Chapter 1

Camille receives a mysterious note.

1 

 

 

The teenage hormones were raging today, Camille Sabini thought with a sigh. One of her favorite students, Nelson Booker, had come to her for extra help during her free period. He had been totally distracted, so she'd asked him what was up.  

"I saw my ex-girlfriend in the hall," he said. 

"Don't you see her all the time?" 

"No, she was at another school for awhile and now she's back." Having students come and go wasn't uncommon in the impoverished Bear Valley School District. Nelson was a lanky biracial young man with short cropped hair, glasses, and ears that stuck out a bit.  

"I'm just having all these emotions, Miss S.," he added. 

Camille let him talk about his love life for a few minutes. Sometimes you had to let them vent before they were ready to do some work. Camille was a substitute teacher, but she knew she was one of Nelson's favorite teachers. 

Then she'd been standing in her friend Jack's classroom when Dylan Byers had come stomping in. 

"I'm about to get in a fight," he announced. 

"Well, Mr. Byers, I commend your self-control in coming here instead," Jack said.  Jack was a large man with sandy blonde hair and a neat beard. He had a deep voice that enabled him to bring unruly students to attention quickly. 

"This kid is going around saying stuff about my girlfriend, though." Dylan ran his hands though his  spiky, light brown hair. His blue eyes flashed with indignation. He was in need of orthodontic work, but Camille knew that for most kids at Bear Valley Middle School, braces were just mouth jewelry for rich kids.  

Jack spoke to Dylan about his issues while Camille slipped out and got ready to leave for the day. Once she got to her car, she took her phone out of her bag and checked her messages. There was an email from her college alma mater. She figured it was just another plea for money, but she clicked on it anyway. It was another reminder about her ten year reunion. She needed to make arrangements if she was going to go.  

Camille checked on her class's Facebook page when she got home. Several of her friends were planning to go. There was a post from her ex, Colin, saying he was planning to attend. 

Colin. Camille wondered if she could even call him her ex. Few of their classmates at Laurel Haven even knew about the relationship. She clicked on Colin's profile. He was living in Pittsburgh, teaching music at a small college, and single.  

What a coincidence. So was she. Camille smiled and sent Colin a friend request before she lost her nerve. 

The next morning, Camille woke in a fog. She'd had a dream about Colin, and it took a bit to shake herself from dream world. It was Saturday, so she didn't have work. She went to her closet and found the box containing her old journal. 

She wondered why she and Colin had never friended one another on Facebook before. She had hesitated because of the ex factor, so probably Colin had too. How strange that they were both single. Of all her exes, Colin was the one Camille thought about late at night when she was feeling lonely.  

They had parted amicably, mostly because they had different plans for after graduation and neither wanted a long distance relationship. They had also kept their relationship a secret. Two mutual friends, Andrea and Betsy, both had feelings for Colin. 

Laurel Haven was a small liberal arts college set atop a beautiful hill in the Laurel Highlands in Western Pennsylvania.  It had once been a women-only college, but when Camille attended ten years ago, they had just started to go co-ed. The male students only made up about 10-20 percent of the population, and when you discounted the guys who were unavailable and gay, you had a rather small dating pool.  

Colin had been both straight and available, not to mention good looking and a musician. He had been a music and education major, and half the female music majors had crushes on him. Andrea and Betsy had been no exception. Camille, an English major, had befriended Andrea freshman year in the dorms. The four of them sat together in the dining hall most days.  

Camille paged through her journal, the words taking her back to Laurel Haven during fall of her senior year... 

"All she did all summer was go to wild drinking parties," said Betsy. 

"She isn't drinking now though," Andrea pointed out.  Camille knew they were talking about her, and that they had no clue she was in the bathroom and could hear them. 

"That's just because she doesn't have a way to get any here," Betsy continued. "Mandy told me she was smoking a cigarette outside of Clay Hall yesterday." 

"I'll ask her about it," Andrea said with a sigh. Camille heard them both exit the bathroom. She waited a few minutes to make sure had time to leave the area, and exited the bathroom. 

Honestly, Camille thought. You go to a few parties over the summer and people freak out.  She knew Andrea and Betsy were what many would consider to be "goody goodies." Andrea had been a good friend to her and she enjoyed Colin's company as well, but she really only tolerated Betsy because she was part of the group.  

Camille sat with the group at lunch that day, as usual. She gave Betsy a fake smile when she sat down. Betsy had a smug grin on her face. 

"What's up, Betsy?" said Camille. You look awfully happy today." 

"I was in Colin's room earlier, and I got to talk to his niece. She's so adorable!" Betsy repeated her conversation with Colin's niece, Madison word for word. 

"I just love kids," Betsy added, and looked at Colin as though she wanted him to impregnate her right this second. Colin looked down at his tray as thought suddenly intrigued by his chicken sandwich and fries.       

After lunch, Camille headed to her next class. She spotted her friend Sheila and sat next to her. Sheila and Camille had been roommates the previous year. They'd both decided to get singles their junior year, but they were still friends. Sheila had a snarky sense of humor that Camille just loved. 

"So, guess what I overheard today?" Camille said. 

"What? Good gossip, I hope,"  Sheila replied. 

"Not really. Betsy and Andrea were in the bathroom and didn't know I was in there. Betsy was basically saying I turned into a lush over the summer, and their friend saw me smoking a cigarette. So scandalous." 

"So Betsy was talking s**t on you. Did you say anything to her at lunch? I saw you sitting at her table." 

