The Junior by Monica Murphy

Epilogue

Gracie

Late Spring

“Miss Hughes, Miss Hughes!”

I laugh as my students rush toward me, surrounding me with their eager smiling faces. “What, what?” I ask them.

They’re all hyped because the end of school is drawing closer and closer, and they can feel it. The air becomes warmer and the days become longer. We start doing more school activities outside, and they love it. So do I. Being outside helps them burn off all the pent-up energy that keeps them restless throughout the day.

If I could bottle up little kid energy and sell it? I’d be a gazillionaire.

“We want to go outside!” one of the boys announces.

It’s near the end of the school day, and sometimes I let them sit in the grass and we take turns reading a story. Anything to feel the warm sun on their faces and the cool breeze stir their hair.

“Let’s go read then,” I tell them.

We pick out a couple of books and head outside, my class sitting in a circle in the grass. I stare at all of their faces as I read to them, my heart swelling with emotion. I swear to God I always thought I was such a heartless bitch, but once I opened up this cold heart of mine to my man and my class?

Forget it, now I’m an emotional, weeping mess.

I’m starting to read another book when a couple of my students start getting antsy. They keep giggling and looking at the spot above my head. I pause in my reading, sending them a look.

“What’s gotten into you guys?” I ask them, frowning.

They shake their heads, still giggling.

Big, warm hands suddenly cover my eyes, and I can smell him.

My boyfriend is here.

“Guess who?” he asks, his deep voice full of amusement.

“I have no idea,” I say drolly.

“It’s your boyfriend!” squeals one of the girls at the top of her lungs, making me wince.

Caleb drops his hands and presses a kiss to my cheek before he plops onto the grass next to me, sitting cross-legged like the kids. He’s visited me a couple of times on campus lately, always stopping by the main office as is protocol, getting a visitor’s pass and essentially charming the ladies that work there. They adore him.

So does my class.

A couple of the boys scoot closer to him and ask questions about football. I stop reading from the book and let the kids talk, knowing we only have a few minutes before the bell rings. I smile as I watch Caleb with the children, content. I am going to miss this class, and this school when I’m finished. I’ve been hunting for a permanent job and I found one that I haven’t said yes to yet, but I really want to.

I need to talk to Caleb about it first.

Within a few minutes, I’ve got the kids rounded up and headed back to the classroom so they can gather their things, Caleb taking up the back of the line and steering them. The bell rings and I lead them back out, delivering the kids to the bus and car pickup line while the rest of them go with another teacher to get picked up in person.

When I’m done with my after-school duties, I head back to the classroom to find Caleb sitting behind my desk, his hands resting on top of it.

“It’s kind of hot that you’re a teacher,” he says, leaning back in my chair.

I let the door shut as I roll my eyes. “You say that a lot.”

“I would’ve had mad fantasies about you if you were my teacher,” he says with a faint smirk.

I laugh. “Please. Not at eight years old.”

“I might’ve kissed the pillow at night pretending it was your lips,” he teases.

Walking straight up to my desk, I lean in and drop a kiss on his smiling mouth. “You’re weird.”

“Just trying to keep it real.” He glances around the classroom. “You going to miss this place?”

I nod, settling my butt on the edge of the desk. “Yes. I’ve really liked it here.”

“Found a job yet?”

I’m surprised he’s asking. It’s been a bit of a sore subject between us. He’s scared I’m going to leave the area, and I can’t deny that I’ve applied to a few school districts that aren’t close.

Hey, I had to keep my options open, though he’d rather I stay here.

I get it. I don’t want to leave him either.

“I think I have,” I say, keeping my voice light. Casual. “I wanted to discuss it with you first, though.”

He frowns, those thick brows of his drawing together. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Well, I got a job offer as a second grade teacher.” I pause for only a moment. “In your old school district.”

His frown deepens. “Wait a minute…in my hometown?”

I nod, excitement bubbling up inside of me. “They’ve lost a lot of teachers lately, due to them retiring, and they were desperately in need. I applied and I got the job.”

“Which school?”

“Rivergold Elementary,” I tell him.

His frown completely disappears. “Where all the rich kids went?”

I burst out laughing. “Okay sure. Whatever.”

“Wait a minute.” He gets out of my chair and approaches me slowly, his steps careful, as is his gaze. “What are you saying right now?”

“I’m sticking around, Burke.” I’m smiling so hard my face hurts. “You’re stuck with my ass.”

“You’ll be teaching in the same area where I grew up, Gracie. Are you going to…what? Live up there? It’s an hour away from here,” he points out.

“Not at first. I thought maybe…I could live with you still. If you don’t mind,” I say with a shrug. “But eventually I’ll have to move up there.”

With you, is what I want to say, but I’m too scared.

Which is dumb because I love this man and he loves me, so why should I be scared? But I’m really going out on a limb here, taking a job in the same area he grew up. Looking like some sort of stalker, even though I doubt he actually thinks that.

Here’s the thing. As we’ve gotten closer, he takes me to his parents’ house. A lot. Especially once the football season ended. I really like his mom and dad, and the relationship that they have. They genuinely love each other, and they’re having a good time right now. Life is all right for the Burkes. They have no complaints.

And that…appeals to me. I don’t need anything flashy. I just want to be happy.

Content.

“Gracie, what the fuck? Are you saying you want to have a mundane life and live in the sticks in some small house? Teach a bunch of brats while married to that one guy with the slight beer gut thanks to all those IPAs he drinks?” Caleb asks. He sounds serious, but I see the sparkle in his eyes.

