The Jinxed Jackpot

Ben - First day shits

That’s what she was nervous about? I could hear the desperation for answers in her voice, and hell, that made me feel bad.

“They can call me Ben. Just tell them I'm a school security guard,” I said. “Problem solved.”

She twisted her lips and squinted at me in an assessing way, then crossed her little arms over her olive-colored dress. “How about Benny? It’s more approachable.”

“No.” I cut her a dry look. “I’m approachable as I am.”

“Yeah, okay,” she snorted.“Just like I am charmed.”

I leaned back in my chair and assessed her. “ You’re semi-charmed. I am fully approachable.”

“You?” Amusement flashed on her pretty face. “Mr. big muscles and scowly face who only wears black? Yes, you’re real approachable.” She bit her lip nervously. “You’ll be fine with the high schoolers, but you’ll have to smile a little for the young ones or you’ll scare them, okay?”

“I’m not scowly,” I said, then realized I was in fact scowling. “And I don’t scare children.”

“Keep tellin’ yourself that, scowly boy,” she said with a light laugh, patting my shoulder as she passed by. It was such a light, innocent touch, but my body practically burned up. She needed to stop touching me, but not because I didn't like her touch. It was the complete opposite. I liked it too much. I wanted to grab her hand back and pull her into me.

I ran a hand down my face to settle the fuck down. “Okay, fine, I’ll smile more. Anything else?”

She sighed as she stood by her classroom door. “They’re definitely going to wonder why you’re only in my room.”

I didn’t have an answer for that one either. “We’ll figure it out as we go.”

She nodded, but I could practically see her body tense as the first warning bell rang.

“Hey.”

She turned to me with wide green eyes. And the sight of her seeking reassurance from me momentarily took my breath away. She looked beautiful today– I mean, she was always beautiful. But her green dress made her eyes even more vibrant, and the way her silky hair hung straight down to her elbows had me wanting to shove my hands up into it. My body practically itched to do it. To stride to her, gently tug her hair back so her chin tilted up, expositing that beautiful neck of hers that I’d mark as my own.

Fuck. I needed to stop thinking about her like this.

I cleared my throat. “You got this.”

“Yeah.” She nodded and a tentative smile slid on her face as she swallowed. “Yeah, thanks.”

Feeling way too glad that I was the one who could lend her a little confidence, I gave a tight nod and pushed up off the desk to take my place in the back of the room. She propped the door open and stood waiting with a bright smile on her face.

Now that kids were coming, I was happy to blend into the background and become a silent shadow while she shined.

The first class, AP art, consisted of only four girls– Taylor, Abby, Laurel, and Fiona, who sat close to the front of the room, and two boys– Hunter and Johnny, who sat further back, closer to me and the windows.

Together, it looked like they made up the breakfast club. Taylor had a cheer uniform on and wore her hair in braids, Abby sat next to her in a sundress, cardigan, and Doc Marten boots, Laurel carried an instrument case– probably a flute from the looks of it– and pushed her glasses up every two seconds, and Fiona wore all black, had half her dyed black hair buzzed off, and sported a nose ring.

Hunter looked more like a skater boy with his mop of slightly curly dirty-blond hair and the skinny jeans and hoodie he wore on his wiry frame.

Johnny, sitting next to him, had a buzz cut and athletic build. His hoodie told me he was on the football team here at school.

I suspected Johnny was not supposed to be here.

When Maggie, “Ms. Quinn” to the kids, went over the class roster, she asked if she missed anyone. The girls all giggled– even Fiona cracked a grin– as Johnny’s hand shot straight up and he introduced himself.

The kid next to him, Hunter, had his head down to cover up his own laughing.

Maggie studied her class roster, eyebrows furrowed.

I cleared my throat, making the two guys look back at me. Taking in my unimpressed face, they quickly shut up.

“She already called security on me? She psychic or some shit?” Johnny whispered, which made Hunter cover his eyes and laugh more.

“So, because I’m new and have no contact with the previous art teacher, I’m using this first assignment to make sure you all have the art chops to make it in AP,” Maggie said, arching an eyebrow in Johnny’s direction.

Johnny’s mouth dropped slightly open.

I snorted.

Maggie directed her arched eyebrow to me.

Got it, shutting up now .

“I’ll make it easy for you. I want you all to use whatever medium you’re most comfortable with and create a project that encompasses how your summer felt. You have the whole hour to do so. I want to see everyone’s preferred techniques.”

“Medium? Techniques?” Johnny whispered in a panicked voice to Hunter. “What happened to syllabus day?”

