Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
MORGAN
As they walked inside, Amanda was almost on her shoulder. If Morgan had been a pirate, Amanda would have been a parrot. "He's so hot!"
Joan, at Morgan's other side, rolled her eyes. "Yes, Amanda, he's super-hot, but he's also taken."
Amanda stopped short and grabbed Morgan's arm to stop her too. That's when she leaned across Morgan and poked her finger at Joan. "He never said he was taken. I told him I was single, and he didn't say he was taken."
"But he didn't say he was single, either. Really, Amanda. This is all a lot to talk about before the first bell."
Amanda straightened up and glared at them both. "Who said I wanted to talk to you losers anyway?"
She walked away on her four-inch heels, students parting before her like water before Charlton Heston at the Red Sea.
"Wow." Joan sighed, sounding as relieved as Morgan felt. "Talk about zero to obnoxious in two-point-five seconds."
Leaning into her friend, Morgan whispered, "He's not taken. At least I haven't seen him with a woman. He hasn't gone out on dates either."
Joan listened to her and nodded slowly. "Uh huh."
"So he's not taken."
"Riiiight." Joan smiled at her. "Have you seen the way he looks at you?"
"He looks at me. I look at him," she explained. "It helps to ensure that we don't walk into each other around the apartment. And at the table, it makes for a polite conversation."
"Wow." Joan shook her head. "I'm going to call you Cleo."
Morgan felt something pinch between her brows. "Cleo? The one from those late-night commercials in the Eighties?"
"No, sweetie. Cleopatra. The Queen of DeNial."
Morgan felt Joan's hand on her shoulder.
"That man is totally enamored with you."
"Enamored?" Morgan gave her friend a smile. "Are you sure you're not an English teacher?"
Joan flattened her hand on her chest. "If I had pearls, I would clutch them. No, girl. Enamored! I read my share and then some of Regency Romance. But seriously, I think if you gave the man half a chance, he'd sweep you right off your feet." She stopped short and started again. "He's a firefighter. He'd throw you over his shoulder in that fireman's carry and toss you on the b-"
Morgan put her hand over Joan's mouth. "Stop!" Then she slowly removed her hand and spoke quietly again. "Nothing like that's going to happen. He didn't even remember that I was a girl when my brother called him. He's just a nice guy."
"Just a nice guy?" Joan narrowed her eyes at Morgan. "Oh, wait. So you're not interested in him? That's cool if that's true. You don't have to be attracted to the super-hot guy making you dinner several nights a week."
Morgan was frustrated. Why didn't Joan understand? "I've been interested for years, but I'm not going to tell Palmer that. He's going to think I'm stalking him or something."
"What? Are you?"
"No. Of course not. But we're living together. I don't want him to think that I'm sneaking into his room or something like that."
Joan rolled her eyes. "I think you've thought about this too much, Morgan. Maybe let things... happen if they happen."
Morgan wasn't sure what to say to that, but maybe that's what Joan was trying to tell her. She didn't have to react to it. "I think I'm just so used to defining things in my own head that I don't know when to stop."
Joan gave her a nudge with her shoulder. "I get it, girl. Goodness knows I sabotage things for myself. Usually only the good stuff." She sighed. "My psyche seems to have no problems letting all the junk happen. Look, I'll see you later for lunch?"
Morgan nodded. "Thanks, I'll see you then."
Joan walked out the door and Morgan started toward the door herself.
"Miss Rafferty."
Morgan tried to ignore the immediate pinch of nerves along her spine between her shoulder blades. Ever since she'd met the School Resource Officer, she'd been trying to avoid him at every turn.
Pasting what she hoped was a relaxed and normal smile on her face she turned back around. "Officer Munder. I was just heading to my class."
She looked at the open doorway hoping that he'd understand that she didn't want to stay and talk to him.
The officer was a little taller than Palmer, but the way he walked made him look shorter somehow. Morgan couldn't quite figure it out. "I could walk you if you like."
"Uh..." She definitely didn't 'like,' but she didn't want to get on his bad side, and she had a feeling he wouldn't like her telling him no. "Sure! If it wouldn't be too far out of your way."
