Page 18 of Crossing the Line

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Chapter Seven

Grace

“Can we say Freddy Kruger boiler room…” I said as I glanced around the near-dungeon-looking hallway.

“First you quoteClueless, nowNightmare on Elm Street? Are you into classic movies or something?”

“At least you knew this one… You look upCluelessor something?” I let out a chuckle. “’Cause it didn’t seem like you knew what I was saying the other day.”

He shrugged.

“Hey, kids.” A man who was about five foot ten with black hair that dusted the collar of his uniform stepped out from what might have been an office. But it kind of resembled a closet, too.

“Hey, Mr. Grayson,” Preach said. “Thanks for fitting us in over lunch so I could get to my doc appointment after school.”

Mr. Grayson smiled, and it triggered a dimple in his left cheek that put Mario Lopez’s to shame. Then he faced me and offered me a nod. “You must be Grace.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ohh, sir. I like it.” He winked at me, then waved us to follow him. “This way.”

“They’re actually putting a weight room down here?” I asked. “It’s so dark and,” I looked around, “dreary.”

“Hey, now, you’re talking about my work space,” Mr. Grayson teased.

“I’m sorry. I just meant—”

“It’s fine, I’m kidding. It’s true. But I like it. I’m a solitary type of guy.” He opened the door to a room that was bigger than anything I’d expected to see down here. It was dark, still, with only a couple of lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling.

“Wow. This actually might work pretty well as a weight room.”

“Maybe for the JV,” Preach said, then cracked a smile.

Actually cracked a smile. I almost fell over.

Not because it was beautiful and made his brown eyes shine. No. Absolutelynotbecause of that.

“So here it is,” Mr. Grayson said as we all stepped into the dusty, musty room. “Safe haven for the misfit toys.” He laughed at his own joke.

“Nice one,” I said. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, right?”

“Impressive.”

“Yeah, well, she’s apparently a movie buff,” Preach said, then turned a circle. “There’s a lot of stuff in here.”

“What are we doing with it?” I asked.

“Anything sellable, like the furniture, file cabinets, books; things like that, you’ll clean up to get it ready for a yard sale. Anything you don’t think will sell gets trashed. There are supplies in the back of the room you can use, but if you need anything else, let me know.”

Wow. This place was packed with old file cabinets, shelving, books, desks… I only had one working hand at the moment, but even if I had two, I wasn’t sure we’d get halfway in two weeks.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Mr. Grayson said, then shut the door behind him.

“Too bad there isn’t a window we can open to get some fresh air in here.” I stepped up to a huge, wooden desk covered in years of dust.

“This is insane. We’re not even going to make a dent in this.” Preach jammed his hands onto his waist, taking in the room.

It was pretty big. Andveryfull. “I don’t even know where to start.”


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