asked for it. Wanted it. That she’d done me a favor by “making me a man.”

Anyway, that’s not the point. My girlfriend and I…things are going great. But I still haven’t told her. And she’s brought up the idea of taking things further in our relationship. I’m worried if I tell her about what happened, she’ll either think I wanted to be with the college chick and I cheated on her, or that she’ll see me as weak because I couldn’t stop it. Is it better to pretend it never happened?”

I know people say “I know how you feel” all the time and sometimes don’t truly mean it, but I do. I understand the concern, better than I like to admit. And it makes me sick to my stomach that you think the events that occurred weren’t “the point.”

It is the point.