Page 126 of Promises We Meant to Keep
All of the kids stopped to stare at Kamryn, and then looked at Elia. She set the dry erase marker onto the desk in front of the white board and focused all her attention onto Kamryn. She wasn’t moving. Her hand was on the doorknob, and her chest was rising and falling in little breaths, but she didn’t look worried or afraid. So it couldn’t be anything bad.
Elia faced the kids again. “I told you to break up into teams of three—”
“Dr. Ogden, what’s wrong?” Ethan asked, always the one who would bring something up and point out the obvious. That kid seriously had no fear.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Kamryn rushed out the words.
Elia paused again. What was she supposed to do with this? Kamryn wasn’t saying or doing anything, and all of the kids were waiting for some kind of explanation of this random behavior from their temporary Head of School.
“Why don’t you all split into groups, and I’ll talk to Dr. Ogden,” Elia said, trying to get the attention of the classroom back on her, but the kids continued to ignore her.
“Is something on fire or something?” Bristol asked, grabbing for her bag.
“No, nothing’s on fire. Nothing’s wrong,” Kamryn reiterated, but she still hadn’t moved from the door. “You got a minute, Elia?”
Elia?
Kamryn was always so careful to use her salutation and last name in front of the students. This wasn’t a work conversation. It was a personal one. There was a quiet hush around the room while the students murmured amongst themselves, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Elia was going to have to come up with some sort of explanation when Kamryn finally told her what was happening.
Focusing on the kids, Elia was about to remind them again to start their practice, but she gave up. They wouldn’t listen anyway, not with Kamryn acting so oddly. Elia dropped her hands to her sides and strode toward the door. She was just about to walk out of it when Kamryn caught her arm and stopped any forward movement.
“They offered me the job,” Kamryn whispered.
Elia had to lean in to make sure that she’d heard correctly. “What?”
“They offered me the job—Head of School. Officially.”
“What?” Elia’s eyes widened, the excitement she now saw in Kamryn’s face lighting her up. Elia’s chest felt like it wasgoing to explode. She grinned broadly as she pulled away to say something.
Before she could speak, Kamryn rushed forward and pressed their mouths together and wrapped her arms around Elia’s neck. Cheers went up from the rest of the classroom, and immediately Elia jerked back with a start. Kamryn winced and frowned.
“Crap,” Kamryn said.
“Crap is right,” Elia answered, putting even more space between them.
This wasn’t how they wanted this to get out.
“Do you think they heard me?” Kamryn whispered.
Elia shook her head as the cheers continued. “I think they’re cheering for other reasons.”
“Really?” Kamryn popped her head around Elia’s shoulder and glanced to the classroom behind her.
“Really.” Elia straightened her back and snagged Kamryn’s hand. She walked into the classroom and shut the door firmly, making sure that Kamryn stayed right next to her but still kept a good distance between them.
“We can’t tell them yet,” Kamryn mumbled. “They haven’t officially announced—”
“Again, I don’t think that’s what they’re cheering about. You might have saved yourself explaining the other one.” Elia put her hand up to calm down the ruckus that was happening. But when she went to speak, she was struck dumb. No words would leave her lips.
“I just have one question!” Bristol raised her hand. “When did you two…hook up?”
“Oh Jesus,” Kamryn muttered. “Poor choice of words, Bristol.”
Elia’s cheeks burned. Is that what all the students thought they were doing?
“And it’s really not relevant to this conversation,” Kamryn added.
“But it is!” Ethan called. “We need to know who won the bet!”
