The Betrayal

By Katie Fitzgerald

Jon ducked into Mrs. Winslow’s English class just before the bell. The red paint had been scrubbed from the door, leaving behind just a few stubborn smudges. Jon willed himself not to look, but he couldn’t avoid a glance or two. It wasn’t every day that a guy committed the perfect crime.

He wished he could have seen Mrs. Winslow’s face when she discovered his message. He imagined her cheeks burning bright pink, a surreptitious glance over her shoulder to make sure none of her colleagues could see. Her betrayal of the Benjamin Franklin Middle School baseball team was the kind of thing Jon hoped she would find humiliating. Did she seriously think a few low quiz grades were enough to remove the star pitcher from the team? Spelling, grammar, and reading comprehension wouldn’t even matter in the major leagues. He was sure they had people for that.

Jon took his usual seat at the very back of the center row, nodding to a few of his buddies as he slid into the chair. When Mrs. Winslow began to speak at the front of the room, he lost himself in the memory of that morning’s activities. First there was the shake of the spray can, then the beginning stroke of red, followed by the letters of the initial word: YOUR. Next came the shift further down the door where he emblazoned an enormous letter A. What a beauty. Was there a hint of the A left behind? He swore he saw its faint outline even from this distance.

Jon’s thoughts were interrupted when the girl in front of him turned and tossed a paper on his desk. Another quiz? Oh, wait, this was a graded paper. Yesterday’s spelling test. Well, he may as well look and see how she’d gotten him this time.

Eyes wandering down the list, he skipped past some correctly spelled words and zeroed in on number four. Next to what Jon had written, Mrs. Winslow’s green pen had scrawled the correct spelling: TRAITOR. Jon inhaled sharply. Through his mind’s eye flashed one more image: the moment when he’d stood back to admire his magnificent handiwork: YOUR A TRADER. Oh no.

Mrs. Winslow’s plodding footsteps made their way toward the back of the room, and Jon looked up just in time to see the yellow detention slip land on the corner of his desk.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katie Fitzgerald is a former children’s librarian turned stay-at-home homeschooling mom of four daughters and one son. She is an avid listener of audiobooks, a blogger about vintage children’s literature and the reading life, and co-curator with her academic librarian husband of the ever-growing library in their suburban Maryland home. Flash fiction has been a great way for her to get back into fiction writing after a 20-year hiatus.

---

More Stories | Author Website | Instagram | Twitter