Nate's Gift (Small-Town Christmas Wishes Book 3)

by Jackie Castle

  She waved him away. “We need to work this out, Nate. Really, it’s not fair to the kids to make them choose. Can we meet after school?”

  Another jolt snapped through his chest when she used his first name. He nodded, too dumbfounded by her pleading green gaze and pouty lips to trust himself in giving an intelligent answer.

  “Great. Come to the auditorium after your practice. I’ll still be there working on our costumes.”

  He nodded again.

  Did she not have much of a life either? Nate wondered. If she wasn’t such a thorn in his side, then maybe he’d try to be nicer to her.

  Maybe.

  Chapter Two

  Kara Shay headed to the room she shared with Mrs. Sandra Smith who taught ESL between her Lit classes. What was the deal with that stuffed shirt Mr. Cooper? If he wasn’t poking his nose in her class business every other day, then he was trying to tell her when and where she could practice.

  When she entered the dimly lit room, Mrs. Smith looked up from her computer. One look at Kara’s exasperated expression and the woman’s eyes widened. Her curly orange hair made a bowl around Sandra’s oval face. Today, she had her wild curls tucked under a bright red scarf with little snowmen covering it.

  “What’s wrong, hon?” Sandra came from West Texas and had a drawl to kill for.

  Kara loved hearing her friend talk. “That…” She released the annoyed growl she’d been holding onto and set her belongings on the desk across the room. “Why does Mr. Cooper want to make my life so hard? What does he have against me, anyway?”

  Sandra kept her eyes glued on the screen, but her widening smile betrayed her amusement. “Well, I’ve always said, when a boy’s bugging you, it’s probably ’cause he’s crushing on you.”

  Kara let her bag drop in the rolling seat. “Sandra, we are not fifth-graders, for goodness sakes.” She hit the button to boot up her computer, wanting to go back over the drama club schedule before she met with him this afternoon. Lord help, me!

  It was unfortunate that both of them had important programs going on right around the same time. Kara feared that if she pushed their play until after the holidays, it would never get shown. Deep down, she feared that one of the first cuts the school would make was to her program.

  Moving the bag, she sat and waited for the slow computer to wake up. “I understand that the band is important, too. But it’s not like he gets to call all the shots.”

  “He sure is a looker,” Sandra replied, totally off-topic. “If I were twenty years younger and single—”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Kara exclaimed. Not that she hadn’t noticed how handsome he was. When he wasn’t ranting at her. But, still.

  “Oh, well? I’m not sure how to respond to your problem, so I was just simply making an observation. You two would make a cute couple. Both of you are passionate and good teachers.”

  “I believe dating staff is—”

  “Not encouraged,” Sandra finished, “But not unheard of, either. You know Mr. Nickles from Math and Mrs. Nickles from PE? They’re not siblings.” Her penciled brows wagged up and down.

  Kara covered her face with her hands. This wasn’t helping. She was finally able to call up her schedule for December. Goodness, they only had a couple of weeks left to get everything together. She still needed to talk to Principal Lopez about set expenses. Another task she was dreading.

  Checking her clock, she figured this was just as good of a time as any. There was still another thirty minutes before her first Lit class. At least she didn’t have to worry about Mr. Teacher-Cop interrupting her lessons until the sixth period when he was in the class next door.

  “I’ll be back, I need to speak to Lopez.” Kara sent the schedule to the shared printer in the computer lab. She’d need to pick it up on the way back.

  “Good luck, hon. He wasn’t in a very good mood this morning.”

  Great, that’s all Kara needed.

  * * * *

  “Kara, there’s not enough in the budget to pay for a set we’ll never use again.” Principal Lopez rubbed at his forehead as if he had a headache.

  Kara imagined being the principal brought on more than a person’s normal fair share of headaches.

  “I suggest you use whatever you can find in storage.” He waved his hand in the direction the storage rooms were located by the gym. “I’ll call one of the janitors to let you in this afternoon. How does that sound?”