“It was going to be a syllabus day, but we’ll have time for that,” Maggie continued. “Let’s use these first few days to get to know each other a little better, sound good?”

They all nodded. Johnny visibly gulped.

“Okay, use this hour. Go ahead,” she said, clapping her hands.

“No rules?” Fiona asked skeptically.

“No. Not for the first project. I want to see where you all are at,” Maggie responded with a pleasant smile.

As the kids got to work, Maggie wandered around to each kid and struck up conversation. She clearly wanted to get to know each one of them and what kind of projects they were interested in working on this semester. The attention she gave each kid, the way she listened contently to them, it made me like her even more. Hell, it made me kind of love her. I knew better than anyone that sometimes school was the only place a kid was actually given any attention.

When she made her way to the boys in the back, I shifted a little closer, sensing she might need backup.

“Cool shoes,” Maggie said to Hunter. He had on vans that were painted with dark blue and black swirls along with planets and stars. To the kid’s credit, they were pretty cool looking.

“Thanks, I’ll make you a pair for fifty bucks,” Hunter said eagerly, pulling his head up from his project– also a sketch of stars and planets– to look at her through his bushy hair.

“Might take you up on that one day,” she said smoothly. “Outerspace is your thing?”

He licked his lips and nodded. “I mostly stick with acrylic paint. It’d be cool if…” his voice trailed off.

She leaned back against the desk across from him. “It’d be cool if…” she coaxed.

“Uh…” His eyes darted to the cabinets. “If I could uh… use some here.”

Maggie nodded. “And you…” She tapped on Johnny’s desk.

He looked up enough that Maggie was able to pull his canvas away.

“Hmm… I like what you did here,” Maggie said, clearly struggling to keep a straight face. “It’s coming along super well, isn’t it?” Maggie asked, turning the canvas to me.

I almost choked on my sip of water.

The kid had drawn two stick figures with a football between them. It looked like a second grader’s drawing.

“Hey, that’s offensive. You’re laughing at my hard work!” Johnny yelled at me.

The girls all giggled at his outburst. I’d feel bad if it weren’t for the shit-eating grin on Johnny’s face.

“You’re not supposed to be here, are you?” Maggie asked, pulling his attention back to her.

He hung his head. “Sorry Ms. Quinn. But I haven’t seen ol’ Hunty here all summer! We needed to catch up!” He pulled Hunter into a headlock and ruffled his hair. Hunter tried to push back, but Johnny was clearly the stronger of the two. “My best buddy dipped on me all summer, even skipped out on summer lacrosse, then turns up skinnier than ever. What happened to ya man?”

Hunter’s face turned red and he muttered quiet words at his friend.

I watched as Maggie filed away the information, her forehead slightly pinched.

“I guess I gotta go, bud. Catch up at lunch?” Johnny asked Hunter. His face turned serious when he said, “You better not dip before we can talk.”

“You can stay,” Maggie said quickly.

Both boys snapped their necks up and gaped at her, clearly shocked.

“Really?” Hunter asked.

“Just for today,” Maggie said, arching a stern eyebrow at Johnny. “Got it?”

“Got it, ma’am.” He crossed his heart. “Scouts honor.”

As soon as she wandered away, both kids looked at each other with wide eyes and bright faces. Maggie was probably completely unaware that she made their day.

“You can relax, man,” Johnny said, clapping his friend on the back, “That old bird of an art teacher that hated you is gone and this one seems nice. You might even have a teacher like you this year! The shock, bud!”

“You gotta learn to shut up, man,” Hunter said with a snort, but he was clearly struggling not to grin. “ Scouts honor, ” he mimicked his friend. “Such a kiss up.”

“Hey, I’ll kiss up to her any day,” Johnny said, looking back at Maggie and wagging his eyebrows.

That’s where I drew the line. I cleared my throat loudly and shot them an unimpressed glare, which made them both button up quickly.

“You seeing this, Cap?” Coleson’s jovial voice filled my ear. I decided on wearing the security airpod whenever Maggie and I went out from now on, just in case. I wasn’t taking any chances with her case. With her.

“What’s that?” I turned to whisper.

He laughed. “It looks like us way back in the day. They’re just missing a Conor. Guess history has a way of repeating itself, eh?”

The corner of my mouth tipped up. I guess that was kind of true.

Hunter sucked in his bottom lip and went back to focusing on his project while Johnny quietly chatted away about summer shenanigans and girls in his ear.

