“You can have the labs. Full access on the Wednesday you requested. In chemistry, too.”
Not for the first time, Eva was glad it was Alisha accompanying her, and not Lily. “Perfect.” Eva already had some ideas of what she could do to spark the interest of the kids they were taking along with them.
“So you can sneak away one night and tell me all about your love-life woes.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Eva was looking forward to her reward for making it through another year of teaching. It was the perfect thing to kick-off her summer—returning to her roots and catching up with those she’d missed.
“I’ll let you get back to work,” Kate said. “I just wanted to give you the news.”
“You know you don’t have to have an excuse to call though, right? If you ever need anything, I’m here.”
“Hey, now,” Kate said, and Eva could hear the smile in her voice. “Don’t you go soft on me. I won’t be able to cope.”
“Fuck off.”
Kate laughed. “Much better. I’ll speak to you soon.”
“Take care.” Eva hung up and set her phone aside. At least she had something good looming on the horizon. A welcome break from life at Greenfield, and some much-needed distance from Lily Cross.
Eva just needed to make it there first.
Three more months. Three more months, and Eva could try and put this whole unfortunate thing behind her.
Chapter 17
Lily walked into the teacher’slounge smothering a yawn with the back of her hand. She had a parent to call, their number scrawled on the Post-it Note stuck to the back of her notebook. Speaking to parents or guardians was a necessary part of the job, but it wasn’t Lily’s favorite—especially when the parents had requested it. More often than not, they wanted to pick a fight, because there was simply no way their precious little darling could have done something wrong.
Sighing, Lily picked up the receiver of the phone—there was no way she was calling a problematic father on her cell—and punched in the number.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is that Mr. Kane?”
“Speaking.”
“This is Miss Cross calling from Greenfield High. I received an e-mail saying you wanted to talk to me?”
“Ah, yes.” Mr. Kane sounded like Lily had expected from the tone of the e-mail—haughty. “About Kayden’s report card. His grades in chemistry are low.”
A fact Lily knew full well, considering she’d been the one to fill it out. “Yes, they are. We’ve moved onto a new topic, and—”
“What are you going to do about it?” Mr. Kane asked, cutting her off, and Lily gritted her teeth.
Her job? She’d had too long a week for this. How was it only Wednesday? “Kayden is struggling with the math part of class. I’ve offered him help, and the opportunity to come and see me after school for extra tutoring, neither of which he seems to be interested in.”
Kayden wasn’t interested in much, in truth—unless it was dicking around with his friends or trying to flirt with the girl sitting behind him.
“That’s unacceptable.”
“I agree,” Lily said, and Mr. Kane let out a huff. “But there’s not much I can do if he won’t accept my help.”
The lounge door opened, and Lily smiled as Mei stepped inside, a box of Pop-Tarts tucked under her arm.
“All right?” Mei mouthed.
Lily mimed lifting a gun to her temple, and Mei snorted.
“You should be doing more,” Mr. Kane argued. “Make it more engaging for him. He’s a smart kid.”
