Chapter 13 Brooke
brOOKE
It’s ten minutes past four, and all but one student is back in the communal room. I sit at a table with my clipboard as each student checks in the gear they used for the day. Once I’ve checked the box, it goes to the left, and Joel takes it away and loads it into the mini-bus.
The only student who isn’t back on time in Justin. He finally comes through the door at fifteen minutes past.
“Sorry miss.” He heaves his camera box onto the desk. “I found two of the workers fishing in the river as I was packing up. They’re catching their dinner for tonight. It’s good footage. I didn’t think you’d mind me being a few minutes late.”
He gives me a charming smile, which I’m sure makes the girls melt but has no effect on me. “I understand wanting to get the shot, Justin, but I was about to send out a search party. You’re still part of this class, and the rules still apply.”
“Sorry,” he mumbles.
He drops his equipment on the floor, and I drop the subject. At least he’s back now, and we can head back to camp.
I check his gear off, and Joel is ready to load it into the bus.
“Thank you,” I murmur.
I get the feeling Joel’s been avoiding me. We’ve barely spoken all day, which makes it worse. All I can think about is the near kiss and how good he looks when he’s dripping with rain or plastered with sweat or laughing with his daughter. Hell, the man looks great whatever he does.
When I think about being alone with him in the cabin tonight, I go hot all over. I don’t trust myself to be alone with Joel. I don’t trust myself not to tangle my hands in his hair and draw him to me.
“Ready to go?” I’m snapped back to reality by Joel looking down at me, his dark eyes searching mine.
The students are filing out of the hall and into the mini-bus. Some of the residents have come to wave us off.
I climb into the mini-bus, and Joel settles into the driver’s seat. He turns the key and the engine splutters. The bus shakes but doesn’t start. Joel tries again, but the engine doesn’t turn over.
I lean forward in my seat. “Everything okay?”
He shakes his head and tries the engine again. “It’s not starting.”
He slides out of the seat, and I follow him out to the courtyard. He goes around the back and pulls a lever to expose the engine.
It looks like a mess of parts to me, but Joel scans it as if he knows what he’s looking for. He runs his hands over some parts and pops out a spark plug.
“Thought so.” He holds it up, and it’s worn out, the metal tinged a rusty red.
“Probably got damaged with the rain and it’s taken this long for it to wear out.”
I nod as if I understand what he’s talking about. One of the men from the farm has come over, and Joel turns to him.
“You got any spare spark plugs for a large size vehicle?”
The man shakes his head. “We don’t keep anything like that here.”
“What’s going on, miss?” Justin pokes his head out from the door of the bus, and behind him Madison looks out, wide-eyed and anxious.
I share a look with Joel, and his expression is grim. I take that to mean this isn’t getting fixed anytime soon. He slides his phone out of his pocket and walks away to make a call.
“We need to locate a part.” I keep my voice steady, but Madison’s eyes go wide.
If I don’t handle this well, she’s going to start freaking out, and panic sweeps through teenagers faster than a forest fire.
I put on a bright smile and head towards the bus. “Everyone back in.”
I follow them up the steps and explain the situation as calmly as I can.
“We have some engine trouble, but we’re going to fix it as soon as we can.”
Madison bites her nails, and I need to keep them busy and distracted until we can figure out how to either fix the bus or get twelve teenagers back to camp.
“In the meantime, you can wait inside. I want you in groups of three taking turns telling each other about your best interview today.”
The kids file out of the bus and back into the dining room. I follow them to make sure they’re in groups and doing as I asked.
My gaze keeps straying outside to Joel talking on the phone and with the residents. Finally, he heads my way, and I meet him at the door.
“How’s it looking?”
He glances behind me at the students and indicates for me to follow. We head out of earshot. “I called Bruce at the camp and he’s called around their to local garages looking for the part. Local out here means the closet one to have what we need is twenty miles away.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“And they’ve closed for the day. Bruce will drive out there first thing in the morning.”
“So the bus won’t be fixed today?”
He shakes his head. “I’m afraid not.”
I put my hands on my hips and huff out a long breath. The important thing is the students and how we’re going to get them all back to camp. “Are there vehicles here to get the kids back?”
He purses his lips. “They’ve got an old Ford and that tractor.” He indicates a shabby red tractor with rust on its chassis. It’s not making it down the mountain.
I do the calculations in my head. “So if we do several trips in the car, half hour there and half hour back, four kids at a time, we’ll all be back by 9pm.”
“And then there’s the gear.”
The kids will miss dinner, and they’ve got a full day of filming again tomorrow.
“There’s another option.”
I cock my head. “They’ve got a private helicopter?”
He gives me a ghost of a smile. “Afraid not.” From his pocket, he pulls a map of the area.
“You always carry a map?”
“I like to know the terrain I’m working in, and it’s useful in situations like this.”
He spreads the map on the hood of the tractor and points to the area where we are.
“There’s a path that leads directly from here to the camp. The locals take it all the time. It’s an hour’s hike through easy terrain. It might be muddy due to the rain, but Dave took it yesterday and said there’s no major damage from the storm.”
“How about the gear?”
“We can load the car with the gear and there should be room for one, maybe two students if they can’t do the hike. Dave has offered to drive. It gets the gear home and the students home, all before dark.”
I glance around at the late afternoon sun, the students watching us from the hall, and the bus with the engine exposed. I’ve learned to adapt and to be resilient, but do my students have the same mindset? There’s only one way to find out.
“Let’s do it.”
He grins at me and folds up the map. “Nothing like a walk in the woods at the end of the day.”
Twenty minutes later, the gear is loaded into the car. There’s a space in the front seat, but none of the students choose to take it. Even Madison seems excited about our impromptu hike.
“Can we stop to film as we go?” asks Justin.
The students seem excited, and I want to make this work for them, to show them that when you adapt to your situation, something good can come out of it. But I don’t want the hike to take longer than necessary. We need to be back before dark.
“We’ll take one camera,” I concede, “and you can use your phones. We can afford a couple of short stops.”
Justin retrieves a camera from the car, and we set off along the path, Joel leading the way and me bringing up the rear. As I watch the students head down the path, following Joel and talking excitedly, I begin to relax. Sometimes, when the unexpected happens, it turns into an opportunity.