Toasted Marshmallows (A Sweetly Novella)

13 | Canoe

13 | Canoe

~☁☀☁~

On the walk to the lake, my arm was hooked through Reyna's and my feet were dragging. She knew something was wrong and it was easy to figure out who caused my sullen mood, but she didn't broach the subject. Instead, she gave me her shoulder to lean on even though she was shorter than me and it was uncomfortable to walk that way.

I stared straight ahead, ignoring the presence behind us. We led the group, and Ian was in the back alone because my little sister didn't want to have anything to do with him either. He tried to talk to me twice earlier in the morning, but I refused to give him a chance to apologize.

Once we reached the lake, Reyna started to pull me away from the group, but then she halted with a gasp.

"Oh my god. Is that Mr. F?!" She pointed to a man sitting in a chair near the water.

Her loud voice startled the man and he nearly dropped the fishing pole from his hands. After the shock of seeing us so far from home wore off, he heaved a sigh before giving us a tight smile and a wave.

Yep, that was definitely our chemistry teacher.

Mr. Fredrick gave Reyna a chance to pass his class when she was failing, which ultimately brought her and Wesley together. I liked to think of him as the captain of their ship, and he was a decent teacher too.

Reyan and I went over to greet him.

"What a...nice surprise seeing you all here," he said, nodding to Wesley and Ian as they joined us.

"What brings you here, Mr. F?" Reyna asked him.

"Peace," he responded too quickly. Then he coughed and said more calmly, "I came here for some peace and quiet."

"It is nice out here," Theresa, Reyna and Ian's mom, commented as she stepped up behind us.

"Yes," he agreed with her. "It certainly was—is nice out here. Away from," he glanced at us teens, "civilization."

I snorted and Reyna looked at me with a grin of her own. Even if he did care for his students, he must have been less than thrilled to see some of us during summer vacation. I would hate it if I were in his position.

"Come on, everyone," Theresa said, "I'm sure Mr. Fredrick would like to be alone."

She had a knowing smile on her face that he warmed up to and returned to her.

"I don't mind, really," he said, a layer of sweetness in his tone I had never heard in the classroom. "I'm just a little out of my element, seeing people I know out here."

Reyna perked up, "Was that a chemistry pun?"

Wesley shook his head, "Wrong kind of element."

"It's always a pleasure to see my two favorite students," he chuckled at the two of them.

"Hey," I chimed in, "what about me?"

"And me!" Ian added, sharing an awkward look with me.

Ian was one of Mr. Fredrick's students before he graduated last year. And with the final prank he pulled on the teachers, I imagined that he wasn't high on the list of favorite students for any of them.

"You two are alright," he said with a noncommittal shrug of a shoulder.

I pretended to take offense by saying, "Well, in that case... It was nice seeing you Mr. Fredrick, but there is important fun to be had elsewhere for us younger folk."