The One Who Ran Away

Chapter One

Josephine crinkled the wrapper into an oddly shaped sphere in her hand. She set it down on the desk only to watch it expand as it unraveled. Annoyed, she angrily shoved the cherry sucker into her mouth. The sweet sensation overwhelmed her senses and she felt the zing in her jaw.

Josephine sucked thoughtfully on the cherry delight. It was slightly too large for her mouth and she struggled to keep the saliva the sucker was beckoning forth in her mouth.

"Ms Hall?" The curly, white haired woman at the front of the room addressed her. Her voice cracked with age but the tone was indisputable. She was miffed.

Jo slipped the sucker from her mouth, making sure to catch all the saliva from the sugary treat. "Yes, ma'am?" she responded as politely as she could. Her legs sprawled out under the desk top, she slouched in the chair, her hands folded on top of the desk.

"Ms. Hall, I do not tolerate candy in my classroom. This includes gum, suckers, and anything else you can imagine." The old woman pinned her clear blue eyes on Jo over the rim of her black, cat eye glasses. Jo stared right back at her and flashed her a brilliant smile.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but didn't the office send you my doctor's note?"

"Note? No, I did not receive this mysterious note. Pray tell, Ms. Hall, what note do you mean?" The woman's voice was lined with thick sarcasm. Jo couldn't help but like this woman.

"My doctor's note ma'am. The one stating I have non-diabetic hypoglycemia." Jo gave the woman her most innocent smile. She could feel twenty pairs of eyes fixed on her. She didn't really care.

"Ms. Hall, I am aware of what your condition is. Therefore, I know that it is only necessary for you to have that sucker if you need immediate treatment.. Throw it away, Ms. Hall." Without breaking their staring contest, Dorothy Williams pointed towards the trash can in the corner of her classroom. Jo sighed dramatically and hung her head. Then, after a moment of silence, she popped her head up.

"Can I at least keep the sucker? I still have the wrapper and I'd rather not throw away a perfectly good sucker, ma'am."

Jo thought she saw the corner of Mrs. Williams thin mouth twitch up but she couldn't be sure. Mrs. Williams raised her head and pushed her glasses farther up her nose with a long red fingernail. "Alright, Ms. Hall. You may keep the sucker. And since you're new, I won't even give you a warning. Please refrain from such delights in the future though, Ms. Hall. I hate wasting valuable class time."

"Thank you, ma'am," Jo offered. She grinned at the teacher and carefully wrapped her sucker in the wrapper. She stuck it into the back pocket of her new jeans. They were her new favorite pair. They hugged her in all the right places and had a cute design on the pockets.

"Also, if you really do have a note, Ms. Hall, I suggest you deliver a second one to me. Or have the office make copies. All your teachers will want one," Mrs. Williams suggested. She then turned around and briskly wrote her name on the board, as though the entire class couldn't read the smart, little name plate on her desk.

"My name is Mrs. Dorothy Williams. You may call me Mrs. Williams. Now, let us quickly get through attendance and move on to something a little less dull, shall we? Rachel Adams?"

"Here!" a brunette in the front and center of the room chirped. She stuck her hand straight up in the air and beamed at the teacher. She was practically bouncing in her seat. "I'm here, Mrs. Williams."

Mrs. Williams glanced up from the paper she was reading and fixed her eyes on Rachel. "Yes, Ms. Adams. I am aware of your presence; I knew you were present when you said 'here.' Please don't overexert yourself on my accord. Daniel Barnes."

And so it went. Jo couldn't help but like her first period teacher more and more. Mrs. Williams was, as her father would say, "classy and definitely sassy." She wore a prim, navy blue suit. She had a cute, little blue bow tie and she wore little old lady heels. From behind, you wouldn't know she was pushing sixty except for her bright, white hair. Mrs. Williams looked like the type of woman who got more active with age. Jo instantly admired her.

"Josephine Hall."

"Here," Jo responded. Mrs. Williams looked up and addressed Jo. "Ms. Hall, would you mind coming up and introducing yourself?"

Jo gave her a million watt smile. "Of course."

Jo stood and marched right up to the front of the room. Twenty pairs of eyes stared up at her. She smiled brightly and spoke. "Hi y'all. My name's Josephine, my friends call me Jo. I'm new around here. And that's about it," she finished. She suddenly felt a little shy, but she quickly dismissed the feeling and looked expectantly at Mrs. Williams.

Mrs. Williams, however was not looking back at her. Her gaze was fixed on a gangly boy with a mop of blonde hair in the second row, his hand stretched high and waving frantically to and fro.

"Yes, Mr. Olliander? You have a question?"

"Yeah," Jordan Olliander squeaked. He cleared his voice and flushed bright red at the embarrassing puberty strike. "Where are you from?" he asked Jo.

"Tennessee. Small town near the Smoky Mountains. Born and raised," Jo answered, giving him a weak smile. She discreetly wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans, hoping no one would notice.

"Thank you, Ms. Hall. You may sit down now." Jo hurried back to her seat, trying to keep the blush from creeping into her cheeks. No such luck. Jo slid into her seat, the last desk in the furthest right hand row. A few people watched her but most people lost interest as attendance barreled on. Jo exhaled slowly and slid down in her seat. She willed herself to breathe slowly. Remember, she told herself, no one knows you here. No one here knows what happened.

Jo collected herself as Mrs. Williams finished attendance. She moved right along into syllabus and raised her eyes heaven word as the class groaned. "Damn kids," she muttered loudly enough for the class to hear. The class grinned, a few people even chuckled. Jo was among those laughing.

"I am only restating the syllabus for Ms. Hall. I will inform her of the rules here and then we will proceed with the lesson." The class groaned even louder. Rachel looked appalled and swiveled in her seat.

"How dare you! You know very well that the syllabus keeps us in line and reminds us of what we can and can't do. We need the syllabus to install order and help keep the peace," Rachel informed the class. She stuck her nose in the air and huffed.

"Oh shut up, Rachel. No one cares," a blonde boy a few rows from Jo spoke up. "Go be high and mighty somewhere people care." Jo couldn't remember his name. He had brilliant blue eyes and a great smile with a cute little dimple. His dirty blonde hair fell boyishly into his eyes. A few girls sighed as he spoke.

Rachel threw him a nasty look before turning around. Mrs. Williams, to Jo's delight, threw Rachel a demeaning look.

"Thank you, Ms. Adams, for that wonderful little display." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "I can handle myself, though, thank you very much, Ms. Adams."

Rachel looked ready to cry. If Jo had to guess, she would say Rachel was a regular teacher's pet. This was probably the first teacher who didn't appreciate her antics.

The rest of the class continued smoothly. Much to Jo's surprise, Mrs. Williams made class much less dull than expected. In fact, Jo would go so far as to say the class had been enjoyable. The day was looking up.

*~*~*~*~*

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Always,
L