Maggie repeated that same lesson plan for the next three hours, but with each passing hour, the class size got a little bigger, the kids got a little younger, and their art skills became a little more lacking.

Maggie maintained her peppy attitude each time, but I could tell she was stricter with the larger classes and her energy was waning as we moved closer to lunch.

Whenever she said something about herself, the kids hung on her every word, enjoying listening to her and wanting to learn about her.

It wasn’t until third hour that a boy asked, “Who’s he?”

“He’s a school security guard,” Maggie replied smoothly.

The punk cocked his head to the side as he looked up at me skeptically. “What’s his name?”

Before I could say anything, Maggie said, “Benny,” with a sassy smile aimed in my direction. “Everyone say hi to Benny.”

A wave of greetings hit me and I felt awkward with all their eyes on me.

“It’s Ben,” I said gruffly.

A group of freshmen girls giggled at my correction, making me shift uncomfortably. Maggie laughed at my noticeable discomfort, to which I just shook my head at her.

_________

“So what’s your workout routine?”

“Yeah, do you do MMA? You look like you do MMA. Doesn’t he look like an MMA guy?”

“Do you play sports? You look like you could be a pro athlete.”

“No, literally! He’s better looking than Jimmy G!”

“Who’s Jimmy G?”

“Only the hottest quarterback, duh.”

“Nooo, that’s Joey B!”

“Guys, why don’t we give Benny a breather. Don’t you all have to get to your next class?” Maggie asked, shuffling the gaggle of girls away from me– thank God.

I ran a hand down my face. This last class of hers was beyond chatty and completely exhausted me. I had no clue how Maggie was still standing. I was just thankful we had a little break for lunch before the younger kids came in here.

As soon as the girls were gone, she let out a sigh and her shoulders drooped.

“Tired?” I asked.

She gave me a you know it look as she shuffled around to gather up materials kids left out on the desks. I pushed off my ass to help her out.

It was nice to finally have a little bit of peace and quiet between us. I felt calm for the first time since her classes began. I wasn’t an extrovert by any means, and the over-the-top socialness of this job was starting to tap me out. I needed time away from people to decompress.

The surprising thing to me was that Maggie suddenly didn’t count as “people”– she didn’t socially drain me. I didn’t feel the need to escape her to have peace. I actually felt more peaceful in her presence.

“I think some of the freshmen girls are developing a little crush on you,” she said with a little smirk.

“God, please no,” I groaned. She laughed, and I loved the musical lit to it.

A second later, we both reached for the same pencil and she bumped into me.

My hands went to her waist to steady her.

She didn’t make a move to leave my hands, and I didn’t make a move to take them away.

Something shook into place while I watched her teach today. And the urge to hold her, to have her, was becoming almost insurmountable.

She craned her neck to look up at me, giving me that sweet upside down smile of hers. She looked beautiful, tired, content. It’d be so easy, so natural, for me to slide my hand up to the back of her neck, for her to lean against me. For me to hold her closer.

I licked my lips. “At least they like me, unlike you,” I teased, but my voice came out a little strained.

She mock-gasped and her hand flitted to my chest. My eyes immediately darted to the point of contact. “I never said I didn't like you, Benny.”

She went to slip her hand away, but all logic flew out of my brain, because I reached up and held it still.

Her eyes widened a fraction as they dropped down to my chest.

“You didn’t have to say it, you pretty much made it clear.” I smirked.

She leaned her head to the side. “Well, if it’s any consolation, when you’re a silent shadow, you are rather nice to look at.”

“Right back atcha, Jinx.”

Her green eyes jumped to mine, like she was startled by what I said. My hand slid up to the side of her neck, almost on its own accord. I brushed her hair back with my other hand.

We were inches apart now. My heart pounded so hard in my chest, I could’ve sworn she could hear it.

She was staring at me, reading me, shocked by me. And then her hand on my chest balled my shirt and tugged me closer.

“Ms. Quinn!” voices shouted from the doorway.

She let out a little shriek and jumped away from me, almost toppling over. I grabbed her waist to steady her again, but this time, she swatted my hand away and it was like taking a knife to the chest.

What the fuck was I thinking?

“What the fuck were you thinking, Cap?” Coleson’s staticky voice broke through my airpod.

I shot a glare to the security camera.

“You were going to kiss her in the middle of her workday at her workplace? That was a horrible idea,” he said with a deep chuckle. “You’ve lost your touch.”

I whispered, “Delete–”

“Security footage. I know. Already on it,” came Coleson’s reply.

“Hi kids,” Maggie gave the kids a robotic, almost manic-looking smile.

