One Summer by Karen Robards

Author:Karen Robards [Robards, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-80137-1
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-07-12T22:00:00+00:00

25

Friday was one of the most miserable days Rachel had ever spent in her life. First of all, just as she had known would happen, word of her going off with Johnny was all over the school. The moment she had arrived in her homeroom, every single pair of teenage eyes was fixed on her in fascination. Her conviction that she was the object of gossip grew even stronger as the kids and even some of the teachers fell silent when she passed by various chatting groups in the hallways and teachers’ lounge and monitored tables at lunch. But she didn’t know for certain until just after the dismissal bell rang and Mr. James appeared in her doorway as her students streamed through it.

Rachel was gathering up the items she needed to take home with her over the holiday weekend, but she stopped to glance inquiringly at the gray-suited principal.

“Have big plans for the weekend, Rachel?” Mr. James asked, stepping into the room. He was nearing retirement age, but his stern, no-nonsense demeanor made him seem much older. With his thick, slicked-back iron-gray hair and stocky build and his tendency to mumble, he had always reminded Rachel of Marlon Brando’s interpretation of the Godfather.

“Not really.” She smiled at him as he walked over and watched her stuff compositions that needed deciphering as much as grading into a folder. “What about you?”

Mr. James shrugged. “Not really. Bess”—Bess was his wife of forty years—“and I are just going to stay home and relax. None of the children are coming in.”

“That sounds nice.” Rachel gathered up the last of the papers, the folder, and some books she needed to prepare for next week’s lessons and stood waiting. Mr. James never engaged in small talk. He had sought her out for a purpose, and she was pretty sure she knew what that purpose was.

“We’re looking forward to it.” He cleared his throat, and Rachel knew that whatever he had sought her out to say was coming. “Some of the girls told Mrs. Wylie”—Mrs. Wylie was the girls’ counselor—“a rather disturbing story today.”

Rachel raised her eyebrows.

“They said that that Harris boy came to school to see you yesterday. That you drove off with him in your car.”

“Johnny Harris used to be a student of mine,” Rachel said coolly. Though she had expected to find herself engaged in such a conversation, her hackles rose nevertheless in instinctive resentment. To have her actions questioned at all did not go down well, and to hear Johnny referred to so scathingly as “that Harris boy” everywhere she went was beginning to severely irritate her.

“Then it’s true?” Mr. James looked at her searchingly. His eyes gleamed at her from behind his black-framed glasses.

“That he came to school to see me and that we went for a ride in my car? Yes.”

“It was a one-time thing, I hope. You must know that we can’t have someone like him hanging around the school.”

“What do you mean, ‘someone like him’?” A hint of anger sharpened Rachel’s voice.

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