Lena POV
"He is pretending, it is an ACT…he is not the good guy you think he is" the words echoed in my mind over and over again.
The only sound in the room right now was the clock ticking, counting away the seconds that I had spent sunned by her words.
I looked back to her big brown eyes, then to her features. There was something about the way she said it, there was something in her eyes, the tone of her voice when she said it, that told me how serious she was. She said it with so much emotion.
How could she possibly know that he is pretending? Pretending to be who? She has said to me multiple times, that he is not the good guy that we think he is – that made me think that she knew him outside the school. But how? Maybe I overlooked her file, maybe she did go to Jameson High. He was her teacher maybe? Could it be that he has been one of the foster parents for her?
The act she talked about had to be that he was pretending to be this good guy. But now I just feel this unsettled feeling in my stomach. He played me. He played Sanchez. And the thought of me letting this guy in the school, where my kids go, where other hundreds of kids go to school, makes me feel nauseous. And I don't even know what he has done yet. Or if he even is even that bad. But I knew one thing – I believed her when she said that he wasn't a good guy.
"Callie, do you know him outsi—" I spoke slowly, thinking over in my mind what and how I was going to proceed with this new information. But I regret that decision, and the fact that I thought for so long, the moment the doors to my office room were opened by Amy.
"Callie!" Amy said holding her hand out for Callie, that was everything Callie needed to get out. Callie quickly pulled her hand out my hold, grabbed her bag. As she stood up, she gave me one last look and then hurried up to Amy, who put her arm around her shoulder protectively, then walked out together. I stood up watching them both leave.
The next person in my office after they, left just seconds later, was Sanchez. She walked up to the chair, rested her hands on the back of the backrest "Can you believe this?" she asked me, looking really frustrated after Amy's visit. I didn't know what to say to her so I didn't say nothing.
Sanchez however kept on venting "She thinks, she can just walk in like this and demand that I fire the substitute teacher…without giving me ONE straight answer. She was dancing around the same tree, not really saying anything. Cops, they think they are superior or something! You thought Mr. Malloc was a good fit too, right? He is a good teacher! He has sent many kids to physics Olympiads…his students have taken the top spots. First places even!" she reasoned that he was a good teacher
But not once Amy or Callie mentioned that he is a bad teacher. In fact, they both talked about him outside the school.
"He may be a good teacher, but that doesn't necessary make him a good man" I say now glancing to Sanchez. She looks to me, and to my surprise she nods back, then she adds before she walks out of my office "Meet me at my office in 10. We will discuss it further, we just both need to clear our heads first".
I walk to the doors and close them, then head back to my desk to sit down. I glanced out of the window as I sat down, thinking over and over again what Callie said to me.
"Love, what's wrong?" Stef asks me as I was in the bed, reading a book. Well, not really reading it, I was just staring at it, looking at the same paragraph, still thinking about what Callie said
"You barely said two words at dinner table" Stef said and now she was laying on her left side, her left hand pressed against her head. With right, she takes my book away and places it down on the bed, between us "Talk to me, love. I know something is bothering you."
I turned on my right side, looking at her, keeping my head up pressed to my right hand. I opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly I lost my words. I didn't know where to start.
"Did I do something? Did one of the kids say something?" Stef asked me carefully "No, of course not. It is not you or the kids. It's Callie" I say and lock my eyes on her
"Honey, I think you just need to give her time to warm up to you. She doesn't hate you. She will talk to you. It probably is a phase of something—"
"No! It is not about her not talking to me. Although I did found out what that was about, I think" I said back slowly "It's about the substitute teacher"
Stef softly run her right hand over my cheek "What about him?"
"Amy wants him fired! Badly!" There was now a worried frown on her face "She had this big argument with Sanchez. It was basically going nowhere, so I went to talk to Callie."
"Callie did seem really upset when she was in the precinct with Amy. So she run out because…of the substitute teacher?" Stef asks and she shifts in the bed slightly
"Amy called him sadistic and controlling. But Callie…all Callie said was that he was not the good guy we think he is. That he was pretending and that it was all just an act."