Jesus, I raked a hand through my hair, she was so bad at covering up her emotions.

“Sorry, were we interrupting something?” Johnny wagged his eyebrows at me.

“Oh, no!” Maggie laughed and clasped her hands together nervously. Her cheeks turned bright red. “Definitely not.”

The absolution in her voice made the knife in my chest twist a little.

“What is it you needed, guys?” she asked.

Johnny gave me a knowing smirk.

The little fucker.

“Hi Ms. Quinn,” Taylor from first hour said with a bright smile. “We were just wondering if you’d participate in the Homecoming Games during lunch in a couple weeks?”

“Your muscle can join too if he wants,” Johnny tossed out with a grin. “Just know that us seniors are about to take the teachers down during tug-of-war this year.”

Maggie looked back at me, clearly excited. “Want to?”

No, I did not. But I knew I couldn’t crush her excitement.

“Sure, why not,” I heard myself saying, even though “Homecoming Games” were the last thing I wanted to do. I wasn’t ever one to participate in “school spirit.”

Coleson’s knowing laughter filled my ear. “I fuckin’ love this, Cap.”

________

I struggled to get my head back after the almost-kiss. I knew I had no business getting that close to her, but that didn’t stop me from stupidly thinking of how to get a re-do as I watched her teach younger kids about primary colors and secondary colors.

Before the next bell, which signaled the last class of the day, Maggie gestured me over to her.

I dipped down so she could whisper in my ear, “I just got an email saying we have a fire drill next hour, the kids aren’t supposed to know.”

The feeling of her hot breath on my skin made my body go a little haywire, but I forced myself to nod. “Thanks for the heads up.”

The last group of kids were little. Really little. Like kindergarten little.

Right off the bat, I could tell the kids loved her.

“You look like a fairy princess,” a cherub looking girl with blonde ringlets told her. “Doesn't she look like a fairy princess, Archie?” She elbowed a boy with bushy blonde hair wearing a striped shirt who’d been following her around like a shadow. The boy, Archie, nodded shyly.

“Well, thank you,” Maggie said with a light blush and smile. “But I think you are the true fairy princess.”

“Really?” the little girl squealed, beaming up at Maggie like she just made her whole day. “Did you hear that, Archie?” she said with a giggle to the little boy.

The boy nodded shyly again.

Watching Maggie teach and treat each kid with kindness made her even more breathtaking in my eyes.

God, maybe that little girl was right, she kind of was a fairy princess– with her big green eyes, and smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and all that long black hair.

I rubbed my face, what the hell was I thinking? I needed to get my head back in the operation. I needed–

An alarm blared achingly loud and bright lights flashed in the hallway and in the corner of the classroom.

Several kids jumped, others screamed. The little one named Archie immediately burst into tears, and the fairy princess girl grabbed his hand to comfort him.

“Alright kids,” Maggie said over the alarm. “Let’s calmly line up! Single file, you can do it.” She ushered them along like a mother hen. I helped as much as I could, but she handled the kids just fine on her own.

“Can you watch the back of the line?” Maggie whispered to me.

I gave her a firm nod and made my way to the back where little Archie and his fairy princess stood, still holding hands.

The only problem was that as we exited and headed out to the grassy playground, it started to smell, and I mean really smell. I scrunched my nose against the God-awful stench and searched the grass around us for dog shit.

Archie suddenly cried harder, and the fairy girl wrapped her little arms around him, almost like she was trying to protect him.

I stepped closer to the two of them and realized one of them was definitely the source of the smell.

“Oh God,” I backed up and fanned the air in front of my nose.

Maggie noticed and hurried over. She calmly bent down to speak with the two children.

Fairy girl scrunched her nose up and leaned toward Maggie to whisper, “He pooped.”

I immediately backed up. Human feces was way out of my comfort zone.

Fairy girl caught my grossed-out look and her face turned furious. “It was an accident! He swears!” she yelled at me, defending her buddy who was still tucked under her arm.

“He knows,” Maggie said in a calming tone. She turned to me with wide eyes. “Right, Mr. Benny, you know it was an accident and you don’t care at all, right?”

I schooled my face into the calmest smile I could muster up. “Yupp. Accidents happen all the time, buddy.”

He sniffled loudly. Fairy girl shot me another dirty look. Jeez. I definitely got on this girl’s bad side.

“Can you take him to the office?” Maggie asked me.

Me? I looked at her like she must’ve lost her brain. I wasn’t cut out for this.

