Parer & Evan

Parker arrived to work early again the next day, enjoying a smoke in the parking lot as the sun started to rise. Maybe I'll make this a routine, she thought as she finished and smashed the butt with her shoe. As she walked to her classroom the butterflies in her stomach rose up. Today was the day she'd actually have to teach and not just give the same introduction over and over. There were six classes a day and all of them were introductory ones of some kind but her favorite was going to be painting.

Her thoughts automatically went to her college painting instructor and a shiver went down her spine. She couldn't think about him, especially when her focus needed to be on not screwing up. Pushing him from her mind she went to the supply closet that felt more like a garage. It was the only room off of the short hallway between her classroom and Grayson's, and the door was a metal pull-down one. Inside were exposed metal shelves that housed paint cans, bins of pencils and graphite and charcoal, and boxes of uncut paper. Parker started digging around for what her first class would need and her arms quickly filled.

"Need any help?" Just like the day before, Grayson's voice sounded softly but firmly behind her.

"I'm fine." She turned, ignoring him leaning against the door jamb, and carried the supplies into her classroom. She dumped them on a desk and went back for more. Grayson watched her make two more trips before clicking his tongue.

"Come on, you can't already hate me. Just let me help. What else do you need?"

"Really, it's fine. This is the last of it anyway." She grabbed a box of metal pencil cases and went back into her room. Grayson followed quietly.

"You're not going to say you don't hate me?"

"What?" Parker started divvying up supplies for each table.

"I said 'you can't already hate me,' and you didn't say anything. So do you?"

"Why does it matter?" Parker asked, growing irritated. When she got no response she sighed and motioned to the pile of supplies. "If you still want to help, every desk needs four of each." Grayson came to her side and they worked in silence until every table was ready. "Thanks," she said begrudgingly as she stacked the near-empty boxes. Before she could pick them up, Grayson snatched them from the table and carried them to the closet. It was her turn to follow.

"I'm Parker by the way," she said.

"I know." He put the last box away and faced her, smiling. "And I know you don't hate me." He said it with such conviction that Parker raised an eyebrow.

"You're right, I don't. But you apparently tripped me the first time we 'met' and stole from me the second, so I don't exactly like you, either." Grayson's smile widened.

"Fair enough. I need to go get my own room ready, so I'll see you later." He stepped around her and went toward his own room, pausing with his hand on the doorknob. "I eat lunch down here too, by the way. If you don't feel like locking yourself in here again today you can join me." Without waiting for a response he went through the door and closed it behind him. Parker shook her head and got back to work.

***

"I'll see you next period." Parker waved the last student out of class and sat back in her chair. The first half of the day had dragged on and she was feeling tired. She considered taking a cat nap at her desk but her stomach rumbled loudly so she got up. There was a mini-fridge on the other side of the room where her lunch was stored; she grabbed it and went back to her desk, her glance going to the door of Grayson's classroom. Shaking her head at herself again, she sat and unpacked her food. It wasn't until she was about to take a bite of her sandwich that the door she'd been unconsciously watching opened.

"I knew you wouldn't show, so I thought I would." Grayson walked across the room, grabbing a chair along the way and setting it down next to her. He slid in and dumped his food out next to hers unceremoniously. "Baby carrots, seriously?" He eyed her healthy meal and bottle of water. "Is this why you eat alone, so no one will know your shame?"

Parker glared at him. "It's not shameful to take care of yourself." She looked over at his lunch: a can of soda, a mini bag of chips, and a double-cheeseburger. "Not that you'd know."

"There's more than one way to take care of yourself." He popped his soda open, spraying her desk with little carbonated brown flecks. "Oops. Sorry." He didn't sound sorry at all and Parker rolled her eyes, dabbing her papers with a napkin. They ate in silence for a few minutes and Grayson looked around the room. "I like what you did in here." He motioned to a Bosch poster hanging next to her desk. "I'm surprised they let you hang that up."

