“Good morning! How may I- oh what’s wrong?” Debbie, the clerical assistant in the office, jumps in her chair at Ophelia’s disheveled appearance.

She pants against the desk, ignoring the student seated in the nearby chair. “I need…I need to…know who the red-haired woman is.” Her lungs burn. Wow, she really needs to work out because this is not fun.

“Red-haired?” Debbie taps her pen. “You mean Ms. Carter?”

She continues to pant heavily. “Does she have a glare that could cut through stone?”

Debbie laughs. “Yes, that would be Ms. Carter. She is the Honors English teacher.”

Ophelia straightens up from her bent-over position. “Can you tell me her room number? I need to get something from her.” With the room number and the mystery woman’s name, she sets off in the direction of the English department.

“Ms. Carter?” Ophelia tests the name out as she walks, sweat dripping down her back. She shrugs off her cardigan, fanning herself. “Even her name sounds mean like her.”

Classroom 107 looms like the gates of Mordor. She shudders, just imagining how this interaction is likely to go. She knocks and waits. A student answers and lets her inside the classroom. It’s white, everything is glaringly white. The walls, the lights, the board. It all looks so sterile for an English classroom. She expected posters of books or a reading nook somewhere. None of such things exist in the room.

Ms. Carter is at the front of the room teaching. When her eyes land on Ophelia, her face contorts angrily. “Class continue working.” The kids are like robots and immediately look down at their books. She storms up to Ophelia and grabs her by the arm. “What are you doing here?”

Ophelia gasps, walking along with the woman as she leads her right back outside. “Ms. Carter I came to ask for-” She stops, surprised. Ms. Carter has her hand up in a stop motion.

“Listen here, Ms. North.” Her eyes go wide, she knew her name? “We already established that I don’t want your apology, so please don’t come and interrupt my class time with your excuses.”

“Hold on just a minute.” Ophelia jerks her arms from the redhead's grasp. “First of all, could you let me finish my sentence?” She doesn’t wait for an answer. “What happened in the teacher’s lounge was an accident and if you can’t see that then you’re the problem.”

“Me? I’m the problem?” Ms. Carter steps closer, grabbing her arm again. “You burst in like someone was chasing you, rammed into me, and then proceeded to stare like an idiot at the mess you made.”

She looks at the manicured hand clutching her elbow. “I said sorry.”

“As I said before, I don’t care about your apology.” She walks Ophelia backward until her back hits the wall. Even in heels, Ms. Carter is an inch or so taller than she is. “I care about you leaving my presence.”

Ophelia swallows mustering up the courage to speak. Her entire body is trembling at the woman's ire. Why was she so mad? “I need the chemistry worksheets back.”

Ms. Carter leans back with a frown. “I’m an English teacher, the science department is on the other side of the school.” She drops her hand and places them on her hips.

“I think they might be mixed in with your papers after they dropped on the floor.” She stares down at the floor unwilling to meet her eyes. The woman seriously scared her.

“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you, you aren’t looking at me.” Ms. Carter taps her foot. Ophelia notices she wears checkered Vans.

Face flushed red in embarrassment for being berated yet again, Ophelia raises her head. Ms. Carter’s blue eyes flick up and meet her gaze. “I think the chemistry worksheets I had are mixed in with the papers you took.” She stares off to the side of her shoulder, uncomfortable with the eye contact. Staring into Ms. Carter’s eyes was awkward and made her heart pound frantically in her chest.

“That’s better.” She takes a step back from Ophelia. “Stay here, I’ll check.”

Once she disappears back into the classroom, Ophelia slumps back onto the wall. She slides down a few inches, deflating. “I want to go home.” She grabs her head, feeling stressful tears threatening to spring up. “I can’t do this. Everyone is so rude and mean!” Her body is hot from running and then from her embarrassing encounter with Ms. Carter. The woman had no idea about personal space! “Alright, just 2 more hours. 2 hours, and then you can go home, and lay in bed.” She wipes at her eyes with her cardigan.

“Here they are.” Ms. Carter comes sweeping out into the hall with the worksheets in hand. “I apologize for taking them.” She looks sheepish.

Ophelia takes them with a grateful smile on her face. She wipes at her eyes again, too stressed with the day to even care that Ms. Carter can see the tears welling up. “Thank you! Thank you so much for finding them.”

“Are you crying?” She frowns at Ophelia.
She shakes her head, “No! No, I just have something in my eye. An eyelash I think.”

“Alright, well I need to get back to my lesson.” She makes a shooing motion with her hand. Ophelia jumps up from her spot on the wall and starts to walk away. “Ms. North?”

“Yes?” Her shoulders are tensed.

