Brian sat comfortably on the couch in his parents house. His mother came out of the kitchen and into the living room with a glass of iced tea. "Here you go hunny." Jakie Littrell said, handing the glass to her son. "Thanks." Brian said sweetly. "Ya know ma, I don't have to stay here. I can stay at a hotel." Jakie shook her head. "No son of mine will stay in a hotel when there is a nice warm bed waiting for him here. Besides, we never see you anymore. There should be a law that every parent should see their child at least once a week." Brian smiled at his mother.
"So, did you call the school yet and tell them you are going?" She asked. Brian nodded as he took a sip of the iced tea. "Yeah. I'm kind of nervous about all of this though." Jakie placed her hand on his knee. "It'll will be fine. Just have fun and don't worry about what other people think. You never have before, why start now?" Brian shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I guess its different because I sort of grew up with these people." Brian stated. Jakie nodded. "I understand. Maybe you should take a walk around town later. You may run into some familar faces." Brian smiled. "Yeah, I just might have to do that."
Danielle walked down the hall in Tates Creek Highschool. She stepped into the last office on the right. "Morning Kathy." She said to the woman behind the desk. Kathy smiled at Danielle. "Hello Danielle. Mr. Jones asked me to ask you if you'd mind subbing for Mrs. Simpson at 3rd period." Danielle nodded. "No, thats fine." Danielle said as she pulled a notebook out of one of the drawers.
She flipped through the pages skimming the names. "He called this morning. He's going." Kathy stated. Danielle looked up at her. "Who is?" "The name you look for everyday in that book to see if there is a check next to it." Danielle smiled. "You caught me, huh?" Kathy nodded. "So, whats your story?" "What do you mean?" Danielle asked confused. "Well, everyone seems to have some sort of story of how they knew him or something like that. What's yours?" Danielle shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing big. We were in a few classes together throughout the years. Junior year his locker was next to mine. We talked a lot and shared a few laughs but we never hung out outside of school. I doubt he'll even remember me."
Kathy shook her head. "I'm sure he will. Who could forget you?" Danielle smiled just as the bell rang. "Well, better get to my class." She said. She waved good bye and headed down the hall to the Journalism class she taught. She enjoyed teaching, all though it was only one class a day. She came in at the end of first period, taught second period and stayed around for thrid just incase she was needed. She was gone by fourth. She liked having to teach just one class. As long as she was involved with the school somehow. She loved that school.
After she graduated she went to college in New York but realized she like being back home better. She got her teaching degree and was hired at Tates Creek. Knowing that teaching won't get her much money, she took a second job at her neighbor Susan's bookstore. Susan had asked Danielle to help her out because she was getting old and couldn't be there as much as she used to be. Danielle was happy to take the job. Her two favorite things were reading and writing. She had the best of both worlds.
CHAPTER 3
