Chapter 4 Avery
Monday August 25, 11:25 AM
Avery stared down the hall as Gabe headed back toward Mr. Spencer’s room. She told herself she was merely delaying going back into her classroom, not gawking at him like he was a hero. Or a gentleman in a regency novel—like Mr. Darcy later on in Pride and Prejudice .
Her shoes were still laying on the floor across the hall. She groaned, wishing Gabe hadn't witnessed her tantrum. She picked up her shoes.
Okay, so Gabe had been kind of a hero, which infuriated her. How could he waltz in and immediately know what to do with an entire classroom of teenagers? Like he was born to do this. And Avery was definitely not.
As Gabe reached room 101 and grabbed the doorknob, he turned back, meeting her eyes which shouldn’t have been trained on him. She panicked and rushed into her classroom.
The students glanced at her, then a look passed between them. A boy in the back said, “One, two, three…”
“Sorry, Miss Williams,” the class said in unison.
She smiled. It was a nice gesture at least. They sounded sincere, but her annoyance toward Gabe was still strong. “Apology accepted.”
One girl raised her hand. “Is Mr. Manwaring, you know, like, your boyfriend?”
Avery blurted out a hard laugh. “Uh, no. I only met him today. He’s my co-worker. He was helping out.”
He was doing what any available teacher would do. Right? Except it was more than her former boyfriend would have done for her. And Gabe didn’t make her feel bad for any of it.
“You should go out with him,” one of the boys said. “He likes you.”
“Oooooh! Yes! Go out with him!”
Heat traveled up Avery’s neck and her face flushed. “Hush, all of you. I don’t need you to set me up.” And she didn’t need to be distracted by some guy at work.
Thankfully, the students behaved for the rest of the class, and by the time they all left and the bell for fourth period rang, she had settled in her seat at the teacher’s desk. Now it was her turn for prep period. She pulled her phone out of her purse and responded to a missed text from Claire.
CLAIRE: How’s it going? You run away screaming yet?
AVERY: Still here. Barely.
CLAIRE: Meet any cute janitors yet?
AVERY: Ha! No. But I’ll keep my eye out.
She started typing another text, talking about a “hot sub down the hall” but she deleted it. It would only make Claire bother her about him incessantly. Avery was not going down that road. She was still processing her failed relationship with Marshall. Being Marshall’s sister and all, Claire had been way too invested in their relationship.
Huh. Avery wondered if she had initially followed Marshall to Flagstaff at Claire’s promptings, but she shook the thought away. Her best friend wouldn’t encourage Avery in the wrong direction, even if it was because Claire wanted to matchmake her own brother and best friend.
Avery wandered around the classroom, inspecting everything more closely. The books on the shelves were in disarray. She organized them by title and straightened them up. Some of the posters needed more tape or push pins. After searching the teacher’s desk, she couldn’t find either.
“Well, that won’t do.” Avery walked to the front office to ask for more supplies.
On her way, she passed by room 101. Don’t look in. Don’t look in.
She looked in. She couldn’t help it. Without turning her head, Avery peered through the door window where Gabe was doing his thing. Whatever he was saying, the students were totally engaged and laughing.
She shook her head. Okay, she was seriously jealous of him. Her stomach hardened. Not only was he good at subbing, but he made it look easy. Did anything bother him?
Office Lady greeted her as she approached. She smiled. “You’re not leaving already, are you?”
Avery smiled in return. “No, nothing like that.” She noticed the name plate off to the side. “So, Doreen, right? Thanks for sending, uh, someone to help with the class. I totally lost control of the students.”
“Mr. Manwaring saved the day, eh?” Doreen smiled.
Avery gave her a suspicious side-eye. Had Doreen specifically sent Gabe as a way of getting them together? “Uh, yeah. I guess. Anyway, Mrs. Strong is out of tape and push pins. Do you have any extra I could have?”
Doreen loaded her up with supplies and she headed back to the classroom. Without thinking, her gaze again veered into room 101. Gabe was right by the door this time. When he saw her, he flashed her a grin and waved.
