I Resigned From My Steady Job

For ten years, Ms. Cruz has taught at Ridgeway High, pouring herself into her students and getting them into Harrowgate and Kingsbridge. When a Master Teacher promotion is promised to whichever class improves most on the third SAT practice test, she expects it to be hers. Yet the day results are posted, the school hands the promotion to Monica Rae, a newer teacher, and lists Monica as the teacher in charge of Class One while Ms. Cruz's name sits beside Class Seven.

Ms. Cruz slaps her resignation onto the desk of Dom Platt, Director of Academic Affairs, who insists the class switch is only temporary and urges her to think of her duty and the coming SAT. Behind her back, Monica and Dora Gelber, the vice principal's assistant, mock her, certain she cannot afford to quit because her mother is ill and the bills keep coming.

Then a call from Kelly Brett of Cresthaven Academy offers her a salary beyond anything Ridgeway High ever paid, and Ms. Cruz must decide whether to walk away for good.