Kylie & Jack 1: Humble Beginnings

43. Conflict

May

A few days after Kylie had submitted her complaint to the Department about Matt's sexual harassment, she received an email which popped up on her laptop when she was in the middle of a history lesson.

While she was explaining the events of the First Fleet to her class, one of her students pointed to the smartboard (connected to her laptop) and called out that Kylie had an email alert.

Kylie barely glanced over her shoulder at it – but her stomach somersaulted seeing who it was from.

"Never mind that, Lukas. Have you finished drawing up your timeline?"

Lukas shook his head and turned his attention to his workbook again. For the remaining twenty minutes, Kylie's nerves crept up her body and to set off her anxiety in her head.

Quickly dismissing the class to morning tea, Kylie took a deep breath before she sat back down at her desk and opening the email with cautious, trembling fingers.

She pressed her elbow onto the hard wooden surface of the desk, her hand over her mouth in anxious apprehension as her eyes frantically scanned the sender and subject header.

Jolting her heart to a panicked stop was a sudden knock on her classroom door. She swivelled in her seat to see who it was and felt her heart in her mouth, her stomach churning and jaw clench painfully tight.

"Can I have a word?"

"Not when we're alone you can't. Please do not enter this room." Kylie replied, forcefully swallowing her anxiety and masking it once more with anger.

Matt folded his arms, frowning and exhaling through his flared nostrils.

"This little misunderstanding of yours needs to be resolved –"

"– first of all, it is no misunderstanding and secondly, yes it needs to be resolved but I will not discuss it with you without a witness in the room."

"So how are we going to fix this if you won't talk to me?"

Kylie got to her feet, glaring at Matt.

"Believe me, nobody wants this resolved more quickly than me –"

"– then let's talk."

"– I've already said I will not discuss it without a witness –"

"– and who exactly do you imagine that will be? Jimmy Casanova's on playground duty, so there's just you and me –"

"– are – how ... for the last damn time, how hard is it for you to call Jack by his name? And how dare you slander another colleague like that after what you have done!"

"I did nothing wrong – and I thought you didn't want to discuss this without witnesses?"

Kylie scowled at Matt, whipped out her phone from her pocket and rang Jack. When he picked up, he barely said hello and Kylie cut him off.

"We're having a staff meeting this afternoon at half three." Kylie snapped and hung up. She glared at Matt one last time – the worse her anxiety became, the more ferocious she let her temper become, as that primary defence mechanism.

"There, are you happy now?" She snapped at Matt, resuming her seat and slowly, confidently returned her gaze to her open emails.

They both heard the bell ring and Matt was forced back into his office by the miniature stampede of students, Jack edging his way inside right in the thick of the milling crowd of students. Kylie was hunched over her desk and took several deep breaths to try and steady her raging heart.