The Teacher's Mate

Part 7

Fleetwood Mac - Child of Mine

Audrey was in her father's garage, working on an old dodge truck someone had brought in earlier. The water pump had gone out with a bang, literally. When the pump went out antifreeze started spewing everywhere because the radiator hose went with it. So now, not only did she have to replace the pump and the hose, she also had to clean up this mess. Her dad hadn't been here when she got home from school so she had texted him to pick up parts when he returned. Her mind was in turmoil, that damn teacher wouldn't leave her mind alone. The last notes of the Master of Puppets album went off so Audrey got up and popped Bare trees by Fleetwood Mac in.

"Audrey, math is hard." Missy pouted from her perch on the tattered office chair.

Audrey smiled as she dried her hands from washing them. She didn't want to risk getting antifreeze on Missy's homework. "What are you guys working on?"

"I can't seem to get logarithms." Missy said spreading her homework out in the one spot not covered by all of the shop's paperwork.

Audrey walked over and looked over her friend's shoulder. "Ok, so you're just converting them to exponential form." She flipped through the book, looking for the example that would help her best. "Ah, yes, here you go." and she launched into an explanation that she knew Missy would understand. After helping the girl with her homework for almost eight years, she had this down to a science.

"You good?" Audrey asked after watching Missy work through a few problems on her own.

Missy nodded and waved her away. Just then Audrey heard the roar of her dad's truck. He strode in not two seconds later. "Ah, Missy! Math again?"

Missy nodded, never taking her eyes off the page. It wasn't unusual for her to be in the exact spot she was. He suspected Audrey kept it clear of clutter for her. She mumbled something about math being hard as she waved a quick greeting.

James smiled at his daughter's best friend. Only friend actually, as much as he would never admit it, he wished Audrey wasn't so focused. She needed time to have fun every once in a while. Just not too much fun, otherwise he would have to get very cross with her, and that would not be good. After Mary died and they moved, she had withdrawn into herself. It seemed that only Missy had been able to crack her hard exterior, she was the annoying younger sister he and Mary had never been able to give Audrey.

"Ready for these?" James asked his daughter as he held up the bag.

Audrey grinned as she nodded and took the bag from him. She had a brilliant mind and a talent for anything mechanical. James helped her put the new parts in and finish the last bit of cleaning. He hadn't been able to afford a babysitter and didn't want to leave her alone and so she had grown up in this shop. Missy, on the other hand, was a sweet girl whose parents paid her absolutely no mind, unless they wanted to control her. It infuriated him. They wouldn't go to her cheer competitions, she had even made it to state competition and they didn't go. He and Audrey had gone with her instead. Audrey hated going to any school events but she never missed any of Missy's performances and neither did he.

James started working on replacing the brake pads and changing the oil on the Chevy Malibu that the Harrisons, one of the new families in town, had bought for their daughter Jenna. It was a good thing they had brought it to him first thing, the brake pads were pretty much gone. It would have been better if they had consulted him on a salesman though. He would have sent them to Benny. He at least made sure the car wasn't in danger of not being able to stop before selling it.

After finishing with the Dodge, Audrey sat next to Missy on her stool and started balancing the ledgers. James could do it himself, had done it himself for years, but since she had taken those Accounting classes, Audrey made them a little more efficient and had saved them quite a bit of money over the years. Money he had squirreled away to send her to college on.

Missy suddenly straightened from her chair. She didn't have many more problems and was pretty confident in her ability to complete the assignment later that night but it was getting late. "I'm going to go make dinner." She stated, getting up from the chair and gathering her books to go to the house. James and Audrey said something that sounded like agreement, they always got so sucked into their work. Both were hopeless cooks though, she didn't know how they had survived before she started cooking for them. Never mind, they had survived off of an almost constant stream of fast food. Missy shuddered at the cruelty of it all. Occasionally, they even forgot to eat! How could anyone forget food? She wished she could just move in with them, she needed to get away from her parents. It's not like they would notice anyway, they never noticed her unless they were trying to control every little thing she did.

She set her books on the small kitchen table. At least it wasn't piled with random car parts that needed either cleaning or fixing. It did have some grimy spots though. She quickly cleaned it up and started pulling food out of the fridge. She smiled when she found the chicken thawed in a bowl, Audrey had remembered that morning to pull it.

Missy rolled up her sleeves and after washing her hands, got to work creating the best Chicken Alfredo ever. Cars might not make sense to her, and she may be completely hopeless at school, but cooking was something she was good at, very good.

She was just finishing up when James and Audrey trudged in discussing what would need to be done in the morning. Apparently the Marquis needed a few things and Audrey wanted James to grab them before she got home from school. Missy heard it, but understood nothing.

James could smell the wonderful scents coming out of the kitchen as he passed by. It would be so good when Missy lived here permanently. Audrey was in the fridge looking for drinks. "Grab a bear for me please," James asked his daughter.

"I already got one." She replied. "Hey Missy, you want something to drink?"

"I already have a pop." Missy said, setting it down in her place at the small round table and grabbing hot pads to protect her hands from the hot pan so she could set it on the table.

Audrey shrugged and grabbed a bottle of water for herself. She had homework to do and didn't want to muddle her head with the beer.

James smiled at Audrey as she sat down next to him, Missy was carrying the food to the table, "So Missy, Audrey and I have been talking, how would you like to live here?"

It was a good thing he had waited for Missy to set down the food, otherwise she may have dropped it. The poor girl burst into tears, "You really mean it?"

"Of course he means it," Audrey snorted, "He wouldn't have said it otherwise."

Missy grabbed Audrey in a huge hug and then scurried around to give James one. She was bouncing with happiness, blond curls flying. She wouldn't have to deal with her parents anymore! She wouldn't have to struggle to make ends meet without a safety net. She could finally keep a job over the winter and not have to worry about getting sick from walking in the cold!

The rest of dinner was spent in happy chatter as Audrey laid out her plan for moving Missy in. They would use James' truck and Audrey's car and get everything in one trip. They all pitched in and washed all the dishes and put them away before Audrey took Missy home.

Audrey trudged wearily to her room when she got back. Her dad was watching tv and nursing another beer, he almost never drank enough for him to lose his wits but he did like a couple to help relax him every now and again. Audrey liked one or two after a long day as well but she had homework to get done.

She put on some music to help her concentrate and even though she tried again and again, she couldn't keep her thoughts straight. Simon and Garfunkel started their haunting harmonies and where it would normally soothe her thoughts into oblivion, it just irritated her further. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess. She turned off the music. Her thoughts swirled around one particular figure, Mr. Newman. He had plagued her since the first time she laid eyes on him and he smelled... strange.... Well, she called it a smell, but it was more a pull towards him that she couldn't explain away or logic herself through, and all of her glares didn't seem to affect him in the way it did other people. She would just have to write the paper during lunch tomorrow, she thought to herself as she pulled the covers on and tried to sleep.