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I stilled, wanting to say no, absolutely not awkward. It would have been a lie, though. “It makes it harder now,” I said. “We didn’t have to worry before. Maybe we were hiding it a little, but no one was looking at us. Now everyone is looking at us. I worry about who else will notice and if they’d say anything.”
“That’s something neither of us should have to feel,” he said. He dipped his head down, looking at his shoes. “I didn’t want for us to focus on being teacher and student at all. We’re both young, about the same age. I want to get to know you. Damn it, we’re only three years apart.” He let out a frustrated groan and then proceeded to the BMW. Using his own set of keys, he opened the trunk.
Inside, there was a crate filled with tablecloths, pumpkins, plastic cutlery, plates, cups and napkins. The sets of tableware were in a variety of shades of brown, orange and some deeper greens in honor of the holiday.
He sorted through the items, although slowly, like he was in deep thought. “Owen agrees with me, you know,” he said over his shoulder. “But he blames me for being careless. I should have known better, perhaps taken you to my house. Although since we were photographed, he’s warned me to keep my distance from you and to keep things friendly. Mostly to avoid any more trouble until we can figure out who is behind this.”
Had I heard that right? He’d swept by it so quickly, that I wasn’t sure. “Photographed?” I asked.
“When we kissed, it wasn’t just someone watching us. Someone took a photo, and sent it in to the main office, letting it circulate. I’m sure it was the same person who started the rumors that I was with a student.”
My mouth fell open. My first thought was that it had to be one of Mr. Hendricks’s goons that had caught up to us. My face blazed, thinking of all the people would could see the photo at school, and how embarrassing it must have been for Dr. Green. Had no one recognized me somehow? The other kids at school would have surely said something if they’d heard about it. “When? Who took it?”
Dr. Green picked up one of the pumpkins and then held it in his hands, looking it over. “I think it was Volto.”
I gasped, then the world seemed to still around us. I’d heard that name too much this week. Was this what he had tried to warn us he was about to do?
But it was Luke who admitted to putting up the masks. “Why do you suspect it’s Volto?”
“I shouldn’t be talking about this.” He smiled lightly again and looked at me. “It’s Thanksgiving.”
“I won’t feel comfortable until we do talk about it,” I said. I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling my heart racing. My gaze went to the street, as if Volto could be watching now, waiting for another opportunity to snap a photo.
“It’s done now,” he said. “Although luckily, the photos only really show me. It was only rumors that I was kissing a student. The photos don’t show you very clearly.”
“They don’t?”
“Owen thinks they’re blurred on purpose. He checked the photos, and they look altered. I could tell them it was a rumor and that it was someone else. But if Volto has these photos, he might send in the real ones or ones with more details. The fact that your face is blurred is the only reason I’m not getting into too much trouble. The faculty is pointing fingers at me, but they don’t have much in the way of proof.”
“Why would he only send in altered pictures?” I asked.
“I have a feeling it is more to protect you than to help me,” he said. “He’s trying to get our attention and it feels like a warning. To stay away from you. Get too close to you, and he’ll make sure I’m caught in a situation where it’s more than rumors.”
“He thinks he’s protecting me…” The unease was like standing at the edge of a cliff and not knowing how to balance myself. “I wish he’d know that with you all, I’m fine.”
“For whatever reason, he’s warning me to stay away.”
What right did Volto have to be concerned for me? He was just misguided, but this upset me more than the other problems he’d caused. This could threaten Dr. Green’s reputation and career if anyone really wanted to press the issue.
Knowing how parents and schools operated, even a whisper of a teacher getting too close to a student meant trouble. I remembered in my old school where a very handsome substitute teacher was often photographed by female students in secret. It went on for a while until a parent found the photos on a student’s phone, one where he seemed to be smiling at the camera. The student talked about him as if she was dating him. It was clearly a teenage fantasy, but it was a little too much for the parent who’d complained to the school principal. The teacher had never returned to the school.
“Are you going to have to leave the school?” I asked.
“I’m considering it on my own,” he said. “I’m not one to give up, but all it would take is one overprotective parent to hear a rumor like that, and then we’d have a media parade. A million people making judgments on rumors and speculation will bring way more attention to us than we really want.”
I sighed. It didn’t look like there was a way around it. He could suggest it was a rumor, and continue on, but then he and I would absolutely have to stay away from each other, playing into what Volto seemed to want. Or he could quit, and then be giving up what they’d come to Ashley Waters to accomplish.
The other thing that bothered me was Volto’s knack for photography. This wasn’t the first time he’d used it against us. He made sure we knew that he could always take a photo, and show the world what we thought we did in private.
My thoughts fell to Luke again. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help think about his collection of photographs. Could he be using it as a way to separate me from the others, so they’d keep their distance? Would he use such tactics because he didn’t like the plan North and Mr. Blackbourne had been working on?
I couldn’t imagine it, but some of the evidence might be pointing to him.
I needed to talk to North and press him for some help. Maybe he would have some insight into what Luke might do, and if he could be behind any of this and if so, how far he might go. Mr. Blackbourne had promised to talk to Luke, but I still wanted to help. I had no real proof to my concerns, only circumstantial evidence.
Dr. Green nudged me again and his smile was back. I pushed away my thoughts for now. “The important thing you should know is, this is all temporary. If I stay, you and I just have to be more careful for a while.” He paused and then his smile grew wider. “Actually, I might as well just quit. Then I could kiss you whenever I wanted.”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t erase my own smile.
He poked me gently on my nose. “It doesn’t do us any good to speculate, when we’ll be having a meeting this weekend all about
it. Don’t worry.” He picked up another pumpkin and then a stack of tablecloths. “Our job right now is to put on smiling faces and...”
A horn bleeped up the road, interrupting him. Dr. Green held his pumpkins as we turned to see a moped heading down the road our way.
Gabriel was on the bike without a helmet. A streak of blond hair was all I could see behind him, telling me Luke was hanging onto the back, no doubt without a helmet, either.
Mr. Blackbourne would give them both a lecture…
Gabriel waved shortly at us right before he turned into one of the driveways along the street and parked behind a car. Luke hopped off the bike almost before Gabriel stopped fully, and without even a look at us, ran directly to the left side of the street, across from where Gabriel had parked. He raced up toward a particular door.
Gabriel parked his bike and used the kickstand, but once he was done, he was up, off the bike in a flash and jogging straight for the door of the home he’d parked at.
Luke had crossed the yard and reached his door first, opened it, leaned in and then ran off of the porch, the screen door to the house slamming behind him. “Gabriel!” He sprinted across the street toward Gabriel.
Gabriel stopped on the porch before he could reach the door, turned right around, spotted Luke coming and then jumped off of that porch, and raced for the door Luke had just left. When they crossed paths in the street, it was then I noticed their clothes, Gabriel in a purple jacket with an orange shirt underneath, and Luke wore a loose white shirt and a red and white bandana on his forehead.
Luke got to the house Gabriel had started to get to first, opened the door and disappeared inside. Gabriel reached the opposite house across the street, and he went in. There was a hollering in each home and a lot of loud laughing before the doors finally closed behind them.
Dr. Green laughed, holding his pumpkins closer so as to not drop them. I turned to him, very puzzled as to what they were doing.
He shook his head and chuckled as he spoke. “People are watching football,” he said. “Remember? They’re joining the ranks.”
