Page 7 of July (New Orleans #7)

The door screeched open, and Juni stood there, working hard to keep the heavy door open. She looked exhausted at having to do so, which had Willa smiling a little.

“Jill, can we go now? I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Jill replied. “And we need to go grocery shopping before you can eat anything, but if you’re cool with that, I’ll let you get a candy bar and eat it before dinner.”

“Can it be a big one?” Juni asked.

Jill laughed and said, “Sure. Why not?” She turned and waved at Willa. “I guess I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Hang in there. She’s a great kid,” Willa replied, still laughing. “I’ll see you later, Juni.”

Willa stood there for another minute, watching them walk away before she went back inside to begin setting up her classroom.

Once she got the room decorated with a banner saying, ‘Welcome, Everyone,’ and hung up some of the kids’ artwork, she had just enough time to grab the snack she had brought with her before the first parents showed up to talk about their son who had failed the fourth grade.

The assembly in the gym was going on at the same time, but Willa had appointments until the end of the night, so she didn’t know how that was going.

The tiny granola bar she’d eaten earlier hadn’t provided enough sustenance, so she remained hungry while she focused on the parents she talked to, wanting to ensure that she gave everyone her attention tonight to give the students their best chance to get back on track when the school year started in the fall.

“Uh… Hi.”

Willa looked up from the pile of papers she was reordering and saw Jill standing in the doorway.

“Oh, hi,” she replied. “Come on in. Is Juni–”

“She’s with a friend in one of the other rooms,” Jill said and walked inside, holding out a napkin in her hand.

“I didn’t see you in the gym.” She held out her other hand, which had a cup in it.

“I wasn’t sure if you drank coffee or not, and it’s pretty bad, but I brought you this and a few cookies. ”

Willa stood up from her desk and walked toward her. She took the cookies and the coffee and smiled. She almost didn’t know what to say because as simple as the gesture was, it was also a very kind one.

“Thank you. No parent has ever thought to bring me anything before.”

“Well, I’m no parent,” Jill reminded her. “I figured you probably stayed here to do whatever to get ready, and then, you had to have the actual convos with the parents, so you might not have eaten anything.”

“Just a chocolate chip granola bar I got in the clearance aisle,” she admitted. “Thank you.” She held up the cookies, which were still wrapped in the napkin. “I appreciate this.”

“No problem. So, how does this work?” Jill asked.

Willa motioned with the hand holding the cookies for Jill to sit at one of the desks. She set the coffee down on her own desk and sat next to Jill after grabbing Juni’s progress report and assignments.

“Well, Juni is doing really well, so we can start there.”

“Yeah? Cool. My mom was worried.”

“I understand she lost her father last year?” Willa asked, opening the folder of Juni’s work.

“Yeah, almost a year to the day, actually. Car accident.”

“And she said you were her half-sister?”

“Different dads,” Jill explained.

Willa nodded and said, “Well, from what I’m seeing on my end, Juni is going to be fine moving into the fifth grade in the fall.

My guess is that losing her father so unexpectedly probably put her behind, and it was difficult for her to catch back up when she was able to focus on school again.

Totally understandable given the situation. ”

“So, she’s okay?”

“Her scores are good. She participates, asks questions, and she’s relatively social with the other kids.”

“Relatively?”

“She doesn’t talk much with the others, but she doesn’t stay by herself all the time, either.

I’d say, it makes sense to me, though. There are nine kids in this class, and only Juni and one other student go to this school regularly.

The other seven all came from another school in the district because their school doesn’t offer summer school, so they were all close before they got here. ”

“So, she’s not, like, withdrawing or anything?”

“No. She does well with the group when it’s required. She just doesn’t try to make friends. Personally, I think that’s fine given the situation.”

“Okay,” Jill replied. “Um… Good, I guess.”

Willa smiled and opened the napkin.

“Would you like a cookie?”

Jill laughed a little and said, “No, I had two out there already. All yours.”

“Do you have any questions for me about your sister?” Willa asked before picking up a cookie and taking a bite.

“No, I think you’ve answered them all. What do the actual parents ask, though? Am I missing something? Do I need to make sure she does her homework? Or is there a test to study for?”

“Juni is responsible. She’s turning in her homework on time. We have a test next week in science and a quiz in math that she’ll need to prepare for, but I’m not worried.”

Jill nodded and replied, “Okay. I should get her home, then, if that’s all right. She told me she was pretty tired.”

“Of course,” Willa said. “I guess I’ll see you at drop-off tomorrow. I’ll be out front.”

“I’ll be there,” Jill told her with a smile.

Willa hoped she would be.