Page 17 of Bring me Back

“Your dad has a good bit from my list and he always gives the school a discount.”

Good, that was one thing. But even before we got a quote from Dad, it still looked like an extremely expensive play. Mrs. Carr chose it right, it would look beautiful if we managed to turn the stage into a dream forest. Wings for the fairies, horns for Puck and Oberon. Stage makeup, glitter and all. It had enough charm to attract lots of people, and plenty of characters to involve many kids. But it was clearly more expensive than the other plays and I knew principal Anderson wasn’t going to stretch the budget.

I fished my phone out of my apron’s pocket and passed it to him. “I can try to get rolls in bulk and use whatever I have at home. Butthat,” I tapped the screen at the end of my projections. “Is the very least I need from the budget.”

He glanced at my phone and then back at me, not worried that I was asking for more than half of the budget. “Let Anderson figure out that one,” he replied.

I frowned, “Hm, I’m sorry Mr. Miller but I don’t think he cares.”

The smile stretched his mouth, one of his thick dark eyebrows rose in question, “Mr. Miller?”

“Isn’t that your last name?” I asked, terrified.

How could I have mixed it up? I remembered him from before and then Mrs. Carr introduced him all over again….

He laughed, “Yes, it is. It’s just weird to hear you call me that.”

“It’s your name then?”

“It’s my name. But Daniel is fine, ok? You aren’t a student.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Well, I remembered you from when I was a student.”

For some reason, my comment made the smile disappear. He opened his mouth to say something, but we were interrupted by Marian with a plate of burger and fries for me and his order of pancakes.

“How’s it going, Marian?” Mr. Mill—Hm, Daniel asked.

“Wondering why you are keeping my waitress during busy times…”

I was chewing on a fry, but wiped my hands on my apron quickly. “I can go back to work.”

They both replied at the same time. “Eat.”

Marian scoffed down at Daniel, and he smiled back. “Budgeting problems.” It was his simple explanation.

“Tell goddamn Anderson to stop being an ass and let the kids do the play!”

They both laughed, and Marian moved from our table as Daniel called after her. “Are you coming to watch the play, Marian?”

“Fuck no.”

I was giggling when he turned back to me. His eyes shone in my direction and I tucked my head down and ate more of my food from lack of knowing what to do with my hands.

“Maybe we need a bake sale or whatever. Put the PTA to work,” He suggested, slicing through his fluffy stack. “They always manage to raise money for the swim team. They can do it for the arts.”

I wanted to ask why he was involved in the project at all. He was the woodwork teacher, and as much as it made sense for him to work on the scenery, I couldn’t see principal Anderson paying two teachers to manage the drama department. I doubted he was getting paid for the extra hours. I was gathering courage to ask him something that personal when he interrupted me.

“Go ahead and get whatever you want. Don’t worry about me. Hopefully, your dad will give us enough discount to make this thing work.”

I doubted that. So I added, “I can ask Dad to do a better price. I know he’s holding the discount. He definitely can do better.”

His lips turned up a little as he asked, “You think?”

“I know my dad.”

Daniel shook his head, chuckled and then urged. “Eat up, Marian’s going to kill me if I keep you one more second.”

Marian, who never missed a beat, replied from two tables away, “Glad you know it, Miller.”

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