Noir (Tom Holland)

Five

Lilah was back in class by Monday and she ran up to my desk, frantically asking me about Meet Me in St. Louis. Unfortunately, since I had spent a majority of my night cleaning up the murder of my landlord, I was not in the mood to discuss it. "Miss Andi!" she exclaimed, tiptoeing to the edge of my desk. I hadn't realized that I dozed off until her voice was in my ear. I jumped up and once I saw her, I calmed down. "Hey there, sweet pea, you feeling good?" I asked her.

    "I threw up once but my mom let me watch TV so it's okay! Did you watch the movie?" she asked and I nodded. "I did and I loved it! Did you like it?" Lilah smiled wide and I noticed her front teeth were missing. "My, my! Did the tooth fairy pay you a visit this weekend?" I asked her and Lilah dug into her pockets to show me two dollar bills. "You're growing so quick already, I'm so proud!" I grinned and stood up from my desk to help the other kids with book bags.

    It was when the Pledge of Allegiance ended that the phone rang for the second time. "You have to be kidding me," I scowled towards my desk and picked it up, "I'm in the middle of class!" "Miss Andi, is everything alright?" Jerome asked me and I nodded, putting a finger to my lips as I walked out of the classroom. I went into Katy's and motioned for her to bring her high school tutor. "Hi, can you watch my kids while I take this?" I asked the student and pointed to my classroom before returning to the call.

    "I'm sorry, Reese, but you're on my time," Tom said, "Would you rather me visit your class?" "Depends on if you can behave yourself," I cringed, trying to turn off my teacher voice, but at this point it was routine. "During your lunch break or naptime or whatever the fuck you teachers do, meet with Harrison outside the school," Tom said, "See? I'm waiting until your break. I'm not that mean." And with that, he hung up.

    I returned to my class and thanked the high school student for watching over them. "Miss Andi, was that your boyfriend?" Jerome asked and the rest of the kids burst into a fit of giggles.  Not exactly, I thought, more like the guy who holds my life tighter in his hands than he holds his dick. "No, but it is a friend that is a boy, which brings me to a lesson: friendships," I sat down in the rocking chair near the chalkboard and grabbed the copy of Charlotte's Web that I had been reading them.

    During lunch I asked Katy to watch over my kids for the rest of the day. "Were there no subs available?" she asked. I shook my head, "This literally just came up or I would've scheduled this off. I'm so sorry to do this to you. I owe you big time." "You do and don't think I'll forget about it," Katy joked before waving goodbye as I left the teacher's lounge.

    Outside the school, a black Sedan was parked near the school's entrance. I figured that this would be the exact car that Tom would send for me, so I opened a back door and was about to get in when Harrison turned around and said, "There's no one up here." Reluctantly, I closed the door and slid into the passenger side next to him. "Good afternoon, Miss Andi. I'm Harrison, your driver for the evening," he introduced himself as he pulled out of the school and onto the highway. "No black bag? I'm surprised?" I commented and Harrison chuckled. "Not today. Surprisingly, you're a favorite of Tom's," he replied as he sped up to pass a semi. I snorted at his comment, a favorite. Why would I be a favorite of his? And weirder yet, why was I flattered by it?

    "Is it forbidden information to know where you're taking me?" I asked after ten minutes of listening to the radio. "To put it in your words, the home base," he answered. "Is it your life's mission to mimic everything I do or are you just being a jackass?" "Reminder, Miss Andi, this jackass has a loaded gun in every crevice of this car, so watch what you say to me," Harrison shifted in his seat to reveal the gun resting on his hip. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and leant away from him, and instead looked out the window for the duration of the ride.