Stef looked thoughtful "Pretending to be who?" she voiced what I thought at first too, and then added "It sounds like Callie knows him"
"I was wrong before. She did go to Jameson high, the school he is teaching besides being substitute at ours. Callie just didn't have a class with him. She was still in 7th grade, no physic then so he wasn't her teacher back then. So the only normal explanation in my mind is that-"
She finished my thought "- he was her foster father" Stef said as she sat up, back resting to the head board. I sat up too
"And only reason why Amy would want him gone so badly, that she would be so fired up about it, is because-" I looked to Stef and she again finished my thought "-he was abusive. She wouldn't want anyone who hurt Callie anywhere near her"
"Exactly what I thought" I said and now we both were just staring at the wall opposite our bed. We heard one of our kids walk down the stairs. By the way the footsteps went, it sounded like Jesus. We were sitting silently long enough for him to run back up the stairs. I heard the pop sound, that soda can makes when you open it. He closes doors to his room and then the only sound in the house is coming from Brandon's room, where he is playing some soft melody on his keyboard
I am usually a very patient person, but somehow, I couldn't wait two days to see and talk to Callie again. Monday seemed so far away, so I decided to go to her. When I am pulling up to their house, I see no sign of their car. This trip could be for nothing, if neither of them are home.
But when I stop the car by the house, I notice that the garage doors are open, and a figure is walking inside it. From my car, I couldn't really tell if it was Amy or Callie, because they both look pretty much the same from their backs and distance. Both medium built, both have brown, slightly curly hair.
I get out of the car and make my way to the garage. The radio is on and as I get closer I see that it is Callie. All the stuff, boxes, tables, cabinets are placed in the middle of the garage, there are paint buckets on the ground, plastic set on the ground, tape is put on the ceiling where wall and ceiling meet. Callie has this long paint roll in her hand. She rolls the paint roll in the tray on the ground and then turns back to the side of the garage inside wall. The left one if you look at it from the entrance point.
Callie is wearing just some old looking shoes, grey color sweats that already had some sort of red and blue color paint on them, probably from other repair or remodeling projects, because I don't see that color of paint anywhere. And on top she is wearing a tight, black tank top. She had done maybe 1/10 of one of the wall. Weirdly for me, she is coloring the wall in light green color, untraditional for garages, I think.
"Working hard, I see" I say announcing myself to her before I am in the garage, not to scare her too much. She stops painting for a while, holding the pain brush up in the air, to the ceiling. She says nothing back for now and paints the line down "What are you doing here?" she asks in a voice that told me, she doesn't really care.
"I came to see you" I say and step inside the garage. I notice there are two buckets of paint, white color and the green light color paint. My guess, she just started the paint job and the white one could be for the ceiling "Where is Amy?"
"Work" she answers indifferent as she continues to pain the wall "You sure you should be listening to music so loud? You don't hear what is happening at the house" I ask her as she obviously hadn't noticed me drive up, not until I came talk to her
With her left she reaches in her sweat pocket and takes out keys, jiggles them in air then puts them back "Anything else you want to criticize me on? Point out to me? How I paint, maybe?"
There it is, her attitude towards me again. The not so nice Callie. I thought I had gotten thought to her, that I had fixed that yesterday when we talked in my office. Somehow, I am still the only one who knows this side of her. Well, I assume, Amy knows this side too, I bet this was the Callie she met first.
"I wasn't criticizing you Callie. I was just…concerned. I didn't mean anything by that. And just so you know, you are doing pretty good paint job" I notice another paint roll on the work bench that was located in the middle of the garage. Perfect - I will get my hands dirty.
I roll my sleeves, take my hair up in bun and then take the other paint roll. I walk up to the paint tray on the ground. Callie stops painting and looks to me as I pull the handle out, so I could reach the top of the wall
"What are you doing?" she asks watching my every move
"What does it look like?" I say back with a little bit attitude of typical teenager way
"Do you even know how to paint?" she asks doubting my painting skills
"Do I look like I can't?" I ask back rolling it in pain. She doesn't say anything back just watches me go to the end of the wall. I start by the corner, going from the top, Callie then points out "Don't paint the ceiling!" by the looks she wanted to come up to me and take the painting roll away from me
"Listen up" I say bit louder to get her full attention, I had stopped painting, but then I revert to my more softer voice and just explain to her "I have painted my own room when I as your age, helped my dad repaint the kitchen at my childhood home, helped my mother redecorate our living room 3 times, I put wallpapers on at my first and second apartment I lived at, by myself. Few years later after I moved in with one of my ex-girlfriend we remodeled the place, all rooms. After I moved in with Stef, to the current house, we remodeled the whole house, plus our kids room and ours room, more than once...so if you have any doubt about my competence in painting a damn garage wall - don't! For your information, I also can put together IKEA furniture faster than Stef and I throw less tantrums when I do it "
Callie stood there, blinking at me, not saying anything for some good minute at least
"You cursed" was all she said after the long silence. She turned back to wall to continue to paint the wall and then asked me without any hint of attitude in her voice, just curiosity "Who is Mike?"
