Page 36 of Key Of Dreams

Maya

I’m getting into a great rhythm at work, and Lily has been a godsend. She’s a wonderful teacher and so easy to work with. She injects life into her classroom. I can hear the students engaging and laughing along with her. That’s a talent, and I think I’m getting better at it, but I know I can definitely learn a lot from Lily. We spend most of our free periods together planning for our classes, and we get along so well that time flies. Before you know it, the day has come to an end. I was worried about not fitting in with the rest of the staff, but I have to say that Principal Doyle has done a fantastic job at making this school a great place to work.

The first period is over, and I have ten minutes in between to prep the board for the next lesson. I’m about to do just that when I see Josh coming in to see me.

“Hey, you’re early.” I give him a warm smile. “Can’t get enough of learning, right?”

He gives me a forced grin. Josh is clearly hesitant to tell me something. Immediately, I wonder if Calvin is all right. These two are as thick as thieves, and you rarely see one without the other.

“I need to tell you something,” he says, then looks around the room to make sure no one else is there. He rakes a hand through his hair and nervously shifts from foot to foot.

“You can tell me anything, Josh. If I can help, I will, and if I can’t, I’ll find someone who can,” I say, hoping this eases his mind.

“Calvin’s a good guy. He’s not that asshole he pretends to be,” he blurts out.

This I already know, and I tell him so. “I’ve already figured that out.”

“It’s his defensive mechanism. Hurt them before they hurt you,” he goes on to say. He looks down at his boots, then raises his eyes, trying to tell me something without actually telling me.

“I’m not going to hurt him. I think Calvin is a very intelligent young man. I’m trying to encourage him to see his own potential,” I explain.

“He knows he’s smart. Calvin and I both tested a year ago, and we both tested off the charts. School isn’t hard for us. Life is hard for us.”

A lightbulb goes on in my head. “Is Calvin being bullied? Are you?” I ask quietly. Josh hesitates and bites his lower lip to the point that I think he’s going to bleed. “I want to help,” I tell him softly. I don’t want to spook him and have him clam up now.

He opens his mouth to speak, and the door bursts open. Calvin comes in, waving papers in his hand. “I finished my assignment,” he says, and plops it on my desk. “Yo, Josh. You’re handing yours in too.”

Josh clears his throat and hands me his paper. “Yeah, bud. Wanted to beat you to it so she can read mine first,” he says. “She should read the best one at the start,” he teases.

Calvin punches him in the shoulder. “I killed it. I’ll take theA+. You can have theA,” he brags, but all in good fun with his buddy. Josh snaps back into his former self, and the two friends continue their bantering.

I’m not going to get anything more out of Josh today, and I won’t betray his confidence. There’s obviously much more that I don’t know. I’m going to go to the office later and pull the two boys’ files. I read up on all my students before school, but I was looking for grades and learning styles. This time, I’ll be more thorough.

I give them both my brightest smile. “I look forward to reading them both. But I have a feeling they’re going to be stellar. Now, get to your seats. The bell just rang, and the rest of the wild ones will be in momentarily.”

The class trickles in, and the afternoon runs smoothly, as expected. I caught Josh’s eyes when he was leaving. They were trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what that would be. I run into Principal Doyle in the office.

“Hey, Maya, how’s your day going?” he asks.

“Excellent,” I exclaim. “I would, however, like to see a file on one of my students.”

“Which one?”

“Calvin Martins,” I reply.

“Is he being a problem?” His smile turns into a frown. “I know he can be a bit of a wise guy, but he’s never been in serious trouble.”

“No, no. He started off being a pest, but he’s really stepping up. I just want to familiarize myself with what we have on him. I’m not sure if I’m fully up to speed.” I don’t think it’s necessary to let him know about my talk with Josh. And at this time, I’m not even sure what it meant.

He guides me to the file room and pulls out Calvin’s and Josh’s files. I walk them over to the desk and chair in the room and take a seat. Principal Doyle leaves me alone, and I flip through the boys’ history. Calvin has always gotten good grades. They slipped when he started high school, but that’s not abnormal when kids move on to higher grades. I see that he missed school for over a month in the next year and then was found skipping classes intermittently for the last couple of years. However, his grades are still consistently higher than average. The report cards from his previous teachers stated their concern was in regard to his behavior and attendance, not his grades. Those comments began after his first significant absence.

Josh has always been present in school and has always done well. He was found skipping school at the same time as Calvin. Josh’s parents took a harder stance, and that seemed to solve that problem. Josh comes from a blue-collar neighborhood, whereas Calvin lives in a wealthy part of town. I’ve only been here a short time, and I’m even aware of the big estate homes in his neighborhood.

There’s no information about their parents, but we’re having an open house in a couple of weeks, and with any luck, I’ll get to meet them. For now, it seems that this is all I’m going to get from the information in front of me. Maybe Josh will come back to see me and this time, tell me what he’s holding back.

* * *

A short time later, I’m riding up the elevator, in my apartment building with Ken, the lawyer. He hasn’t stopped talking for a second. I hardly got in a hello before he followed me to the mailboxes. My mother didn’t raise a rude child, and I can’t just walk away, but eventually, I edged us closer to the elevator and hit the button, hoping it would be a polite way of ending this little chat. Instead, he comes in with me.

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