Avery tripped in the hallway and almost dropped the supplies. Dumb wedges.
She spent the rest of prep period pinning and taping things until the room was better than she had originally found it. The bell rang and she realized it was time for lunch.
Where did teachers go for lunch? She assumed there was a teacher’s lounge, but she wasn’t sure where. She sat at the teacher’s desk and rubbed her sore feet. Of course, she could phone the front office. She shook her head. Honestly, the solitude was a welcome break. The classroom was a nice place to be when there were no students.
“Where’s my lunch?” Avery looked around. She had packed one, that was for sure. Dang it, you didn’t pick it up off the counter. Duh, Avery. She winced. Somehow, she had to break herself of the habit of chiding herself with Marshall’s catch phrase.
She didn’t have time to leave the building and grab lunch anywhere, and she wasn’t even sure if it was okay to leave campus. Should she try to eat in the cafeteria with the students? No way. Not today.
Curiosity and her rumbling stomach got the better of her. She opened all the drawers of the teacher’s desk: paper clips, lotion, random pieces of paper, a phone charger. Oh! A few granola bars. But they looked old and probably not worth chewing.
A knock came at the door and Avery hurriedly put her shoes back on and rushed over. It wasn’t Gabe, was it? Her heart skipped a beat.
“Hi. I’m Mrs. Hillard from next door. I thought you might want to know, there’s free food in the teacher’s lounge today.”
“Oh, you are a lifesaver. Where is the lounge?” she asked.
“Come with me, I’m heading there myself.” Mrs. Hillard walked quickly, probably like all teachers who didn’t have time for anything. She was probably in her fifties, with a long comfy dress and sneakers. Avery made a mental note to only wear sensible shoes to school from now on.
“So, what do you teach?” Avery asked.
“World History. Well, I try to, anyway.” Mrs. Hillard smiled. “What’s your name, dear?”
“Miss Williams.” Avery pointed to Mrs. Hillard’s shoes. “I’m going to follow your example and wear better shoes next time.”
“Oh, so you’re coming back? That’s great!”
She smiled. “It’s challenging for sure. It is a transition time for me. I’m hoping to get something more permanent.”
Soon they were in the teacher’s lounge, which was basically half the size of a classroom, filled with teachers and paper plates of sandwiches, chips, and veggies. Everyone was either drinking from coffee cups or soda cans.
Avery got in line behind an older male teacher. “You new here or a sub?” he asked.
“Both,” she responded. “First day subbing.”
“Brave soul,” he said as he picked up a plate. “By the way, I’m Mr. Fletcher. And I don’t think I could be a sub.”
The comment caught Avery off guard, as she assumed substituting would be an easy gig for someone with real teacher training and experience. “Really?” She also grabbed a plate and picked out her food. “But you teach for a living.”
“True, but the students don’t trust the subs, so they act worse around them. They don’t have time to develop a relationship with them. Unless you’re Mr. Manwaring, the eternal sub. Ah, speak of the devil.”
Gabe came through the door and got in line right behind her. Suddenly, the room became even more crowded. The closeness of him excited her and made her nervous. She was acutely aware of every tiny movement she made. Avery didn’t know whether to smile or pass out.
“I recommend caffeine for the afternoon. Lots of it,” Gabe said.
She chuckled but kept facing forward. Even without turning around, his closeness emitted energy. Gabe smelled like sunshine and citrus. Avery closed her eyes and absent-mindedly took a deep breath to savor his scent. “So even you get tired, huh?” It was easier talking to him while not having to look at him.
Mrs. Hillard announced, “Hey, I heard Mr. Manwaring here saved the day for you in third period. Is that right, Miss Williams?”
Avery froze, her hands gripping her plate tightly as everyone in the room stared at her, probably about 15 or more people. News traveled fast around here. “Uh, yeah. He’s a true hero.” Good grief. Why did she say that?
“Oh yeah? What happened?” Mr. Fletcher asked.
