"I wish---I wish there were something we
could do for you,” said Jane.
The vice-principal smiled a little. “If you would encourage
your fellow students to be mindful of school property this year? The PTA has
spent a lot of time painting the halls.”
“Oh, absolutely,” said Jane earnestly. “We’ll
pass the word. Set an example.”
Her open, honest gaze, her upbeat
cheerfulness, her charming limp---that was what everybody saw in Jane. David
choked up again as Jane shook the vice’s hand---her right hand, the same upbeat
and cheerful hand which had pulled the emergency alarm and squirted the mustard
and popped the lid on the box of one hundred (and twelve) crickets they’d let
go in the band room last year. And here she was promising they’d be the shining
example of good behavior that would get the school board’s renovations through seventh
grade unscathed.
Quite honestly, he was appalled.
“You freaking lied to the guy,” he muttered
as Lily Dubrovnev and Amiee Magdend elbowed them aside to sandwich-hug the
vice. “And he just lost his wife. That’s
worse than terrible.”
“Maybe I wasn’t lying, Maybe we ought to
give up pranking this year.”
“She was the love of his life,” said
Lily to Aimee as they walked past David.
“The love of his life,” echoed Aimee.
Stupid secret tears. The vice would never
see his wife or talk to her or touch her hand…David’s gaze slid over to Lily Dubrovnev.
The coach’s daughter. Not like he and Lily were married or anything. Not like
they had any kind of relationship at all, actually. Which is why David could
well imagine the heartache of never being able to talk to, never able to touch hands with the love of ---
“Wait a sec.” David jerked his attention
back to Jane. “Did you say we should give up pranking?”
Jane crossed her arms. “He’s got a lot
to deal with right now without worrying about the school’s paint job. Just
seems like we could take it easy on him.”
Life at school without scratching the paint. Was that possible?
From: Life at School