"Brandon's father" I reply and turned back to painting, scolding myself that I cursed to prove a point to a 16 year old. For the next 15 minutes we both concentrated on the painting without saying anything else. Although, I did hear Callie mumble along the song lyrics time by time. Her head moved with the beat time by time, her foot tapped lightly on the floor along the beat too.
We finished the left wall as we worked in silence, Callie moved the pain tray closer to the middle wall and we continued to pain. But I no longer could take it, I wanted to talk to her.
"He was your foster father, right? That's why you said he was pretending, he was different at home" I ask as I do not even look to her. In the corner of my eye I see her stopping briefly, but she continued paint soon "He was"
"And he was abusive?" I say in much softer tone. It didn't really sound like a question actually. It sounded like I just told her a fact, about her own life. All I hear back from her is silence. I turn to look at her. She was biting on her lip, her features had changed to more nervous ones. What many parents don't understand, is that sometimes silence is also an answer. Most of the time, it tells you just how right you were about something. I didn't want to be right about this, thou. This is one of the rare times, that I wanted to be wrong. I wanted there to be a different explanation, but sadly, there wasn't.
"I know you probably don't want to talk about it right now, but if you ever do, want to talk about anything, I want you to know that I'm here for you, okay?"
"You are right. I don't want to talk about it. So how about we don't!" she said back in more harsher tone, then went to the paint tray once again. As she rolled the paint roll in the paint she added "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh. I just don't like talking about it"
"So um…why light green?" I change the subject to keep the conversation going. I watch her walk back to the wall, she shrugs at first "Mom picked it out. She likes the color"
"What color did you want to paint it?"
"Also something light…" she says back "Yellow maybe, I think of it as happiness" She takes a small pause and then adds much quieter "I know it sounded dumb"
"No, it wasn't dumb at all. I think of the color yellow the same way." I say back instantly, she briefly looks to me. I see a small smile on her lips, just for a millisecond. But it was there and I saw it. She was slowly getting softer with me.
"Did you know that the green color is the color of healing? It is calm and it is said that it restores balance. It is peaceful and relaxing color that also gives a spark to your inspiration" Callie gives me back a confused look "Mariana told me, she did some reading before the last remodeling of her and Frankie's room"
"Ah…that explains it" Callie chuckles back lightly. I would call this a progress. A small step right direction.
"By the look how you are remodeling this, I guess you won't be parking cars in here, right?" I said looking around the garage
"No" Callie looks back to all the boxes and cabinets in the middle of the room "Half of that will be tossed out. Mom wants to make it in a second living room of some sorts. Maybe a guest room. She said she will get a Novus table, maybe even one old arcade game like Pac man"
"That sounds interesting." I really like the thought of a room to just relax and kick back " We cleared our garage out few weeks back too. It was full of old boxes and stuff we hadn't used in years. But, as we all were just big softies, we just couldn't throw it all out. There were so many memories in those things"
"Let me guess, Brandon wanted to turn the garage into his practice space so he wouldn't have to play with his headphones on, Jesus wanted it to be turned into a gym area with a boxing bag, Mariana wanted it for her dancing practice, Jude wanted it to be turned into a fort like living room and Frankie wanted it to be turned into a big princess doll house"
"Very good!" I chuckle "Any guess what Stef planed on making it into?" I walk to paint tray to get the color again on my paint roll. It doesn't take long for Callie to answer that one
"She would want a big couch, big TV screen, sound proof walls and doors, little mini fridge – basically a space where she could hide from in laws and her own kids when they drive her crazy" Now Callie walks back to the paint tray "You on the other hand, you wanted to turn it into a place everyone could use. Little bit of everything. "
"You sure you don't live with us? I could swear in some alternative universe you are our kid" I smirk back at her as she basically got everything correctly, she even got me right.
Monday morning didn't exactly turn out the way I was expecting it to turn out. When I pulled up to the school, everything seemed normal. But when I was walking to my office, the last hall, everything changed.
