Paradise Falls (4 page)

“What is it?” Jennifer said.

She started to rise, taking Jacob’s offered hand, and he pulled her to her feet. His hand lingered on hers for just a second. Two things struck her: in addition to his warm strength and the little shiver passing up her arm from his touch, it felt like every bone in his hand had been broken, then healed gnarled and twisted. She leaned on the locker, lifting her hurt ankle.

“Drugs,” Howard said. “There’s a whole pharmacy in there.”

Edwards leaned over, sighed, and turned back to the boy pinned to the lockers. “You messed up, kid. Now calm down, before you make this worse.”

As Edwards pulled him by the elbow down the hall, Howard picked up the backpack by its top handle.

“Can you two escort him down to the nurse? Jennifer, I’m going to need to see you about filing an injury report.”

Jennifer nodded. Jacob had already moved to the other boy’s side. A black eye would soon join the boy’s bruised cheek, and a cut on his forehead bled down the side of his face to stain his shirt dark red. Jacob stooped to look him in the eye.

“Look at me,” he said. “Are you okay to walk?”

The boy nodded.

“What’s your name?”

“Cole,” he said.

“Come on,” Jacob said.

Jennifer limped down the hall with them.

“What happened?” Jacob asked.

“I saw him selling that stuff to another kid.” He shrugged. “He saw that I saw and he just went crazy.”

Jacob’s jaw tensed and cords stood out on his neck. “Let’s get you looked at. It was a brave thing you did, telling us about the bag.”

“I don’t feel brave,” said the boy.

“You usually don’t,” Jacob said softly.

They led the injured boy into the nurse’s office. He flopped down on the big beige exam table-slash-couch as Miss Meyers sat beside him and gently pulled his shirt away.

“I’ll get something clean for you to wear,” she said, softly. “You said you didn’t hit your head when you fell?”

“I don’t think so,” he said.

She nodded. “Doesn’t look like your nose is broken, but I’m going to get an ambulance out here anyway, and excuse you for the day. The police will want to talk to you.”

“Am I going to be suspended?”

Jennifer glanced at Jacob, who folded his arms but said nothing. Like almost every one in the United States, the school had a zero tolerance policy. Generally, everyone involved in a fight would face disciplinary action depending on who started it.
 

“Tell me again what happened,” Jacob said. “Don’t leave anything out.”

“I was going to class when I saw that big kid with his pack open. I didn’t see inside, but he was taking a big wad of cash from another kid.”

“Do you know either of their names?”

He lightly shook his head and winced.

“Then what?”

“I stared too long, I guess. The big one saw me and came after me. I tried to tell him I was cool but he started hitting me and threw me into the locker. Then you came out.”

“I see.” Jacob glanced at Jennifer.

“I need to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion,” Miss Meyers said.

Jacob nodded before leaving. He briskly walked the opposite direction from his classroom, and headed instead towards the office. Jennifer tried to catch up.

“Where are you going?”

“The office.”

She motioned over her shoulder. “You should let the administration handle this.”

“I have to be sure,” he said calmly.

He pushed through the main office door, then continued through the half-door within the long counter separating the administrative section from the waiting area lined with plastic bucket chairs. Jennifer scurried behind him, even as Lisa half-stood to protest. Jacob bypassed Howard’s empty office, then turned to the conference room, a windowed room with an oval table and cheap plastic chairs. The student who attacked Cole cuffed to one of those chairs. Edwards talked on his radio as he emptied the contents of the boy’s bag on the table.
 

No school supplies dropped from the bag. Jennifer knew marijuana when she saw it, but there was a whole assortment of bottles filled with pills, powders in bags, and blotter paper she suspected was acid.

Howard stopped them at the door.“What are you two doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about disciplinary action against the other student,” Jacob said.

“I’m not worried about that right now. Did you see that?” He thumbed over his shoulder. “This is a damned mess.”

“I just want to make sure he won’t get in trouble,” Jacob said.

“Look, I don’t want that to happen either, but we have a strict disciplinary code here.”