He’s giving me shit. And repeating back to me something he said a long time ago.

“Minus the beer gut, yes,” I say simply, breaking out into a huge grin when he starts laughing.

“Okay then,” he says, yanking me into his arms, his mouth finding mine just before he murmurs, “Deal.”

* * *

Caleb

The moment Gracieand I walk into our apartment, hand in hand and laughing, we come to an abrupt halt. Eli is pacing back and forth in the living room with a grim look on his face, his phone pressed against his ear as he yells into it.

“You’re really going to do that? That’s what you want? What about me and what I want?”

Gracie and I exchange looks, her eyes wide.

Shit.

This doesn’t sound good.

Eli is quiet as he continues pacing, listening to whoever it is talking to him. His expression is grim, his lips thin and his eyes are blazing with emotion.

Mostly anger.

“Really,” he says mockingly. “An opportunity you can’t pass up? Fuck that, Ava. You promised me you would come home for the summer.”

Damn. He’s having a fight with Ava.

Gracie snags my hand and we squeeze past Eli to head for the short hallway. We dart into her bedroom and she’s about to close the door, but I quietly shake my head.

I feel like an asshole, but I want to listen to this argument, even if we only get one side. Why are they fighting? Yes, they argue, but I’ve never heard Eli sound so angry with Ava like this before.

We settle on the bed, Gracie sitting near the pillows while I sit at the end of the mattress, our bodies leaning toward the slightly open door. Swear to God, Gracie and I are so quiet, we can actually hear Ava yelling at Eli through the phone. I can’t make out exactly what she’s saying, but I can definitely hear her, and she sounds just as pissed as Eli.

“You have to make a choice,” he says, interrupting her. “You either come home for the summer, or you don’t. And if you don’t—”

He goes silent.

“What the hell is he doing?” Gracie whisper hisses at me.

I shrug. “I don’t know,” I whisper back.

“If you don’t come home this summer,” Eli continues, his voice eerily calm. “Then we’re done. Through.”

Oh fucking hell. We used to talk about this amongst the friend group back in the earlier days. About the two of them not lasting. Someone has to break up, am I right? We can’t all end up together forever. That’s just not how life works.

I just didn’t think Eli would be the one to try and end things in this situation.

“Yeah, I mean it,” he says, sounding downright hostile. “You’ve been pulling away from me for months and you know it. Prove to me you still love me, Ava. Come home after finals. If you don’t, I know where we stand.”

That’s it. That’s all he says. He must’ve ended the call. Now there’s nothing but weighted silence out in the living room, and even in Gracie’s room. We’re still watching each other, both of us almost afraid to move until finally, I rise to my feet first.

“Uh hey, bro,” I call, my voice tentative. “You okay out there?”

Eli comes stomping down the hall, pausing in the open doorway. “Did you hear that just now? She’s going to leave me all summer.”

Gracie sends him a sympathetic look. “Come on, Eli. You can’t make ultimatums—"

“The fuck I can’t,” he says firmly, nodding over and over like he’s a fucking bobblehead. “I just did. She always promised me her summers and breaks. That was part of the deal when she went away to college, and now she doesn’t want to come home. She’d rather go to Europe instead for some sort of school shit. What the fuck?”

Eli starts pacing in Gracie’s bedroom, which isn’t that big and since she’s still kind of a slob, he’s kicking clothes aside while he does it, sending her a look of disgust. “You’re a mess,” he tells her, pointing.

“Hey, ease up.” My voice is firm. Deep. He can be as pissed as he wants, but he’s taking his anger out on my girl.

“Sorry.” Eli glances over at me, running both of his hands through his hair and gripping the back of his neck. “I’m just…this is fucked up, what she’s doing to me.”

Always taking everything so damn personal. Typical Eli.

“Why does she want to go to Europe?” I ask him.

“She got accepted to some study abroad program, I don’t know. If she goes, she’ll be in Spain for eight weeks,” Eli says bitterly.

“Eli. Come on,” Gracie starts, her voice soft. Like she’s speaking to a wild animal, trying to calm it. “This is probably an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. You shouldn’t—”

“Fuck that!” he roars, causing Gracie to press her back against the wall. I go to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her into me. “She promised, damn it. She said she would always be there for me, just like I said I’d always be there for her, and now she’s bailing on me!”

“Sometimes things just…happen that are out of our control,” I say, keeping my voice even. Not that I think anything’s going to work on calming him down at the moment. He’s so torqued up he looks like he could breathe fire. “There are opportunities we can’t pass up. And maybe that’s what’s happening here.”

“What the fuck ever you want to call it, it’s not right,” Eli says, hanging his head. Damn, he looks sad now. And I’d rather see a pissed off Eli than a sad one. He glances up, his eyes blazing with fury. “Let’s see what she does. Let’s see where she goes. If she comes home to me, then that proves she still loves me. That I’m number one in her life. And if she goes to Spain…”

His voice drifts. I squeeze Gracie closer, thinking of our good news we were going to share, and how there’s no way I’m telling him now.

We’ll save it for later.

Eli clears his throat. “If she goes to Spain for the summer, then I’ll know.”

“You’ll know what?” Gracie whispers.

“That me and Ava are over. Finished.” He glances at me, then Gracie. “Done.”

* * *

YES!This means Eli Bennett is The Senior! What’s going to happen between Eli and Ava? Find out by preordering The Senior, coming November 4th to Kindle Unlimited!