Page 3 of Finding Happily Ever After
“Well, this is your chance then.” She stood up as if the matter was settled. “The class meets in the gymnasium.”
Apparently the matterwassettled.
“In period four.”
“That’s right now.” Aiden’s head snapped up and followed the principal as she walked across the room to the door.
“It is,” she said. “And I suggest you get over there. Doug scheduled in some first-aid training today. A good idea, as far as I’m concerned,” she added. “I mean, if you’re going to take a pack of kids out into the wilderness alone, the least you can do is prepare them with some basic skills in case they fall out of a tree or off a cliff or something.”
His eyes widened and Megan laughed. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We make their parents sign waivers.”
“Perfect.”
“It is, isn’t it? Just like it will be perfect for you to take over the class. I’ll email you the class list and the curriculum Doug had put together.” She turned to leave. “The first-aid training is going to take a few classes though, so you’ll be able to ease in.” She slipped from the room. As soon as Aiden dropped his head to his chest, she popped back in. “Oh, and I meant what I said,” Megan said. “You should get down to the gym as quickly as you can. I mean…a bunch of teenagers with CPR dummies…”
“Right.” Aiden groaned. “I’m on my way.”
ChapterTwo
There was no teacher.
How could there benoteacher? It was a high school.
Natalie looked around the gymnasium again. It was a pretty even mixture of girls and guys, which would have surprised her when she was going to school. The girls she’d shared a grade with were a thousand times more likely to go to the mall than anywhere outside. But that was probably representative of life in a mountain town.
Or maybe things were changing.
“Are we going to have to actuallykissthat?” A girl with jet-black hair and piercing green eyes pointed a long red nail toward the CPR dummy Natalie had placed on the floor in front of her.
“You’re not actually going to—”
“I’ll practice mouth-to-mouth with you, Lexi.”
The girl—Lexi—squealed as a boy wrapped his arm around her waist and spun her around into a deep—and completely inappropriate for school—kiss.
Okay. Maybe not much had changed.
As if Lexi and the boy had sparked a fuse on the group of kids, they dissolved into laughing, cheering, and a few more couples who’d also decided topractice mouth-to-mouthahead of schedule.
The old but still all-too-familiar sensation of panic started to travel through her body. Her fingers tingled. She couldn’t feel her feet at all. It was hard to breathe.
Was she seriously going to have a panic attack because of a bunch of horny teenagers?
No.
She was stronger than that. She’d grown out of that.
Natalie took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second before exhaling slowly. She was strong and confident, and there was no way she was going to let her past interfere with her present. Nope. She was stronger than that.
She opened her eyes, straightened her shoulders, and prepared to take command. “Okay, class.”
Nothing.
The kids were all still laughing and fooling around. They hadn’t even heard her.
Fine. She could handle this, too.
Natalie put two fingers in her mouth and let out an ear-shattering whistle that reverberated in the huge gym. Instantly, she got her desired effect and the group stopped. They all turned to stare at her, quiet now.
