Page 4

A fter Wil Winchester left his office, Mr. Blackbourne was trying to focus on his observations like he was supposed to be, but his mind was working to reorganize his priority list. Now, even he was starting to consider the motel job too much for the team. Wil Winchester was likely not the only student who needed a little extra assistance circumventing school rules to graduate or getting out of trouble. This school was notorious for being...terrible.

And again, right when he was in the middle of everything, there was a knock at the door.

Mr. Blackbourne readied himself, sure it was either Ms. Walter again, or another office assistant with questions. Or perhaps another student with a conflicting schedule that Dr. Green sent his direction.

Instead, Dr. Green appeared, and the very first thing was mouth the word ‘gentle’ to him.

And he signed something in the air, but Mr. Blackbourne didn’t catch it, because coming in behind him was a strikingly beautiful young woman.

Another assistant? It was the only thing that made sense in Mr. Blackbourne's mind. She was dressed like someone who worked here, rather than one of the students, who seemed to prefer to dress more casually. Her age was hard to determine, but she appeared his own age. That by no means meant he judged her.

He faced the same hurdle, people assuming he was inexperienced.

Dr. Green's reasoning for bringing her back here himself was yet to be determined. He had a feeling it was befriending, or perhaps a little more than that. Dr. Green was known to flirt. Mr. Blackbourne had hoped he'd resist for at least a few weeks to give them a chance to evaluate staff without some bias settling in.

Despite Dr. Green’s warning to be gentle, he found himself a little irritated at yet another surprise. He could at least sent him a text of warning when he did such things. “Dr. Green,” he said sharply. “You don’t have to knock. This is your office, too, now.” He was a bit tired of getting interrupted continually due to Dr. Green's shenanigans, of which he was sure this was one of.

“Sorry,” Dr. Green said, smiling ridiculously and taking a seat at the second desk.

The office chair creaked, and Mr. Blackbourne felt his teeth clench. He made a mental note to ask North about oiling it. He didn't want to have to hear that sound again.

Dr. Green continued, “Old habit when I see a shut door. Never want to surprise anyone. Besides, the offices here are so small. If anyone were standing behind the door, I’d hit them.”

It was frustrating dealing with Dr. Green. Often missing the point, usually on purpose, even if Dr. Green might have been correct on occasion.

Mr. Blackbourne frowned a little and then turned to the young woman, who was standing aside, appearing lost. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, this is Miss Sang Sorenson.” Dr. Green raised a hand toward the young woman and then gestured casually to Mr. Blackbourne for her sake. “Miss Sang, this is Mr. Blackbourne.”

“Hello,” she said softly, and dipped her head politely.

A polite introduction. This had to be some teacher or assistant and Dr. Green was already bringing them around for who knew what reason. A promised raise. A promotion. A date.

Mr. Blackbourne scanned her again, trying to discern Dr. Green’s reason for bringing her back here.

Pretty. Strikingly so. There was a certain spark to her green eyes, and the delicate curve of her jawline. She could get the attention of anyone. It was an effortless prettiness, without makeup and with modest clothes. Her hair being up away from her face... the color of her hair. How pretty it was.

She seemed polite, waiting quietly like she was.

She lowered her gaze demurely, and he hated that. He wanted to lift her chin, to get her to look up. To look into her eyes again.

A healing scrape on her arm. That was suspicious, but there could be a million reasons for injuries.

It was all he could determine of her.

Of course there was some look in her eyes. It was hard to determine what it was. Fear? It's possible given that she was with two people she didn't know at all. And among staff like the principal, or like Ms. Walter, it was wise of her to be cautious with new faces.

Mr. Blackbourne looked at Dr. Green. It was his face that told him more than just looking at her.

He was giddy. There was a bunching to his cheeks when he smiled, and there was a glint in his eyes.

He liked her. Smitten.

He'd seen this before.

Dr. Green would date her if he could.

Mr. Blackbourne held back a scolding look that he desperately wanted to direct at him. Dr. Green was supposed to be monitoring and now he was here being an interruption. “That’s wonderful. Now why are you here?”

“I am assisting her with getting registered,” Dr. Green said. He reached for the paper in her hands. “Shall I help you?”

This was a student? He wouldn't have thought her a student from...everything. From the way she was dressed to the way she behaved. Polite, patient... Besides the point. He'd already had Wil Winchester find his way back here, and he already had that one to deal with later. Now here was another one?

And he brought her back alone with two male teachers and closed the door.

Was he insane?

