3. Skylar

Stepping through the doors to the elementary school I attended as a kid is like being transported back in time. Everything looks the same, yet so different. It seems smaller than it did when I was a student.

“Ms. Barren, I”m Leslie, your receptionist. I have everyone in a classroom ready to meet you, but let me show you to your office first. That way you can drop off your things. Do you need anything else before you meet the teachers?”

“No, I think I have everything I need. Thank you.”

“My pleasure. It’s going to be so nice to have someone younger working here, most of the teachers have been here for over twenty years. I’m the odd man out. How did you find this little town? I”m only here because my best friend insisted I move here with him.”

“I grew up here.” I grimace. “Definitely never planned on coming back. Who’s your friend?”

“Ollie Graverson.”

“Oh my gosh! Ollie and I were really good friends in high school. Jeez, I can only imagine the stories he’s told you about me.”

I drop my things on the big wooden desk in my new office and follow Leslie back to the classroom she gathered the teachers into.

“Wait… You’re that Skylar?”

I shift uncomfortably on my feet. I wasn’t the model child, teen, or student back in my day. I had more babysitters quit within twenty minutes than my mother could count. I had this need in me to act out. Being the pastor’s daughter in a small town made me want to break every rule and expectation, I didn’t like people telling me I had to act a certain way. I never believed I should be better than everyone else because Dad stood behind the pulpit on Sundays instead of sitting in a pew.

If you told me I couldn’t do something, you could guarantee I’d do it tenfold. Almost everything my peers got in trouble for was something I dared them to do. Nothing was too big or too scary for me, I was an adrenaline junkie at my core.

Tucker was my partner in crime with Colt at our sides. The three of us got in more trouble than all the other kids combined in this town. I”m sure the residents were happy when I left and shocked when Colt became a cop. I wonder what happened to Tucker…

“Maybe… I’ll neither confirm nor deny… but I”m sure all those teachers in there will be all too happy to tell you all about my childhood.” I point into the classroom, a sinking feeling filling the pit of my stomach.

I clearly didn’t think this through. These people will have no respect for the pastor’s rebel child coming back to take over their elementary school. I blow out a deep breath then take a step into the room. Conversations halt mid-sentence as all eyes dart in my direction. I smooth down the pencil skirt I”m wearing and hold my chin high. I”m not the girl they remember, she died a long time ago.

“Skylar!” Miss Gilbert, the librarian jumps out of her chair, rushing over and wrapping me in a warm hug.

She was one of the only people in this town who ever liked me. I”m sure her inner wild child is the only reason. We used to find her smoking behind the cherry trees in the back of the school, she turned a blind eye to our shenanigans, and we kept our mouths shut. It worked out nicely for us.

“Miss Gilbert, it’s so nice to see you again.”

“Listen to you sounding all proper and shit. What happened to the girl I remember?”

“I think she got lost when I left.” I give her a sad smile.

“Well, let’s find her again because I miss that firecracker.” She pats me on the shoulder.

I smile, I hope I do find a piece of who I used to be. Not because I want to go back to being the firecracker these people remember, but because I want to feel whole again.

“As most of you know, this is Skylar Barren, our new principal!” Leslie beams from my side. I like her already; she’s going to be fun to work with. And at least I’ll have two people on my side. “I’m excited to have Skylar here and will be showing her around the school and how we do things this week. If you have any issues, please direct them to me while Skylar gets settled into her new position.”

I blink in surprise. I didn’t expect Leslie to be the gatekeeper to me, but that could be good. I think some of these older teachers might be more hesitant to get snarky with Leslie, while I don’t believe for a second, they’ll bite their tongues where I”m concerned.

“I can only imagine what the biggest troublemaker this town has ever seen is going to be like as a principal,” Mrs. Goods mutters loud enough for everyone to hear. The teachers who were here when I was a kid either laugh or give me a sympathetic smile. At least some of them realize I’ve grown up and aren’t the same girl they taught.

