He Left Me on the Launched Drop Tower for His Bestie’s Laugh Chapter 06

He Left Me on the Launched Drop Tower for His Bestie’s Laugh Chapter 06

The bus lurched along the mountain road for five hours.

Rory slept like a log next to me, head on my shoulder, drool almost dripping onto my sleeve.

I didn’t push her away. I needed her there.

Alone in that rattling tin can heading deeper into the mountains, I was afraid I’d jump out and

run back.

We got off and transferred two more times.

The so-called school was three flat rooms stuck together-one classroom, one

kitchen-slash-office, and one dorm with two wooden bunks.

That night, someone knocked.

A note slid under the door. [Ms. Hart, are you asleep? It’s Lily. I just thought you might be

scared of the dark, so I put my nightlight outside your door. Open up and get it.]

Lily was my first student here.

I carefully pulled the door open.

There it was a tiny plastic nightlight, palm-sized, with a piece of candy tucked under it. Lemon drop, the wrapper all crinkled.

I crouched there for a long time, unable to stand. I unwrapped the candy and popped it in my

mouth.

It was so sweet it almost stung, but I kept it on my tongue, not wanting to swallow.

The next morning, Lily came to class with a backpack bigger than her.

“Ms. Hart! Was the light bright?”

I knelt to her level. “Super bright. Thank you.”

She hid her face behind her backpack, shy. “I’m scared of the dark too. My mom got me this

nightlight. I’m sharing one with you.”

At three, locked in the storage closet, my mom outside saying, “You come out when you stop

being scared.”

I cried my voice raw, then came out and got beaten because, she said, “Stop crying, you’re

embarrassing.”

My eyes burned.

I quickly stood and turned to grab the chalk.

I’d prepped my first lesson for three days-stories, games, interactions.

But when I stood in front of those dozen bright-eyed kids, my mouth glued shut.

I couldn’t get a single word out.

I heard myself swallow.

Lily, in the front row, tilted her head, then raised her hand. “Ms. Hart, are you nervous?”

The class went quiet.

I nodded, my voice a croak I didn’t recognize. “Yes.”

Lily pulled something from her bag and held it up-a crumpled origami frog. “Squeeze this, teacher. I squeeze it when I’m nervous.”

I stepped down, took it, and squeezed hard. The kids watched. Lily watched.

Somehow, I felt a little braver. I took a deep breath and walked back to the lectern. That lesson was a mess, but they listened so intently.

A dozen pairs of eyes followed my chalk.

After class, Lily ran up. “You teach better than Principal Reeves!”

I didn’t know if it was true, but I believed her.

During the first month, Principal Reeves took Rory and me up the mountain to visit a student’s

home.

The trail was so narrow only one person could walk at a time, a slope on the right leading down

to murky creek water.

About twenty minutes in, a green snake darted out of the brush.

Rory screamed and jumped.

It slithered right past my feet into the bushes on the other side.

I froze solid.

“You’re good, just a garter snake. Totally harmless. More scared of you than you are of it, trust

me.”

My legs stayed weak for half a minute. The principal and Rory waited. Nobody rushed me.

I felt a sting in my eyes. Nobody called me a coward for being scared of that.

A month later, a mouse scurried through my room. Strangely, I realized I wasn’t that scared

anymore.

So I turned on my phone, which I hadn’t looked at in ages.

There was a sliver of signal.

The screen flooded with missed calls and messages.

In that moment, it hit me as surreal.

The girl they’d called spineless her whole life-in just one month, she was teaching two dozen kids deep in the mountains.

She’d walked a trail with snakes.

She’d made a six-and-a-half-year-old best friend.

I was smiling even in my dreams.

But when I woke up and headed to class, I saw Ethan, my mom, and Blaire at the door.