Chapter 1
The school bell rang a second time, and Elena stood up and started walking towards her classroom. The children would already be lined up outside, but she really was not ready to face another day of trying to instill the day’s lessons into her students. In fact, she didn't want to even be in the school today. She would rather be moving her belongings out of the apartment and trying to find another home on her minimal teacher's salary.
What had David said, last night? That I lacked commitment and needed to decide what I wanted to do with my life? Elena thought, as she made her way to her students.
His comments had made her angry, so she had said that she would be ready to commit to someone who wasn't him. She also told him that she wanted to find someone exciting and good in bed. She had wanted to hurt him, to wound his pride, because their amicable break-up seemed to be turning into a quarrel about whose fault it was. She hadn't wanted to it to end like that because they had always been such good friends. Now, she couldn't stop saying nasty things to him, and they were barely speaking.
She strolled slowly across the playground, watching the stragglers in her class line up before her. The rest waited with their arms crossed, staring at her and shouting, "Come on, Miss Weston." Some of them were shivering, and she realized that they were right. It was very cold, and she should probably have taken them in already. She started to hurry, but the sound of a bike stopped her dead in her tracks.
She turned her head around to see a bike come up through the school gates and right into the yard. The driver seemed like he was about to crash into the kids, so she took a step towards him. He put on his brakes, and a small child slithered out from under his arms, taking off his helmet and saying, "Thank you, Uncle Mike. Hello, Miss Weston. I thought I would be late for class."
"You are late for class, Joey," she said, "but you go inside with the rest of the class. I want to have a talk with Uncle Mike." She waved the class in, and Joey ran to the back of the line, following them in obediently.
"He's a good kid," said the biker, as he got off of the bike and undid the strap on his helmet. Through his raised visor, she could see his flashing, blue eyes. He was staring at her with an intensity that made her shiver.
"At least he has more sense than you. You drove straight at those kids."
"I could have stopped in plenty of time," he responded. His helmet was off now, and Elena saw that he had short, dark hair which had been cut to just above his ears. He smiled at her, but she crossed her arms.
"It is not a matter of whether you think you can stop, it is a question of whether you could have caused an accident. Be more careful, or I'll have you banned from the school, Uncle Mike."
He snorted and said, "I was just dropping the boy off so he wasn't late. You can't think that I'd put the other kids at risk. Have you ever been on a bike?"
"Never," Elena said, as she unfolded her arms. Suddenly, he grabbed her hand, forcing her to touch the bike. It was still warm, and as he leaned over and started the engine, she felt it shiver under her like an animal.
"She's alive," he said. "I call her Pandora, but she's a Ducati Superbike. I bought her to race rather than ride, but she still needs to be broken in."
"I've heard of a supercar but never a superbike."
"Top of the range," he said, reminding her of how proud fathers talk about their children. "I have another, I built her myself from an old, crashed bike. She's broken down now. The guys call her Bad Babs 'cause she fails so often, but I love her." He stroked the front of the bike, as he said, "Here, get on."
"I've got a class to teach."
He shrugged and then put on his helmet. "I can't help it if you're square," he said and then rode off, his tires kicking up dust in the process. She watched him drive off
Similar Books