“Well, Mrs. Goods, I”m glad to have your vote of confidence. I met your wonderful sheriff and I believe he was also one of the ‘biggest troublemakers’ from my day as well.” I use air quotes just to piss her off. “I plan on doing my best in this position and I expect a professional level of respect from all of you. I don’t care if you are for or against me working here, because I”m not going anywhere anytime soon. No matter what your opinion of me as a child or teen was, I”m here and I”m running this school. Feel free to take up any issues you have, with me or my actions from over a decade ago, with the school board. I”m sure they’ll be as thrilled as I am for you to waste all of our time with your juvenile pettiness.”

I give her a tightlipped smile before scanning the faces of everyone else. Some have wide eyes, others have their mouths hanging open, but quite a few are grinning like I just won some unspoken competition with Mrs. Goods.

“Now, if any of you have real concerns for me, please come to my office and we can have an actual discussion like adults and not snicker behind people’s backs. I won”t tolerate disrespect. This is my school now, it’d behoove you to remember that.”

I spin on my heels and walk back to my office, dropping into the leather chair behind my large desk. I plant my elbows on my desk, letting my face fall into my palms and groan. This is going to be awful. I don’t know why I thought I could do this.

“She’s a bitch and everyone knows it.” Leslie plops down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. I peek through my fingers at her, letting out another groan.

“I knew it was a bad idea to come back here. They hated me back then, there’s no reason for them to like me now.”

“They last saw you a decade ago and it’s been about two since they taught you. If they haven’t gotten over whatever you did in twenty years, that’s their problem, not yours.”

“You don’t know what I did.” I drop my head onto the desk with a loud thud.

“Well, then fill me in!” Leslie scoots to the edge of her seat and watches me carefully.

“I gave Mrs. Goods an apple I knew was full of worms. She used to examine her apple before she took a bite of it, but once she took the first bite, she never glanced at it again. I let her take one bite of a good apple, then switched it with a rotten one full of worms. I got sent to the principal’s office and she asked for me to be removed from her class, I wasn’t. I gave Mrs. Meyers chocolate candies full of laxatives when she told us we’d be getting a pop quiz at the end of the day… She had to go home within twenty minutes and we got to play games the rest of the day because they couldn’t find a sub. Miss Gilbert, we tried countless times to get. She always figured out what we were doing, but she never got us in trouble. She’d always say better luck next time… She was always my favorite.”

“Jeez, Skylar, no wonder Mrs. Goods and Mrs. Meyers hate you! I think they need to get over it, but still.” She laughs and I can”t help but join her. “I wish we could still pull pranks on them without getting fired.”

I sit up and stare at my new partner in crime. I have a feeling Leslie and I are going to become best friends.

“Oh my gosh! You’re horrible! I can”t even outlive what I did in elementary school and you’re tempting me with doing more as an adult? Colt would lock my ass up in a heartbeat if he wasn’t so scared of me.”

“Sheriff Brown is scared of you?” She blinks at me with wide eyes.

“Ugh, please tell me you don’t call him Sheriff Brown,” I groan.

“Uh… ok. I don’t?”

“Oh, sweetie, you do! You must inflate his ego so much.”

“He’s never spoken to me.”

I laugh, Colton would be all over her in a second. I freeze when I realize Leslie has gone completely silent.

“Wait… Seriously? He’s never spoken to you? How? Why?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugs, glancing away.

“But you’re gorgeous, like I kinda hate you right now because you’re so pretty. But you’re really nice and I think you just became my best friend in this crappy town.”

“Aww!” She clasps her hands over her chest. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me. No one’s ever hated me for being pretty.” She rolls her eyes before aiming a smirk my way.

“Well, I’ll start the ‘I hate gorgeous Leslie’ group, we’ll see how many members I can recruit by the end of the week.”

“I think I”m gonna like you, Skylar Barren.” A slow smile spreads across her face.

“I think I”m gonna like you too, Leslie…”

“Jameson, like the whiskey.”

I snort out a laugh, shaking my head. Leslie and I are going to take this town by storm.

“Alright, Leslie Jameson, let’s be best friends.”