Instead of Me

∆8∆

On Monday, I drove to school early. Annie hadn't contacted me at all during the weekend, so I assumed she had a ride with Heath, and was spending all of her open time with him. I spent the time in my car listening to music and wondering what to do. I decided to confide in Mrs. Valentine. She would probably know what to do.

The doors to the school were unlocked since some students have early morning tutoring before classes start. I swung the door open and crept through the hallways until I got to Mrs. Valentine's classroom. Peeking through the cracked door, I noticed a man in the room with her. He was sitting on her desk while she sat in her chair. They seemed to be laughing together. 

Judging by the stylish button up, suspenders, loafers, and thick glasses, the man was the school's librarian, Mr. Miller. Like Mrs. Valentine, many students found Mr. Miller attractive. He was the only single male faculty member that was anywhere close to Mrs. Valentine's age, and Mrs. Valentine was as single as they come, so many believe that the secretaries are trying to do some matchmaking for some entertainment. It seemed to be working. Before Mr. Miller started working at the school, Mrs. Valentine was more of a top button kind of girl, if you know what I mean. 

I cleared my throat and knocked on the door. "Excuse me?" Mrs. Valentine glanced over and smiled. "May I come in? I wanted to talk to you about something." I opened the door completely. 

Mrs. Valentine nodded. "Of course you can come in."

Mr. Miller chuckled and stood up off of her desk. "I'll be sure to send you the copy. It's in brilliant condition." He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.

"Thanks, Edwa- Mr. Miller. I can hardly wait." There was a slightly awkward silence as Mr. Miller nodded to her then left the classroom.

I looked at Mrs. Valentine questioningly. "Are you two . . . ?"

"Finn, don't be ridiculous. He's just giving me a copy of the Jungle Book. Besides, he's my coworker." She flipped her dark brown curls over her shoulder. 

"Yeah, and Annie and I are best friends. That doesn't mean we don't develop feelings for each other." I raised my eyebrows at her, sitting down at a desk across from her.

My teacher blushed, her bright blue eyes glancing down at her desk. "What did you come to see me for, Finn? Have you done what I said?" She pushed a curl behind her ear, and twirled a silver necklace between her fingers.

I chewed the side of my bottom lip, shaking my head and running my fingers through my hair. "There hasn't been an opportunity." I shrugged my shoulders, my head hanging low in defeat. "Mrs. Valentine, I don't know what to do. Annie is head over heels for Heath, and I can't get her to look in my direction when he's around." Anger rose inside of my chest and my palms started sweating. 

Mrs. Valentine twirled her necklace between her fingers. It was a silver chain with a thick wedding band around it. I had always noticed the chain around her neck, but this was the first time I had seen her wear it when it was not tucked underneath her shirt. She slipped her thumb through it, but it hardly filled out the band. "You need to make an opportunity if you want to tell her. A true opportunity to tell someone how you feel about them is never going to pop up. Trust me. I know how it goes." She grinned to herself, staring down at the wedding band. "Have I told you about how I met my husband?" 

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "You were married?"

A sudden laugh sprung from her throat. "Finn, I was married with kids and everything. It's just that things in life didn't go as planned." Mrs. Valentine grabbed a picture frame from her desk and looked at it nostalgically. "Not at all how we planned it." A tear trickled down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away. She handed me the photo. "The man with the green eyes was Jensen, my kids' godfather. He was our best friend. My husband, Milo, is the one with the blonde hair. The teenager is my daughter, Jo." Mrs. Valentine was obviously pregnant in the picture. She wasn't huge, but a bump was forming under her blouse.