“Look out for where you’re going.” Blue eyes rake over her body from head to toe. “We don’t need any more accidents today.”

She nods, backing away. “Yes, thank you, got it.” Her back hits the corner. “Yep, okay bye.” Ms. Carter is already in her classroom.

_____________________________________

“I’m being honest Lea! This lady wanted to kill me.” Ophelia walks up the stairs to her apartment arms laden with shopping bags. She took a trip to the grocery store in the village for some necessities. This weekend she will drive the 45 minutes to Walmart for bulk items but for now, she has to make do.

“Ms. Carter is like that with everyone.” Aunt Lea says over the phone. “She always gives off mean girl vibes.”

Ophelia pants on the second landing. “No, you needed to be there. I thought she was going to murder me.”

“Which time? When you bumped into her or when you came into her classroom?” Her Aunt laughs.

“Both times! It scared the crap out of me.” She makes it to the 3rd landing. “Ms. Carter is terrifying and I legitimately think she wants to kill me just for breathing.” She hears a door open behind her. Assuming it's Judy, she turns, a greeting on the tip of her tongue. “Oh shit.”

Her Aunts voice crackles through the speaker but Ophelia doesn’t hear it. White noise blares around her, just static. Heart in her stomach, Ophelia drops the phone from her ear.

“Ms. North.” Ms. Carter stands in the doorway of room 302. She ignores Ophelia’s stuttering and walks down the stairs.

“Azalea?” Ophelia raises the phone back up. “Guess who lives across from me.”

_________________________________________

Two days have passed since Ophelia found out that Ms. Carter lived across from her in room 302. Every time she leaves her apartment, Ophelia will spend an abnormal amount of time staring through the peephole so as to not cross paths with the redhead again. So far she’s been lucky enough to only stumble into Judy and her son Jonathan in the hall.

Wednesday means that there is 1 day left in her work week before the weekend. Ophelia sighs blissfully already imagining what activities she wants to do this weekend. It’s her first time in the town of Portland, TN. The quaint village near the school has 1 stop light that she is tired of seeing. There’s a town an hour away that she hopes to quench her inner adventurer with on her off days. She misses Walmart and Costco dearly.

The bell chimes overhead. Dr. Davis’ last class of the day is ushered out by the teacher as she has them hand in their exit tickets for the day. “Ms. North, could you grade these for me?” She hands them to Ophelia who stands beside the whiteboard.

“Of course, anything else?” She takes the offered papers happily.

“Nope.” Dr. Davis sits down at her desk and starts rapidly typing. “Oh hey, remember we have chapel today before dinner.”

A red line cuts across a student's paper. Ophelia makes a face, dropping the pen. “Chapel?”

She smirks, “Let me guess, you don’t go to church where you’re from?” Dr. Davis rests her chin on her hands, eyes smiling at Ophelia’s confused face.

“No? We stopped when I was in middle school. Haven’t seen the point in going back.” She picks the pen back up and continues grading.

“Why did you think you had to sign an agreement stating that you’re a Christian?”

An X is marked on the paper. “I don’t know, I just wanted the job.” She goes completely still, “I mean, I am a Christian.”

Dr. Davis’ laugh cuts her off. “Wow, you're so high strung girl.” She stands up and makes her way to Ophelia’s table. “Let me tell you some information about the science department. None of us believe in that ‘God created us all,” we believe in science and fact.” She nudges the papers aside. “Do I look like a Southern Adventist to you?”

The chemistry teacher wears green bell bottoms with a bright pink blouse with frills. It had hurt her eyes this morning when Ophelia walked into the classroom. Multiple bangles adorn her wrists with a variety of necklaces around her neck. The cow print Crocs on Dr. Davis’ feet are scuffed with use. “No, you look like my Aunt.”

The other slaps the table in her fit of cackling. “I’m serious. Are you into crystals too?” She laughs harder at the question.
“I wear a Carnelian necklace and make moon water once a month.” She sighs, finally getting control of herself. “Well, I’m glad you can tell I’m not one of them.”

Red streaks across a student's problem. “One of them?”

“A normal person, you know. Someone who conforms to the rules and obligations of this capitalistic country.” She digs into her bra and Ophelia just stares at the woman, boggled. A Juul is pulled out. She takes a hit, savoring the inhale. “I want to be known as someone different from the rest.”

Her nose scrunches at the sweet smell of the vapor exhaled between them. The exit tickets are almost done being graded, so Ophelia hurries it up. “That much is obvious.” One last red circle and X are marked. “Finished.” She stands from the table, “I’m going to lunch now.”

“Will you grab me a juice while you're in the Cafe?” They walk to the door together. “I’m meeting Dr. Porter to go over this weekend's shopping trip.”