Jacob looked at him, flatly. “You must have some discretion. The kid took a big risk pointing out the bag to you.”

“I’d have searched it anyway.”

“That’s not the point.”

Jennifer pushed into the conversation.“He’s right,” she said. “The kid was already beaten up. He could have just kept his mouth shut.”

Howard palmed his face in frustration. Beet red and sweating, he looked like an angry police captain in a movie.

“Fine,” he said. “You made your point. I can probably make sure the kid isn’t arrested at the very least. We need to handle this now.” He turned away to prevent further arguments.

Jennifer and Jacob exchanged glances. The feeling of looking up at someone was still a novelty. His shoulders slumped as he turned to head out of the office. The set of his jaw made the skin pucker slightly around his scar. Jacob brushed the hair out of his face before turning back to Jennifer.

“Are you hurt? He gave you a pretty good shot.”

“I’m fine.” Jennifer rubbed her stomach. “He just surprised me. This isn’t my day, is it?”

“I suppose not,” Jacob said.

“You did a good job,” she said.

“I did?”

“It must be quite a thing to see something like that on your first day on the job. I didn’t see a fight until November of my first year. Two girls.”

“That can’t be too bad,” he said.

She shook her head. “Teenage girls fighting are the worst. You know how boys are most of the time. They fight to establish dominance. Half the time they end up friends after a few punches. Girls aren’t like that. When they fight, they fight to hurt each other.”

“You speak from experience?”

She shrugged. “Just observation.”

“I think that boy was trying to hurt the other one,” he said.

“Yes. This is pretty serious. How did you do all that?”

“All what?”

She shrugged. “That fancy fighting. You’re fast.”

“Nothing fancy about it.”

He shook his head, and another lock of hair pulled loose and draped over his ear. Jennifer had a curious urge to tuck it back.

“Every teenage boy thinks he can fight ten times better than he really can.”

“You have some kind of training. I can tell by the way you move.”

“The same way I can tell you have a few years of gymnastics?”

She blinked. “I suppose.”

He laughed. “It’s just a hobby. Something to keep me in shape while I studied.”

“You must be a swift learner.”

He shrugged, and his grin started to come back. “So, should I eat lunch with you?”

Jennifer’s mind begged for a chance to spend some time getting to know Jacob. Instead, she stammered a weak excuse about work requiring her immediate attention.

What’s wrong with you? You don’t have anything to do. It’s the first day!

“I suppose I have work to do as well,” Jacob said. His wounded expression combined with her remorse from dealing him undeserved rejection, and sent her eyes downward to her shuffling feet.

Hands folded subconsciously over her chest as she walked, and the tight metal band’s twisting burn dug into her finger.
 
“I could--”

Her finger throbbed. Franklin staring at her from the honeymoon photo flashed through her mind.

“I’m sorry,” Jacob said. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“I’m not. I mean, you didn’t, I--”
 

I sound like I’m in eighth grade. Just spit it out!

Spit what out? What was she going to say? Eat lunch with me, mysterious rich kung-fu math teacher?

“I’m just shaken up. I’m sorry. Maybe another time?”
 

A toothy smile brightened his face. Jennifer guessed dental work perfected those movie star teeth.
 

Probably had them all knocked out when he broke that hand and got that scar on his face.

Something about how Jacob’s warm eyes shied away when she gathered enough courage to face him made her feel fluttery and strange. If the pair of them standing in the hallway grew any more awkward, then she’d burst.
 

“Maybe another time,” he said with a quick sigh. “See you between classes, I guess.”
 

Jennifer nodded before rushing into her classroom. She cursed herself for shutting the door so hard. Jacob probably thought she slammed the door on him.
 

So what? Why did she care what he thought about the way she closed doors?
 

You’re a married woman.

Her ring itched.

4.

Jennifer’s
 
messenger bag produced a lunch consisting of a bottle of water, sandwich, and half an apple. The lettuce and cheese on dry toast was mashed into an unrecognizable shape, probably from the corner of her textbook landing on it when she fell.
 

