AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Um…no.’Theyhad been busy exploring other things.
‘It’slike he’s replaced human relationships with busywork.’Shesighed. ‘Iinvited him to my thirtieth birthday party a few months ago, and did he come?Ofcourse not.EverytimeIasked him, he’d sayyes, yes, yesand then on the night…nothing.Mygirlfriend is a psychiatrist and says that he should be in therapy.Hewas, for a long time.Buthe stopped a couple years ago.Seemsto think he’s cured, if that’s even possible.’
Hergaze caught on a sign outside the bus. ‘Thisis our stop!’TakingJess’shand, she pulled her up, and they exited. ‘Theschool is just up here,’ she said, approaching a tree-lined road.
Jesswas still processing everything thatElodiehad told her aboutGabriel.Itwas a lot to take in.Forone thing, it confirmed to her that she shouldn’t expect anything from him—also known as the number one rule in the one-night-stand handbook.ButElodie’srevelations gaveJessa strange sense of…pride?Pridethat she, a primary school teacher fromLondon, had sparked some life in him and driven this reserved man wild in bed.
Shehad done that.Thesense of power was new and a tiny bit intoxicating.
Theyentered the school grounds through a parking lot and made their way towards an immaculate green playing field.Whoeverthe groundskeeper was must have trained on a golf course.Theschool had carved out space for itself on a long stretch of land sandwiched between a motorway and an avenue.Butthe hum of cars was drowned out by aDJplaying a selection of that summer’s pop anthems.
Alongthe edge of the playing field curved a succession of functional and modern school buildings.Comparedto the independent school where she worked, this one had been built this century and had masses more space.Herschool enjoyed great facilities, but not a lot of room.Thekids had to walk ten minutes to get to their fields.Here, it was much more self-contained.
Colourfulpicnic blankets sat like patchwork on the field and some of the adults were manning a station of barbecues.Theyounger children who hadn’t seen each other all summer ran around like pack animals whereas the older kids sat in circles far away from their parents.
Arotund, middle-aged woman with dark hair and glasses approached.Elodieintroduced her as theHeadofSchooland added, ‘Thisis my brother’s friend,Jess.She’san elementary teacher inEngland.’
‘Ah,’ said the woman with genuine interest. ‘Wheredo you teach?’
Jesstold her and the woman made an impressed face. ‘IsJohnShepherdstill the head there?’
‘Actually, yes.Wow!Doyou know him?’
Thewoman’s mouth twisted in a half-smile. ‘Justtell him thatAnnaWilkinssaid hi.’Shewinked andJesswondered if there was a story there.Theindependent school world was small and everybody seemed to know each other, especially at the head level.Suddenlyshe had a vision of all the heads of all the schools meeting at a conference that was more like summer camp, with all the usual summer camp shenanigans.Shegiggled.
Elodiegrabbed her hand and pulled her away.
‘Sheseems nice,’ saidJess.
‘Oh, she’s great.Ireally love working here.’
Thenext few hours passed in a fever of small talk with various parents who loved her accent, and sitting on the grasswithElodiewhile she toldJessfunny teaching stories.Towardsthe end,ElodietookJessinto the school to show her the classroom whereElodieworked.Itlooked like…a classroom.Awell-stocked one, but a classroom all the same, with pithy motivational sayings on the wall that said things like, ‘Thefuture of the world is in this room today.’
‘Iknow,Iknow,’ saidElodiewhen she caughtJesslooking at it. ‘ButAmericanslove that kind of rah-rah shit.’
Jesssmiled. ‘No, it’s great.Ithink we could use a bit more of that in our school.’
WhileElodiewent to use the toilet,Jesswaited in the hallway, staring out of the windows facing the playing field.Somefamilies were packing up their blankets, getting ready to do whatever people inParisdid on aSundayafternoon.Jessplanned to head to theEiffelTowerand just walk around.Shehad read somewhere that walking was the thoroughest way to see a city.Shewished she’d brought her running clothes with her; she would have been able to see twice as much in the same time.Butshe had packed for a proposal, not a marathon.
Arustling sound behind a nearby pillar drew her attention.Pokingher head around it, she saw a boy—maybe seven years old—reading a picture book.
‘Oh, hello there,’ saidJess.
Theboy startled, closed the book, and held it to his chest.Hepressed himself back into the wall.Jesscrouched down to his level, but made sure to maintain distance from him, not to crowd his space.
‘It’sall right.I’mJess,’ she said.Thechild just looked at her, brown eyes wide and blinking.
‘That’sa great book you’re reading.’ShelSilversteinpoems.Asan author he wasn’t as well known in theUK, but she had come across one of his stories in the library and loved the wayhe played with language.ShereadTheGivingTreeto her class every year.
Loweringher voice, she recited a poem ofSilverstein’sabout two people stuck together who couldn’t stand each other or agree on anything.However, the moral was to look on the bright side because they might have been a threesome instead of a twosome.Shefinished, and a tentative smile played at the child’s lips.Hecovered his mouth with his hand and laughed without making any noise.
‘Well, that was something to behold,’Elodiesaid, joiningJess.Shestood up.Lookingdown at the child,Elodiesaid, ‘Hello,Ichiro,Ithink your parents are looking for you.Shallwe go and find them?’Sheheld out her hand and the child reluctantly got to his feet.IgnoringElodie’shand, he slipped his intoJess’sinstead.
‘Oh!’ she said surprised and delighted at the same time.Sheloved making connections with children.
Theydescended the stairs together and returned to the field whereIchirowas reunited with his mother.Elodiesaid her goodbyes to her colleagues and the parents, and they walked back towards the tree-lined avenue.
‘You’regood,’ saidElodie, cutting a glance towardsJess. ‘Youhave a beautiful manner with children.’Shepointed behind her. ‘Ichirohas selective mutism.Apparently, he talks fine at home, but never at school.’
