Belle - The Not So Bad Boy: Give up EVERYTHING for a bad-boy charm?

Contents

The Not So Bad Boy

Raquel Belle

Copyright 2019 by Raquel Belle. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations or excerpts for review purposes.

Belle, Raquel. The Not So Bad Boy.

Acknowledgements

Id like to thank my friends and family for always being there for me and listening to my crazy stories when I call or facetime them! I love you guys! My friend and editor Patty, whom Ive had far too many cocktails with over the yearsI hope to have many more!

I want to thank my publishers for giving me this outlet to tell my stories and do what I love. And, lastlythe couple who inspired this story, thank you for letting me in to your lives.

Chapter One

Here we go , Hayley Wright thought as she put the finishing touches on her makeup that morning. Minimal makeup was all she could do thanks to her job as a Kindergarten teacher, but she still liked to look pulled together when she got into school even if she knew that by noon that day, shed be covered in finger paint and have been peed on at least once. On that particular Thursday, her outfit was a dark blue cotton button down shirt with skinny jeans and brown leather boots. A new peach-colored lip-gloss that she had picked up at Ulta the previous Saturday with her best friend and fellow Kindergarten teacher, Kerry, was slicked across her lips. Hayleys light brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and gold hoops too small for a little kids finger to fit through ran through her ears.

Perfect. Casual, comfortable, but still stylish, Hayley thought as she looked in the mirror. She smoothed her shirt down before going into the kitchen to pack her bag.Not that she had anyone to impress. Most of the other teachers at Hayleys pre-school were women, and though her teaching assistant was an attractive man, Thomas was infatuated with his guitar-playing boyfriend Stephen and barely spared Hayley a glance most days. They didnt have the easiest of working relationshipsThomas wasnt great at planning and rarely helped out at parents evenings, but he was amazing with the kids, which when you were teaching Kindergarten, was the most important thing. He and Hayley had been working together for two years, and Thomas was nearly ready to take the content examination in Early Childhood Education to become a fully certified Kindergarten teacher. Since it was only just passed Christmas, though, hed be with Hayley for the full year. She couldnt quite decide how she felt about that yet.

The walk to school was uneventful. Hayley listened to one of her favorite podcasts and savored the view of the clear, blue sky afforded by the bare trees in her Chicago neighborhood. It had been an abnormally cold fall that had slipped into a brutal winter, but Hayley didnt mind. She liked the brisker temperaturesthey made her feel more awake, more alive.

Brightside Pre-School was connected to one of Illinois top charter schools, and Hayley had worked there for almost five years. She loved the job. Shed originally studied art in college, but realized once she graduated that as much as she loved drawing and painting, she didnt want to do it for a living. Shed always gotten along well with kids, and had babysat and nannied all throughout high school and her time as an undergraduate at Northwestern, so she went back to school and got her M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education. Brightside was arts-focused and tried to instil a passion and flair for the creative pursuits early on in kids lives, which was why Hayley had initially chosen to work there. Well, that, and her college advisor was the principal.

The school itself was a twenty-minute walk from Hayleys one-bedroom apartment, and she arrived at the gates just after 8:15. She walked past the main office, waving to the secretary, Hannah, who she sometimes met for a drink after work. Hayleys classroom was at the end of the first-floor hallway, so she popped in to put her coat in the closet before walking back to the teachers lounge to make a cup of tea. As she turned around after hanging her coat and scarf, however, Hayley noticed a note on her desk. In the familiar handwriting of the principal, Dan Sumners, were the words See Me written in block capitals.

Dan Sumners was a kind-hearted man of fifty-five. His greying hair was slowly receding at the temples and his watery, blue eyes were hidden behind a pair of tortoiseshell glasses. He had a uniform of sorts, always wearing either corduroy pants or jeans with a blue or red button down shirt and, when the weather called for it, a brown, plaid blazer with patches at the elbows. Dan had been Hayleys advisor during her masters and had taught all of her favorite seminars, and hed been a sort of mentor to Hayley ever since, helping her apply to Brightside, suggesting various professional development measures she could take part in, introducing her to colleagues in the educational sphere. He never raised his voice, never showed his anger and never made any of his employees feel intimidated, so Hayley wasnt worried about whatever he needed to talk to her about. It might just be about the upcoming field trip to the aquarium for all she knew.

But when Hayley entered Dans office after being let through by Hannah, Dan had a somewhat grave look on his face. Upon seeing Hayley, he momentarily brightened, standing up and offering her the comfy armchair across from him, but once they were both seated, his face returned to its previous expression.

Whats up? Hayley asked.

Im sorry to tell you this, Hayley, but Thomas has quit.

Hayley was silent for a moment. Thomas? Quitting? That wasnt possible. He had signed a contract for a full year, a contract which also stipulated that any employees of Brightside had to give at least two months notice before leaving, to allow the school adequate time to find a replacement.

Thats thats not possible. He cant have just left! Were not allowed to just leave!

Dan gave Hayley a faint, bemused smile before continuing. While that is true, it seems that Thomas didnt really care about the rules. I got an email from him last night saying he was flying to London with his boyfriend for some band tour and that I should accept the email as his resignation. I tried calling him, but he seems to have disconnected his phone.

Hayley started breathing heavily. Dan reached across the desk to pat her on the shoulder, whispering that she should calm down, that everything would be fine, that hed sort it all out, but Hayley barely heard him. Thomas had quit. Hayley had to handle a class of forty five-year olds on her own for weeks, possibly months. She had a million spring-related lessons coming up, and Thomas was supposed to cover for her when she went to her yearly check-up at the doctors on Friday, and he was her main source of help at the upcoming field trip to the aquarium. She was, in a word, screwed.

But she couldnt say that in front of Dan. Dan was telling her to be calm, and that he would sort everything out, make sure she got the help she needed, that in fact, he had a nephew whom he thought was going to be able to fill in, and Wait, what?

You have a nephew? Hayley asked, which was a stupid question because she knew for a fact that Dan had at least five nephews and quite a few nieces. He had a huge family spread out all over the Midwest that he talked about frequently but, at that moment, Hayley was focused on the nephew.

Yes. My nephew James, like Thomas, is in the process of getting certified. Hes been looking for a temporary position to hold him over until he takes his exam, and Im going to call him right after we finish our meeting and see if he can fill in. Hes excellentgreat with kids, very professional, organized. I think you two would really get along well. Certainly better than you got along with Thomas, Dan said, winking at Hayley. He knew about some of Hayleys frustrations with Thomas.