“Absolutely,” I tell her. “Please send me an email, and we’ll work out the details. And let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help you.”
Now Jasmine’s cheeks have turned pink as well. “Thank you, Mrs. Bennett. I really appreciate it.”
I get a much needed boost from that interaction, and it keeps me going even when the students whine about having to be sorted into different seats. Nate lets them sit wherever the hell they want, but to be fair, when they are in his class, they are all mesmerized by his magnetic charm. I don’t have that particular gift, but I do believe I am a good teacher.
By the time I get to the end of the alphabet, I had nearly forgotten about the one name on my roster that I had been dreading ever since I got the list a few weeks ago. “Adeline Severson,” I call out.
A girl of average height steps forward to claim the next empty seat in line. Adeline Severson is absolutely the least remarkable girl I have ever seen. She could easily blend into any crowd. Her hair is the color of a brown paper bag, and her facial features are all symmetrical but unremarkable. She could be pretty if she tried to be, but she’s not trying—at all. I watch as she slides into her desk and respectfully folds her hands in front of her. If her name wasn’t Adeline Severson, I would never think this girl was capable of giving me a moment of trouble.
“Addie,” she tells me.
I raise my eyebrows.
She chews on her thumbnail. “That’s what I like to be called. Addie.”
I make a note of it, even though I am well aware that people call her Addie. That’s what Art called her when he told me about her. I was just being nice to Addie. The poor girl lost her father only a few months ago, Eve. I had no idea…
I didn’t want her in my class. Art is the best person I’ve ever had the honor of knowing. A dedicated teacher who truly cared about every single one of his students. If he weren’t that way, he would never have gotten into trouble in the first place. And now, because of this girl, his life is ruined.
But if I had really thought about it, I would have known that it doesn’t make a difference at all if Addie Severson is in my class. The thing I really need to worry about?
Addie is in my husband’s class too.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Six
ADDIE
THE FIRST DAY of school usually isn’t so bad. I mean, in terms of work. Mostly, teachers are just telling you what the year is going to be like. Whether they’re going to give weekend assignments or not. If they’re going to give us a bunch of small tests over the semester or one ginormous test at the end.
And then at the end of the day, you don’t have that much homework. Maybe just a couple of easy assignments, like Write five hundred words to tell me a little bit about yourself. The kind of assignments that I can finish on the living room sofa while watching television and stuffing cheese doodles in my mouth.
English is my final period class. It’s also my best subject. Don’t laugh, but my dream job is to become a poet, even though I know that is not a real job that most people could get in this century, and I’ll probably end up being a nurse like my mom. My teacher this year is Mr. Bennett, who everybody loves. Mostly, a lot of girls love him because they think he’s super good-looking, but I don’t usually care about stuff like that, despite what Ella was implying.
Unlike Mrs. Bennett, who marched us all into assigned seats based on our last names, Mr. Bennett doesn’t mind if his classroom is a free-for-all. Most of the kids are trying to sit near their friends, but since I apparently don’t have any, I take a seat near the window in the second row. I like sitting near the window in English class. It inspires me.
A second after the bell rings, something jolts my chair. It takes me a second to realize somebody just kicked one of the legs of my chair. I look up to find Kenzie and one of her minions, Bella, standing over me.
“This is my seat,” Kenzie informs me.
I blink at her. “Oh. But…it’s the first day and nobody was sitting here, so…”
Kenzie’s vivid blue eyes rimmed with dark mascara bore into me. “This is where I always sit.”
What? This is the first day of school, and we literally just got here. How could this be where she always sits?
“Oh,” I say again. “But—”
“Are you deaf?” Bella snaps at me. “Kenzie said this is her seat. Get up.”
I glance around the room. Most of the best seats are taken, although the one that’s next to me is still empty since nobody is willing to sit next to me anymore. Presumably, that’s where Bella would sit if Kenzie takes this seat.