She soldiered through lunch alone. The ringing bell startled her, and she used the dark computer monitor for a quick composure check. Red puffy eyes stared back at her.
 

High school was still new and strange to the freshmen, and Jennifer went through the motions without allowing them to test her too much. The Advanced Placement class was a different story. She had to cure a few cases of senioritis and explain again they really needed to read the entire syllabus.

The boy who fought with another student selling drugs was in her AP class. Jennifer didn’t know how he talked his way out of going to the ER, and she didn’t ask. He sat next to Krystal, and Jennifer hid a genuine smile at how Cole obviously liked the girl.

Her last commitment for the day was an Advisory group comprised of students from her other courses plus one or two others. She only had a short time with them, so she let them sit and chat quietly after a little icebreaker activity. Seniors could mostly take care of themselves during the advisory period. Both Cole and Krystal were in this group, and continued to sit together after students pulled the tables apart. Jennifer busied herself with the entering class participation grades and other menial tasks that built up during the day.
 

Feeling a bit fatigued, a loud yawn spread through the room as she walked to the windows. Thunderheads rolled in, and the wind rattled the windows. A dull haze of raindrops outlined a police car in the lot, and the boy that attacked Cole was in the back seat. She never learned his name. They’d probably been at him all day, and she hoped he’d get help before he ruined his life, but she didn’t want him back in school, either.
 
The rain slid down the glass in sheets, and the sky darkened enough to cause the lights in the parking lot to turn on.
 

The Advisory period dragged to a close, and the small group put their chairs up without instruction, leaving the door open after shuffling out. Krystal lagged behind the others. Cole, the smaller boy from the earlier fight, hung around in the hallway waiting for her. Jennifer smirked at his reflection in the window, still wondering how he managed to talk his way out of an ambulance ride and early dismissal.

Krystal peered at her with concern. “What?”

“Nothing,” Jennifer said. “Go home.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Did I piss you off with the teasing? I didn’t mean to.”

“No,” Jennifer said. “Do I seem pis… angry?”

“Kinda.” Krystal shrugged into her book bag. “You got a little choked up in class.”

“I did?”

Jennifer blinked a few times and rubbed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. She never lost her composure in front of the students. Never. Krystal probably paid more attention than most, but Jennifer never let herself slip before. Get it together.

“Well, not choked up,” said Krystal, “You just seemed freaked out about something. Like, really intense.”

Jennifer shrugged. “It’s just the weather.”

“Do you need a ride? I have a car.”

Jennifer smiled softly. “No, hon. That wouldn’t be appropriate. I’ll catch a ride with one of the other teachers. I’ll be fine. I’m an adult. I’ll live without you for a few hours.”

Krystal smiled. “Okay,” she sighed before heading off.

Jennifer kept an old field jacket that belonged to her father in the classroom for such weather conditions. She zipped it up, strapped on her bag, and pulled up the hood. During a final survey of her room, the grass under the thunderheads outside reminded her of Jacob’s eyes. The light was still on in his classroom. She was tempted to knock on the closed door and ask him for a ride.
 

Stop that. You’re being silly.

Jennifer lingered a bit after locking the door. At any moment, Rachel would probably find her walking down the hallway and demand to drive her home.
 

Rachel didn’t show up. Jennifer stared out the doors, then resigned herself to a soaking wet ride in the stifling jacket. She pushed open the door, and jumped at the sound of Jacob’s voice.

“Need a ride?”

There he was, behind her. He was a quiet one.
 

“My bike—“

“I have a bike rack. Come on, you’ll get soaked.”
 

Jennifer weighed the options of riding home in the rain or the Aston Martin. She ignored the chafing wedding band and picked the Aston Martin.

He rolled her bike around to the back, pulled a bike rack out of the trunk, then attached it to the tow hitch. She pulled the door shut with a soft clap, fearing she’d damage the intricate stitched leather seat. He dropped in beside her and handed her a towel. Jacob wiped down his head and arms with another one. Jennifer clutched her bag to her chest, pushed her hood back, and winced at the drops pattering on the seat.