  Terrible. “What if I only made things that we could use next year—?”

  “I doubt there will be another year for the Drama Club.” He closed the file he’d been reading over while talking to her, then clasped his hands on the desk in front of him. “You are a very talented teacher. I think you’re wasting your talents in a program that really does little to forward a child’s education.”

  “With all due respect, Juan, the arts are very important to a child’s education. Why, how will they learn self-expression? Or how to speak before others? If we keep cutting out opportunities for them to learn these skills? A good school offers more than only book learning.”

  “Are you saying we are not a good school?” His very wide forehead furrowed like a wrinkled shirt.

  “No, of course not. That’s…not what I meant, Juan. I just think—”

  “I know what you think, Kara. You made your opinions clear at the last school board meeting. And in the many emails you’ve sent me. Not to mention these unscheduled personal visits. I understand, and admire, your passion for the kids, I truly do. But I’m afraid we need to put our funds into the programs that will provide the most bang for our bucks. We have testing standards we must meet or—”

  “Yes, yes, I know. Or you’ll lose your funding. But if the drama club can earn enough money to pay for itself?” Kara tried. She was down to her last few straws.

  “If enthusiasm continues for this holiday play that you want to put on, then I’ll make more of an effort to work with you. You can continue having an afterschool club, on your own time.” He held up a finger. “So long as you find ways to cover the costs yourself. I’ll even allow you to continue meeting in the auditorium, though the school will not be able to offer a place for evening performances. The expense of extra staff and everything is too much!”

  He stood and began shuffling several folders into a pile. “Kara, I honestly think it’s time for you to find a new project. Perhaps a book club in the Library? Or—”

  Kara stood. “I’ll think about it, Juan. Thank you for your time.”

  As she headed toward the door, Principal Lopez added, “There’s a position opening up next year for a full-time tenth grade English teacher. Let me know if you’ll be interested.”

  Kara gave a nod, then closed the door behind her. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to teach English, but that wasn’t what she was passionate about teaching. He’d pretty much told her this would be her last play. That the drama classes would be cut out next year, if not next semester.

  She stopped by the computer lab to grab her schedule, wondering what was the point? Might as well let Mr. Cooper have the auditorium whenever he wanted. As she returned to her room, several students were waiting outside. The door was locked, which meant Mrs. Smith had left for her class on another campus.

  “Good morning, Ms. Shay,” several in the group greeted her. A couple of the girls offered a quick hug on their way in. The boys gave her high fives, always trying to keep it cool. The last boy to enter was a shy eleventh grader named Sam.

  “Hey, Ms. S?”

  “Something on your mind, Sam?”

  He ducked his head, covered in short, wavy black hair. “Just wanted to say thanks for the part. I was sure it would go to Doug.”

  Doug had tried out for three parts, so Kara had no problem giving him another one and letting Sam play the hero’s best friend. “You were a shoo-in, Sam. I loved how much heart you put into the scene. You’re going to be amazing.”

  His head lifted for a second as he gr
inned at her, his cheeks reddening. He rushed inside and took his favorite seat at the back.

  Kids like Sam, too shy to speak up, low in confidence, and usually from homes where conditions weren’t ideal was one of the many reasons she put so many hours into her drama class. For one night, dressed up and pretending to be someone else, they could let go and shine. And she loved seeing her kids shine like the stars.

  Chapter Three

  Nate tried to keep his mind on global imperialism lesson for the day. He read from the book, every once in a while, pointing to the map, or writing out a word the students needed to copy for vocabulary.

  A bang sounded from behind him. Either a book falling or a sleeping student’s head hitting the desk. Every day he had a get on to someone for dozing in his classes.

  “Mr. Tate, turn to page 563 and read the first two paragraphs for us.” Nate turned from the maps hanging beside the whiteboard as the boy snapped to attention, rubbing his eyes. He flipped through several pages.