"When they see it, they'll probably make me take it down." Grayson laughed and took a bite of his cheeseburger. "What did it look like before, with the other teacher?" She waited for him to finish chewing.

"It looked like shit. Pierce was one of those Dead Head, earthy guys. Had potted plants and incense all over the place, though I'm pretty sure that was just to mask the smell of weed." Parker's eyes widened. "Yeah, I know. I can't believe he didn't get canned earlier."

"I didn't know he was fired."

"Well, technically, he quit. Just stopped showing up one day. I still don't know what happened but I'm pretty sure there was a warrant out there with his name on it. He's probably in Mexico now." Grayson wadded up the cheeseburger wrapper and tossed it in the trash can. "They didn't tell you anything about the guy you were replacing?"

Parker shook her head. "They said that the previous teacher had quit and I didn't ask questions. I was just surprised they'd called me."

"Why? You seem smart. You're young, so you're relatable and students will be comfortable with you. There's danger in that though." He smiled slyly. "You'll probably get some unwanted attention from your male students if you haven't already."

Parker blushed and tried to shift attention. "How long have you been here? You're not that much older than me." Grayson's eyes narrowed on hers, and she could tell he knew what she was doing. He still answered, though.

"I guess this will be my fourth. I was fresh out of college too, so if you need any advice, all you have to do is ask." He gulped down the rest of his soda and it followed his wrapper into the trash can. Parker was still working on her sandwich.

"I'm fine, thanks." Grayson snatched one of her carrots and popped it in his mouth. "Will you please stop doing that?"

"Doing what?" The carrot crunched loudly between his teeth as he spoke.

"Taking my things. Seriously, it's a problem. Didn't you learn to just ask for stuff instead of stealing it?"

Grayson shrugged. "No."

"Then I'll teach you. Here's your first lesson: knock it off."

"Wow, those are some fine teachin' skills. I have so much to learn from you." His voice dripped with sarcasm but he was grinning. "Fine, fine, I'll stop. For now. Here, I'll even make restitution." He ripped open the bag of chips and held it out to her. "Take as many as you want."

"Those things are like poison," Parker responded automatically. Grayson scoffed.

"Be careful with this earthy crap or you'll turn into Pierce."

"I will not. And I can't help it, it's how I was raised. My parents are organic farmers."

"Really? My parents are drunks." Parker glanced over at Grayson, searching his face. He didn't seem to be kidding.

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Silence fell between them, interrupted only by the crunching of chips and carrots. The bell rang and footsteps began piling up in the halls. Parker finished her lunch and started cleaning up while Grayson just sat there. "I sure know how to kill a conversation, huh?" Parker glanced over at him with a small smile.

"It's fine."

"You say that a lot." He stood and wiped a few crumbs from his shirt. "Well, this was fun. See you later, Miss Burrows." With that he went back into his classroom and her students started arriving from their own lunch. Parker snapped back into professional mode and made her way somewhat distractedly through her next two classes. When the bell rang for the final class of the day, Parker wished she could have a cigarette break.

"Alright guys, we're going to do something fun today. Partner up with someone at your table." There was chatting and laughing until it looked like everyone had obeyed. "You're probably wondering why there are easels at your station. That's because you're going to be doing portraits today!" Some students booed. "I know, I know. Replicating faces is one of the hardest things to do in the art world, but—"

"I'd do you in the art world," someone whispered loudly, interrupting her. There were snickers and Parker felt her face flush.

"What was that?" She cast her eyes around, landing on a kid at one of the back tables. His arms were crossed and he lounged in his chair as if relaxed, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. "Evan?" All eyes turned to his face, which Parker was glad to see was turning red.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"Are you sure?" She turned her gaze to the student next to him. "Glen, did you hear Evan say anything while I was talking?" Joe jutted his chin forward and shook his head. The other kids looked back and forth between Evan and Parker, waiting to see if she'd do anything. Instead she continued explaining the lesson of the day and after a minute, things returned to normal. Evan still wouldn't look in her direction, though.

