Noah finally found a parking space in the packing lot of the school! He turned off the engine of his truck, willing himself to calm down because he was steadily losing his mind.
This definitely wasn't how his life was supposed to turn out, he loved developing software and he loved his family and the ranch they had called home for generations. Was his family cursed? Holly had never fancied the day to day runnings of the ranch while they were growing up but she'd rose to the occasion when life demanded it of her. She had set aside her dream of owning a horse riding training program for years till after she had Naomi.
Holly was the brave one, he had to give it to her unlike he who proved he was nothing but a coward when his parents had died. Holly had smiled when he'd told her that morning she caught him sneaking out of the ranch house, bags all parked all he'd managed to voice out of trembling lips was "I need to go, I can't stay." She'd hugged him, they had both sobbed in each other arms and she'd said; "I understand, go." He'd all but run to towards the car and driver he'd called out to pick him up.
He had been selfish, but he knew she had her husband and he was a solid man through and through. He knew she was in safe hands, just not his. He hadn't returned till she had Naomi almost two years later.
He looked at his niece strapped in the back seat from the rearview mirror. She was staring out of the tinted glass of his car, eyes unblinking, just glazed over. She looked so tiny and lost. He resisted the urge to gather her up in his arms and hug her till he absorbed her. He wanted to keep her safe, the universe had dealt him a bad hand and he knew he couldn't take any of it.
She was the reason he was breathing, thankfully she'll never have to worry about money. He had more than enough to last them both more lifetimes than he could imagine. Plus he'd died before he allowed anything happen to hollys child.
Noah stared at her for a bit before speaking; "young lady it's time for you to alight or you're gonna be late."
They've been sitting in the lot for a couple of minutes. Thankfully they had no impatient parent honking like a lunatic unlike previous days.
This school felt like a jungle with wild untamed beasts, and this was just kindergarten for goodness sake! Little wonder children grow up to become monsters, it's quite justified with how horrendous their parents are.
He's been dropping Naomi off in school since he got back to Rocky plains and every day, a parent gave him the middle finger, yelled at him, cursed him or threatened him. He was about sick of the whole thing.
He was baffled at the hypocrisy of it all, was it even worth it? The lack of character and then the switch to rotting parents when addressing their offsprings. He turned in his seat to give his attention to Naomi. "Ready to go?" He asked encouragingly
Noami nodded, before looking up at him "Uncle Noah, would you mind walking me to my class today?"
She looked so scared and Noah couldn't help but wonder what was really going on. Each trip to school and back had this little girl retreating into herself more and it is now so bad he'd began to worry.
"What's wrong baby? Is anything the matter?" He was surely going to have a talk with her teacher. Whatever was having his niece like this had to be originating from the school, because he understood well enough the fear he always had going to school when he was kid, it had been a horrible experience and it didn't change even as he grew.
"You can tell me anything darling, I got you baby." He said
She kept playing with the seat belt, head bowed and lips wobbling, he almost gave up when she didn't say anything for a while. "Gloria and Wesley say mom and dad got bored of having such a boring child that's why they died." Naomi blurted
What! Noah couldn't believe what he was hearing! He was just thinking how terrible parents are birthing monsters and he was being proven just right by what Naomi was telling him. Now, he knew he was going to give the school hell today. From the class teacher to the principal or whoever held the highest position in this school was going to pay.
"I'm sure they didn't mean it baby, I'm going to have a talk with their parents. They should never have said that to you." Noah wanted blood and he wasn't ashamed the thought of wriggling necks appealed so much to him.
"You shouldn't do that uncle Noah, they'll just laugh at me."
"They wouldn't okay, does your teacher know?"
"I didn't want to tell miss Alice, they'll deny it anyway."
"It's okay baby, let's get you to class before the bell ri…"
Noah was startled so badly by a knock on the passenger side window, his head hit the roof of the car with bang. "Ouch!"
"Sorry Uncle Noah." Naomi pitched in from behind him, she leaned toward him from the back seat to pat his shoulder
Noah look to his left and the first thing he noticed was the baby brown eyes staring back at him, she was signing for him to lower the glass by his side.