In the hall, I met bunch of other parents. They were all discussing the substitute teacher. I heard his name being said many times before they even all noticed me walking up. I stopped in my feet in the hall, looking at all of them.
Brandon's friend Aiden's mom, Caroline, noticed me first. She walked up to me "Is it true!?"
"What is?" I ask confused as the other worried parents turned to me
"That he has a criminal record! That you are allowing a criminal teach our kids!?" my mouth dropped. I was speechless. I had no idea where they had gotten that sort of information. Was this Amy's doing, did she used her cop resources to do this? To riot other parents? Was this her plan all along?
"How can you allow this man to teach at Anchor Beach!?" it was like a riot, one parent over spoke other every second "Our kids are no longer safe here!" I kept looking at the angry parent crowd and I kept hearing one allegation after another.
Amy POV
I stretched in the chair, yawning loudly. 3 hours of paperwork and 4 paper cuts later, I was exhausted. And it was still just barely lunch time. My hand hurt from writing, my legs were numb from sitting. I hate desk jobs. What I like is being out there, in the streets, protecting people. Arresting bad guys, making the streets safer one day at a time, one criminal at a time
"I hate paperwork" I say to Stef who is still writing her report. She put a dot in her file, then tossed the pen on her desk, closes the file she was working on. Then she leans back, takes off of her glasses and rubs her eyes
"I know what you mean. I don't understand how Lena can sit at her desk all day long." She look to me holding her glasses in her left "Or how I made it thought school, sitting at a desk for 8 hours…gosh, I can't even imagine how Jesus is feeling every day!"
"I can't imagine being back at school. Ugh….i hated high school Thankfully that is long gone! Would you want to go back to high school?"
"Ha! And question my sexuality again? No thank you!" she chuckles back. I take my wallet "You want anything from the good old vending machine?" I ask as I stand up. I was getting hungry so I figured a sandwich would be nice. "No, thanks. Lena is supposed to come with take out soon." She rubbed her hands together excited
"Lucky you" I smirk at her and walk to the vending machine. When I return to the desk with my lunch, Lena is already there. Stef has some take out noodles in front of her. I wanted to comment on the food but Lena was first to speak
"I need to talk to you" she said and next thing I know I am standing in the lounge room with Lena. She looked pretty angry at me, but I have no idea what this is about
"Did you really had to call other parents? I got like 10 angry calls and more than 15 pissed off parents in my office. Amy, there are steps we could have taken, and I would have helped you! Calling other parents and worry them, that's not how you should have handled it!"
"Whoa, whoa…Lena" I put my hand on my chest "I didn't call no parents. All I did when I left your office with Callie on Friday, I filed an official complaint. So they would check this guy out. Investigate him, that's it. I didn't say anything to other parents. Besides, I only know 4 other parents from Anchor Beach and 3 of those parents are in this building – you, Stef and Mike. And the fourth one is Mackenzie's mom, but I haven't talked to her in like 2 weeks or something."
"You weren't the one who told the other parents?
"No, trust me. I know law and I know that making a big mess like that, it's never good. Parents often tend to over react on things and we are over protective sometimes. I didn't call anyone. I wanted this to pass quietly. I don't know how they found out, maybe the parent board somehow found out, or some kid over heard the argument in Sanchez office Friday. All I did – I filed a complaint so he would be investigated." Lena's looks softened after that statement.
"We don't really know how to handle it" Lena admitted "Nothing like this has ever happened. The parents keep saying that he has a criminal record and now they want all the teachers investigated…they all threaten to take the kids out of the school...it's a chaos"
"Well, you can tell them he doesn't actually have a criminal record. Cops have visited him few times on domestic calls but no arrest has ever taken place, therefore, he doesn't actually have a record." i reply back and I instantly get a look form Lena. She looked to me unimpressed that I have snooped on this guy, using my cops connections
"I checked him out when Callie told me first time about him. I needed to know, Stef would do the same thing"
"Oh, I know what Stef would do. You don't have to tell me about her." She said and we both glanced out the lounge room window to Stef and out desk. Just when we looked, some of the food fell in her lap. Lena chuckles lightly and looked back to me, with much more softer features on her face "I'm sorry that I thought that you would do that. We were worried and stressed even before the other parents came. This whole situation is not easy at all and—"
"Apology accepted" I smile to her and she stops her little rambling
Lena picked up her bag and sat on the chair by Stef's desk, placing her bag in her lap. I sit back in my chair ready to get back to my lunch. I place the files aside so I don't drop some food on it, or spill the water
Lena turns back to me when I was ready to take a big bite out of the sandwich "Why did you chose the color green?" she asks me taking me by surprise "The garage! Why did you pick green?"