"Use your HB pencils to sketch and then I'll come around. You have fifteen minutes starting now." Parker went back to her desk as the students started working and returned some emails. When she made her way around the room to check the sketches and suggest corrections, she left Evan's table for last. She was sure it was him who'd made the comment and didn't feel like facing him, but she knew she had no choice. The teacher couldn't show embarrassment.

"Alright Joe, let's see." He turned his canvas and Evan's skinny face grinned up at her. "That's pretty good. You're struggling with the teeth, here—" she took one of his pencils "—let me show you how to sketch them. Focus on the spacing more than the gum line and when we get to the painting part, don't outline them as heavily as you did here. Other than that, good job." She handed the pencil back and went around to Evan who wordlessly handed his canvas over.

Parker nearly dropped it. Instead of sketching Joe's face he'd drawn her, naked. It was crudely done but she knew it was her because of the braided hair. Joe and the two other boys at the table laughed behind their hands. A wave of anger and shame washed over her and she slammed the canvas face-down on the table. Evan flinched.

"Principal's office. Now." She worked to keep her voice steady. He was just an immature teenage boy, she knew, but the picture reminded her of something so painful that she felt tears burning her eyes. When Evan didn't move, she clenched her jaw and raised her voice. "Evan, go. This is inappropriate, offensive, and possibly even constitutes sexual harassment. You are not allowed in this class anymore and you need to go now." The rest of the class had quieted down and everyone was staring at the two of them again.

"No." Evan was whispering but she still heard it.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no." He looked up at her, anger filling his face. "You have that shit hanging up over there with a thousand naked bitches on it, what did you expect?" He motioned roughly toward the Bosch poster on her wall. While the rest of the class was gasping at his use of the word 'bitch', Parker was internally scolding herself. She should have known most high school students were still too immature to handle artistic nudity.

"That is no excuse for what you've done, so don't even try. Go down to the principal's office or I'll call him myself and have him send security to get you." She stepped toward her desk, where the phone was sitting, and Evan jerked out of his seat. A motion behind him caught her eye and she saw someone step out of the storage closet.

"Do whatever you want, skank," Evan growled, stepping around the desk. Whatever he was planning on doing was interrupted when Grayson appeared. He circled around so that he was between Evan and Parker, who had picked up the phone and was dialing. She spoke quickly to the principal's receptionist, eyes on Evan and Grayson who were staring each other down. Neither of them moved until two security officers trudged in, taking Evan by the shoulders and leading him out. The class immediately roared up, shocked whispers layering one on top of the other. Grayson went over to Parker with a serious expression on his face.

"Are you okay?" He looked her over and saw that she was shaking. "I don't have a class right now, I can take over for a little bit." Parker was about to refuse but he shook his head. "It's okay to not be okay right now. A student just threatened you. That would be hard for anyone to shake off."

"He didn't threaten me, that's not what that was."

"Yes he did. I don't know what the hell he was thinking, but he was definitely about to try something."

"That's not what I mean." Her glance fell to the canvas that was still face-down on the desk and Grayson followed it.

"What's that?" When Parker didn't respond he weaved through the desks and grabbed it. His face turned to stone when he saw what was on it, and he pressed it to his stomach so that no one would see as he came back to Parker's desk and threw it in the trash can. "Give me your purse." She acquiesced and watched him dig around. His hand came out with her lighter. Before she could protest, he'd flicked it to life and thrown it in the can. The flames roared up, eating through the canvas hungrily.

"The smoke alarm," Parker said, watching the fire dance. Grayson hesitated and then grabbed the trash can, wrapping his arms around the bottom where the fire hadn't yet scorched the metal. Everyone stared as he walked out of the room and down the hallway, disappearing around a corner that she knew led outside. More whispers filled the room and Parker didn't try to gain control of her class back. She was still stunned.