Paradise Falls (Paradise Falls #1-5)(4)

Damn him.

A glance at the clock reminded her the kids would leave the cafeteria soon, free to roam the building. She opened the classroom door and almost walked into Krystal Summers.

Every teacher had a shadow, even the painfully indifferent or incompetent ones. Krystal was in Jennifer’s freshman class her first year, and followed her around ever since, even to the point of switching classes.

As a senior, she should’ve known better than to slip the cafeteria watchers and head down the halls before the bell. Yet, there she was, lugging her overstuffed backpack. The girl dressed in black, and wrote angry poetry in the margins of her notebook. Krystal’s hair was purple this year, but her face shined with bubbly enthusiasm when she saw Jennifer.

“What are you doing here?” said Jennifer.

Krystal skipped right to the point. “Whose car is that?”

“What car?

“There’s an Aston Martin in the parking lot. Todd said it was really expensive, like a million dollars. It has a V-12.”

Jennifer shrugged.

“Is it a teacher?”

“I don’t know, Krystal.” Jennifer sighed. “Go back to the cafeteria.”

What would a car like that be doing in the teacher’s lot? It had to be the same man who interrupted Elliot’s snatch attempt earlier. Not many people were cruising around Paradise Falls in absurdly expensive supercars. Her finger stung. She had her wedding band pinched in her fingers, and was worrying it around her ring finger.

“What color is it?” Jennifer asked.

“Blue. Like a sky blue. It’s really pretty. Todd said they can paint them any color you want, instead of picking from a list, you know? There’s a new teacher this year, right?”

“Four, I think,” said Jennifer. “I haven’t met any of them yet.”

“Do you think the car belongs to one of them?”

“I can’t imagine someone with that kind of money teaching,”

Krystal’s eyes scrunched as she leaned forward. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Krystal crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side. “Something’s up. What happened to your arm?”

“Nothing is up,” Jennifer snapped.

Krystal wilted a little. “Oh. Okay. I’ll see you later. I have you for AP English.”

“Right,” said Jennifer. “I’ll see you then. I didn’t mean to snap…”

Krystal nodded, but looked at the floor as she shuffled away down the hall. Great. Jennifer leaned against the cool brick wall and breathed out slowly. Her hands shook. She had hallway duty anyway, so she might as well stay out here. As she paced from one side of the hall to the other, the light on in the classroom across the hall from hers raised suspicion. Someone moving around inside threw a shadow on the wall every time he passed the frosted glass window.

The other teachers arrived. Her boss, Julius Kazmeyer, rolled a cart down the hall to his classroom. It carried a misshapen assortment of random junk, papers, coffee cups, Scantron sheets, and the other teaching debris. Why he took that all home with him, especially over the summer, she had no idea. The department head was set in his ways and abrasive to the extreme, and Jennifer generally avoided him unless there was a mandatory meeting. One of the oldest teachers in the building, Kazmeyer had Jennifer’s father for a student, yet he appeared unchanged from year to year.

Rachel, whose classroom was right next to Jennifer’s, sauntered down the hall. During Jennifer’s first year teaching, Rachel quickly became her mentor and then kept Jennifer’s classes on track when she took her bereavement leave. If not for Rachel, Jennifer might’ve quit and not even finished the year. More than once, Jennifer spent the remaining part of her afternoon crying her eyes out on Rachel’s shoulder. Despite everything, Jennifer lit up when her colleague approached.

“Hey you,” Rachel said.

She lowered three big tote bags and a backpack full of supplies to the floor. Every teacher except Jennifer brought in everything the first day. For two weeks before classes started, Jennifer prepped her classroom on and off. Rachel swished and swirled her tie-dyed cotton skirt as she fished out her key and opened the door.

“Hi,” Jennifer sighed.

Rachel popped right back out of the room, and eyed Jennifer.

“What happened?”

Jennifer shifted on her feet and forced her expression to remain neutral.

Rachel motioned into her room. “Come on.”

“I have hall duty-“

“Piss on hall duty. Get in here.”

Jennifer followed her inside, and Rachel swung the door shut.

“Tell me what happened.”

Jennifer cleared her throat, and looked down at the floor, running her hand over her bandaged arm. She bit her lip. Rachel leaned back on one of the desks.

“I was on my way to work…” Jennifer began.

“Go on.”

“Elliot was outside. He had Grayson with him. They followed me to work and they cut me off and I fell off my bike. Elliot tried to force me into the car.”

Rachel’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s it, we’re calling the cops.”

Jennifer stormed across the room, clenching her fists. “Don’t you think I’ve tried that? The last time I called them, they sent Grayson’s brother to take the report.”