I’ll Become the Sea by Rebecca Rogers Maher Read Free Book Online Page A

attentive behavior and praised those who were making an effort. She told them they would keep working on listening skills, that they were getting better and better and that by the end of the year they would be unstoppable.
    Still, most of the students remained restless. They were sweaty and uncomfortable in their stiff clothes. Their carefully gelled hair was wilting in the overheated classroom. Each time a voice came over the loudspeaker they went still, waiting to hear their class called to the auditorium for photos.
    By two o’clock, they were still waiting. Recess had further deteriorated their outfits and they knew it. Jane heard them fretting about what their mothers would do to them when they saw the dirt stains from the playground. They wiped and brushed at themselves under their desks.
    At 2:15, Tanya took out her hairbrush and started brushing her hair. Other girls followed. She took out her headband and buckled and unbuckled her shoes. She made a fan out of paper on her desk. She argued with Vanessa across the room. She sharpened her pencil and then threw it on the floor. She asked to go to the bathroom to check herself in the mirror. Fifteen students followed her example.
    At 2:30 they called Jane’s class. Jane brought them downstairs to the gym with their book bags. They waited on the floor for thirty minutes until the photographers ran out of time. Picture day was postponed until next week.
    The girls trotted out of the gym in their pastel gowns while the boys lurched forward with their suits and ties. It took Jane ten minutes to calm them down enough to form a straight line in the hallway. They made a flurry of pink fabric and sleek hair as they raced out to the street.
    Outside the school building, one of her students punched a school aide in the stomach. He was dragged to the office, where he accused the aide of child abuse. “She grabbed me! She grabbed me! I was getting on the school bus! She didn’t need to put her nasty-ass hands on me!”
    Jane went to help. “He’s my student. Daniel…”
    “Get out of the office.” The assistant principal had the child by the elbow. Daniel was pulling away, punching at the man’s arm. He glanced at Jane, his face contorted with fury. He looked like he was about to cry, and that only made him angrier. He started kicking the A.P. in the knees.
    “Get outa my face!” He punched toward the man’s gut.
    The assistant principal’s face turned a noxious red.
    Daniel aimed for the bookcase. He grabbed at whatever he could reach, hurling books and boxes to the floor. “I didn’t do nothing!”
    The A.P. went to restrain him. He called for the security guard. “Get out of the office, Ms. Elliott.”
    Jane got out of the office.
    *  *  *
    She didn’t stay late that day. She was covered in chalk and dust and could barely form a coherent sentence. Her lesson plans for the following day were already finished. She went home.
    It was a long ride down the boardwalk along Ocean Avenue. The salty wind knocked her bike around and whipped through her hair. She was tired when she reached her door, but cleaner somehow, less wrung out.
    Making herself a snack, she picked up the phone.
    “Hi, Ben.” She crunched into a slice of apple.
    “Oh hey, Jane, what’s up?” The sound of traffic filtered through the line.
    “Where are you? Sounds noisy.”
    “Just getting some shopping done. Listen. Can I call you back?”
    “Um, sure. I just wanted to say hello.”
    “Something wrong?”
    “No, nothing’s wrong. I guess I had a bad day at school.”
    “What is it now?”
    Jane stopped chewing. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Nothing, forget it.”
    “No. What do you mean?”
    “Come on, Jane. It’s always drama at that place.”
    “I just had a bad day.”
    “Every day there is a bad day.”
    “Ben.”
    “Listen, I’m sorry. I really have to go. I have to buy this stuff and get back to the studio. Call me later, all right? And don’t worry about your