I lower my sandwich down "H-How…do you know….about the garage?" I ask her slowly, raising my eyebrows
"I was there. Saturday! I helped Callie paint the walls and ceilings!"
"When?" I ask as I had no information about her being at our home
"Around 11. Callie said you were at work! I left around 3. " She read my face and then added "By the look on your face, Callie didn't tell you I stopped by…"
"That sneaky girl! I KNEW SHE CHEATED!" I said and put the sandwich back down and reach for my phone
"Cheated? What…are you talking about?" Lena asks me as I unlock the phone "I bet her that she wouldn't finish painting the walls, the ceiling and the laths around the garage by the time I get back, without any new daub on her cloth or floor! Simply saying, it had to look like a pro did it. I lost 50 dollars. You helped her – that's cheating!"
I look at the time. I knew her school shedule by hear by now. At right now, it was her break time
The phone rings 3 times till she picks up, I don't even bother with small talk "You cheated! You will need to deliver breakfast in bed next weekend and I will want my money back!"
"What? What are you talking about? I didn't cheat! It is painted, isn't it? No daub on my clothes or on the floor! It was a fair win!"
"Lena is sitting next to me right now, she said she helped you! That's cheating and you know it!"
"Oh…" she was caught in a lie and she knew that.
"Write it down…i will want 2 waffles, two eggs from both sides, lemonade, and ice cream with cherry on top. On Sunday I will want 3 pancakes with strawberry jam, 4 slices of bacon on the side, apple and a banana!"
"We don't have fruit at home. You ate the last apple this morning after I took the last banana!"
"Then I suggest you buy the apple and banana and the cherry with the 50 dollars! You can keep the change after. Now go back to class!"
"It's lunch break"
"Then eat healthy food! No soda or chips! Bye, love you"
I hang up still smiling, both Lena and Stef looked to me with their mouths open, confused look in the eyes "What!? It was her idea to bet. It's all fair, she shook on it!" I say to the two woman, pick up my sandwich and take a bite.
"We should bet with the kids that they can't clean up the house" Stef says surprising Lena "What? No, honey, we are not placing bets." Lena reasoned back
"Why not! it is clearly working on Callie. Amy got breakfast in bed AND the garage is painted! Without any daub!"
"Babe, we are not one kid family! You could maybe bet with Jesus at that, but if the 5 of them go against us, they would clearly win, and you would lose way more money that you had initially thought, because Mariana would somehow made you raise it up to 50 dollars to each of them, because you are one big softy. And that Stef, that would be 200 dollars spent too much just to get a clean house!"
"We don't get to have any fun! Ugh…why do we have 5 kids!? Stef pouted as she ate the food, the take out Lena brought her
"Because you have a big heart that could only be filled with 5 other little hearts running around our home, driving you crazy all the time" Lena reminded her lovingly, Stef looks to me, basically asking me if I think the same, I nod back chewing
Callie POV
Tuesday
The school was over for me, and right now I was just sitting outside in the school backyard, by the tables, waiting for Mackenzie to come back out. She had run in to bathroom quickly, before we head out to the movie theater to catch some comedy.
Thankfully, I had no physics class on Monday and on Tuesday, so I missed the great opportunity of seeing Mr. Malloc pissed off because mom filed a complaint against him. For two days, waking the halls I was looking out for him. Even if I saw him all the way down the hall, I changed my route dramatically avoiding him at any cost. So far, it had worked 10/10 times.
All the students noticed parents wanting to talk to VP and Principal about him on Monday morning. There was apparently a rumor going around that he has a criminal record. Technically, I don't think he has ever been arrested, therefore, he doesn't have a criminal record. He has had some few visits from cops, that's it.
I was looking out to the sea, just thinking of someplace I could take Jude once this beg mess is finally going to be over. I wanted it to be someplace special, but right now, nothing really came to me. After some 5 minutes of waiting for Mackenzie to come back, a shadow came over me.
"I thought you disappeared on me Mackenz" I said standing up and turning to the person. Shivers run over my spine instantly.
"Miss Scott…we meet again" Mr. Malloc said grinning at me with his devilish smile
