Three months later.
Everyone was talking about it.
They’d let one of them in.
And not just one of them but the spawn of the devil himself.
Zeus Garro, infamous President of The Fallen MC, the most notorious motorcycle gang in the country, had somehow enrolled his son in the best private school in the province, not to mention halfway through the school year.
Entrance Bay Academy’s halls were humming with the news but the teacher’s lounge at lunch break that day was practically echoing with it.
“Can you believe it?” Willow Ashby stage whispered to her best friend and colleague in the music department, Tammy Piper. “They’re letting the son of a freaking gang member into the school. How can any of us expect to be safe now?”
I rolled my eyes but pretended to keep reading my heavily annotated copy of Paradise Lost. Ostensibly, I was reviewing it in preparation for my lecture in my sixth period advanced English twelve class but I’d read the epic poem at least twenty-two times, knew the heaviest hitting lines by heart and had prepared my lesson plan to the most minute detail three months ago when my life blew apart and I had nothing to do but read.
Still, pretending to be diligent was better than being drawn into teacher gossip about the new kid. Even after a full semester of teaching, I was surprised by how much teacher culture mirrored teenage culture in the hallowed halls of EBA. When I’d been happily married, my life had revolved around William, so I hadn’t noticed as much but now that I was single, the dramatic pull was nearly inexorable.
“What if he brings a gun to school?” Tammy asked.
“It’ll be drugs,” Willow said. “Just you wait. Before we know it, the academy will just be a front for drug running.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Pillow,” Rainbow Lee, a fellow teacher, said as she came into the lounge and walked past the two gossips. “If everyone judged books by their covers, there is no way you would be allowed to teach people. You look like a slutty Malibu Barbie.”
I hid my snort behind my hand as Rainbow continued over to where I usually sat and curled up on the banquette by the bookcases. She winked as she sat down on the couch across from me, ignoring the sputtering noises Willow made as she tried to think of a comeback.
“You really shouldn’t call her Pillow,” I chided her with a friendly smile, even though Rainbow had made overtures at friendship with me before and I had gently rebuffed her.
William didn’t like to socialize unless it was necessary to do so at one of his firm’s functions, so I’d stopped making friends a long time ago.
I was a new woman though, I had time for friends, especially ones as sassy as Rainbow Lee.
She shrugged her bony shoulders. “Those fake boobs are enormous. She clearly wants attention drawn to them so I don’t see the problem.”
A rough throat clearing over my shoulder caught my attention, pulling my gaze from Rainbow to a fairly attractive brunet man with a beautifully groomed beard and thick-rimmed black glasses. He wore a brightly colored plaid shirt beneath his tweed blazer with a matching kerchief tucked in his front pocket. I recognized him from the halls but I’d never spoken to him before. He reminded me of a younger William; obsessed with his looks and his own charms.
My lips pursed before I could help it.
“Hello,” he said with a gracious smile, as if his attention was something I should be grateful for.
My hackles rose but a lifetime of manners and etiquette prompted me to say, “Hello,” instead of ignoring him like I wanted to.
He waited a beat for me to elaborate and when I didn’t, his grin widened. “You’re the new IB English and History teacher, Cressida Irons.”
“I am, but I’ve been here for six months now. You’re a bit tardy with your introduction,” I pointed out helpfully.
He laughed and I got the feeling that he thought we were flirting.
“Mitch Warren,” he introduced himself anyway, sitting down on the edge of the little coffee table in front of me. “IB Biology and freshman science. It’s nice to have some fresh blood infused into this place.”
I didn’t really know what to say, so I didn’t say anything.
I shouldn’t have worried because he was undeterred. “You should come out with us tonight. The staff always gets a drink at McClellan’s on Wednesdays to make hump day a little easier. I could give you a ride if you need one?”
He was being sweet and considerate. It wasn’t his fault that I was more than shy, a little scared and definitely hopeless. So, I smiled back at him, a small smile because I’d forgotten how to give a genuine one.
“I have a car but a drink sounds lovely. What time should I be there?”
He blinked at me for a moment before rolling back his shoulders and beaming at me. I had to admit, he had a very pretty smile.
“Six o’clock too early? We try not to stay out too long with school and all.”
“Makes sense. I’ll see you then.” I smiled before pointedly turning back to my book.
