Touched by Angels Page 0,16

a point, you know."

"One thing's for sure, no one picked Mike," taunted a boy in the back of class.

Mike was a loner and rarely contributed to class discussions. He suffered from a bad case of acne and kept his distance from the others. Brynn had never seen him talk to any of the other students. In many ways her heart went out to Mike, and she struggled to reach him. To have someone taunt him now was cruel and unnecessary. For the first time Brynn wondered about the wisdom of her assignment. It had sounded like such fun when she'd planned it.

"Don't be so sure," Brynn said, and reached for the stack of papers. Her relief was great when she saw that one of the first papers mentioned Mike's name. "Here's a paper for Mike."

"You gotta be kidding." This came from Modesto. The youth sat up and turned around to stare at Mike.

Brynn walked down the aisle and handed Mike the paper.

"How come he gets to read his and I can't have mine?" This came from Emilio.

The corners of Mike's mouth turned up and revealed a brief smile when she laid the sheet down on his desk.

"I'll get to you soon enough," Brynn promised.

"If anyone chose him," Yolanda joked.

"Do bears shit in the woods?"

"Emilio," Brynn admonished. "I won't have that language in my class."

"Sorry, Miss Cassidy."

"Careful," Brynn heard someone say under their breath. "She might get you suspended again."

The next paper listed Emilio's name. She handed it to him and he let out a triumphant cry and punctured the air with his fist. "What did I tell you?" he shouted. "Women are crazy about me." Excited and pleased, he was halfway out of his desk. "I got charisma, you know. Real charisma."

Brynn walked up and down the aisles, delivering the papers. It flustered her a bit when she found her own name toward the top of the page. Emilio's handwriting was immediately recognizable, and she flushed. She'd never intended for anyone to put down her name.

"You aren't going to want these back, are you?" Yolanda pleaded.

"No. Keep them."

"Ms. Cassidy." Denzil's hand waved frantically. "There must be some mistake. I didn't get any papers."

"That's because you're greedy," Yolanda took delight in informing him. "Besides, why would anyone want to kiss you?"

"Hey, you didn't have any problem the other night."

"I'd had too much to drink and you know it."

"That's not what you said earlier."

The bell rang just then, and Brynn was saved from having to break off a spat between the two for the second time that day. Whatever was taking place between Yolanda and Denzil was best settled outside the classroom.

"For your assignment," Brynn said, raising her hand to capture their attention before the room emptied, "read the next chapter of The Diary of Anne Frank."

Her words were followed by a loud moan.

"I'll see everyone tomorrow afternoon. Have a good evening."

It never ceased to amaze Brynn how fast her classroom emptied. It was as though her students stampeded toward the door in an effort to escape a nuclear holocaust.

As was her habit at the end of the day, Brynn sat at her desk and graded assignments, but today she didn't have much time because of a dental appointment in New Jersey. After a half hour, she tucked what she hadn't finished into her briefcase and headed toward the staff parking lot.

"Yo, Ms. Cassidy!" Emilio raced toward her.

"Hello, Emilio."

His steps soon matched hers. "You probably guessed it was me who wrote down your name, right?"

Brynn could feel her face growing warm.

"Listen, I thought I should explain," he said quickly, looking slightly embarrassed himself. "I gotta be careful paying too much attention to any one chick. You see, there are three or four in the class who've got the hots for me. I was trying to be diplomic about it."

"Diplomatic."

"Yeah, that."

"I understand, Emilio, and applaud your efforts."

"Good, 'cause I don't need chick trouble."

"I figured it was something like that," she assured him.

"Great."

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, doing her best to disguise her amusement. One thing was certain: she didn't want to be the cause of "chick problems" for Emilio Alcantara.

Emilio turned and hurried across the parking lot toward the basketball hoop where his friends were busy playing two on two.

Brynn climbed inside her car and turned the key. It flickered to life, sputtered, and then quickly died. Surprised, she tried again, with the same results. She hadn't left her lights on that morning, she was sure of that. Her vehicle had recently