He put his hands on his hips and gave her a grin that reminded her of some kind of evil cartoon character. "I'm the School Resource Officer, Miss Rafferty. This whole school is my way."
"Uh, okay. Then I guess we better get started." She moved toward the door, but he didn't step back to let her by until she was just about to walk into him.
He fell into step with her quickly as they walked toward the exit that would lead into the open green area of the campus. "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" She realized how forward that might sound and followed it up quickly. "Sorry, I've got a way of blurting things out and not thinking of how it might sound."
She heard a chuckle from him, but it didn't sound like a laugh.
"Sounds like you're pretty... straight forward then."
Morgan shrugged. "I guess you could look at it like that. My brother says that as a person, I cut through the bullsh-" She winced. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say that."
"I think I understand what your brother's saying. And I respect it. So I'd like to cut through the bullshit with you, too."
Stunned that he'd curse openly at school, she cast a look around them to see if there were any students within earshot. When she saw that there weren't, she nodded at him. "Sounds good."
"I've been working at Shilling now for almost ten years and I want you to know that I don't intend to let anything like the shooting happen again."
"Shooting?" Morgan felt her breath catch in her throat. "There was a shooting here at the school?"
Officer Munder grabbed her arm and brought her to an abrupt stop beside him.
Morgan looked down at his hand on her arm before she looked into his face. "What?"
"You had no idea?"
She felt a little stupid saying it, but she nodded. "I just heard that there was a teaching job open here and it's in my subject focus. I jumped at it. I didn't ask why the teacher had to leave."
He took a half-step closer, his eyes narrowing at her. "I would think that the sister of a law enforcement officer would have a good head on her shoulders, but I guess I'm going to have to see if you're smart enough to follow the rules we've set down to keep another accident from happening."
She found herself staring at him, frustrated at his implication. "Wait, how do you know that my brother is a police officer?"
He straightened a little, his chest puffing up. "I do my homework, Miss Rafferty. And the principal asks me to vet anyone who's coming to work here. I see that your brother has an excellent record with the CCPD. I hope that you've inherited his ability to follow the rules."
She wanted to say a few choice words to the officer, not because he'd looked into her background, but she got the feeling that the man didn't have much respect for her on any level.
Part of that feeling was the painful grip he had on her arm.
"I'm sure I'll be able to follow the rules, Officer Munder. I am a teacher. If you don't mind, I need to get to my class."
He tensed up, his chin tucking in closer to his throat.
She tried to put on a more relaxed expression. "After all, the principal wants us to have our classrooms open ten minutes before eight and it's just a few minutes from now."
He let go of her arm and when he did, she started walking again, a little faster this time than before.
He was managing to keep up with her and not breathe heavily.
"I appreciate that you came to explain things to me, Officer Munder. I want to be a good teacher. I want to help these students better their lives through education, but I don't think you should worry about me. I'll be fine."
The turned the corner around the Social Studies and History building and Morgan smiled when she saw that she had a group of students waiting outside of her classroom. It made it easier to put some distance between her and the officer that way.
"Morning, all!"
A few of the students answered back. "Morning!" "Morning Miss R." "Hey, teach!"
She pushed her key into the look and almost sighed in relief as the lock opened quickly. "Okay, everyone. Let's get inside and-"
"Hey, Benji."
Morgan turned and saw the arm that the officer put out across the student's path. The boy was struggling to look at the officer, one arm held across his chest in a sling.
"Hey, Benji," she smiled at them both, "time to get inside."
The officer leaned in and whispered something to the boy before he dropped his arm and walked away.
The student tried to dash past her and into the classroom.
She'd intended to ask him about the interaction before he went inside but she could see how uncomfortable he was. Morgan decided to wait and pick another moment.
Besides, she was still struggling with her own moment involving Officer Munder.
She entered the classroom and smiled at the rush she felt.
The students were talking and unpacking their bags, a few students had paused midway to their seats to talk to others.
Morgan still couldn't believe that this was her life.
"You've got about sixty seconds to take your seats before the bell rings."
