Walking The Line | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Two (Part 1)

Getting back to the regular routine was hard. Doing it on Monday morning was harder.

Hunched over the desk, cup of scalding coffee in hand, I took advantage of the free hour I had between classes to write a record stating Julian's situation and the steps I'd taken while dealing with it. From meeting with his parents (something that always had the same result: them walking out with their chins high, me gritting my teeth as I slumped on the chair as if I'd just finished teaching a dozen penguins to fly instead of talking with two freaking adults owning all their cognitive skills.), to my weekly talks with Diana---our social worker---and even mentioning it to the principal one time.

It was a long record.

But then, no one could say I hadn't done anything. It was all there. 

Well. Not everything.

Obviously. 

I didn't write how I kind of followed him on a cold winter night, or how I searched him on social media just to see if there was anything there that hinted at what was happening, or how I'd asked the German to help and he promised he would. I wasn't sure if some of those things were even legal. If an outsider got hold of this facts, I was sure I'd be on my way to the asylum.

But I was doing it for the greater good.

Anyone who had passion for their profession would understand.

Yes, I was breaking some ground rules, but I was also saving a kid from ruining his life. 

I had just finished writing and was going over it again to check for missed typos or punctuation mistakes when I heard some hushed voices just outside my classroom door, then came a squeal and the type of sound you make when you try to tell someone to keep it low.

I dropped down my pen and moved the chair away from my desk, ready to stand and tell the students they shouldn't scream on the corridors during class time when the door opened. I stared slack jawed as Kate and Frida rushed inside giggling like a pair of teenagers.

"Oh my God, Van!" Kate whisper-yelled. "What the hell are you doing still here? Haven't you heard?"

"Uhm..." My gaze jumped from Frida's laughing eyes to Kate's incredulous gaze. "Hear what?"

I looked at Frida for help when Kate just limited to shake her head and look at the classroom ceiling. "Just listen for a minute and tell me what you hear." She just said, biting her lip to hold back a wide smile.

I rose one brow, but she just gave me one of those chin jerks that said 'came on'. My shoulders dropped with a sigh and I made myself focus on my surroundings, the field outside, the corridors.

"So?" Kate prodded.

"Uhm...nothing?" I said helplessly.

"Exactly!" Kate screamed snapping her fingers in front of my face. "That's exactly it. Don't you see? Where is the usual buzz that fills the classrooms? Where are the whistles and screams of the football team? What about the shouts from the principal down the hallway?"

My mouth opened and closed. Then I moved past them, opened the door, and craned my neck this way and that. 

"Where's everyone?" I finally asked. 

"The real question is: How the hell you didn't notice before?!" Kate hurried on as she ushered me down the hallway, Frida trailing behind. 

"I can't believe the principal didn't at least warn us, I mean, I had to come face to face with him on the hallway. Imagine the humiliation! I was a blubbering mess when he gave me a lip twitch after we were introduced!" She was talking so fast I could hardly catch up. I did notice some classes were still going so it couldn't be something that relevant as they made it sound. "I'm never gonna live it down."