***
Chloe Chambers stared at her left ring finger; there was a hint of a tan line where her engagement ring should be. She knew she shouldn't care what the others thought, and she shouldn't be hiding her engagement ring every morning. Still, Chloe didn't want anyone to know about her personal life. Hopefully, in six months, it wouldn't matter.
At twenty-seven, she was young for a high school teacher. She also looked young for her age. Young enough for every co-worker, every parent or visitor to remark when seeing her for the first time that they assumed she was a student. They would laugh, and Chloe had to smile, rictus-like. She needed something new.
She could hear a growing wave of gossiping and yelling from outside her door. Shit. She glanced at her watch; Chloe had another class in a minute. They filled in, one by one, talking amongst themselves. She felt invisible to them, a small mercy to Chloe. They slowly quieted down, she would just walk around her desk to the front of the class, and her students knew she was ready to begin. Any kid still talking would experience a well-practiced death glare from Chloe until they shut their mouth. Once the room hit dead silence, Chloe started talking about English literature.
She hadn't been a teacher long, maybe getting close to three years. Chloe never thought about becoming one. After college, many things fell apart, jobs left, bouncing around the Midwest, hooking up with the worst type of guy. Chloe had no real choice but to listen to her mother and join a teaching training program. Months later, she began teaching English Literature and in Iowa, living with an executive obsessed with the organic farming industry.
Hoover High School was her second school. Soon she would be looking for another school to teach. Darren had promised her that he would take her somewhere away from here when he proposed. He always liked promising her things, rarely delivered. Darren had told her that they should be leaving Iowa by next June. She guessed that's why he got her a diamond from Tiffany's, collateral on his promise.
Standing up, Chloe took a slow lap around her classroom as her students worked on their assignments. She cleared her throat a couple of times, catching some students on their phones. They weren't trying to cheat; that would be something that Chloe would respect. They were just sending each other memes. She gave them a glare and continued her patrol.
Maybe she should have just ignored it. It was less than ten years ago when Chloe was on the other side of the classroom. She was doing the same during tests, messaging friends about parties after school. She would skip the last period every Friday, saying that she was enrolled in that class by mistake, that she was in the library instead. It was easier back then. Chloe wrinkled her nose; or maybe it wasn't. They have the same social media controlling them, but at least they had the pretense of MeToo protection.
Having done enough walking, Chloe returned to her desk. A gentle snowfall caught her attention, and she stared at the window, thinking of a plan. It was coming close to the end of the day; she could tell everyone to leave early. If the vice principal said anything, she could blame the snow. Chloe could even say that she lives far away and the roads would be a nightmare. None of the faculty knew where she lives, only that she has been in Iowa for two years.
It was Darren's idea to leave Ann Arbor and go west. Chloe thought of California, Washington, or Colorado. Even Chicago would have been fine for her. Iowa wasn't the top of her list. He did argue that it was technically closer to the west coast than Ann Arbor. He said he was working on some deal to set them for life. She could have the wedding that she always wanted, he promised her. Their kids could go to any private school. Thinking about children just made her stomach turn.
Chloe checked her watch; there were ten minutes left. She checked her email, deleting the annoying group messages the school would send every twenty minutes. With that done, Chloe checked out some houses in Zillow. After looking at photos of a townhome in Portland, it finally turned three. She told her students to hand in their essays and went back to looking at condos. As a stack of papers began to pile on the corner of her desk, Chloe rolled her eyes. She could just not bother reading them and grade them all Bs and Cs.
A bruised hand then quickly got her attention. She looked up and saw that it belonged to Travis McCray, a tall senior with an angular face and dirty blond hair. Chloe looked back at his hand; tiny cuts marked his fingers. Also, his knuckles were swelling. Had he been fighting? There was also a couple of bruises up his arm. Travis was quiet, only interacted with other students if forced to. While his test scores were okay, it always felt like he could do better. Maybe he was distracted by things happening at home. A drunk parent, perhaps.
Chloe nodded back at him and watched Travis leave. Shit. She had to remember this. Whatever she felt about the job, the long hours, the meager pay and annoying kids, she still had to report anything suspicious. Chloe wrote his name on a post-it and the word 'bruise,' putting it in her draw. She will talk to him when she has the chance.
"I need a drink," Chloe said out loud.
***
Her phone then buzzed. It was a reminder; she needed to buy a Christmas tree. Also, decorations. And lights. The house was utterly absent with any holiday decorations, and Chloe was the only one annoyed about it. Darren argued why waste all the effort for only a couple of weeks. On hearing that, she called him a lazy bastard. He took it as affectionate teasing and smiled back at her. She didn't know how.
Chloe spent around ten minutes walking from one side of the store to the other; still, she couldn't find the fresh Christmas trees. Her cart was filled with holiday decorations. It would be her first Christmas in Iowa, and even though she was bored out of her skull, Chloe wanted some fun. She could have enjoyed an agricultural Iowan Christmas last year, but Chloe visited her mother in Michigan. With them not speaking again, she might as well enjoy one here.
She found outdoor lights but still no Christmas tree. Picking up a box, sixty-six feet long with a hundred bulbs, Chloe could try to get Darren to put them up. Maybe she could use sex as a reward, offer to do something degrading. Chloe groaned, knowing that it all depended on Darren being home longer than a day.
"Ms. Chambers?" A voice behind asked.
Turning around, Chloe found Travis standing behind her, holding a large paint tub. He had a confused look on his face, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Travis? Hi, what are you doing here?"
"I err... work here." Chloe looked down and saw that he was wearing a red apron. How did she miss that? She gently nodded back at him.
"Do you uhm... need some help?"
She turned around, still having no idea where the Christmas trees were. Shrugging her shoulders, she replied, "Christmas tree? A fresh one."
Travis smiled and said, "Yeah sure. Follow me."
Chloe nodded, dropping the box of lights into her cart and tailed him. There was a sign that she didn't see, saying that they had fresh trees outside at the back of the store.
"So, have you been working here long?" Chloe asked, trying to break the silence.
In her nearly three years of teaching, she had only interacted with a student outside of the classroom twice. At her previous school, she had ordered a pizza, and Grady Thompson delivered, immediately asking about his recent grade. She never ordered from that place again. The other time was when she was leaving a bar crawl and ran into a group of students. That was a technicality, it was June, and those students had already graduated. Luckily, she was too drunk to remember what they said.
"Yeah, since school started. Just trying to get every shift I can."
"Why is that?" "I'm just trying to get enough money so I can move. I'm sick of being in Iowa."
Chloe smiled. He could be her favorite student. The first one.
The lot outside was filled with various trees with their subtle differences. She was surrounded by firs, spruces and pines. Chloe thought about messaging Darren and asking him what kind of tree he would like, figuring that she should at least get his opinion. He'd probably say get whatever one she wants and leave him alone.
"Ms. Chambers," Travis said, picking up on her indecisiveness. "Do you know what type of tree you're looking for?"
Chloe shook her head. "Are you okay with needles on the floor?"