She turned and looked at Gabe in a panic, who lifted his eyebrows in response.
“It was nothing,” he said. “Kids were out of control, I stomped around like a goofball, called them on their crap, then helped them see the light.”
That version of the event was really humble. Totally unlike Marshall if he did anything for Avery. Which hadn’t been very often, but he always made sure to glorify himself if he had.
“Nice work,” another teacher said.
Even experienced teachers were impressed with Gabe the Hero Sub. Of course, because he was naturally amazing. Was it possible for Avery to be jealous of his humility and heroic personality?
Avery was so self-conscious, she debated whether she should sit at the table with the rest of the teachers or head back to her classroom. More than anything, she wanted to escape and be alone. But she felt awkward grabbing food and leaving, especially since she’d have to dodge quite a few teachers simply to reach the door.
She took the only seat left and was digging into her food when the teacher next to her got up and left. Gabe was leaning against the counter munching on chips. Would he stay there or come sit next to her?
Sheesh, Avery. It’s not like she was in high school right now. Well, technically she was in a high school, but she wasn’t a teenager. The truth was, Avery didn’t trust herself. That’s why she was so concerned if Gabe was going to come sit next to her. She needed to train her brain to not care about Gabe or where he was standing or what he was going to do next.
Avery hurried through her food then headed for the door. Students were filling the hallway, and she needed to get back to the classroom. As she reached room 110, she felt around her neck. The lanyard. The keys. Where were they? She peered through the window on the door.
No, no, no. She had left them in the classroom.
Ugh. Still, she tried to open the door. Nope, locked. Why couldn’t she remember to bring the keys? Like her brain wasn’t even connected to her body. She sighed and stared at the door as if it would magically open. Her feet hurt. Dreams of her soft bed danced in her head.
“Need help? Again?” a deep voice said.
She swung around in surprise. Yep, Gabe. “Geez, why do you keep doing that?” Avery asked.
He smiled as he pulled his key out of his pocket and stuck it into the doorknob. “All the teachers have the same key, by the way. So pretty much anyone else can help you, too.”
The bell was going to ring soon. So why was he taking his sweet time?
“You know, it was nice of you to call me a hero in there.” Gabe’s eyes twinkled. He was being playful. Flirty?
Avery was annoyed at him. She rolled her eyes and held up her hands. “Okay fine. Yes, you’re a hero. You were pretty proud of yourself, walking away like you were Captain America.”
“Oh, you were watching me walk away, huh?” He turned the doorknob.
She wanted to die right there. “No. No, I was not.”
He held the door open for her to pass through. “Sure.”
She huffed as she walked into the room. “Thanks for unlocking the door. I won’t need you again.”
Students started filing into the room as Gabe held it open for them.
“Are you two…” one student asked.
“No,” Avery said loudly. When would the students stop asking if they were dating?
Gabe snickered and walked away.
Monday August 25, 3:30 PM
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, with no need for another visit from hero Gabe. If she roamed around the room while students were working and chatted with them a bit, they stayed on task. It was fun to connect with the students.
After finishing an assignment, one student, Lila, shyly approached Avery at the teacher’s desk.
“I’m done with the assignment. Can I read my book?” Lila asked. She reminded Avery of herself as a teenager, shy, self-conscious, but also sweet and a reader.
Avery smiled. “That depends. What book?”
Lila’s eyes shined. “ Anne of Green Gables . My grandma gave me a copy and so far, I love it.”
Avery nodded. “I approve. Has Anne met Gilbert yet?”
Lila nodded excitedly. “Oh my gosh, yes!”
The last hour was especially long. Avery looked up at the clock about a million times until finally, FINALLY, the last bell rang and the students filed out. She had survived. But dang, she was bone tired. How did teachers do this every day?
Avery gathered her purse, water bottle, and sub binder and headed for the door. She turned out the lights, making sure the key was in her hand before leaving.
The halls were mostly empty, save a few teachers chatting. A janitor rolled a cart by her, which reminded her of Claire. Avery smiled as she pulled out her phone.
