Epilogue
Callie
Four Months Later…
I squint one eye as a particularly loud shout penetrates the wall behind me. My students are working on a vocabulary word search puzzle in groups, so I’m not mad about the noise coming from Royal’s classroom. In fact, I don’t really get mad about it, anymore. Not often, anyway.
We took our relationship public to the staff a couple of months ago, and somehow, the kids in both our classes caught wind of it. I was scared they’d be confused or have negative feelings about our pairing, but honestly, they’ve all seemed pretty happy with the development. Especially since I’ve stopped getting angry and quarreling with Mr. Manning on a daily basis.
The shouts next door grow louder, and when I look back toward my class, every student is staring at me with excited eyes and wide smiles.
Johnny Parsons raises his hand, and when I nod at him, he asks, “Is it time, Miss Barnes?”
I grin back at him and nod. “I think it is, Johnny. Everyone, take your positions.”
Chairs slide against the carpet as they all jump out of their seats and line up in the front of the room. I hold up a finger, and a few quiet giggles echo through the otherwise silent classroom. The sound of applause and cheers rings out from Royal’s room, then silence descends. I wait a few more seconds to make sure they’re done with whatever game they were playing, and when I’m certain they are, I smile at my students and close my upraised hand into a fist.
I mouth the words, “one, two, three” as I hold up the corresponding digits, the kids take deep breaths, and then they let out the loudest, ear-piercing screams they can muster. The sound hangs for three seconds, and I close my fist again to cut them off. They turn and scramble back to their seats before pulling out their reading books and pretending to be absorbed by their assignment.
I barely sit, myself, before the door flies open, and Royal rushes in, his chest heaving as he inspects every corner of the room, no doubt looking for a fire, or something. When he realizes the students are all silently reading, he looks over at me with wide eyes.
I’m barely able to keep a straight face as I ask, “Can I help you, Mr. Manning?”
“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” he asks despite seeing for himself that everyone is fine.
The fight to suppress my smile is real .
“What do you mean? Why are you interrupting my class?”
He shakes his head. “I heard screaming.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, wrinkling my brow.
“Callie…I mean Miss Barnes. I’m not crazy. I heard screams coming from this room, and all my students heard it, too.”
I shake my head. “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Someone in the back of the class giggles, setting off a couple of other kids. Royal narrows his eyes at me before looking at my class, all of them obviously fighting not to laugh. Looking back at me, Royal props his hands on his hips.
“What’s happening right now?”
I lose the battle against my smile, and I glance at my students and nod.
“Now you know how it feels, Mr. Manning!” they all shout in unison.
They jump out of their seats as I start a song on my phone, and they all perform the chicken dance I taught them last week. I laugh as I watch them, and when I look back at Royal to see his reaction, I find him staring at me with a warm smile.
“God, I love you,” he mouths, and my heart leaps into my throat.
We haven’t said those three little words to each other before. And him, saying it for the first time, right now?
Perfection .
Before I can respond or even attempt to say it back, he shoots me a wink and slips out of my classroom, closing the door behind him. I rub a palm against my chest as a tear drips down my cheek.
Wiping the tear away with a soft chuckle, I stand and move around my desk so I can celebrate with the kids. Flapping my arms in time with the music, I bask in their joyfulness.
Royal helped me accomplish this. He brought joy, not just to my classroom, but to my life, as a whole. He put a sparkle in my eyes and a bounce in my step. He’s shown me over and over how much he cares about me, and now he’s said the words.
God, I love him so damn much. Who knew he’d go from being the bane of my existence, a total menace, to a person I couldn’t imagine my life without? The next time I see him, I’m going to tell him.
And I’ll keep telling him forever, because I know that’s how long we’ll be together.
Forever .
Thank you for reading A Royal Menace! If you have a moment, I’d really appreciate it if you’d leave a review !