Max shook his head. “None that I know of, although I’m not so sure being psychic is the kind of information parents would share with me. You wouldn’t believe the things they tell me. Stories of abuse against the kids and themselves, food instability, not having enough money to pay their bills, cheating on spouses and at their jobs. I swear parents see me as a priest, only there’s no guarantee of confidentiality like there is with clergy. I’m a mandated reporter. Anything I hear that puts the kids in danger has to be reported.”
“I’ve been in law enforcement for over thirty years and Ronan for almost twenty. You wouldn’t believe the things we’ve seen and heard over the years concerning kids and crimes committed against them.” Fitzgibbon set his pudding in front of Jude, as if talking about kids in harm’s way soured his appetite.
“How do you do it? Dealing with the horrors of crime every day?” Max opened one of his milk cartons and drained it in one long gulp.
Fitzgibbon pointed to the table where Aurora was laughing with new friends. “I do it to keep my daughter and everyone else’s kids safe.”
“Same here.” Ronan took a bite from his pizza. The texture and flavors took him back to his own school days. He didn’t miss those days either, when he had to keep his sexuality under his hat. “We’re good at what we do.” He pointed to Jude and Fitz. “I wish we didn’t have to be.”
Jude and Fitz nodded along in agreement. “You seem really young to be a principal.”
Max blushed. “I just turned thirty-five and had spent ten years teaching history at the high school level. I’d been taking master’s classes at night in hopes of becoming a principal. Six months after I got my degree, the job here opened up, and I jumped at the chance.”
“What was it that interested you in elementary school instead of staying at the high school level?” Ronan dug into his first pudding. He wanted to ask the lunch ladies for a doggie bag filled with the leftover pudding.
“High schoolers are fully formed and ready for the world. They’ve been bullied, broken down by life, their parents, and so on. I didn’t feel like there was much I could do to help them in their journey. I might have been the cool history teacher, but teenagers weren’t interested in anything I had to say or the experiences I’d been through. They know it all.”
Ronan rolled his eyes. “I can’t wait for that. Can you imagine Everly with her teenage attitude telling ghosts to go eff themselves?”
Everyone at the table burst out laughing just as Tennyson walked into the lunchroom. He held a hand up so his husband would know where to find him. Where the hell had Ten been for the last fifteen minutes or so since they’d left the classroom? Knowing his husband, Ten was probably trying to find the child ghosts.
“What I like best about the elementary grades is that the kids are themselves. They wear what they want, say what they want, and enjoy life. As time goes on, they’ll bow to peer pressure and want to dress the way models do on social media. Here, they’re happy wearing the same Spider-Man shirt every day for the entire week, and no one gives them grief about it.”
“Hmmm,” Jude hummed. “I know someone just like that with his Iron Man shirts.”
“I knew it all along. Ronan is a giant kindergartener!” Fitz laughed, pointing at his friend.
“Takes one to know one,” Ronan shot back.
“I hate to bring this discussion down,” Max said, sounding a bit tentative. “What’s going to happen to the ghosts your daughter saw? Has she been able to communicate with them at all?”
It always came back to ghosts. “No, all she’s been able to do so far was see them. I should tell you now that neither she nor Ten will let this go. They’ll both want to do whatever they can to help those spirits. Fair warning.”
Jude nodded along. “Are you going out of town for school vacation week, Max?”
“No, I’ll be here the whole time. Why?” Max eyed Jude with suspicion in his eyes.
“I have a feeling you’ll end up back here at some point next week. I’d put money on it.”
Ronan handed Max his phone, which was open to a blank content screen. “We might as well exchange numbers.”
With a wry grin on his face, Max took the phone and entered his information.
Ronan knew Jude was right on the money when he said they’d been back here during the school vacation. Everly wouldn’t want the spirits to suffer any longer than they had to, and Ronan would do anything for his tiny but mighty psychic.
8
Tennyson
Ten spent about fifteen minutes walking along the corridors of the school in hopes of catching sight of the three child spirits. None made themselves known to him. He hoped Everly and Cope would have better luck.
Out of all the déjà vu moments Ten had today, the lunchroom was the one that hit him hardest. He hadn’t given much thought to the cafeteria during the concert with all the tables stored off to the side and the kids sitting on the floor, but now, with the room transformed back into its usual self, Ten felt washed away on a tide of memories.
The smell of school pizza caught his attention first. The kids had rectangular pizza with tots, green peas, and a cup of pudding. His nose wrinkled at the sight of the mound of shriveled peas. He couldn’t help but wonder how long they’d been sitting out before being dished onto the tray.
All around him, kids were laughing and talking with each other. Ten saw students from his school mingled with the kids from New Hampshire. He couldn’t help grinning at all the new friendships being made. A loud laugh grabbed his attention. It was Jude, slapping the table over something Ronan had said to Max Preston. The whole point of doing the exchange concert was to open the kids up to new friends, and that’s exactly what was happening with the kids and the adults as well.
Ronan held up a hand to wave. Ten pointed to the lunch line. Thankfully, there wasn’t much of a line left. He could smell a weird funk coming off the milk cooler. He supposed all school cafeterias smelled the same. The lunch ladies wore what looked like surgical scrubs patterned with pizza, meatballs, and other foods with smiling faces. Everyone wore a hairnet.
