Chapter 6
It wasWednesday before Azalea saw Jewel in person again, but she’d been acting off the days in between. Every text Azalea had sent had been returned, but Jewel was short and to the point. There were no fun and jokes or quick witty comebacks. It had taken until Tuesday for Azalea to even notice, but now she kept sending texts to test her theory. And Jewel proved it every time.
Fourth period that day was one of the longest ever. Probably because Azalea knew she could finally pin Jewel down and make her talk in a place she couldn’t readily escape from. She was getting everyone prepped for the lab they were going to have Friday, which would be a simple biology lab.
Everything she had done with these students she had done in prior years. It was almost a challenge to try and come up with something new for them, but she enjoyed that challenge. At forty-one years with twenty years of teaching under her belt, she still wasn’t looking at retiring. She enjoyed it far too much.
She wrapped up the lecture and answered a few questions just before the bell rang. Two of her best students that year hung back to ask even more detailed questions. Azalea glanced at the clock several times. She had the same lunch break as the kids, and she did not want to spend it in her classroom. She needed to talk to Jewel.
“You still haven’t told us what we’re dissecting Friday, Ms. Fuller.” Bailey gave Azalea a curious look.
Azalea pressed her lips together tightly. It was supposed to be a surprise, although if they asked anyone in the upper grades, they would know. Still, it was fun to see the surprise and disgust when they figured it out. “I promise it’ll be a puzzle you’ll have an adventure solving.”
“That doesn’t tell us anything,” Bailey whined.
“It’s probably another frog,” Jordyn joined in.
Azalea shook her head. “I promise you, it’s not another frog. Once that’s been done, there’s no point in doing it again.”
“Good. Frogs stink.” Jordyn wrinkled her nose, which caused an echoing smile from Azalea.
“They do have a distinct smell.” Azalea glanced at the clock again. Three minutes past. If she didn’t catch Jewel soon, she’d be joining someone else for lunch, and Azalea would have to wait to have the conversation either until Saturday or even longer since they were running straight into the busy season of the year. Azalea had bowling Thursday, Jewel had basketball Friday with the pep band, and that left Saturday afternoon. Her head ached at just the thought of trying to figure out the schedule of their lives.
“So what is it?”
“Huh?” Azalea focused in on Bailey. “Oh, the dissection. You’ll have to wait. You know that.”
Bailey pouted.
“I hate to cut this short, ladies, but I have a meeting I need to get to, so unless you have any pressing concerns or questions.”
Both Bailey and Jordyn shook their heads.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“See you!”
Azalea grabbed her lunch box from her desk and trekked out of the room after her two loitering students. Instead of following them down the north stairs, she took the hall to the south stairs, which was a longer way to get to the music room, but at least she could avoid students that way.
She took the stairs one at a time, using the railing to keep herself steady. She’d tripped down them enough in the past seventeen years, and she did not need to experience that again. She was halfway down when she stopped short, hearing footsteps coming up. Jewel came around the corner of the second half of the stairwell. She plastered a smile on her face, and Jewel faltered, her smile slow to her lips.
“Hey,” Azalea said. “I was just coming to find you.”
“Likewise.”
Azalea would have made a smart comment, but Jewel’s tone wasn’t exactly excited. The underlying sense of stress and anxiety was still there, and Azalea remembered the clipped texts. “Want to go to my classroom?”
“Yes.” Jewel looked relieved by that.
Slowly turning around, Azalea headed back up the stairs. “The kids are trying to figure out what their final dissection is this quarter before we move on to the next section.”
Jewel let out a small chortle. “They never manage to figure it out, do they?”
“They don’t.” Azalea rolled her eyes. “But they love it every year and talk about it for months afterward.”
“True.” They made it to the top of the stairs. Jewel moved to walk beside Azalea as they took the hallway back to her room. “I need a break.”
“Don’t we all.” Azalea tried to lighten the mood, but it didn’t seem to work. As soon as they got to her classroom, she shut the door behind them.