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Chapter 4

Ru walked down the hall toward her classroom, Cutter at her side. She knew he had to walk that way, too, but she still felt a little awkward. “So… she’s something.”

She glanced up at him. Even though she was fairly tall for a woman at five-foot-ten, she still couldn’t get over how much she had to tip her head to look him in the eye, which she realized she should still probably avoid. “That’s Jane.” A wise woman at church had once told her, “If you can’t find something nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” and that was one lessen Ru had taken to heart. She really hated talking badly about others, even when Jane deserved it.

“Well, I’m hopeful she will let you share your ideas.” They were almost to their classrooms, and he seemed to slow a bit. He had his hands pushed down into the pockets of his khakis.

Ru slowed as well. “If she does, it’ll be thanks to you,” she replied, finally stopping outside of her classroom door.

“Nah, I didn’t do anything.”

He had a glimmer in his blue eyes, and Ru felt a smile spread across her face before she could even try to stop it. “You have no idea,” is all she could think of to say as she turned to go into her classroom.

Suddenly, Ru realized her door was closed. She looked back down the hall in Jane’s direction, thinking perhaps she’d been the one to close it, and bit her tongue, the temptation to let a curse word pass her lips overwhelming. She never swore at school though, even when the kids weren’t there. Still, this took the cake.

“Let me get that for you,” Cutter said. “Your hands are full.”

Even though she was only holding a small stack of papers, Ru let him use his badge to open her classroom door. Since they were on the same team, their badges would work on each other’s rooms. “Thank you,” she said, walking into a dark classroom.

“No problem.” He quickly flipped the switch on the wall, illuminating what would soon be a fully-decorated, ready-to-go fourth grade learning environment, even though it was hard to tell at the moment since most of Ru’s materials were currently in boxes at the back of the room.

“See you at the meeting,” Cutter called as he propped her door open and made his way across the hallway to his own room.

“See ya.” It was too late. There’s no way he’d heard her. He was already gone. But Ru had no idea what to say. How had he known she’d need him to prop the door and turn on the lights? While there was a chance he was just being polite, it seemed odd to her.

She took her stack of papers over to her desk and began to make four sets, one for each of them, and reflected on what had just happened. Not only had Cutter mysteriously managed to fix a copy machine she’d absolutely obliterated, he’d helped her out with Jane, and then prevented her from permanently locking herself out or blasting a fluorescent light bulb to smithereens. Was it possible he knew something about her freakish curse?

She’d heard there were other accident-prone people like her in the world, though she’d never met anyone like herself. Occasionally, she’d do a Google search which would have stories of people chronically destroying electronic devices like she did, but it seemed fairly rare to her. And even if he’d known someone like her before, that wouldn’t explain his ability to fix the copier.

Before Ru had drawn any conclusions, she looked up to see Candice’s familiar face coming through her classroom door. “Hey, girl! How are you?” her bestie called, and Ru crossed the room in a flash to hug her. “You look fabulous. Did you lighten your hair?”

“No,” Ru laughed. “Just the sun.” Her hair was almost platinum blonde, and Candice was always telling her how jealous she was since hers was what she referred to as “mousy.” Still, Candice was gorgeous, and Ru couldn’t believe some lucky guy hadn’t proposed years ago. She seemed to always go for the wrong type of guy, though, and as Candice began to tell her about how her last few weeks had been since they’d seen each other, Ru’s mind wandered across the hall. Maybe Cutter and Candice would make a good couple.

“So anyway, the moral of the story is, don’t go to an amusement park in the summer!” Candice laughed, and Ru joined in, not sure she’d caught even half of the story. “So what have you been up to?”

“Oh, you know. Same old same old,” Ru replied, backing up so she was sitting on the corner of her desk. “Mostly working on school stuff and reading.”

Candice made a face like Ru had admitted her life was the most boring one in existence. “Are Lady Tremaine and the step-sisters leaving you alone?”

Ru felt a pang in her stomach at the mention of her mother and sisters. “Mostly,” she said. “How’s Barney?” Candice loved to talk about her pet poodle, and Ru was glad she’d taken the bait and changed the topic of conversation. The last thing she wanted to talk about was her family.

Candice prattled on about Barney for a good five minutes before she said, “I guess I should get back to my room. I have so much to do.”

“I know.” Ru glanced at the clock. They had about an hour until the staff meeting started. After that, they’d also meet as a team. She wouldn’t have much of a chance to work on her classroom unless she stayed late, which was likely what it would take. The rest of the week would probably be full of staff development. Why didn’t district administration ever allow them time to get their rooms set up?

“Have you met the new teacher yet?” Candice whispered, stopping short of the door.

“I have,” Ru replied. A smile spread across her face, and she watched Candice’s eyes enlarge. “I think… we’ve got a shot at this one.”

“Yeah?” Candice obviously knew she was implying Jane might not have an ally this year. “Is she nice?”

Over Candice’s shoulder, Ru saw Cutter walk out into the hallway. Her smile somehow managed to widen even further. She was excited to see her friend’s expression as she took him in for the first time. “Yeah, I think so,” she replied.

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