𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴 [✔]

chapter sixty four.

Janis stood inside her daughter's classroom. She sat in Claudia's spinny chair, waiting for an explanation after all many years. To clam herself, she flipped the pages of a picture book Claudia had on her desk filled with pictures of her students from previous years and her current students. Claudia was happy in all of them.

As Janis got to the last page of the picture book, she started getting emotional. The last picture was Claudia on her first day of teaching. She wore a simple outfit, hair down and minimal makeup. If someone were to show the picture to Nate, he would say how similar Claudia and Janis looked.

Being an English teacher was never Claudia's first option. She used to say she wanted to be a lawyer then a forensic scientist then, for some reason, a nail tech. But that changed when she got to high school. All her teachers didn't care if a student was passing or turning in their assignments. Claudia, like most of her classmates, wanted to graduate. She stayed up late doing projects and homework, stayed after school with friends to study together then when it came time to walk across the stage, Janis was the loudest one in the stadium cheering for Claudia.

After graduating, Claudia knew what she wanted to be. Someone important to the education system. Someone that actually cared for the kids.

Janis loved how passionate Claudia was about teaching. She talked about her students like they were her own kids. (At this point, they were.) She was surpised one of them hadn't accidentally called Claudia 'mom'. Or maybe that did happen and Claudia never told her about it because she didn't want to embarrass her kids.

As Janis put away the picture book, she heard two knocks on the door. Then it opened and in came Claudia and Ben. They looked suspicious, but Janis didn't care. She knew something happened between them so she wasn't going to pressure them into telling her. If they wanted to tell her, she was fine with them sharing. If not, then it was okay too, she was happy knowing they were getting comfortable and happy around each other.

"Hey, Ma," Claudia smiled at Janis. "Ben called Edward so he'll be here soon. You okay?"

Janis sighed deeply. "I don't know, Claudia, I feel like I'm going to die any second before I hear anything out of them."

"Please don't, this is worth listening to. I promise." Claudia said.

"Do you want some water?" Ben asked Janis. "I saw a vending machine down the hall, I'll get you something if you'd like."

"Thank you, British, but I'm okay. Save your cash for when I finally decide to end it all so you two can pay for my funeral. I'd like pink lemonade and cosmic brownies to be served after the ceremony and squirrels to be released instead of doves because squirrels are cuter. Honestly, I'm really going to put the fun in funeral." Janis chuckled as she layed back in the chair.

"And she still jokes at a time like this, Janis Donovan everyone!" Claudia clapped lightly. "It's not like you're dying anytime soon, stop this death talk."

"The day I die, you're going to listen to 'To Be Loved' and you're going to be fucking depressed for weeks. I'm a psychic, it's going to happen." Janis pointed a finger at Claudia.

Ben stood confused. "The song by Jackie Wilson? Why?"

"Offspring, explain." Janis snapped her fingers.

"Right, okay, so 'To Be Loved' by Jackie Wilson was playing when my grandmother was giving birth to my mom." Claudia explained.

Ben nodded understanding why Janis had said. "It is a nice song. I'm more of a Drifters kind of guy, but Jackie Wilson is amazing."

Janis gasped. "The Drifters?"

"She's a big music nerd." Claudia whispered to Ben.

Ben smiled. "Oh, really? Then we have something in common."

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