A chorus of comments followed and then a spate of laughter.
Morgan turned around and rolled her eyes happily.
One of the boys who had been notably silent her first few days was walking toward the door with his chair in his hands.
"Tomas?"
He stopped short just a few feet short of the door and gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. "Yes, Miss Rafferty?"
She wanted to smile at him, but she tried to mold her expression into something approaching stern. "What are you doing?"
Tomas turned and looked at the rest of the room.
It made it harder for her to hold back a smile for the answer she knew was coming.
When his gaze fell back on her, he shrugged. "You said we had to take our seats."
A few students laughed softly.
"I was just wondering where you wanted me to take it."
There was a devilish kind of intellect in him. Nice to know.
"Well," she addressed the whole class, "I was wondering what the class thinks."
Morgan stepped in front of her desk and leaned back against the edge. "What are the rules of class?"
She had no doubt that they knew them since the rules had been in place from the beginning of the year and even though this was a freshman class of students, they'd had more than enough time to memorize the rules.
One of the girls raised her hand.
Morgan's memory clicked in with her name. "Maribel?"
She pretty girl proved her own bit of sass with her answer. "Raise your hand and wait to be called on before speaking."
Morgan's soft chuckles prompted the rest of the class to respond in kind.
"Excellent, Maribel. Anyone else?"
"Miss?" She turned, hoping it was Benji, but it was the student just in front of him who'd spoken. "Tanner."
Tanner looked over at Maribel, probably to see if she was looking at him before he spoke. "Everyone has to be in their seats before the bell."
Morgan heard something near the back of the room and before she fully understood what it was, she heard the kids counting.
"Six... Five... Four... Three... Two-"
Tomas put his seat down and flopped into it just before the class called out, "Zero!"
The school bell rang and everyone let out a collective breath and then erupted into laughter.
Morgan touched her pointer finger to her lips and held up her hand high above her head.
One student copied her and then another and another.
Soon, the whole class was doing it except Benji with his arm in a sling.
When Morgan looked at him, he looked away, but she didn't want to call attention to him, so she moved on.
She lowered her hands and nodded. "Thank you."
Moving around to the whiteboard, she took out her black pen and wrote two large headings side by side.
RULES
LAWS
"Okay," she turned back to the class, "give me an example of a rule here at school."
Almost every hand shot up into the air.
"Except..." She swept the room with her gaze, "for the rule about being in your seats at the start of class."
More than half of the hands dropped.
She almost hid her smile. "Okay. Umm... Trina?"
Trina sat up in her chair and lifted her chin before speaking, sending her braids back over her shoulders. "No running in the hallways and around corners."
"Great." Morgan turned back to the board and wrote it out.
NO RUNNING IN HALLS/AROUND CORNERS
"Uh, Miss?"
She turned around, choosing to smile before turning around. "Tomas?"
He lowered his hand. "Aren't we going to go over the reading?"
Morgan nodded. "Later. I'm changing things up."
The class looked around at each other and Morgan saw mostly interested faces around the room.
"And now I need a law." She held up her hand for attention. "Nothing too... dangerous. And you know what I mean."
Benji's hand was up first.
"Benji."
He started to lean forward on his desk, but with the sling on his arm, he couldn't do that. He leaned back and answered her question.
"No selling drugs."
She nodded but paused before she responded. "That's a little broad. Prescriptions can be considered drugs."
"Are you on drugs, Miss?" The question came from Tomas. She needed to get a debate club going and get this kid on the team.
"No, Tomas. I don't have drugs of either sort."
He snapped and sighed. "Oh well."
"Benji?"
Benji nodded. "Don't sell... illegal drugs?"
"Okay." She wrote that on the board and went back to the RULE column. "Who created this rule?"
A number of students looked around at each other as if she had gone a little nuts.
“Okay, someone just blurt it out.”
“The principal?” Trina answered.
“The school administration, yes. Usually the principal signs off on the rules.” She wrote the answer on the board. “What about the law? Who created that?”
A collective groan went up from the class.
