December 12, 2027
2:14 p.m.
West Chase Middle School
Erica Brigham sighed deeply. She wished it would just go ahead and be Christmas Break already. Mrs. Naphtali, her English teacher, had gone to Florida for an early vacation. Erica wished she could be that lucky.
Konstantina Vasko noticed the way the substitute teacher was looking at her. It was pretty weird. The lady looked from her, to Bailey McBrian, to Erica Brigham. Konstantina didn't particularly like either of those girls. Erica was one of the more popular girls in school, and it was all because of her hair. Her hair was stunning yellow, and it touched her shoulders. Bailey McBrian was smart. Well, so was Konstantina, so it wasn't the fact that Bailey was smart that bugged her, it was just the way that Bailey had an annoying habit for being amazingly good at everything she tried.
Bailey McBrian stared forward, trying to figure out if she knew the woman that was substitute teaching from today until Christmas Break. She looked a little bit familiar, but Bailey couldn't exactly place where she would know this lady from. She appeared to be Latin American- from Mexico, maybe, or Puerto Rico?
"Hello, class," the substitute said. "My name is Mrs. Christensen; I'll be your substitute for the next week-and-a-half. Mrs. Naphtali, your regular Advanced English teacher, has told me that for your next assignment, you will be researching your name- meaning, country of origin, famous people with that name, and why your parents chose to name you that name instead of, oh, anything else. Speaking of names, could we go around the rooms and say your name, just for my sake?"
And so the class did. And after they had, Mrs. Christensen put out some baby name books to pass around. "Bailey," Mrs. Christensen said. "Could you come here for a second?"
Bailey McBrian is in trouble, thought Erica. She couldn't believe it. Bailey had to be the most perfect girl in West Chase middle school, maybe in all of there suburban Washington, D.C. neighborhood.
"Bailey," Mrs. Christensen asked. "What is your mother's name?"
"Tabitha," Bailey replied. "And my dad's name is Brian… why?"
"I was just curious," Mrs. Christensen said. "Well, I'll let you get back to your name project."
"Okay," Bailey said.
Brian McBrian… Tabitha… Bailey, Mrs. Christensen thought. I wonder if she knows. I wonder if I'm right.