Chapter 7 Avery
Wednesday, August 27, 7:35 AM
Water bottle, check. Whistle, check. Bright purple tennis shoes, check. Athletic shirt, check. Yoga pants, check. Now this was a great way to dress for work. She had never really liked PE in school—all the sweating, dressing down in the locker room, awkwardly playing sports. By high school, though, Claire had gotten her into the gym and Avery loved lifting weights and going to yoga classes. Hopefully subbing in PE would be manageable.
Certainly, with Gabe, it would be. Knowing he’d be there with her was the only reason she agreed to sub for PE at all. It was one thing when the students were sitting down, but how to control them when they were running around?
She pulled into the same parking spot as yesterday—Gabe’s truck wasn’t in sight.
Inside, Doreen handed her the sub binder. “Want to leave your purse up here, dear? You don’t want to be lugging your stuff around the gym today.”
“How thoughtful. Yes, thank you.” Avery handed her purse to Doreen, who placed it in a cubby behind her. She headed out to the gym, which was in the same building as the band and choir rooms. It was nice to know where she was going today, even if she was unsure about how class would go.
The empty gym echoed as she walked in then she sat on a bench against the wall. She opened the sub binder and read the instructions. This time of year, gym was done inside, since it was too hot in Phoenix, even in the morning. All of the students were to run a few laps around the basketball court, stretch, then break off and play whatever games they wanted in various areas of the gym: pickleball, shoot hoops, volleyball.
Avery took several deep breaths. With her twenty-five students and Gabe’s twenty-five students—mass chaos. A few students trickled into the gym on their way into the girls and guys locker rooms, then returned to the gym. They gathered into small groups in each corner of the gym. Avery’s introverted self was taking over. Where was Gabe?
More and more students gathered and finally the bell rang. Avery waited while the announcements blared over the speaker, mostly about the Fall Fling and stuff going on with sports teams and after-school clubs.
Time to take roll. How the heck was she supposed to do that? The kids were everywhere.
“Hey!” Avery called in her loudest voice, which cracked. “Everyone gather.”
Only a handful of students turned, but the rest kept on chatting with each other. Heat rose in Avery’s neck. How was she going to do this? She looked down. Oh yeah, she had a whistle.
She was about to blow it when the metal gym door slammed behind her.
“Laps for five minutes!” Gabe’s voice boomed. “Starting in four… three… two… one… go!”
The students grumbled, but they followed his instructions. There he went again, saving the day. Avery shut her eyes and sighed. She told herself he was trying to be helpful. But she didn’t appreciate him assuming leadership the second he showed up.
He stopped right next to her, panting.
“You’re tardy, Mister.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, sorry. My dog barfed while I was in the shower, so then I had to clean it up and I ended up taking another shower. I got here as fast as I could.”
She cringed. “Your dog is sick?” Avery asked, still staring ahead at the students slowly making their way around the gym.
“No. My dog ate all my food. And now I’m out of groceries.”
The rest of class went okay, with Gabe yelling instructions and playing half-court basketball with a bunch of boys, while Avery marked roll, set up the net to play pickleball with some other kids. Avery was still annoyed about Gabe taking charge, but part of her appreciated it, too. Maybe she should relax and let someone else take care of things for a change. But it was hard to focus. The noise of him and gym class was getting to her already.
“Yeah! Take that!” Gabe yelled as his team scored a basket. In a matter of minutes, the students playing basketball were getting rowdy and spilling over into the pickleball area.
The basketball rolled right in between Avery and the net. She picked it up and threw it to him.
“Watch it, buster.”
“Ooooooh!” Several students reacted.
Yesterday and the day before, she was embarrassed when the students called her or Gabe out, but today she didn’t care. He was being… annoying.
She tried to pay attention to serving and hitting and running around the pickleball court, but her eyes kept trailing back to Gabe and the basketball boys. A group of them started running toward the pickleball area. As they approached, they didn’t slow down.
A couple of boys bumped into the pickleball kids. “Oooof!”
Avery ran to the girl, Lila, who had ended up on the floor. “Are you okay?”
“I think so,” Lila said, but then when Avery helped her up, she was limping, her ankle clearly hurt.
Gabe ran over, sweat beading from his forehead.
