Spring Secrets - Allie Boniface Page 0,8

they couldn’t sense her fear. Accepting this job offer was one thing. Actually teaching for six months would be something else altogether. I’ve heard school kids can be tough. Without warning, Dash’s voice came into her head.

Then all of Dash came into her head: muscles and dimples and Max saying if you decide to give up that vow of celibacy, Dash would be the perfect person to show you the ropes. The thoughts hovered there, taking up space. What was wrong with her? It was like she’d never crushed on a guy before. Not like she was crushing on him. Of course not. That would be ridiculous. They’d met once. Worked out together once. And they were from completely different worlds.

Which would make him the perfect person to help you cross that item off your to-do list. She could snog him and go off to England a changed woman. No strings, no emotional attachments.

Jenny was saying something. “I’m sorry?” Sienna said, embarrassed. “My head’s all over the place this morning.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I know it’s a lot to take in.” Jenny motioned at the teacher’s desk in the corner. “There are lesson plans in the top drawer, and the students’ Individualized Education Plans are all in that file cabinet in the corner.” She produced a ring of keys from her pocket. “The large one is for the classroom, the silver one for the closet in the corner, and the small gold one for the two file cabinets.”

“Thank you.” Sienna palmed them. Yes, she’d taught a special-needs class before. For exactly one month during a college internship. During her interview for this position, it had seemed like a solid qualification, along with her education and the fact she’d grown up in Whispering Pines. The superintendent and principal had obviously agreed. Now she wondered if they’d given her this job because she was the only person who’d applied for it.

“The schedule for the day is posted by the door,” Jenny went on, but before she could continue, Caleb walked over and traced one finger down it.

“Nine o’clock is arrival time,” he began. “At nine-fifteen, you have to call the main office and tell them if anyone is absent. And if we are each having hot or cold lunch today.” He paused. “I am having hot lunch. My mother gave me one dollar and fifty cents for it.”

Jenny leaned close and whispered, “He’ll be your best resource.”

Caleb dragged his finger down the schedule and the explanations went on. “We leave for lunch at eleven-thirty...”

Jenny tiptoed her way around Caleb, mouthing, “Call me if you need anything.” The aide stood and followed. Sienna nodded at them both, and then it was just her alone with the students. And her sudden terror that she was absolutely, positively in over her head.

“At twelve o’clock, we go outside when the weather is nice,” Caleb was explaining, “but not if the temperature is below freezing. That is thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Celsius.”

“Yes, it is,” she said, but he didn’t slow down or stop to respond.

“And at quarter to three, we have to pick up everything and put it away. We walk out to the buses when the bell rings at three o’clock.” He finished and folded his hands in front of him, like a public debater who’d finished his formal presentation.

“Well, thank you for all of that,” Sienna said. But Caleb looked over her shoulder, avoiding eye contact. She didn’t touch him. Instead, she walked to the bookcase, selected two books, and sank into the chair at the edge of the rug. “How about a story to start the day?”

Billy and Bailey were squirming, but they looked up expectantly, which she took as a positive sign. Silas had returned to the chair under the window and was rocking it furiously. His cheeks had turned bright red, but he waved at her and grinned as if he was having the time of his life, so she left him there.

“It isn’t story time,” Caleb said as he walked across the room, pulled out a chair, and sat at the small table near the teacher’s desk. He folded his hands again, his gaze still focused somewhere over Sienna’s head. Dawn sat beside him. She had wide blue eyes and beautiful blonde hair pulled into neat braids. She wore designer clothes, a long maroon sweater over patterned leggings and cute black shoes with bows on the toes. But her cuticles were chewed to the quick, and as Sienna looked at