Page 9 of Passing Notes
“Thanks,” she muttered before Clara shut her door with a slam.
Clara’s glare for me was ice-cold. “Don’t worry about Gracie. I will handle this.”
“She’s a good kid,” I argued. “And I won’t stand by and allow one of my students—any student at this school—to be bullied. I’m not that kind of teacher.” I dragged a hand over my beard. Except for today, apparently, when I had almost drowned in the riptide of memories I’d been swirling in since seeing her. My students could have gotten into a knock-down, drag-out fight in the middle of my classroom and I don’t think I would have noticed.
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. If it’s to help Gracie, then step in all you want. Just leave me out of it.”
I took a half step in her direction. “I can’t help but think there’s something I’m missing here?—”
“Don’t think about me at all.” She cut me off with a sneer. “I don’t exist for you. A fact you made abundantly clear about fifteen years ago when I rode out of Green Valley on that bus alone. Goodbye, Nick.” She spun on her heel and marched around to the driver’s side, casting one last glare as she climbed in the car and slammed the door.
CHAPTER 4
CLARA
I’m sorry about your dad, Nick. Meet me behind the library during fourth period. I don’t feel like going to English class today. Friends, huh? Of course. Whatever was I thinking? - HB
Unbelievable. Men were on an entirely different level of idiocy.
Heartbreaker.
I threw the car into gear and backed out of my spot. Nick was lucky I didn’t run his ass over. I’d think about him later—or not. Gracie needed me now.
I glanced at Gracie. “Okay, that principal of yours is a useless idiot, right?”
“Pretty much,” she scoffed.
I couldn’t help myself. “And, what about uh, the teacher from the parking lot. How’s he?”
“Mr. Easton is cool. Everyone likes him. Did he ask you out? And you turned him down? Is that why there was such a chill in the air? You seemed pissed. You still do.”
Crap. Crap, crap, crap. “No, I’m fine. Uh, we were just talking about you and your ankle. It doesn’t matter. Pindich is on my shit list, and I’ll deal with him later. Forget about Mr. Easton, that’s nothing. Who did this to you? Pudding, right?”
She shut her eyes as her head hit the back of her seat. “Yeah. I got doused at lunch.”
“Give me a name. I’ll?—”
Gracie held a hand up to stop my tirade. “No names. I got this. I’ll clean up at your place, then go home.”
“Fine, but at least tell me why,” I demanded. Names could come later. Plus, the why often led straight to the who.
“Fine, since obviously you’re not going to drop this. So, you know, um...” She let out a huge sigh. “Look, Ruby and I aren’t the most popular or well-liked girls at Green Valley High, okay?” Ruby was Gracie’s best friend and had been for years. “Ruby has that whole overachiever, pushy, know-it-all nerd thing going and I’m, um...”
“Let me guess, a trashy hillbilly Hill?” I looked away from the road to raise my eyebrows in her direction, and she huffed a laugh.
“Yup, that.”
“Sounds familiar. Been there done that. Want me to go down to the school and raise hell? ’Cause I will. I can make life very unpleasant for Pindich and anyone else who gives you a hard time. You know, I taught you how to throw a punch. No one in the family will be pissed if you get detention. What’s the problem? Is it the crutches? Is balance an issue? You could always start a food fight or put a few cockroaches in their lockers.”
“No, I can’t hit any of them. And damn, Clara, remind me never to mess with you.” She laughed, then got more serious. “Forget about detention, I could get expelled or suspended. Pindich has instituted a zero-tolerance violence policy?—”
I stopped at the red light and turned to her. I couldn’t help the fact that my voice rose in time with my indignation. “Oh, but people can throw pudding at you at lunch? How is that okay? It’s bullshit. No, uh-uh, nope.” I shook my head, getting more heated with each passing second. “How else are you supposed to keep assholes from picking on you if you can’t beat the shit out of them? I do not understand kids today. Do I need to buy a few cases of pudding to arm you with? What do I do? Give me some names, Gracie. I need somewhere to channel this rage.”
She shrugged.
“Tell me everything so I can take care of it for you. I’m gonna figure this out, Gracie.” Her eyes glinted with hesitation, so I pushed her. “I can handle it. Don’t worry about Willa or Everett or Sadie.” I tapped my chest with my pointer finger. “I’m the one who takes care of shit like this.” The only response I got was a weighty sigh. I hit the gas once the light turned green.
After a few moments, she said, “Fine. After Weston graduated and left for college no one has any reason to not treat us like shit anymore.” Gracie’s boyfriend, who was also Ruby’s older brother, had been the quarterback on the football team, homecoming king, and senior class president. You name it, and he did it—he was exactly like Nick, now that I think of it, damn it. Weston had been the walking definition of popular his junior and senior years and now he was off to become a football star at UT—the University of Tennessee—just like frickin’ Nick. “Remember Ruby’s friend Marianne?”