  Without looking up to see Nate’s perfected teacher glare, Tate started reading between his yawns. The yawns took off across the room like falling dominos.

  Nate sank into the hard-wooden chair behind the desk. He hated teaching History, but it was better than the social studies class that had been option number two.

  Taking a peek at his email, Nate looked to see if Principal Lopez had finally sent an answer to his last request about the auditorium. He didn’t want to fight Ms. Shay over it. She had no right to act as if she had the first claim, though.

  The reading stopped. All eyes moved up from the book waiting for him to call on the next reader. From the back, Ms. Channing was waving her hand, as usual. He ignored her for the moment. “Giles, finish the chapter.”

  Still no answer. Great. Laughter and shouting came from the room next door. Why did Ms. Shay have to share class times with him? Why couldn’t she keep her students under control? A few of his own students looked toward the wall behind him with wistful smiles. Nate glanced at the clock. Oh man, they still had another forty minutes!

  * * * *

  They ended up meeting in the hallway after school. Ms. Shay held a piece of paper in front of his face. “I printed a calendar of all the school events for this month. Maybe we can settle this now so I can get over to the auditorium. Practice starts in fifteen.”

  Nate snatched the paper from her. Wow, there were a lot of things squeezed into the next three weeks. He’d forgotten all about choir needing time to practice, too. They would perform the same night as his orchestra band. The principal didn’t want to waste time and money on having the school open for two separate events.

  “Hold up, I was going to use the auditorium today! Listen, Ms. Shay—”

  “We’ve already scheduled it, Mr. Cooper. However, I was thinking—”

  “You have a practice every afternoon?” His eyes widened as he looked over her schedule. Was she getting paid for all the extra hours she stayed here? Well, technically, it was none of his business. “Listen, you’re not the only one who has a program to put on.”

  She folded her arms across her chest, green eyes narrowed into knife-like slits. He was sure if she could manage to get her hands on a real blade it would be sunk in his back!

  Man, but he hated this time of year. Everyone went crazy, the students were so done and barely paying attention to where they were walking, let alone their lessons. And it didn’t stop when he left here, either. The whole town of Snowflake was turned upside down with its twinkling lights, outlandish store decorations, and the music! He didn’t even want to think about that since he’d have to hear the old, over-done carols during band practice.

  “Is there a problem?” someone asked from behind them? They both turned to find Principal Lopez looking quite displeased. His arms were also folded over his chest, and his mouth was turned down so low it almost looked like the shape of an umbrella. “I count on my staff to set good examples for our pupils. Not to brawl in the junior hallway. What is going on?”

  Nate ducked his head. “I emailed you about what the problem is.”

  Ms. Shay held up her hand that clutched the calendar. “We’ll work it out, I promise. Mr. Cooper is just a little stressed today, it seems.”

  “I am not—” His annoyance wasn’t from stress. This was his usual demeanor.

  Principal Lopez leaned in closer to them, his finger pointing with each word he spoke. “Understand me, both of you. I have enough on my plate right now. I’m not playing referee for your little squabbles. Work it out, or cancel your programs. Honestly, if it weren’t for the parents wanting to see their precious darlings perform, I’d not even allow any events planned for this month. So figure it out.”

  “Yes sir,” They both said in unison.

  Lopez turned to Nate, “I want you to buckle down on your kiddos. We need to place in the competitions if we hope to keep both marching and orchestra bands.”

  Ms. Shay’s eyes widened as her mouth slightly opened. “The band is in danger of cuts, as well? What is going on here?” She paused to take in a breath, before continuing on a calmer note. “I don’t mean any disrespect, sir, but you can’t cut all the art programs.”

  “Ms. Shay, as I’ve said before, this is a small community. It’s the schools in the larger towns that have more funds and more opportunities for extracurricular activities. We make do as well as we can. I’m not any more pleased about all this than you are.”

