Preach pushed open the door, and a guy who had to be nearly six and a half feet stood from the chair behind his desk. “Preach, Grace, come on in. Shut the door behind you.”
Mr. Rogers had buzzcut brown hair, neat and trim, and he was wearing a suit, from which some black ink peeked out from his collar. He had striking green eyes that reminded me of the ocean off the coast of Cocoa Beach. We’d been stationed there when I was five years old. Emmett and I spent an entire summer in the Atlantic Ocean or running up and down the sandy beaches.
Preach took one chair that faced Mr. Rogers’s desk, and I sat in the other.
“Nice to meet you, Grace. Sorry it’s under these circumstances.”
“I wasn’t aware there was a curfew. I—”
“I understand. But we can’t play favorites.” He dipped his head, indicating that was all he was going to say about that. And I guess I should be thankful. It would be worse if we got issued official tickets.
His office was dark, only two lamps, one on his desk and one in the corner lighting the room. He didn’t use the overhead fluorescents. There was one window, looking out on the front parking lot, and I could see students hustling around, jumping in their cars to head out for the day.
As far as first days went at new schools, this one wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, other than I had to meet the principal to dole out the punishments for breaking curfew.
Man, this town was weird.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I didn’t acknowledge it. It was probably Alec texting to check up on me. He was my brother’s best friend. After Emmett…passed, we’d grown even closer. He was the only one I felt like I could talk about my brother with.
“You two understand you’re to do twenty hours of service here at the school, after school each day for one to two hours?”
“What about track practice?” I asked.
“Oh yes, I heard you’re quite the runner. Will you be able to go out with your injury?”
“Absolutely.” I hadn’t been told that by anyone, but I’d run. Sure, I couldn’t get in starting blocks, but I could run anchor or something. Well, if I could receive a baton with my left hand.
Shit. I hadn’t thought of that.
“Preach runs track as well, which we’ve taken into account when deciding your punishment.”
Preach tensed in his chair, then opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, but didn’t. Just picked at something on his jeans.
“Captain’s practice hasn’t started yet, but they’re doing some weight training and plyometrics in the gym, but that’s only a couple times a week at this point.” Mr. Rogers tapped his iPad. “You may get some of the service hours done over lunch or independent study as well to make our two-week deadline.”
Oh great. I was stuck with Preach, the guy who hit me with his freaking car, every day,allday, wasn’t I? School, classes, serving,andtrack.
“First assignment will be clearing out the storage area downstairs. We’ll get that started tomorrow because we need that room ready to go in two weeks.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to do much.” I held up my hand.
“Preach will help you. Just do what’s within your limits and what your doctor has approved.”
Preach didn’t say anything but dipped his head. He was slouching more in his chair, too. He seemed about as happy about this as I was.
“We’ve got two weeks to get this done. New weight equipment was donated, so we’re moving the old equipment to the room you’re cleaning out and making it into a second weight room.”
“Wow,” I said. “Two weight rooms. You guys really are a sports town, aren’t you?”
“That we are, Ms. Milner.” Mr. Rogers grinned. “You two will check in with Mr. Grayson directly after school tomorrow to begin. He’ll get you set up with what you need and be available to you should you need anything else along the way. Any questions?”
“No, sir.”
“Okay. See you guys tomorrow.”
I thanked him and followed Preach out of the office. We said our goodbyes to the receptionist and hustled into the hallway.
“Well, that was super fun,” I said. “I love cleaning. So, so much.”