Page 16 of Pages of Amber
“Can I have an answer? Why am I here? More importantly, why is he here too?”
Mr. Loughrey threw Mrs. Wilson a pointed look that said‘See?’but she waved him away and faced them.“No need to be jumpy, Miss Coleman. You’re not in any serious trouble. This is in relation to a recent discussion you had with Mr. Loughrey.”
A shudder passed through her.
Oh no.
“I did say the conversation wasn’t over,”Mr. Loughrey gave her a wry smile, deepening the pit in her stomach. He turned to Mrs. Wilson.“I’ve done my part, Irene. I trust you have this under control.”
And he swaggered out of the class, leaving Amber to spiral into further confusion. She swung her head to Mrs. Wilson, her eyes wide.
“Let’s get down to it, kids.”Her teacher sighed and stood before her desk, facing them.“I found a disturbing omission while looking through your class record, Miss Coleman. You’ve only had a couple classes with me since resuming back so I didn’t have an opportunity to address this. I also had no solution for you. Fortunately, Mr. Loughrey mentioned he’d had an earlier conversation with you that could solve this problem. Is that correct?”
Amber was sure her brain was short-circuiting. She couldn’t outrightly say no. That would be lying against her teacher. Again, she didn’t want to say yes if it would give Mrs. Wilson a prelude to continue this nightmare of a discussion. She stalled instead.
“But that conversation wasn’t serious, Mrs. Wilson. Mr. Loughrey was only offering advice to his student. Nothing needs to be set up. Everything’s fi–”
“Let me stop you right there, Miss Coleman.”Mrs. Wilson’s palm came up sharply. Her bangles echoed a tinkling sound that would otherwise have sounded pleasant. To Amber, it sounded like warning bells.“You need to know what’s seriously on the line here. A couple weeks ago, an assignment was given by the substitute in my place. Maybe due to your absence, she didn’t notice that you hadn’t done the assignment because at the moment, I have nothing of yours to grade.”
She continued,“I could have waived it if it wasn’t an important assignment that counts for majority of your grade and part of the assessments you need to have to pass this literature class. In normal circumstances, it would mean you had failed.”
A dull throb began beneath Amber’s eyelids. Failed? An assignment? With everything she was doing to catch up on her classes, she had failed. Mrs. Wilson had graded the class papers and Amber hadn’t given her anything to grade. She hadfailedher class.
No.
This couldn’t be happening.
Not after her mom’s warning. Not now. Not ever.
Mrs. Wilson’s brows creased as Amber spiraled,“Your friends didn’t mention this? At all?”
Amber looked away, searching her memory.“They may have,”she stuttered out. With the lessons she had to study, notes to copy and practices to attend, it must have slipped her mind.
“You said‘in normal circumstances’,”Noah spoke, pulling her out of her daze. In actuality, she had almost forgotten he’d been there. He was leaned back in his seat, an arm flung on the desk, his expression wiped of the smug expression that always visited whenever he saw her. He kept his focus on Mrs. Wilson even as she knew he could feel her gaze boring into the side of his head. “Does that mean this is an exception? Is there something she could still do to pass?”
Amber couldn’t believe she was about to agree with him,“Yeah, he’s right. You said you came up with a solution. What can I do?”
Her teacher nodded.“As these events weren’t the standard way of things, I’ve decided something. You need that paper to pass this class. You’ll need to write a summary and an analysis on a literature novel.The rest of the class had an average of two weeks to complete theirs. With tests approaching and the other classes you need to catch up on, I realize that might not be feasible for you so Mr. Loughrey and I reasoned that you might need a little assistance. This is where Mr. Rhodes comes in.”
Noah frowned, his forehead lined beneath the tips of his hair. He folded his arms.“Apparently I’m in need of a bit of help.”
He sounded like the notion that he needed help was ludicrous. Amber almost rolled her eyes.
“I’m afraid it’s more than‘a bit’, Mr. Rhodes.”She folded her arms too. Amber looked between them, tempted to make it a trio of folded limbs.“You could very well lose your position as President.”
Amber was at attention.“I’m sorry?”
Noah stayed silent. Mrs. Wilson brought her hand up to push back a few strands that had escaped her bun. She cleared her throat, looking uncomfortable as she began speaking.
“As student body president, Noah has excellent leadership skills and knowledge to hold the position. You and I can both agree he’s a good president.”No, she couldn’t. She barely liked Noah as a person most days, she hadn’t exactly followed up on his political career.“However, simply being able to lead isn’t all the positon requires. A good president should also be approachable and have the people skills necessary to manage students. Noah, well, he happens to fall a little short of those people skills.”
A short, sharp laugh escaped Amber without prompt. She glanced at Noah and couldn’t resist.“Wow! Really? I would never have guessed. Now that you mention it, hedoeshave the unusual talent of inspiring murderous tendencies.”
Noah glared at her head so hard, her hair was probably falling off but she was thoroughly enjoying herself. The lightness in her chest had returned now that they were off her topic in more familiar territory, riling up Noah.
“You couldn’t lay down the barbs for even a minute? I backed you up when it was your turn,”he groused.
“Fine, I’ll stop. This is my serious face. I’ll even prepare my own quip to help. Will that make us even?”