“I’m taking Lila to the office,” she said. “Can you keep everyone else alive while I’m gone?” Avery said it a little more curt than she meant. Gabe looked away and lowered his head in defeat. Avery’s stomach sank at the thought of making him feel bad, but he really should have been more careful.
All the way to the office, she apologized. “I’m so sorry things got rowdy in there.”
“It’s okay. I don’t really like PE anyway.”
Avery chuckled. “So you like getting hit on purpose?”
Lila laughed. “I’ve had you as a sub for three days in a row,” she added. “I’m glad you’re here. Mr. Manwaring is nice, but you know what it’s like to be in the background.”
Wow. She had no idea she would have an influence over any of the students. A warming sensation enveloped her chest. “Oh,” was all she could think to say. “Thanks.”
In the office, Doreen fawned over Lila with an ice pack for her ankle and laid her on the sofa in a back room. What a sweet woman. The school was lucky to have her.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Doreen said when she and Avery went back to the front desk. “I’ll send her along to second period after a good rest. Do you think Mr. Gabe is getting along with the students all on his own?” There was a twinkle in her eye again.
Avery sighed. “I’m sure he doesn’t need me.”
Doreen leaned forward on the counter. “Think so? That boy is screaming for someone to take care of him. Why do you think I bring him muffins every morning?”
The office phone rang and Doreen picked it up. “Miss Williams? Yes, actually she’s right here.”
Doreen handed her the phone, concern in her eyes. The only person who would possibly be calling her was Mom. Panic filled her and she took the phone.
“Yes?” Avery said.
“Is your mom Patricia Williams?” said a woman on the phone.
Avery’s heart beat loudly and she started shaking. “Yes, is everything okay?”
“Patricia fell pretty badly at home. We’re going to need to take some x-rays to make sure nothing is broken. We have her at Palm Valley Hospital. She was asking for you at first, but she isn’t able to talk right now. Can you come?”
“Of course, I’ll be right there.”
Tears already heated behind her eyes. “I’m so sorry, but it’s my mom. She’s at the hospital. Can you….”
“Don’t worry about a thing. Go. I’ll take care of it,” Doreen said, handing Avery her purse.
Avery couldn’t drive to the hospital fast enough. It must be serious for Mom to be in the hospital. If she had fallen, that meant Mom was doing too much. Guilt swept through her as she navigated the roads, tears falling down her cheeks. She had moved home to help Mom, then this?
With a buzzing in her chest, Avery rushed through the double doors of the ER and was ushered back to Mom’s room. She lay in a hospital bed, her foot propped up. Mom’s eyes were closed tightly, as if holding back pain. Avery’s chin trembled as she tried to keep her composure.
“Mom?” Avery softly rested her hand on Mom’s on her lap. Slowly she opened her eyes, her eyebrows cinched.
“Hi. I’m so sorry, dear. I thought I could at least clean up around the house.”
Avery set her other hand on Mom’s cheek. “Shh, Mom. It’s okay. I should have been there for you.” A tear fell from the side of her eye as Avery offered a distraught half smile.
Mom shook her head. “You always take care of me, dear.”
The doctor came in and explained that her earlier injury at work, followed by a foot surgery, was still healing so Mom was definitely a fall risk. The x-ray showed a small stress fracture, and after an hour or so they let Avery take her home with strict instructions to stay off her feet as much as possible.
A nurse wheeled Mom out to Avery’s car, and they both helped her get into the front seat. As they pulled out onto the main road home, Mom let out a big sigh. “Good heavens. You’d think I’d learn my lesson. I should have been more careful.”
That reminded her of PE earlier in the day. Gabe not being careful around the kids and Lily getting hurt. Thankfully she was fine, but she’d check in with her next time she subbed. Wait, next time? Avery raised her eyebrows. Substitute teaching hadn’t been what she expected, but still she wanted to go back.
Avery set her hand on Mom’s knee. “We all make mistakes, Mom. It’s how we move past them that matters.” Saying the words out loud confirmed her belief. Avery had regretted being with Marshall for so long, but now she was moving past it. That was good. So she’d give Gabe the benefit of the doubt. See how he handled it next time she saw him. Then she’d know his true character.
Now what mattered was helping Mom recover and heal. Avery owed her that much.