The Rule of Three

Chapter 9

It is a week and a half after Murphy's birthday party. Since then, Anna has been a little paranoid, so she has the girls call her and talk to her on the phone until they get in the car just in case. Today is the first day they don't have to call; they just have to text her once they get in the car. Copeland is sitting under the tree sketching while she waits for her sisters to be ready to go. She is sketching a picture of Samson when she hears someone's foot steps behind her. She checks her watch, 4:18. Gaillard still has 10 minutes of lessons left. Copeland turns around to see why she was out early, but instead she sees the new teacher walking up to her. It is the same teacher who helped them a few weeks ago when their father showed up. "That's an amazing drawing," the teacher smiles, "I love boxers."

"It's my dog, Samson," Copeland says as she turns back around and continues working on her drawing. She tries to use her blonde hair in her face to avoid further conversation, but the teacher continues talking anyway.

"I'm Ms. Denton," she smiles, "remember me?" Copeland doesn't respond; Ms. Denton then sits down on the ground next to Copeland. "You never introduced yourself the other day," she says as she looks at Patterson running circles on the track. "Why don't you tell me your name," she suggests.

The young girl raises her head and takes a deep breath. After a moment of hesitation, she finally says, "I'm Copeland," she says.

"That's a pretty interesting name," Ms. Denton laughs.

"It's my grandmother's maiden name," Copeland shoots back. She doesn't like when people make fun of her name. Her grandmother is extremely special to her, and her name connects the two together.

"I'm sorry," Ms. Denton says quickly, "I promise, I didn't mean to offend you." The two sit in quiet for a minute; finally Ms. Denton asks, "That's your sister right? Running on the track?" Copeland nods her head. "What is her name?" she asks.

"Patterson," Copeland says trying to will the teacher to go away.

"Another maiden name?" She asks, and Copeland nods. "What about the carrot top?"

"What do you want?" Copeland finally snaps.

The teacher scoffs, "I just wanted to check on you since you seemed endangered by your father the other day." She looks to Copeland who looks up to her slightly.

Copeland sighs, "Sorry," she mumbles. Rolling her eyes, she adds, "Her name is Gaillard, NOT carrot top."

Ms. Denton nods slightly; she ponders her next question for a moment, "how close in age are you?"

Not that this entire conversation hasn't been weird, but to Copeland it seems to be getting stranger. "Why?" Copeland asks. The teacher just shrugs. Copeland bites the inside of her cheek deciding whether or not to answer her. She finally say, "We're triplets."

"Oh, that must be nice," she says, "you must be really close." The teacher smiles to her; Copeland nods as she goes back to working on her sketch.

"They're my best friends," Copeland whispers so quietly that Ms. Denton barely even heard her.

The teacher smiles, "That's really sweet."

"Hey are we ready to go?" The two sitting under the tree turn to see Gaillard standing behind them. Copeland nods and packs up her stuff.

"Thank you for talking with me," the teacher smiles at the girls, and the girls return a very fake smile. The girls then motion to Patterson to come on. "Gaillard, Copeland and I were just talking about how close you three are," she says trying to start up a conversation to both girls now.

Gaillard's eyebrows furrow, "How do you know my name?" She looks to Copeland who touches her nose with her finger letting Gaillard know that she was the one who spilled their names. "Good, Patterson's here. Let's go home," she says as she turns towards the direction of the car.

"Ms. Denton hello," Patterson says. She smiles widely to her, "how are you?" She asks trying to be friendly.

"I'm well, thank you Patterson." The four look between each other awkwardly.

"Ok, we're gonna go home now," Copeland finally says grabbing her sisters' hands and walking to the car. They kept walking in silence, because they expected Ms. Denton to follow them to the car.

Once they were far enough away, Copeland say, "That was the most awkward conversation I've ever had."

"She was just trying to be friendly," Patterson says; she playfully slaps her sister.

"Yeah, well she gives me the creeps," Gaillard says as the three of them get into the car.