Archie whispered something in the little girl’s ear, then she piped up with, “He has an extra pair of pants in his desk.”

“Can you take him back to his home classroom? C-114?” Maggie asked with a hopeful look on her face. You can do it , she mouthed. Please?

I dragged a hand down my face. “Yeah,” I heard myself saying, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. Jesus, this kid smelled terrible.

“Thank you so much,” Maggie gushed, lightly touching my forearm before whirling away to attend to the other still crying children. I stared at my arm, still feeling her feather-light touch.

I was in deep with this girl.

Because I knew right then that I’d do anything she asked of me.

I probably knew it the first time she thanked me after helping her tie that bag around her cast. Her gratitude hit me so intensely that it freaked me out– to the point that I bolted away from her with a rude remark.

But we were past that now. I wasn’t bolting anymore. I couldn’t. I was completely wound up because of this girl.

Ushering Archie to follow me, I strode across the lawn to ask the school secretary about heading back into the building.

I was absolutely floored with shock when Archie reached up to hold my hand like it was a lifeline for him. Honestly, it kind of cracked my cold heart. The fire drill clearly scared this kid out of his mind, and now that I was mostly nose-blind to his smell, I felt bad for the little guy.

_______

Archie and I were just entering the dark school when we heard someone bounding down the main staircase up ahead.

I shoved Archie behind me and craned my neck to see who was there. I knew it was probably just a high schooler causing trouble, but a little part of me was worried it could be someone attached to the organization, someone hell-bent on hurting Maggie.

A second later, a boy wearing dark skinny jeans, a hoodie, and custom vans with bushy hair and a backpack slung over his shoulder came into view.

Hunter’s eyes widened at the sight of me and he started heading back up the stairs.

But then Archie poked his head out from behind my legs and Hunter’s whole body jolted.

Taking in the view of us, Hunter’s arctic eyes narrowed. On me. “What the fuck are you doing with him?” he shouted down the hall.

What am I doing? What was this kid doing still in the school?

Hunter barreled down the hallway toward me, his eyes flamed, his body locked and loaded, ready for a fight.

“I’m just taking him back to his room,” I started to say, but Hunter wasn’t listening. He was in pure fight mode– coiled up and looking feral– I knew from my own damn experience that nothing was about to stop him.

Jesus… What was my role here? I was in his school and I was an adult. I couldn’t exactly restrain the kid, could I?

Shit. My jaw tightened. I had to let him hit me first. I guess I was going to take a punch from a 17-year-old punk today.

A second later, his fist slammed into my jaw, hard, making my neck snap back.

“Not bad,” I spat, rubbing my jaw. “You get it out of your system?” I asked dryly.

My words seemed to frustrate him more. “Eat shit.” He swung again, but this time I dropped Archie’s hand and whirled around to grab him into a hold.

“You good, Cap?” Coleson’s static-filled voice erupted in my airpod.

“All good,” I grunted as Hunter struggled to get free. “Calm. Down.” I pulled my hold tighter. I didn’t want to pull to the point of making him pass out, but he wasn’t relenting. “And don’t tell me to eat shit, reserve that for someone who deserves it.”

“What were you doing with my brother?” He reared his head back, attempting to headbutt me, but I easily dodged the blow.

Brother.

That made a hell of a lot more sense. My gaze went to Archie, who was now looking at us with tears in his eyes, slowly backing up until his back hit the lockers behind him.

“Stop. You’re scaring your brother,” I growled at Hunter.

“Let go of him!” Archie shouted at me, but he looked too scared to get any closer to us.

“I was only taking him to his desk so he could get new pants because the fire drill literally scared the shit out of him,” I hissed in Hunter’s ear.

Archie now had tears streaming down his face. Not wanting to scar the kid on his first day of school, I shoved Hunter away from me.

Hunter’s blue eyes raked over his little brother. Taking in that he was okay and no harm was done, the fight seemed to slowly leave him.

“I’m sorry, Hunt.” Archie wiped at his face with the backs of his hands. “It was an accident,” he whispered.

Hunter was standing down now, but his body was shaking with leftover adrenaline.

And that’s when the events of the last few minutes really sunk in for him.

Hunter slowly turned back to me and his hands went to his head. “Fuck!” He pulled at the front of his hair and his eyes widened in pure panic. “I’m gonna get expelled.”

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting him to say, but definitely not that.

He pressed his palms to his eyes. “I hit a fucking teacher.” His voice cracked.

I rubbed my jaw. He did get me with a solid right hook. “Not a teacher,” I grunted out. “And you only got me because I let you.”