AVERY: I found a janitor.
CLAIRE: Oh, yeah?
AVERY: Yeah. Twice my age. Jumpsuit. So sexy.
CLAIRE: Does he have any friends for me? Lol
“See ya, Hal. I left a huge mess for you in room 101.”
Avery looked up. Gabe was waving at the janitor.
“That’ll cost you extra!” the janitor yelled back.
Was there anyone Gabe didn't know?
Avery noticed Gabe noticing her, so she dipped her chin down and pretended to go back to texting, heat tingling on her cheeks and ears. Again, she almost told Claire about the hot sub, because Claire would eat that sort of thing up. And yes, Gabe was hot. Adorable, goofy, and completely steaming hot.
Instead, she texted her mom.
AVERY: Coming home soon. Do you need me to pick up anything from the grocery store?
She glanced up and Gabe was gone. Avery took a deep breath and sighed. It was just as well he wasn’t there. This long day of awkward interactions with him needed to end. Plus, her feet ached. She limped a little as she opened the health app on her phone. Nearly eight thousand steps. She screenshotted it and shared it with Claire.
AVERY: I didn’t even need to go to the gym today. Check it out!
CLAIRE: Did you lift weights, too?
She slammed into someone as she walked towards front of the office. “Oof. Sorry.” Embarrassed, she looked up from her phone. “I wasn’t… You again?”
“Ouch.” Gabe playfully rubbed his shoulder, smirking. “Are you following me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Returning this.” She held up her sub binder. Hard to believe it had only been that morning since she was handed the wrong one. School days were longer as a teacher than as a student.
Turning to Doreen, Avery handed her the binder. “So, is there any way to, I don’t know, make the sub binders look different from each other? Mine and his got mixed up this morning.”
Doreen appeared surprised, but in a giddy smiley sort of way. “Oh, dear. That was definitely an accident. No one would ever do such a thing on purpose.” A twinkle in her eye made Avery suspicious.
“See ya tomorrow, Doreen,” Gabe said, then held the front door open for Avery, the blaring sun and wave of oven-type heat reminding her to fish for her sunglasses out of her purse.
Once they were outside, he said, “Don’t worry about her. She’s always trying to play matchmaker. She almost set me up on a date with the fifty-year-old vice principal.”
Avery cackled and quickly covered her mouth. “No way. She did not. Did you go out with her?” She giggled at the thought of an older woman fawning over Gabe.
“Nah. She shut me down. It’s been hard to show my face around here.”
Avery tried not to laugh.
He stopped at the curb, eyeing Avery as she walked towards him and stopped next to him, the closeness bringing added heat.
She swallowed. “Are you ever serious about anything?”
“Are you ever not serious about anything?”
Touche. “Well, I gotta get going,” she said. Then she remembered her car wasn’t even in the parking lot. It was all the way across the street in the neighborhood. If Gabe had arrived after her, where had he parked? He literally walked straight ahead to almost the closest spot and opened the door of his small red pickup truck.
She gawked. “How did you get that spot?”
He shrugged. “What? The teacher I subbed for left right as I arrived.”
Avery shook her head. If only half of her life could work out as well as it did for Gabe the Hero Sub. While she was over here trying to figure out how to put her life back together. Unlike super sub Gabe, who had everyone at the school wrapped around his finger.
She limped forward, again cursing her poor choice of footwear. Then came the hum of Gabe’s truck inching along right next to her. At first, she refused to turn her head. She didn’t want him to think she was desperate, or needed him, or liked him, or…
“Do you need a ride?”
Oh, who cares. Her feet needed a break. She silently made her way around to the passenger side and got in. The truck lurched forward and made a weird noise.
“How old is this thing?”
“Old Cleopatra?” He patted the dashboard. “Probably as old as me. Found her out in the desert. Fixed her up. Isn’t she a beaut?”