“She should be outside with the other students,” warned Mr. Blackbourne. This was getting ridiculous. School hadn't even started yet and what classes students got wasn't really what they were there for. If they got too involved in the daily affairs of students, there was no way they'd be able to focus on the larger job at hand.

And he wasn't about to let Dr. Green go down for flirting with a student before classes even started. He swung his eyes at her. “Couldn’t you wait in line?”

“She’s perfectly capable of doing so,” Dr. Green said, shaking his computer mouse to warm up the sleeping monitor. “But she had a run in with Mr. McCoy. I didn’t want a good student to be scared away because of him.”

“Hm,” Mr. Blackbourne chuffed. He had met Mr. McCoy of course. If Mr. Blackbourne wanted to be frank, he'd use the word 'slimy' to describe him. He agreed with the sentiment, so he didn't have much to say.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” she said.

He wasn't going to get involved if Dr. Green wanted to change her schedule or manage this situation out of the scrutiny of Mr. McCoy. If Dr. Green wanted to bring students back for schedule changes all day, that was his problem. Mr. Blackbourne said nothing but turned away, rifling through paperwork, but keeping the young woman in his peripheral view.

There was just something about her. He'd been so flustered with Dr. Green and this surprise of her arrival that he hadn't quite noticed, but now it was bothering him. He couldn't put his finger on it.

“What have we here?” Dr. Green looked over the paper in his hand. “Now, I can’t understand this. Why are all these classes crossed out?”

“Well,” she said, fiddling with one of the buttons on her blouse. “When I first filled it out, I picked classes that I didn’t realize were reserved for upperclassmen. And then the second set, some were crossed out because the counselor said I couldn’t have more than two AP classes.”

Dr. Green made a face, looking ridiculous. “How awful. Does she assume you couldn’t do it?”

There was a gentle shrug of her shoulders. “She just kept saying I wasn’t allowed.”

That was a flat out lie, Mr. Blackbourne thought. He’d just spoken with Wil Winchester, who had nearly all AP classes. Why was she being told she could only have two? Clearly there was some miscommunication.

Or different standards for different grade levels? Or for girls? Or... who knew the reasons. The rules were designed to keep students in school for longer, after all. And now he realized maybe some administrative teachers had different understanding of what was permitted. It was ridiculous.

“Why have the classes up if you aren’t going to let students in them? I tell you, what’s wrong with this school?” Dr. Green turned back to her, a look that Mr. Blackbourne recognized as Dr. Green getting riled up over triviality. “What were your original choices?”

She opened a notebook she had with her, removing the paper inside. “I couldn’t take Japanese, so I switched to this.”

From Mr. Blackbourne's position, he could see the writing clearly. The writing on her paper was very, very familiar to him.

Dr. Green sensitively asked, “Did you write this?” He pointed at the familiar handwriting.

She shook her head, seeming confused by the question.

He urged her, “Who did?”

She blushed, and hesitated a moment but then said, “Kota. A friend of mine.”

Dr. Green's eyebrows shot up.

Mr. Blackbourne picked his head up instantly, nearly uttering a gasp out loud but he contained himself.

All the pieces from the last week finally fell into place.

“Do you know Kota Lee?” Mr. Blackbourne asked, just to be absolutely sure, but he found it unlikely anyone else had that name.

She tilted her head gently one direction as she considered the question. “Dark brown hair? Glasses?”

It was enough. Mr. Blackbourne sucked in a breath and his gaze fell on Dr. Green.

Her. She was why Kota, and likely the others, were not completing tasks. This was why they were happy to let go of the other assignment, why Mr. Blackbourne had to basically force them to focus and do the best they could at other tasks. North had approached him to evaluate their assignments, something that usually Kota did as family lead for the team. It was unlike them. He had supposed that they weren't able to guesstimate how busy the school job would be so they turned to him for answers. Early job anxiety, double checking schedules.

Kota had seemed reluctant to add to his schedule, and the others as well. He only ever did that if he was trying to solve a puzzle of some sort that was more interesting. Or dire.

She was the puzzle. He was sure. But why?

Dr. Green answered him, silently. It was just a minor shift in the eyebrows but he knew.

Something was wrong here. Something they were familiar with. And the other members of their Academy team felt compelled to help.

It was the only answer.

But why had they not told them?

Because they didn't know what it was yet.

Dr. Green wrote something on the registration paper. “Do you think you could handle this?”

She looked over the options, and her mouth dropped open. “How do I bypass the restriction? And I’m not allowed in Japanese for at least another year.”

