Chris chewed his sandwich, eating at his desk. He’d brought lunch from home to avoid the other teachers. He didn’t need an instant replay of yesterday and he could choke credibly only so many times. He had his laptop open as if he were working in his classroom, but he sat scanning his files on Jordan, confirming the correctness of his choice.
“Chris, you’re working through lunch?” someone called out, and Chris looked up to see Abe, Rick, and Courtney standing in the threshold, holding trays of cafeteria food. Abe looked stylish, Rick looked organic, and Courtney looked tempting, but they were the last thing Chris needed right now.
“Guys, I have to look over a lesson plan.” Chris hit a key so that the local newspaper, the Central Valley Patch, would come on the screen.
“Listen to you—‘lesson plan’! I like when you talk dirty.” Abe pulled up three desks around Chris’s desk. “I came to talk about Cody with my new best friend!”
“Ha!” Chris hid his dismay. He had gone online last night and learned as much as possible about Cody, Northwest College, and the Bighorn basin, but he didn’t know how long he could keep this up.
Rick hesitated. “We don’t mean to bother you, Chris.”
Courtney shot Abe a sideways glance. “Abe, I told you this was a bad idea. Chris has to work.”
“Oh, sit down, everybody.” Abe set down the tray with sodas, a slice of pizza on a styrofoam plate, and a garden salad. “Chris, don’t be such a goody-goody. We’re the mean girls of Central Valley. On Wednesdays we wear pink.”
“We’re not the mean girls, they are.” Courtney sat down. “They hate us because they ain’t us.”
Rick smiled in his goofy way, as he took a seat. “We won’t stay long, Chris. We didn’t want you to feel left out.”
Courtney’s phone started ringing in her purse, and she slipped it out and looked at the screen. “I swear, Doug has radar for when I get a minute to breathe.”
Abe smiled. “Courtney, he knows your schedule. B Lunch is 11:15 to 11:45.”
“Excuse me.” Courtney rose with the phone, answering the call on the way out of the classroom.
“‘Hi Courtney, this is Lug,’” Abe said, mimicking a caveman voice. “He’s one big beefsteak patty, but she loves the guy, what can I say? And she’s loyal. She’s stuck with me through thick and thin. I was so sick a few years ago, and she was there, every step of the way.”
“What was the matter, Abe?” Chris asked, to keep him talking about anything but Wyoming.
Rick fell suddenly silent, eating his pizza, which turned the beard hairs around his mouth reddish.
“I had anorexia. I was manorexic!” Abe fluttered his eyes behind his hip glasses. “My whole life, off and on, I just couldn’t beat it. For me it was about depression, anyway, blah blah, that’s my tale of woe.” He leaned forward. “So Chris, we’re sons of Wyoming! Tell me you had your first kiss at the reservoir, too.”
“I swear, I didn’t.” Chris had determined that the body of water in Abe’s photo was a reservoir. “I had my first kiss at fourteen in the hayloft at my granny’s farm.”
“Well, quite the junior achiever! Where was the farm?”
“Little town on the west side of the state, Evanston.”
“You ever get up to Jackson? Can you believe the changes in Jackson?”
“Tell me about it,” Chris said offhand. No, really, tell me about it.
“The place is so chichi now! The celebrities, ski-in developments, and the shopping. It even has its own Hermès! Courtney taught me how to pronounce it so I sound cool.”
“And you do,” Chris said, tense. Sooner or later, Abe would figure him out, and he couldn’t deny it was a problem.
“I took Jamie there on vacation and he said the only way he’d go back to Wyoming is if we went to Jackson. But I told him, Jackson is not Wyoming.”
“Damn straight.”
Rick finished his pizza. “Sachi and I were just talking about that trip last night. She loved it.”
“Right?” Abe flashed Rick a happy smile, then returned his attention to Chris. “Where did your dad go to high school, Chris?”
Chris had an answer, as of last night. “Sheridan.”
“Whoa, small.”
“Right. I didn’t get that far out.”
“Nobody does, except cattle.” Chris had hoped as much, which was why he’d picked it online. He was trying to contain the damage.
“So what’s it like?”
“Mountains, mountains, and more mountains.”
“I heard your parents died in a crash. Sorry about that.”
Rick interjected, “Yes, condolences.”
“Thank you.” Chris wondered if Abe could check his fake backstory with anyone he knew back in Wyoming.
“And you have no brothers or sisters?” Abe asked, resuming the conversation.
“None,” Chris answered, with growing tension. So Abe had heard that, too.
“Unusual for out there. My parents adopted six kids. Three of us are black, and three are white. My dad said we were his retirement package and he was hedging his bets.” Abe chuckled. “My dad knows everybody. I emailed him about you but he hasn’t emailed back. He only checks his email when he remembers to.”
“Uh, I forget.” Chris didn’t like the way this was going. He picked up his water bottle, and his gaze fell on his laptop, his attention drawn by a familiar name under the headline, LOCAL YOUTH ARRESTED:
Central Valley resident Ryan Sematov, 19, was arrested last night by Rocky Springs Police Department for attempted burglary of the Samsonite factory store at the ValleyCo Outlet 11. Police were called to the scene when the burglar alarm sounded and nearby residents dialed 911. Sematov was charged with attempted burglary, vandalism, and malicious mischief, and was released on his own recognizance pending a preliminary hearing.
“Oh no, look at this!” Chris said, seizing the excuse to change the subject. He realized that the arrest must’ve been one of the reasons that Raz was late this morning. “This is terrible news. I have his brother Raz in my class.”
“What?” Abe came around the desk and read the screen. “Oh no, that is terrible. I had Ryan in my class last year. He was a terrific student. I have Raz now, he’s nutty. I feel bad for the family. The father died over the summer.”
Rick joined them, looking at the laptop. “That’s too bad. I liked Ryan, and Raz is okay. He’s a free spirit, that’s all.”
Courtney entered the classroom with her cell phone. “What’s the matter?”
Abe answered, “Ryan Sematov was arrested for burglary.”
“Are you serious?” Courtney grimaced. “I never had him, but that’s so sad about that family. The father died over the summer.”
“I know.” Abe shook his head. “Ryan tried to break into a store at a ValleyCo mall. I seem to remember his mother is a higher-up at ValleyCo, in the corporate office.”
Courtney came around the desk. “That can’t be good for her. What a shame.”
“That’s tough.” Chris sounded troubled, but not about Ryan or Raz.
About Abe.