Chapter 7
When Cutter walked into the library, a few other teachers were seated at the rectangular tables, talking excitedly, as if they hadn’t seen each other in years—or maybe it was just months. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to work with people you didn’t see for a couple of months every year. As they noticed him, the women grew quiet for a few seconds, one or two even gasped aloud, and then the conversation shifted to whispers, assuring him he was the new topic of discussion.
Normally, he would’ve gathered as much information as possible before subjecting himself to this sort of situation, but in this case, the discovery that the one they’d been searching for might actually be here had come with only enough time to get him this teaching position, and as Rider had pointed out, the website for Thomas Elementary was under construction. They weren’t too tech savvy around here, apparently. The Facebook page for the school hadn’t been updated since late April, and there were very few photographs of teachers. It was as if Reaper’s Hollow operated in its own bubble—a dated bubble at that.
There was one other male in the room. A tall, thin, though well-built, African American sat at a table in the back, his long legs not fitting under the table. He was flipping through a sports magazine, and Cutter noticed he hadn’t bothered to bring anything else but a pencil. He looked up at Cutter and ran a hand over his bald head before declaring. “Dang—they really did hire another dude.”
Trying to curtail his laughter, Cutter stepped over. “Hi. Just the two of us then?”
“Yep, but that’s better than it just bein’ me. Have a seat man,” he said, scooting the chair next to him out with his very large Nike. “I’m Joe Clark, PE.” He offered his hand, and Cutter took it before sitting.
“Nice to meet you. Cutter Michaels.”
“Cutter?” Joe repeated. “And they say we have weird names.” The second part was muttered, but still audible, and Cutter laughed. “Good to see you. What are you teaching?”
“Fourth grade,” Cutter replied. “And you say you’re the PE teacher?”
“Yeah, for going on six years. It’s a good school, though. You’ll like it. Mrs. Long is awesome. And there are some really nice teachers here. They’ll feed you. Seriously, it’s like another potluck every Friday.”
“Good to know,” Cutter chuckled. “You always lived here?”
“No,” Joe said rather quickly. “No, I played in the NBA for a few years. Blew my ACL, though. Never been the same.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He didn’t think Joe’s name sounded familiar, but he’d never been much of a basketball fan.
“Thanks. So… I decided to go back to school. Not exactly sure how I ended up here, but Reaper’s Hollow is a nice place to live. Quiet town, not much going on. But close enough to the action if you’re looking for that.”
Cutter assumed he meant New York City, although there were some other large towns within easy driving distance. There were also some parks and other recreational areas. Before Cutter could say anything else, he noticed his teammates walking in, Ms. Roberts and Ms. Stein lagging a good four feet behind Ms. Owen. They sat at a table in the front, center, and Cutter wondered if he should move.
“Those are some teammates you’ve got there,” Joe remarked. “You met ‘em?”
Cutter nodded. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the tall blonde.
“Now, Roberts and Stein, they’re cool. You’ll like them. Owen—she’s another story. They always sit at that table so she can be the center of everything, especially the center of attention.”
Cutter raised an eyebrow and looked in Joe’s direction. He wasn’t sure what to say. Owen really wasn’t why he was here, although there was a possibility she could get in his way. She sure did try to control everything.
“Now, if I was you, I’d get in good with the nice ones, let Owen hang herself. I like to mess with her; it’s kinda funny to see her get all bent out of shape.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. It seemed sincere. “Like how?”
“I don’t know. Like… telling her we’ll be in the gym, but taking her class out to one of the back fields so she has to come looking for them, walking through the mud in her heels. Sometimes I send out an email to the whole staff that I’ve got cookies in my office—my wife makes the best cookies—but when she gets there, they’re all gone.”
“Wow, you’re a hard man, Joe.” Cutter was laughing though.
“Hey, when you’re the only guy, you’ve gotta do something to entertain yourself. Ru, though, she’s the best. She’ll go outta her way to make things easy on you. She’s never late to pick up her kids. Always gets there on time. If you’re having a bad day, she somehow just knows it, and she does nice things for other people all the time.”
Cutter was staring at the back of her head so intensely, he thought for sure she’d feel it. “She seems nice.”
“Yeah, she is. And pretty, too. Though she doesn’t know it, which makes her even sweeter. Candice knows she’s miss thing. But she’s a nice girl.”
Nodding, Cutter dragged his eyes away from the back of Ms. Roberts’s head. “Do you think I should go sit with them?”
“Nah. You’ll get to spend plenty of time with them later. Stay with me. We dudes gotta stick together. Besides, when Mrs. Long gets up there, she’s probably going to mix us all up anyway. We’ll do some ice breaker sh—stuff. It’s never anything that has anything to do with me. You might learn something. Doubt it, though. ‘Specially if you’ve been teaching for a while. And then, once they teach you everything you need to know about such and such, they’ll never mention it again until some sort of a report is due. Next year, they’ll change all of that stuff.”
“That sounds about right,” Cutter agreed, shaking his head. He had to pretend like he’d been around the block a few times, so he couldn’t show that he was shocked at what he’d learned so far about how teachers operate. Hopefully, if Mrs. Long asked him anything directly, he’d be able to come up with something. He’d done some research and had some materials he thought were appropriate should the question arise, but keeping his head down was probably the best idea.