  Her shoulders sagged in defeat. “I know. I don’t mean to sound like a nag, really. I’m sorry.”

  Juan Lopez rested his hand on her shoulder. “I admire your passion, Kara. Honestly. I’m glad to have you on staff, even if we do butt heads from time to time. Don’t lose your enthusiasm. You can still make a huge difference in their lives if you don’t lose heart.” He smiled. “Even if you’re an English teacher. Don’t dismiss the days of small beginnings. Things change and we might be able to revive some of the program cuts at a later time. I’ve seen it happen time and again during my career.”

  Nate had to admit, he admired Ms. Shay’s passion, as well. What a scrapper. When Principal Lopez strolled off toward his office, Nate said, “I’m sorry for losing my temper. We’ll work this out.”

  Her smile nearly stopped his heart. If they didn’t work together, and he was in a better place, he’d ask her on a date. That smile made him want to get his act together.

  “Apology accepted.” She glanced back down at the cluttered calendar. “And I’m sorry that you thought I wanted every afternoon. I know that’s not possible. I was thinking we could switch off.” She pressed the calendar against the wall, then reached behind her ear, as if looking for a pen.

  Nate pulled the one he kept in his back pocket, since keeping them in his front shirt pocket brought too many jokes from the kids. He still tried to keep up a hip image, even if he didn’t feel it.

  “Thanks.” She gave him that smile again.

  Nate leaned his shoulder against the wall, trying to keep himself steady.

  Pointing the tip of the pen on Tuesday and Thursday, she asked, “How about you take these days and I’ll take the other two. That leaves Fridays for the Choir. Will you be doing any Saturday practices?”

  He’d not thought about that. The kids would surely grumble about one of their shopping-slash-sleeping in days being stolen from them. He shook his head. “I think practice during the week will be enough for them.”

  “Fantastic. Then I can work with those kiddos who are in your band. I hate making them have to choose between what they enjoy doing, so I told them I’d work with them at a different time.”

  He was about to make an indignant remark when he realized that she probably had no control over who tried out for her plays. A couple of his kids were also in choir and had garage bands that played at the coffee shop on talent nights. They loved music and had aspirations of being famous someday.

  He had such aspirations at one time in his life, but then reality set in.

 
Maybe one of them would make something special of themselves. He held on to a hidden hope that someday, one of his students might think of mentioning him when they accepted their Grammy award. Wouldn’t that be neat?

  “Sounds like a plan,” He said with a nod. If you need somewhere to practice, you could always use the band hall on the days we’re not there.”

  “How very generous of you, but I think Mrs. Taylor will use your room for choir practice. The acoustics in there are great. We’ve talked about both of us practicing a few numbers together since some of her kids are playing the starring role in my play. It’s a musical. A spin-off the Rudolph story. Something I wrote a couple of years ago.”

  “Really?” The fact that she wrote a play impressed him. But before he could ask her more about it, she checked her wristwatch and started heading down the hall.

  “So glad we could work all that out. I need to get going. It’s not good to leave them to their own devices.” She waved and turned to walk-jog down the hall, her bright pink shoes sounding like a machine gun in the empty halls.

  He needed to get going, as well, before they tried to see who could fit their heads inside the tubas. It happened every stinking year. Nate darted off in the opposite direction.

  Before he got too far, Principal Lopez stopped him. “Did the two of you work everything out?”

  Nate nodded as his boss fell in step beside him.

  “I feel bad about coming down on you two so hard. I know both of your hearts are in the right place. Kara was pretty disappointed about not getting the money she needed for her stage setting. But she’s smart. And determined. I’m sure she’ll work out something.”

  “There’s not enough to help out a little?” Nate asked.

  Lopez shook his head. “Afraid not. As it stands, this will probably be her last play unless she earns enough from this one to pay for the next. I told her that she could keep up the club as long as it paid for itself. It was the best I could do.”