Page 4 of Captivated By Danger

Grams:Will be at your mom’s house when you get home. We need to talk.

So many things went through my mind, but it all led back to the one thing she’d been trying to talk about for a while: forgiveness. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I stared at the message again. My fingers hovered over the buttons, but I couldn’t formulate a sentence that my grams wouldn’t find disrespectful.

About what?No. Can’t say that. She’d think I was being disrespectful.

Talk about what?No. She would think I was being smart.

Hey, Grams. Is everything okay?Yes. That’s it.

I pressed send before I had a chance to second guess my response. She responded in record time.

Grams:When you get here.

That response sent my mind into overdrive. I was sure that it was about Perris and Kyle. The two people that ripped my heart out, stomped on it, and then ran it over with a car. Before I put my phone away, I shot my best friend, Elle, a text about it. Only she could keep me calm in times like this.

“Ms. McCreeee!” one of the kids shouted my name as soon as the bell rang.

They all jumped up at the same time.

“Hold on, kids. What did I tell you all about moving so fast? The bus is not going to leave you.”

That didn’t slow them down one bit. They all rushed to their hangers, grabbing their backpacks, nearly knocking each other over.

The door opened and Mrs. Brooks, the real teacher, walked in the room.

“Alright, single file line, y’all.” She looked at me and smiled. “If I don’t see you before I get back. Have a nice weekend, Ms. McCree. Hope to see you on Monday.”

She was a real sweet lady but just as much as she loved her job, she was over it as well. Only one year away from retiring, she did as little as possible. Since I was her part-time aide, she’d left most of her work up to me and I was okay with it because I loved the kids.

“See you Monday.”

Once the kids were out of the room, I gathered my things, leaving the classroom. The second my phone vibrated; I already knew that it was my best friend calling me. When I looked at my phone, my suspicions were confirmed. Ignoring the call, I popped the locks on my car and slid inside. Thankful for cloth seats because I’d forgotten to put my sun shield up. Citrus Grove was giving us summer degrees instead of spring. When I turned my car on, it told me that it was nearing a hundred degrees. Before I threw my phone in the cupholder, it vibrated a single time, letting me know that Elle had either sent a voicemail or a text. And then another long vibration came. She was not going to stop calling me until I picked up, so I answered.

“Hey, Elle.”

“Hey, Elle,my ass. You see me calling you, like I don’t know you be done with them little crumb snatchers at 3:15.”

I chuckled. “They are not crumb snatchers. I happen to love them very much.”

She always referred to my first-grade class as crumb snatchers. Although I had tough days teaching first graders—a lot of tough days— they still gave me joy. If I was actively in school getting ready to graduate, I could be an actual teacher instead of an aide. Eventually, I’d go back. That was my plan anyway.

“Okay, whatever. Now, back to this text message. Your grandma wants you to do what!”

Sighing, I closed my eyes, resting my head against the headrest as my car cooled off.

“Well, I’m not sure what she wants to talk about, but Ithinkshe wants to talk about… them. I’d been dodging her for the last two weeks, but she texted and said that she was going to be waiting for me at my moms house when I get off, which means that I won’t be able to avoid her any longer.”

When my car cooled off, I pulled out of the parking lot, heading home.

“Girl, just tell your old ass granny that you ain’t going to that bullshit and that’s final. Why she want you to go anyway, and for what? What purpose do you serve being there? I really hate the old generation sometimes. Everything ain’t about forgiveness, or family, or whatever. Sometimes you have to crack a mothafucka upside they head and go on about your life. And them two mothafuckas deserve it. Something about those Southern Christian Baptists that grinds my gears.

Ignoring most of what she said, I responded, “If she wants to talk about that, she’s going to say something along the lines of family and—”

“Oh, fuck the family! You know what! You let the family in your house, and the family fucked…”

“Elle, please.” I laughed.

She was quoting one of our favorite movies,Soul Food.

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