But at the moment, figuring out my friendship with Kasen seemed much less important than figuring out myfriendshipwith James.
Resolving not to think on it too heavily tonight, I focused instead on my volunteer duties.
I spent the first half hour helping unload the truck from the farm. After that assignment turned my arms to spaghetti, the project coordinator showed mercy and relegated me to tasks requiring less lifting.
James arrived to find me wrestling with tree netting as I attempted to arrange some garland for sale. My coat and sweater lay in a heap on the ground, casualties of my exertions. Even in nothing but my thermal in the forty-five-degree air, sweat still pooled between my shoulder blades.
“Need a hand?”
“I could be an octopus and I’d still need a hand.” I blew air upwards to remove the hair plastered to my forehead and finally located the scissors I’d stuck in my back pocket. “This netting is now officially at the top of my inanimate objects enemies list.” I began hacking away at the strings.
“An ‘inanimate objects enemies list?’ That’s something I’d like to see.”
“It’s a short list. Uncooperative tree netting. Grocery store displays blocking the middle of the aisles. The seventy-five percent of buttons on my TV remote I have no idea what to do with.”
“That’s it?”
“I’m easy, James.”
He laughed, helping to disentangle me before asking, “What can I do?”
After brushing myself free of stray needles and putting my unsalvageable hair under a beanie, I forced him to take a #colemancreekholiday selfie with me before putting him to work.
“Can you go check on the kids? They’re over in the student parking area making signs. I’ll join you in a few minutes after I get this all sorted.”
“No problem.”
Once I’d freed all the garland and displayed it in a reasonably attractive manner, I crossed the lot and observed James huddled with several teens near the sidewalk. I couldn’t hear their conversation, but judging by his stormy expression and forceful gesturing, it didn’t bode well.
Nan Tourman, president of the senior class, saw me and jogged over, waving and smiling. “Hi, Ms. Davis! Me and Penny finished the signs. We’re trying to convince people they need more than one tree.”
She held up two well-designed green poster boards with neat red lettering. One had a huge tree painted on it with the words, "Like Our Trees? Why Not Buy Two?"Another had a cartoon Santa with a caption bubble coming out of his mouth that said,"Santa says…You need a tree for upstairs and a tree for downstairs.”
“Great work,” I complimented her. “But what’s going on over there?” I pointed to James and the other students.
“Oh, that.” She frowned. “Fel Torres was just being an ass—I mean, a butthole to Daniel. I don’t think he noticed Mr. Wymack coming up behind them.”
Daniel Halls, a sophomore, had tagged along for his mother’s volunteer shift and had been put to work with the rest of the students.
“What did Fel say?”
Nan bit her lip before speaking soft and fast. “He called Daniel a loser who didn’t have any friends. And he said that just because Daniel was here didn’t mean he could, like, talk to Fel and the other guys.”
“Mr. Wymack heard him say that?”
“Yeah. But he was cool about it. Daniel would be way more embarrassed if he knew a teacher had heard. Mr. Wymack pretended he'd just walked up. Daniel still seemed pretty upset, though, so Mr. Wymack gave him his keys and asked him to go to his classroom to get some spare scissors.”
I knew we didn’t need more scissors. School rules also prohibited us from giving students our keys. But I couldn’t fault James. He’d given Daniel a means to escape the situation without making him feel even more exposed.
“Thanks for telling me, Nan.” She looked pained, so I asked, “Areyouokay?”
“Yeah. I just…I heard what Fel was saying. So did Penny. From where we were working. I wish I would have said something. I don’t know why I didn’t just ask Daniel to come help us. We wouldn’t have minded having him. Fel’s such a jerk.”
“You’re a good person to feel that way, Nan,” I reassured her, putting on my teacher hat. “It’s a hard lesson to learn. But maybe think about how you feel right now and remember for next time.”
“Definitely. And I’m going to hang with Daniel for the rest of the shift. After he comes back.”
“Great idea. Will you go check up on him if he’s not back within, say, ten minutes? That’d probably be easier for him than if Mr. Wymack or I did it.”