“Uh, hello!” She looked at the class with her free hand on her hip. “Remember, this is history and civics. This,” she tapped on the board, “is civics.”
Benji put up his hand again and Morgan barely resisted the urge to do a little dance. “Yes, Benji?”
That odd look crossed over his features before he spoke. “The government. Local or federal.”
She nodded slowly. “Good start. But let’s narrow it down a little more.”
She saw a hand pop up.
“Claire?”
“The legislature. They make laws.”
“Right! Good job Claire and Benji.” She wrote that down and went back to the rules. “Now let’s talk consequences.”
A boy in one of the back chairs lifted his head off his desk. “What’re those?”
“Consequences, Boyd. Something you never have to face 'cuz your daddy's rich.”
That came from a boy in the next row. Morgan would look up his name later.
“Hey,” the class turned back to look at her, “remember- No matter where you go...”
“There you are,” they answered back.
“Give respect...” she continued.
“Get respect,” they answered.
She heard someone clearing their throat at the back of the room. “Sorry, man.”
Boyd shrugged it off.
“Okay.” Morgan brought it back to the exercise. “What are the consequences of this rule?”
A whole bunch of answers came flying at her and she jotted down a couple.
PEOPLE GET HURT
DETENTION
“Anything else?”
“No, Miss.” “That’s it.” "Can't think of anything else.'
She swept the room with her gaze. “Nothing more?”
Heads shook back and forth.
“Why are we only talking about negative consequences?”
The class went silent.
Students looked at each other or down at their desks.
Maribel lifted her hand. “Are there good consequences?”
“Good question, Maribel.” She looked at the class. “What happens when students follow this rule?”
The students sat up in their chairs and some of them even started to smile.
Tomas put his hand up and Morgan felt a little thrill. He was always the first one to crack a joke but so far, he hadn’t participated in any real discussions.
“Tomas?”
“Well,” he leaned forward, his forearms on the desk, “if people didn’t run around in the halls, fewer people would get hurt.”
“Great answer!” Morgan watched it as students all over the room caught on.
Maribel laughed. “All of our lives we’ve been told the rules and what happens if we break them. I don’t think we’ve ever heard about good consequences.”
Morgan grinned at her. “Crazy, huh? Welcome to the awesomeness of civics! Okay, group up. Groups of four. Answer the consequences of the law and talk about what it means to think about good consequences. Five minutes.”
Morgan moved to stand back near her desk. She watched as the class broke up into groups and barely managed not to get a headache as the scratch of their chair legs against the linoleum floor reached her ears.
She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and saw that it was Benji coming over to her desk.
“Hey, Benji. You, okay?”
His shoulders tensed and he lifted his hand up so she could see that he had his pencil in his hand. “Just need the sharpener.”
She moved to the side to give him a bunch of room. “Go ahead.”
She had an ear on the room, listening to make sure that the groups were staying on topic, but part of her attention was on Benji as he bent over the sharpener.
She leaned toward him. “Thanks for your contribution to the discussion today. I’m glad that you spoke up.”
He turned his head slightly and she was able to see an eye through his hair. “Sure.”
She went back to looking at the room as a whole.
It wasn’t until Benji was back in his group, discussing the subject, that she noticed a folded paper by the pencil sharpener.
Licking at her lips nervously, she moved over, keeping her gaze on the class until she could reach down and pick up the piece of paper.
She put it into her pocket to read when she was alone and hoped that she might be one big step closer to figuring out what was going on with Benji.
And it was the instant that the last student left the classroom that she pulled the paper out of her pocket and unfolded it.
I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE
WILL YOU LISTEN?
Oh.
Wow.
She turned the paper over and over hoping that there would be more. He'd asked the question but hadn't given her a way to answer besides talking to him and that seemed like a roadblock right there. If she asked to speak to him, would he actually come to see her?
She knew she had to try. She just wasn't sure what was the best way to reach him and help him feel comfortable enough to confide in her.
But she had made progress.
She had to hold onto that thought if things slid backwards, downhill.
She'd found the footholds to get them to this place so she could do it again.
She'd find a way to help Benji.
She just had to.