Zara continued to walk around, answering questions and giving advice to the students. She glanced at the clock.
Five more minutes.
She wished she had five more hours.
She just wasn’t ready to go home yet.
As she made her way to the front of the classroom, the door swung open. “Mr. Nelson, you’re—oh. Mom? Dad?”
Sure enough, it was her parents who came in, followed by Mr. Nelson.
“Hey, honey,” Mom greeted. “How’s class? I hope you don’t mind us dropping in.”
“Not at all.” She wiped her hands down her jeans and approached them. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course, mija,” Dad said. “But your mom had business with the principal, and I thought I’d tag along and then we could come see you.”
“Oh right. The charity auction.”
“Thank you again for all your efforts, Mrs. Chura, Mr. Chura,” Mr. Nelson said. “We need those funds badly, otherwise, these kids won’t be able to come here after school anymore.”
“It’s our pleasure,” her mother assured him. “We need to keep the arts alive, right Robby?”
“Yes. Someone has to nurture that young talent. You’re doing a great job, Mr. Nelson.”
“Thank you, you’re very kind. I’m glad Zara decided to come back, even for a short while.” Mr. Nelson shot her a hopeful expression. “Maybe longer?”
“Well—”
“Mija,” her dad interrupted. “If you’re almost done here, could you help me unload some paintings from the car?”
“Paintings? I thought those got picked up a couple days ago?”
“Oh, these are different paintings,” he said with a nervous laugh.
Zara narrowed her eyes at her father.
Something was up.
She never used her powers on her family, but she didn’t need them now as her father could be transparent as glass.
Was he hiding something?
“Zara?” Mom said. “Anything the matter?”
“What? Oh, nothing.” Maybe she was just being paranoid. “Um, sure, Papá, I can help you. Let me finish up here.”
“It’s good, I can do that,” Mr. Nelson said. “Go and help your father.”
“Sure.”
After she said goodbye to the kids and promised she’d return the next day, Zara followed her father out of the classroom.
“Anything you’d like to tell me?”
“Me?” He put on an innocent expression. “No, nothing to tell.” Looping his arm through hers, he tugged her along.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Since he was acting so suspiciously, Zara was tempted to use her powers to check his intentions, but she knew it wouldn’t work. As her father, she knew he would only have good intentions towards her.