He waited a moment, his eyes hot against my face, before he moved away. I sighed a quiet breath of relief.
“I know, he’s hot but a serious pain in the ass,” Rainbow warned me even though her eyes were dancing with amusement.
I closed my book again to smile at her. “I’m just trying to be more social. Trust me, I’m not looking for a new romance.”
“Hey, sprite,” Rainbow called to someone over my shoulder.
I looked up to see a diminutive woman with short, spiky black hair and delicate features flop down in the chair next to me as if she weighed a ton, when she couldn’t have been more than a hundred pounds soaking wet.
Tayline Brooks frowned. “Don’t call me that, it makes me feel silly.”
“Maybe next time don’t flounce into the room then,” Rainbow shot back.
Tayline stuck her tongue out and I laughed at them.
She rolled her huge, brown eyes as her head lolled against the backrest and she continued talking as if we were mid-conversation. “Rainbow’s always been a bit of a name caller. She grew up with a home-stay family that clearly didn’t teach her any manners.”
“I have manners. I just prefer truth to bullshit,” she retorted.
“That’s the better option,” I agreed.
They both looked at me with mild surprise and then, startlingly, evaluation.
“Heard you got divorced,” Rainbow said. “Does that mean you finally found a spine?”
“Rainbow!” Tayline protested.
“What? She just said she prefers honesty.”
“That was more cruel than honest.”
“I don’t mind, really,” I interrupted, and I meant it. I was done with being mild mannered and subservient, with observing everything but never giving my input. I stared hard into Rainbow’s dark eyes and said, “I found a spine.”
“Cool. I noticed the sad eyes.” She gestured to my outfit, a sleek black turtleneck dress. “This new you is better.”
“Agreed.”
Tayline had gnawed on her full bottom lip as she watched our exchange, but now she leaned forward with an earnestness that warmed my heart. “Seriously though, you’re okay?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat unsuccessfully. “I’m getting there.”
“You moved here, right? From Vancouver.”
I nodded. “I bought the old cabin on Back Bay Road.”
Tayline screwed her nose up adorably but Rainbow snorted.
“Yeah, it needs a little work,” I admitted.
“You’ll need a thousand hands and scads of money to make the place habitable.”
I peered at Rainbow shyly. “I don’t have many hands or scads of money.”
“Your husband wasn’t rich?”
“He is.”
They stared at me, drawing their own conclusions.
“Asshole,” Rainbow swore, shaking her head.
I shrugged because she was right, but I wasn’t at the point where I felt comfortable talking badly about William.
“We could help, if you needed more hands?” Tayline offered, her doll-like eyes wide with sincerity.
“I’d like that,” I said.
“Cool,” she said with a massive grin. “I’m so excited we can be friends now!”
“Every other woman at Entrance High is engaged or married,” Rainbow explained, as if marriage was to be avoided at all costs.
Given my experiences, I was inclined to agree with her.
“Not Willow,” Tayline amended.
“No, but she’s a bitch so we don’t hang out with her.”
“And not Kathy.”
“No, but she’s a certified hermit and, God love her, she’s ugly as sin so we don’t hang out with her either,” Rainbow explained.
I blanched at her candor, which made both of them laugh.
“Now that you live here, you should know now that nearly everyone in Entrance is freaking gorgeous,” Tayline said, leaning forward in her chair to stare at me with large, earnest eyes. “Like seriously, there just may be something in the water here.”
“I think it’s that like draws like,” Rainbow commented.
“For whatever reason, there are a shit ton of pretty people in this town and us, the smart and pretty ones, we’ve gotta stick together.”
I had no experience with women like this, with girlfriends or even any friends at all. The only relationships that I had ever known were with my conservative parents, my husband or the shallow acquaintances I had with other housewives back in Vancouver. Even in high school, I hadn’t socialized much. I was too busy being groomed by my parents and William to be his future wife.
Moving to Entrance was about more than finding my independence from them, it was about learning how to live. Having friends, even and maybe especially friends like Tayline and Rainbow, seemed only fitting.
So, I smiled genuinely at them and said, “Seems like a good idea to me.”
They both beamed back at me as the bell for sixth period rang out.
“So, we’ll see you tonight at McClellan’s?”
“Totally.”