“Shopping trip?” She tugs her sweater on.
Dr. Davis stands outside of the Environmental Science classroom with her hand on the doorknob. “Yeah, we take the bus on Saturday into town. The students get to go once a month.” She opens the door, “Dr. Porter is one of the chaperones, and I made a list of students not allowed to go.”

She begins to walk away from the other. “Alright, I’ll grab that juice later.” Ophelia waves but is speed-walking down the hall. She practically jogs to the choir room on the second floor. Voices harmonizing fill the music hall. The choir room door is cracked open so that the melodic voices of the students can reach anyone listening outside or in the stairwell.

Aunt Azalea stands at the front of the school choir, eyes narrowed as she listens intently to the many voices reverberating off the walls. Ophelia enters the classroom and takes a seat on the cushioned chair behind her Aunt. 15 minutes go by with the students singing a variety of songs. It ends with a solo that crests into a shattering high note. Everyone claps, including Ophelia at the power in the freshman’s lungs.

“Okay, that’s it for today. Pack up, 3rd lunch should be starting soon.” Aunt Lea closes her sheet music booklet.

“Want to get lunch together?” Ophelia stands at her side.

She jumps, screaming. “What!” Lea holds a hand to her chest. Some students break out into giggles at their teacher's antics. “You guys head out.” She waves them off. “FiFi! You scared me, how long have you been in here?”

“Most of my lunch break.” She pokes Lea in the arm. “Am I going to chaperone this Saturday?”

Azalea’s eyes dart away. “Maybe, I don’t know.” She walks to the door. “Come on, I’m starving.”

They walk down the stairs, steps in sync. “I just started, you don’t think they would trust me with a group of kids at the mall do you?”

“You passed the background check and drug test, right?” Azalea grabs a lunch tray and hands it to her.

Ophelia places a plate on it. “Yes, but I’ve only been here for a few days.”

She scoffs, taking an orange from the fruit bowl. “Then you will most likely be going.” Ophelia groans, resting her head on her Aunt's shoulder. Spaghetti and a side salad are on Ophelia’s plate. She grabs two apple juices, and a slice of cake. “Hey look, you’re best friend.” Aunt Lea giggles.

They walk to the tables designated for teachers if they wish to eat in the cafe with the students. “Erica is in Nashville.”

“Wasn’t talking about her.” They sit down. “I was talking about her.” Aunt Lea points her fork to the left.

Ms. Carter stands in the lunch line.

“That’s not funny.” She kicks the woman in the foot. “I told you, she hates me.” Ophelia looks away when Ms. Carter turns from the food line.

Aunt Lea slurps her spaghetti noodles up. “Stop being dramatic.”

“Me? Who is the one who faked fainting in front of Tom Hardy?” Ophelia glances at Lea who wears a dumbfounded expression. “Oh yeah? That was you!” Her aunt pushes Ophelia back when the younger elbows her. They get into a shoving match when a throat clears.

“I got his autograph didn’t I?” Azalea grapples with Ophelia for a moment. “Hey, Carter!” Azalea elbows Ophelia hard in the ribs causing her to gasp in pain. “Did you want to sit with us?”

Ms. Carter stares deadpan between the two seated women. Ophelia raises her head, hand pressed into her bruised side. She averts her gaze from the woman standing at the table.

“No, I saw you two fighting over here.” Ms. Carter’s brows lower as she leans forward. “You are both adults, please set an example for the students.” She turns, red hair swaying. They watch, eyes wide and faces grim as Ms. Carter leaves the Cafe.

She shovels vanilla cake into her mouth, feeling her chest tighten. “See?”

Azalea stares after the English teacher for a surprisingly long amount of time. “You weren’t joking.” She pats her niece’s back. “I mean, usually she is like a 3 on the stick in the mud scale, but that was a solid 8.”

“She gives me nightmares.” They share a look and then burst into laughs. “I’m serious!”

________________________________________

Thank you to everyone who is reading, adding this book to their reading list/library, and for voting/commenting. It all means so much to me!! I have 75k words and I'm shooting for 100k-150k words or within that range.

Constructive Criticism is welcome but not the 'harsh' mentally debilitating kind. I just crawled out of a writers block over the AQT (Alpha Queen Trilogy)

Fun Fact: Book 2 and 3 don't exist anymore! So Hope being murdered and brought back to life then getting amnesia? Yeah, that's all gone! :) Many complained about that and even I was confused. I haven't even gotten to the avalanche scene. Just know that I erased everything on my Drive so that I can have a fresh start and not be tempted to go back and reread my mistakes.

Happy Pride Month