She shook her head. Cleopatra was pretty beat up. Looked like it could fall apart any minute. “Totally. A beaut.” She couldn’t help but smile at his pride for his truck. Gabe stole a glance, so she stopped smiling. “You named your truck Cleopatra?”
“I kind of have a thing for ancient Egypt.”
She raised her eyebrows. Curious. Gabe had a passion in life. That was refreshing. Marshall’s only passion in life was mooching off of Avery then not being there when she needed him. She had thought her encouragement could help him, but he was always between jobs or semesters. Even when Marshall was at their place, she was lonely.
“I’m over there.” She pointed and their short ride was over. “Thanks for the ride. And for helping during third period.” Slowly she opened the door.
“And for unlocking your door? It’s not easy being a hero.”
“Uh huh,” Avery scoffed as she slipped out of the truck. He certainly made it look easy. Once she was in her car, Gabe waved and drove away. What was his deal? If he had passions in life, she wanted to know more about him. She was half-tempted to follow him. Which was stalkerish, and hadn’t she already followed Marshall to Flagstaff? That hadn’t turned out well.
Still, there was something about Gabe that intrigued her.
After a quick stop at the grocery store, she pulled into the driveway of Mom’s house. Not the house she grew up in, rather the rental Mom got after Dad had left. Which was when Avery was in high school. He hadn’t been around much her whole childhood. He was a truck driver, so was in a different city all the time and didn’t try to come home much, and it hadn’t changed when he left. Then they lost the house, Mom ended up working two jobs, and after a while the stress of being on her feet all the time led to needing foot surgery. Which ended up making things worse, so now Mom was waiting for another surgery to fix the first one. It was a mess.
Avery hated thinking ill of anyone, especially her dad, but his actions had caused Mom pain. Now all Avery wanted to do was take care of her.
“I’m home!” She placed the grocery bags on the kitchen counter then went to find Mom dozing on the recliner in the living room.
“Oh, hey honey.” Mom stretched. “How was your first day of subbing?”
“Pretty good, I think,” Avery replied. Except third period, which she didn’t want to worry her mother about. “How are you feeling?”
Mom looked at her foot, which was elevated and in a boot. “Sleepy. I sit here all day, but am somehow still exhausted.”
Avery headed back to the kitchen. “Your body is healing. Sleep is good. How does chicken fettuccine alfredo sound for dinner?”
“Oh, my favorite,” Mom replied.
When the food was set on the table, Avery helped Mom limp over to the kitchen and sit in the chair next to hers.
“I wondered how subbing went, because your Aunt Janice said they need help at the chiropractic office,” Mom said in between bites of dinner.
Avery stopped twirling noodles with her fork. “No way. I’m not going back there. It’s so boring.”
Her mom sighed heavily. “Yeah, I know. But it’s a paycheck. It’s only part-time though. So I told her you’d have to think about it.”
After a few more bites of noodles, Avery added, “Oh, I forgot. I finally heard back from the library. They want me to come in for an interview on Friday.”
“Oh, that’s great! That would be the perfect job for you. But what about subbing?”
“I don’t know. It’s definitely not boring. I’m still getting used to it. The faculty seems nice. Some were even downright heroic,” she snarked.
“Is that so?” Mom wrinkled her nose.
“Oh, it was nothing. Just another substitute helping me out.” She didn’t know what to make of Gabe, but she wouldn’t mind bumping into him again. Even though she’d make sure things stayed platonic. It was too soon since her break-up to jump into anything so soon. Plus, she needed to focus on Mom and work.
Mom set her hand on Avery’s. “I want to tell you how proud I am of you. I know it wasn’t easy to come home and take care of me and help out with paying bills. I’d rather be helping you.” Mom smiled and her soft eyes glowed as she teared up.
Avery wrapped her arms around her. “Oh, Mom. It was an easy decision. We gotta stick together.” Since Dad had left, Avery had made a promise to herself to always be there for Mom. Only, she let Marshall get in the way. Guilt swept over her. If only she could go back in time, she would have done things differently.
Avery stroked Mom’s cheek, wiping away a tear. “I should never have left.”
