Beouf positively cackled at that while she opened the door to my room. “Mind if I cut through?”
I shook my head. “Not at all.”
Tracy was on the phone at my desk. “Okay,” she sounded relieved. “He’s back. Yes, Ms. Grange, he’s back and smiling. I’m guessing everything went perfectly. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I’ll let you get back to class. Good-bye.” She hung up the phone. Now she was smiling at me in the same way that Beouf had been. Not quite insulting, but not entirely approving, either.
It was Beouf who spoke first. “Happy Birthday, Mr. Gibson.”
“Whaaat?!” I did my best not to laugh. “My birthday was almost a month ago.”
Tracy went back to serving breakfast to our students. “But getting away with this nonsense is your present, Boss.”
I made a show of turning my nose up. “I have no idea what either of you are talking about.”