Valentina - [wlw]

four

Evie scoffed and stepped closer towards her desk.

"Miss Clair.. you have it all wrong. I never said a single word to your girls about your absence. All I did was defuse their fight during class when we returned and I held Nani's hand because she wanted me to. I'm her teacher, I comfort my kids when they're upset" she said defensively.

"Whatever. Either way I have boundaries and I don't like when people try to invade our home life" I said sternly looking back at her.

Evie nodded and uncrossed her arms avoiding my stare.

"Yes ma'am.. I can assure you nothing of the sort will happen. Now if you'll excuse me I have papers to grade" Evie sat down at her desk.

I stood from the table making my heels click against the tile floor.

Slowly I approached her desk and leaned down on it on my hands. "By the way... I actually want to apologize for Friday night. What you do is none of my business and my comment was uncalled for. So.. I'm sorry" I forced out.

Evie looked up at me with her hazel eyes. They sparkled a little more than I liked.

"You don't apologize very often do you..?" She said softly.

"No" I laughed "so take the damn apology before I take it back"

Evie looked down smiling and tucked her hair behind her ear. Something I noticed she does often.

"Thank you.. I appreciate the apology"

I nodded in response standing up straight and twirled my keys around my finger. "Well then.. I'll see you after school for pick up" I said before walking off towards the door.

Evie continued to smile and nodded watching me leave.

The energy in the room was odd and almost made me feel sick to my stomach. Butterflies were something I hated. The feeling made me want to rip my insides out.

. . .

Evie's View:

I stayed smiling like an idiot in my classroom after Valentina left.

I may not have gotten her to smile directly in front of me but she apologized. Another accomplishment. I liked knowing I got her to do things she never did for anyone else. But her apology really did mean a lot.

After that night at the club I had gone home early to basically cry my eyes out and hadn't talked to lily since.

I ignored her texts and calls. Even Addie was covering for me. I just didn't wanna deal with explaining myself or the situation that happened right in front of her.

By pick up time I was a little too eager to see Valentina. For what reason I don't know. I just knew I liked being in her presence.

Nani and Vivi sat next to me playing with their stuffed animals.

I stared down at my watch seeing it was well past the pick up time. Normally Valentina was late but not this late.

"Girls... stay right here. I'm just gonna go make a phone call okay" I said standing from my chair.

They nodded up at me and continued to play.

"Hey, Charlotte did Miss Clair happen to call at all saying how late she'd be?" I asked our secretary.

"Mmm.. no she did not. I noticed you three were waiting longer than usual. I'll give her a call, one second"

I gave her a little smile and turned to watch over the girls.

"Hi Miss Clair, I'm so sorry to bother you. I was just calling to clarify if you were picking the girls up or if they were staying after school?" Charlotte said into the phone. I watched her, anticipated for an answer. "Oh, yes she's right here. One moment"