Mom closed her eyes and shook her head. “You have your own life to live. I can’t get in the way of that.” She opened her eyes and held Avery’s hands.
Still, Avery regretted not being there for Mom the years she was in Flagstaff. Sure, she visited as much as she could, but it wasn’t the same. If she was being honest, Avery blamed herself for Mom’s work accident and the surgery that made her foot even worse.
After Avery cleaned up dinner and helped Mom into bed, she practically fell into her own bed, mentally and physically exhausted. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. While Avery knew it wouldn’t be easy coming back to Phoenix, she didn’t realize how overwhelming taking care of Mom and substitute teaching would be. Could she handle the demands of being in the classroom long-term? On her feet all day and thinking on her feet were equally challenging.
Of course, Avery was happy to help Mom, as long as it took for her to heal, though ideally Mom should have had a spouse to do that. Her dad had left around the time Marshall and Claire moved to town and into Avery’s life. Avery didn’t realize it at the time, but she was so vulnerable, she was aching for someone else to come into her life and sweep her off her feet. Marshall did that. Sort of. Actually, whatever he didn’t do, Avery filled in the rest with fantasy or doing it herself. He asked her out here and there, but then she did a lot of the work to make the relationship actually work.
When he told her he was heading off to college at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, she panicked. No, they hadn’t been officially boyfriend-girlfriend yet, but they could be. If they were together. She cringed at the memory off following him to NAU.
Deep down, she knew she had followed Marshall because her father had left. It wasn’t until recently that Avery understood she had stayed with him for so long to avoid repeating her father’s mistakes. But eventually, staying no longer made sense.
The breakup still weighed heavily on her mind. She knew letting him go was for the best, but part of her still wondered if maybe things would have gotten better. No, Avery. He wasn’t nice to you. Avery was so confused. Maybe she only missed being in a relationship. Maybe she felt like she had to try because he was Claire’s brother. She saw how unhappy her parents had been together, but Mom wasn’t doing so great without Dad, either. She wanted a storybook romance, but so far it seemed like adult relationships were not what she expected. She wanted to be happy, but there was an emptiness to starting over.
Her phone sounded a muffled ring. Where was it? After searching, she dug it out of her purse. A few texts from Claire, plus a notification on the Substitute Assignments app.
A new sub job available for the Desert Scorpion High School choir. She smiled. Gosh, she had loved choir in high school. Not that she was a great singer or anything. It was one of those classes everyone knew was an easy A. All you had to do was show up. And mess around.
Marshall had been in her choir class. That was the beginning of them flirting and dating off and on through high school. Flirting and dating had been fun in those early days. But their actual relationship was so not fun. He didn’t listen or appreciate her. Her old, hopeful self slowly morphed into a disillusioned woman with a dim outlook.
She tried to shake off the memories. If she was going to get some sleep, she didn’t want her mind reeling all night long.
The choir job continued to stare her in the face on the Substitute App. If she was going to move forward, she needed to not let the past slow her down. Get Marshall’s voice out of your head. Subbing in choir would probably be chaotic, which scared her a little. What would she need to do? Have the kids sing songs, right? She could give it a try. Why not?
For a second she hesitated. What if Gabe subbed tomorrow too? He probably would. As Mr. Fletcher had said, Gabe was the “eternal sub.” But she would do everything in her power to avoid seeing him all day. Couldn’t let him be a hero two days in a row. If she was going to do this, she was going to take charge and do it on her own.
But the more she thought about it, maybe having Gabe’s help wasn’t the worst thing? Her first day hadn’t been bad. Despite a few mishaps, the day played out better than Avery had anticipated. As the “eternal sub,” Gabe knew a thing or two. She needed allies, if anything.
Avery recognized she was jaded. And that wasn’t Gabe’s fault. He was a nice guy. Sure, she’d be guarded with him—with any man really. But she decided if she was going to be a substitute teacher, she might as well have fun. And Gabe certainly could be fun.
She clicked “accept” on the Sub App and went to sleep.