2. Jolene’s Return

2

I stirred on the blanket, eyes fluttering open as I realized just how warm I'd become, a sheen of sweat covering most of my skin.

"Ahh fuck," I cursed. Not only had I slept the morning away, but I had a feeling I'd have a sunburn manifesting by the end of the day. I should have known better than to not bring sunscreen with me. Tanning my pale ass skin had never been possible, despite my best efforts.

Gathering up my things, I marched back across the lawn, noting the handful of cars in the side parking lot. I hadn't realized I had been that tired. Even the sounds of some of the administrative staff arriving hadn't roused me from my midday nap.

Guess I should have slept in anyway.

I smiled as I spotted a bright red VW Bug with cat bumper stickers in the lot. Jolene was back from break!

I hustled over to the carriage house to drop my stuff back in my room, which was a quaint little space. All one large room, with a kitchenette to the right of the door, and the bathroom in the far right corner. There was a generous fireplace, which I put to good use, on the left-hand side of the room, and I had arranged my bed to sit between the fireplace and a lovely window seat built into the bay window.

Setting my things down, I ticked off my to-do list in my head. I needed to iron all my shirts and slacks, tidy the kitchen, and I still had to finalize my syllabus and get prints at the admin office the next day, but I was too excited to reconnect with one of the few people who had welcomed me to Montgomery.

Jolene had argued that I could just reuse the same curriculum the last history teacher had used for decades, but I disagreed. As the youngest faculty member Montgomery had ever employed (and probably the poorest), I had something to prove.

The other faculty looked at me with pity, thinking me naive and green, but although that may have been true, it didn't mean that I wanted to ascribe to their same level of work ethic. This job mattered to me more than they could ever know because they weren't saddled with crippling debt. Most of them had families to go home to and lives they cherished, but I was still trying to figure things out.

You're only twenty-eight , I had to remind myself, you have plenty of time.

Swapping my old T-shirt for a Montgomery Prep polo, lest anyone give me shit for dressing too casually, I scurried off to the admin building to greet Jolene before returning to my lesson planning, cringing at the mere thought of the mess of documents needed for the process strewn across the floor of the lounge above my room.

Surprisingly, the chill of the usually dank main building was a welcome relief from the oppressive humidity outside. I braced my hand against the stone wall as I descended the main staircase to the administration offices in the bowels of the castle.

My first year at Montgomery had been kind of miserable. The faculty ostracized me, the students tried to take advantage of my new position at every turn, and I was constantly aware of what I was to them: an outsider.

But Jolene's infectious cheer and unwavering encouragement were some of the reasons I had made it through. The others were the free room and board, and the salary, much heftier than public schools, which allowed me to send money home to my mom to help with the mortgage and make more aggressive student loan payments.

"Jolene?" I called out when I reached the bottom of the steps, surprised to find the offices mostly empty.

I shivered at the thought of being alone down there, as the lower level had always given off an ominous vibe reminiscent of something out of a horror movie. Curiously, the offices didn't bother me as much during the summer, perhaps because of the sunny atmosphere outside or the longer, brighter days, but even so, I didn't want to linger.

Jolene Reynolds was Headmaster Winston's executive assistant and school receptionist. In her forties and a little more than kooky, she commuted to Montgomery because they didn't allow animals on campus.

I wasn't sure what Jolene's current cat count was, but she fostered occasionally, so the number was always fluctuating.

While she was the butt of many spinster jokes on campus—she handmade seasonal and themed sweaters for herself, after all—Jolene was very sweet, just a bit of an odd duck.

"Jolene?" I called again.

Her head popped out of the headmaster's office down the hall. A smile brightened her face as she realized it was me calling for her.

"Violet!" she cheered as she barreled down the dim hallway toward me. The force of her almost knocked me back. "I missed you so much!"

"Me too." I grinned, returning the embrace.

"I wasn't sure if you were around today; you missed lunch." She righted the hot pink, hand-knit cardigan around her shoulders. A felt cat on one side of the sweater was just out of reach of the ball of yarn on the other.

"I fell asleep reading on the lawn." I pouted, still a bit put out by the lost time.

"I've got so much to tell you!" She paused, taking a look around to make sure we were alone before continuing. "Did you hear that Mr. Jennings decided to suddenly retire!?"

"Really?" I leaned against the front reception desk. "I assumed he'd die here, like my predecessor." The thought was morbid, but so many of the school's teachers were absolutely ancient and had no plans of going anywhere, so it wouldn't have been a long shot.

Jennings was one of two English teachers employed at Montgomery, quite well tenured, and a good friend to Headmaster Winston. "Do you know why?" I wondered aloud.

"Nope!" Jolene's eyes lit up with delight at the gossip. She was such a wealth of information, but I was the only one privileged enough to be privy to most of it. "The headmaster called me over break to help him with the retirement paperwork. He was pissed!"

"But they got a replacement?"

"Yep, I processed the hiring paperwork at the same time, so I'm sure it was someone the headmaster knows. Harper, I think, was his name," Jolene offered.

"Well at least I won't be the newest teacher anymore." I smiled at the thought of a little heat being taken off me. But if the new English teacher was connected to the headmaster, it wouldn't be much of a reprieve. Still I was adamant about making this year better than my first, working on my confidence with both students and colleagues, and trying to work through the anxiety of job insecurity.

"Did the headmaster mention anything about Daniel Graham?" I asked, too curious not to.

"Who?" Jolene asked, her nose buried in a stack of papers she was collating for the welcome events in the coming week.

"The student who went missing at the end of the school year." I was surprised she didn't remember.

"I thought he ran away?" She looked up at me, confusion etched on her face.

"Well, that's what the police said, but he had too much to lose—his scholarship, running the student newspaper, his senior year." I could have gone on, but I refrained.

Jolene gave me a pitying glance. "Sometimes it's the brightest stars that burn out the quickest, Violet. Maybe he was under too much pressure. I've seen it before," she offered sympathetically.

Sure she had been working at the school for almost twenty years, so I believed her about having seen similar things happen before, but she hadn't taught Daniel; she hadn't seen the light and determination in his eyes.

And maybe I was reaching, having seen something of myself in Daniel. If I had been given the opportunity to attend a place like Montgomery, I would have been just as steadfast in my development, itching to milk every drop of advantage out of the stuffy and antiquated institution.

Am I too close?

"Any chance you'll come grab some drinks with me in town tonight?" Jolene changed the subject. "We need to catch up and enjoy our last moments before the chaos of move-in day."

"I'm not sure." I bit the inside of my cheek. "I'm not a big drinker."

"That's okay," she replied hastily. "Just one—on me. And I'll drive too."

When I hesitated she added, "Please, it's our last night before the campus is overrun with rich brats." Jolene's big round eyes pleaded with me.

Jolene, with her permed bleach-blonde hair, round pink cheeks, and endless supply of homemade, themed sweaters, was impossible to refuse.

So I didn't.