Through the controls on his side he lowered it…
"Good morning." The woman said to him before turning her gaze towards the back seat "Hello Naomi, how are you doing this morning?
"Good morning miss Alice, I'm well." Noah noticed Naomi had a little smile on her face, he was a little hurt that Naomi hadn't spared him even a tiny smile and now she was literally grinning ear to ear for this woman. Ge heard the click of the seat belt as Naomi unhooked it.
Noah could only spare his niece just a little glance as he found it difficult to tear his gaze away from the famous Miss Alice. This was the first time he was seeing her face without some sort of shield, she didn't even have her glasses on today.
The first day he saw her she had on a baseball cap and glasses, the day of the funeral she also had on a big hat and dark shades but dear lord, she was something on the eyes.
He'd seen brown eyes, her's however, were in a shade he'd never see before, it was such a light shade of brown that it made her look so celestial. Her hair was neatly tied back in a bun and there was not a single stray strand, he would love to see her hair wild wild around her shoulders. She had full hair and it'll fall heavily.
He caught a whiff of her scent and goshhhhh it was something vanilla and a hint of lavender, or it could be a mix of both, sweet and clean just like he thought…
"Uncle Noah…"
A wave of shame washed over him when he realized he must have missed something his niece said because he was daydreaming about her teacher. This was not a good time to be imagining thing about anyone, he had too much on his plate and so much to decide, this was a distraction he would not welcome, he didn't even have the luxury to entertain any. The keyword was Distraction.
"Good morning ma'am. I hope you are well?" He said hurriedly in a bid to mask the fact that he had been flustered.
She smiled shyly, "I'm very well."
He turned back to the already unstrapped girl to speak to her. "Hey Noami, would you go on in, I need to have a word with your… with Miss Alice."
"Okay Uncle Noah."
Noah opened up his door leaving the engine running to go over to Naomi's side to help her alight from the car. He carried her down and leaned back in to hand over her lunch box. He didn't or could not forget that Miss Alice was still by his truck, quietly watching his every move, maybe judging him. Maybe she wasn't, or was she admiring him? He'd liked to think she was.
Kneeling to give Naomi a hug, Noah noticed the hug wasn't as warm as it usually was. He was just glad he got one.
Alice noticed and spoke to Naomi, "run along now. I'll be in shortly." Naomi did as she was in told.
Noah straightened from his position and closed the distance between he and the Miss Alice.
"I don't know what the goddamn hell is going on with the world, but I'm particularly interested in the parents that raised some little monsters in my Nieces class. Before I am reprimanded for speaking that way, I'll have you know that Naomi is the only family I have left and before I'll have her go through a quarter of what I went through in school, I'll have her relocated elsewhere!"
Noah could see the obvious shock on her face, her mouth was literally gapping open.
"Humm…Mr McKinney I really am finding it hard to comprehend what you mean."
"What I mean is, kids in Naomi class are…" he breathed out to let go of some steam before he continued. "Naomi is being bullied! How did you not know? You are her teacher for godsakes. Did you even notice how withdrawn, quiet and overly polite she's been? Huh?"
Noah knew what he said must have hurt her, he saw her wincing as he threw out each word. He could almost swear her lips woobled a couple of times. He swore under his breath
The bell rang that instance; She glanced at her watch before looking up at him, "Naomi is my goddaughter and for the life of me McKinney, I don't know why you don't remember me. We literally grew up together, I am your sister's best friend for godsakes! If you knew that, you'll know that I'd give my life in an instance for Naomi and I would think about it. That's the bell. I have to go. Call me this evening, you can come over to my place and we'll talk about this more. Have a good day!"
Noah stood glued to where she had left him as he watched her storm away. Holy smokes! How the heck did he not remember Steve's sister, she has been a cute geeky one while they grow up, he remembered she'd been called 'Lice' in school. Oh God!
He better go find Steve and catch up on what his sister had been up to because now he was terrified of meeting with her. He needed to know how she blossom into what he just saw, he hoped Steve had some answers for him.