Chapter Seven: Lollipop Girls:

I thought I was going to have a clean break from my former job. It took one phone call to tell me otherwise. I hadn’t even finished the paperwork when my phone started ringing.

“Excuse me,” I said. I pulled out my phone and looked at the screen. A confused look came over my face.

“Hello?” I asked. I turned and walked out of the library.

“Mr. Muir!” I heard over the other line.

“Georgie?” I asked. “What are you doing calling me? How did you even get this number?”

“You gave us your number on the first day, remember?” she asked. I paused before I remembered what she was talking about. That did happen. I gave all of the students my number do that I could keep in contact with them. Mostly, they didn’t call me. I couldn’t understand why now.

“Oh…” I said. “Um… why are you calling me?”

“It’s really bad,” she said. “Our school is on the news.” I wrinkled my nose as I stood on the sidewalk.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

“A reporter was asking me questions,” Georgie said.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked again.

“Oh, sorry,” she said. “Just thought you wanted to know.” I frowned to myself. Was she that bored? Did she not have anything else to do?

“Thank you for sharing,” I said.

“You’re welcome!” she said. My phone buzzed in my hand.

“Hold on,” I said. I looked at the screen. Huh? Why is Frankie texting me? I tapped the screen to open the message. She sent me a link about the cheating scandal. I didn’t get time to open it when I heard Georgie, “Hello? Are you still there? Hello?”

“Huh?” I asked. “Oh. You’re still there.”

“Yeah,” she said. I put my hand to my forehead.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Nope,” Georgie said. “I’ll call you later. Goodbye.”

“Georgie!” I shouted. But she already hung up. I stared at the text on my phone. What just happened? What was going on at my old school?

“Everything okay, man?” I heard. I looked up to see Jimmy poking his head out of the doorway. I held up my phone.

“Uh… yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said. “Just a formed student calling me.” He gave me an odd look.

“Why?” he asked. I shrugged and shook my head.

“Honestly,” I said. “I have no clue.”

“Oh,” Jimmy said. I walked back into the library.

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“Sorry about that,” I said as I walked back to the front desk. “A former student called me.” I wagged my phone back and forth as I spoke.

“Is there anything else I need to do?” I asked. I was looking more at Heather as I spoke.

“No,” Ms. Washburn said.

“Can I get started now?” I asked. My phone buzzed again in my hand. I quickly shoved it into my pocket. Something told me to put it on silent later.

“Sure,” Ms. Washburn said.

“Cool,” I said. My phone buzzed again. I reached into my pocket and flipped the switch to silence. I was going to have to deal with them later. At the time, I thought that would be the end of it. I had no idea how bad the storm was going to be at my old school. My sisters and former students would be keeping me up to date all summer.

For now, I was just happy to have something to keep me preoccupied while I tried to figure out what to do.

“I’m going to head out,” Jimmy said. “See you around?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t really have much of a choice, do I? I am stuck in this town for the time being.”

“I feel you, man,” Jimmy said. “Hope things turn up for you.” I gave him a nod.

“Have good day, ladies,” he said.

“You too,” Heather said.

“Have a good day,” Ms. Washburn said. Jim turned and walked out of the door. I waved at his back. I turned back to the women behind the desk.

“What should I do first?” I asked.

“Well, you could help me with the children’s section,” Heather offered. It took my all not to squeal like a little girl at her offer. I cleared my throat.

“Sure, cool, cool,” I said. “Lead the way.”

“Right this way,” Heather said. She walked down the pathway to the brightly colored bookshelves. I followed behind like an excited little puppy.