His whole body was a trembling mess as he started pacing in front of me like a cornered animal. “I’m gonna get kicked out. This is gonna get me killed. I can’t–” He shook his head, clearly unraveling as panic took over.

A red flag shot up in my head at the killed comment. I wanted to pry, but I knew this kid was guarded. No way would he disclose too much. I had to go about this the right way. And the right way meant letting him spiral for a minute so he could feel the full regret of hitting someone.

His breathing went ragged, like he was edging on a panic attack.

“Hey, calm it down. You’re not gonna get kicked out,” I finally told him. “And no one’s going to kill you.”

“You don’t get it.” His eyes darted around the empty hallway. “I’m gonna… I’m gonna…”

“Take a breath,” I barked.

Archie wandered over to grab his brother’s arm, but Hunter violently jerked away. A second later, deep regret swam in his eyes as he took in the hurt and confusion etched on his little brother’s face.

My chest tightened to the point of pain. I understood that feeling. I knew that feeling.

Hunter’s hands went to his head again as he resumed the pacing. “You’re gonna report me, and I’m gonna get kicked out, and–”

“I’m not gonna report you,” I said calmly. “We had a misunderstanding.” I cracked my neck. “We handled it.”

That finally made him stop pacing and look up at me. His bright blue eyes held a mixture of remorse and wary hesitation. “You’re not?”

“How about I make a deal with you instead?”

“A deal,” he repeated. His shoulders slumped. He rubbed his face and exhaled a long breath. “Should’ve expected that,” he mumbled to himself. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I want you to remember this feeling.”

He eyed me skeptically.

“Remember this regret you’re feeling right now. Remember the consequences that you’re about to face for hitting someone feel so heavy and daunting that you wanna break down and cry. Because you can’t do that again, Hunter. The next person you hit might not be as forgiving. And if you pulled that shit with a real teacher, if you pulled that shit with Ms. Quinn,” I gave him a hard look, “then we’d be having a hell of a different–”

“I’d never hit a girl,” he shot back, looking equal parts disgusted and defensive.

“Good.” I paused. “So, are you going to remember this feeling?”

Worry lined his features and he tugged at his hair again. “Yeah. You’re really not gonna report me?”

“No.”

He was so quiet I barely heard him when he asked, “Are you gonna tell Ms. Quinn?”

My heart kinda cracked in my chest for the kid. His best friend’s words from earlier echoed in my mind– that he might actually have a teacher like him for once. He wanted Maggie’s approval. I knew what that was like… Looking for attention and praise from school because you didn’t get it anywhere else.

“No, I won’t tell her.”

Still hanging his head, he gave a little nod.

“C’mon, walk with us.” I gestured for Archie to start walking again.

Hunter stayed completely still in the hallway.

“Walk,” I ordered over my shoulder. “Or I’ll ask you what you were doing in the school during a fire drill.”

He bit out a curse under his breath.

I reached for Archie’s shoulder and started moving forward with him. A couple seconds later, Hunter finally fell in step with us.

Archie grabbed his older brother’s hand and we walked in silence for a few minutes.

“How’s your first day, bud?” Hunter quietly asked his brother.

“Good. Emma’s in my class,” his little raspy voice responded.

“That’s real good, bud.”

“Yeah. She’s my bestest friend in the whole world. Besides you. She’s really pretty. Like the sun. And she’s so nice.”

“Not nice to me,” I chirped under my breath.

Hunter snorted a laugh at my expense. “I guess she is, buddy,” he said to his brother.

“Hey, Hunt,” Archie whispered.

“Yeah, bud?”

“Thanks for the extra pants.”

Damn. These two were warming my cold heart. I suddenly wanted to know more about them, to help them. Because there was clearly something off here. The fact that Hunter disappeared on his best friend all summer, then his mental spiral in the hallway where he actually seemed scared out of his mind, and the way he seemed to be his little brother’s sole protector… It made me wonder what kind of home life they had.

I vowed right then to keep a close eye on these brothers. Because I saw myself in Hunter. And that wasn’t a good thing.

Hunter reached down to ruffle his brother’s hair. “No problem, little man. Have a good rest of your first day, okay?”

Archie nodded his head.

As soon as the little guy’s classroom came into sight, he took off in a run to retrieve his new pants.

Hunter made a move to dip down another hallway, but not before I grabbed him by the back of his hoodie.

“Sticking up for your brother is admirable,” I told him, “But if you’re gonna go around swinging that fist, you better start asking questions first.”

He swallowed hard before giving me a wary nod.