Mr. Blackbourne rolled his eyes slightly, though he tried not to show it. He knew this answer. If Dr. Green taught the class, he’d obviously agreed to allow her into it. The rule had been a school policy to only allow students serious in academics in, and not to treat it like a filler class that anyone could join. If students took French their first year for foreign language learning, they would likely stick with it and not swap out unless they really wanted to learn. Since the school had a four-year foreign language requirement, most students stuck with what they originally picked.

Dr. Green leaned in on the desk, propped his head up with his hand, smiling. “But is that what you want?”

She smiled, just slightly, seeming elated. “I want to try.”

Mr. Blackbourne groaned internally and threw Dr. Green a look. He was involving himself in something when he wasn't sure what it was yet, by putting her in his class. He hated this idea. He had no idea if they should. It could be she was downright trouble. Or maybe she was in trouble. A million possibilities could be true. No reason for Dr. Green to start bending backwards for her, breaking school policies and also being attracted to her... Maybe she had enough to deal with that causing trouble among teachers shouldn't also be on her plate. “Why are you causing trouble? You don’t know anything about this girl.”

“I have a good feeling.” Dr. Green held out his hand for the paper to take from the girl and then put it on his desk, signing his name. “Besides, who is going to tell me no?”

Mr. Blackbourne glowered, displeased. He couldn't wait a single day for them to evaluate what was going on before changing her entire schedule around? Yes, he’d done it for Winchester, but this was acting on someone Kota Lee was involved with. He might have to change her schedule again anyway depending on what Kota said about the situation.

Dr. Green started typing and clicking at his computer. Mr. Blackbourne fumed a little, waiting for this to be over so he could spend time evaluating the situation with Dr. Green...and possibly hunting down Kota for answers.

Heaven help them all if this was just some crush Kota had on a girl, or just Kota helping out someone and Dr. Green was doing all this for nothing.

Well, maybe not totally nothing. Mr. Blackbourne didn't disapprove of helping students get good classes if they wanted, but the school year hadn't started yet and he was going to have to answer for two students breaking school policies just because they wanted to. They weren't technically supposed to be involved with actual class schedule registration at all.

Suddenly he heard a distinct tapping noise. The young woman was tapping her toe in rhythm with the music playing on the little radio Dr. Green had put up. Mr. Blackbourne had stopped listening to it but now heard the tune clearly.

There wasn't disgust or boredom. It was enjoyment on her face. She liked it.

Mr. Blackbourne adjusted his glasses just enough as he focused on her. “Do you know this song?”

She blinked in surprise and nodded. “It’s the song about the swallow, isn’t it?”

Mr. Blackbourne nodded slowly, raising an eyebrow. She recognized...

She continued, “But it’s the version by Micarelli, isn’t it?”

His heart stilled. She knew there were different versions. And who this violinist was. “How do you know it’s her?”

“Well, she’s got this style. She plays soft. It’s hard to explain, but it’s different than other violinists. I really like it.”

It was a moment that froze for him. Her eyes. Her face. Wishing to learn Japanese. The enjoyment of classical music. Wanting more than two AP classes.

Kota. And the others. All involved.

The look in her eyes. It was her eyes that said the most. A haunted look that she had on when she first entered, that slowly eased as she got more comfortable with them. And what was behind the haunted look was perfection. Beautiful. She wanted to learn and experience. It was an incredible quality that didn't happen as often as Mr. Blackbourne thought it might.

“Do you like the violin?” he asked.

The haunted look returned and she fiddled with a button on her blouse. “I do. I like the piano, too. I think if I had to pick just one to learn, though, the violin would be my first choice.”

Someone had her caged, believing she couldn't do anything she wanted.

He bit his tongue before he got carried away asking her questions. He wanted to ask many more. He waited, hoping she would share more and he didn't dare interrupt the opportunity.

He asked himself what the best move was here. As he looked her in the eyes, he dared that part of her, the expression behind the haunted gaze, to reappear. Just once. For him.

When it didn't surface, he found himself mentally rearranging his priority list.

Even as the practical side of him nearly screamed at himself to not do this. It wasn't feasible.

There was no way.

He was too busy.

There was too much to do.

The moment he did this, it would be over for her. She would be associated with Mr. Blackbourne and the others from the Academy at this school. She had no idea what she would face. And there was no way for him to tell her.

Was it too late anyway? He suspected it was. He knew that look on Dr. Green's face. He was smitten.

If Kota had already befriended her, it was likely already over for her. In a way of speaking. She had every choice, of course, but something told him this was just the start.

“Would you kindly hand over Miss Sorenson’s registration paper, Dr. Green,” Mr. Blackbourne said before he could stop himself.

Sealing their fate.