"No, I didn't say anything." 

"You can sit with me, you know." 

"Maybe I will sit with you at dinner. I mean, I like Andrea and Colin, but Betsy is getting to be a bit much. She twists s**t around. We were talking about Professor Raja having cancer and I said it was a shame she lost all her beautiful hair and Betsy just jumped all over me, saying she's fighting for her life and who cares about her hair and she just made me sound like some superficial b***h. And I’m not, you know?" 

Sheila nodded. "She's probably jealous of you and puts you down to make herself feel better. She should do something about her breath instead of worrying about you." 

Camille giggled. "She has bad breath? I never noticed." 

"I was talking to her a couple days ago and I swear she ate a s**t sandwich for lunch," Sheila said. 

Camille erupted into laughter. "You're terrible. But I like it," She said. 

"And what was up with the way she was looking at Colin at lunch? She might as well have 'do me now' on her shirt in blinking lights." 

"Oh, she was in his room and talked to his niece on the phone and was telling everyone how much she loves kids." 

"Colin didn't look too excited at the idea. Why was she in his room? They aren't dating, are they?" 

"No. I think she has it pretty bad for him though." 

"No kidding. You should have seen the look on her face at lunch. It was like, impregnate me now." 

* 

Camille was at school, talking to Jack in his classroom, when Dylan burst in.  

"Did you bring your math homework?" Jack said to him. 

"Uh, I don't know where it is. Maybe in my locker. Can I go look for it? I didn't get any sleep last night." 

"Why didn't you get any sleep last night?" Jack asked. 

"I was at the hospital with my mom. My stepdad hit her so hard, she might need surgery on her eye socket. My baby brother was in the hospital too. My stepdad dropped him." 

"I'm sorry to hear that. That must have been really stressful to deal with. Does the hospital know why your mother was injured? Are the police involved?" 

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. My baby brother is okay to go home, and my aunt is taking care of him." 

"Well, if you think you can concentrate enough to work on your math homework, you can go to your locker." 

Dylan left the room, and Jack looked at Camille with a serious expression. "Even if the police are involved, I have to report this." 

Camille nodded in agreement. "Mandated reporting and all that."  

"I don't buy the part about the baby being dropped, either. Babies are pretty tough." 

"Well, you would know more than me about that." Jack had four kids at home, ages four to nine. "Do you think he deliberately hurt the baby?" 

"Well, based on things Dylan has told me in the past, I wouldn't be surprised. Unfortunately, I can't prove it. It's up to the hospital to look into it. Since Dylan's mom did go to the hospital, criminal charges will be filed. He'll still be charged, even if she doesn't personally file them or does and drops them." 

"That's good, at least," Camille said. 

"He actually lives with his dad. He lived with his mom in Scenic Mountain School District but I think he moved in with his dad because of the stepfather." Jack sighed, leaving the rest unsaid.  

Camille's heart went out to Dylan, as it did to many of the students she interacted with in Bear Valley. She'd had no less than five students tell her one of their parents was incarcerated. The poverty level was sky high. All of the students got free breakfast and lunch in school. In most school districts free lunches went to those who qualified by family income, but the poverty level was 80 percent in Bear Valley District, so the entire district qualified. Many of the students also participated in the after school program, which provided additional food, and the Backpack Program, which gave them bags of food to eat on the weekends.    

Camille was an emergency substitute, meaning she didn't have a teaching certificate. She had majored in English to be a writer, but finding a full time writing job had proved to be difficult. She had joined a program to work in a needy school district and receive a percentage of student loan forgiveness after she stayed long enough. The pay was low, but Camille adored most of the kids. She hadn't considered herself to be "good with kids" before this job, which is why she hadn't set out to be an English teacher in the first place. Even now she wasn't sure she could handle working as a teacher all the time, doing lesson plans and grading papers.  

Camille had moved back to her hometown of Bear Valley only one year prior. After college in Laurel Haven, which was 50 miles west of Pittsburgh and 40 miles east of Bear Valley, she had lived in State College. Her best friend, Delaney, had gone to Penn State. After graduation, Camille had moved in with Delaney who had another year of school to finish. Jobs were scarce in Bear Valley and Camille had been reluctant to move to a bigger city on her own. Camille suffered from generalized anxiety disorder, and the idea of moving to a larger city alone had been overwhelming. Camille didn't own a car at the time, and State College was pedestrian friendly with decent public transportation.  

Camille had hoped to get a job at one of Penn State's publications, but competition for those jobs was fierce. She had gone through a terrible bout of depression. She worked in retail for nearly two years, and suffered frequent panic attacks. There were times she'd had to hide behind a display or rack of clothes just to compose herself. The job actually had included insurance, but the co-pay for outpatient mental health services was twenty-five dollars per session, and she knew a therapist would want to see her once a week. Barely making above minimum wage, she couldn't afford an extra one hundred dollars a month to get the help she needed.  

A few years later, Camille met someone who told her about county assistance programs that would allow her get help for little or no cost. She had put in many hours of therapy and starting taking medication for the anxiety and depression. She got a job at a call center which paid well but was highly stressful and rather unsatisfying work. She saved up her money, bought herself a car, and then decided to start fresh. She moved back to Bear Valley and applied to be a substitute teacher. It didn't pay nearly what the call center did, but she loved working with the kids.  Bear Valley was much less expensive than State College, in any case. She rented half a duplex for the same monthly rent she had been paying for a studio in State College.