Substitute Love

“Hello” I say answering the phone.

“Hey, Zack” I listen to my sister’s voice.

“Hey, what’s up?” I ask, flipping through the channels. Good TV shows are hard to find this days. I miss the times when you would turn on your TV & couldn’t decide what to see since all the shows you loved where on.

“I have a favor to ask you” She says. “Do you think you can pick up Gavin from school? I’m swarmed with work right now. Please” She pleads. I sigh. Reality is, I don’t want to move. Yes, I’m doing absolutely nothing but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy lazing around in my house. “I wouldn’t bother you if I didn’t really need it” She says.

“Ok, I’ll go” I say groaning & looking for my shoes.

“You’re a life saver” She says hanging up. I rub my eyes & grab my keys & a baseball cap before placing my sunglasses on my face & walking towards my car. I haven’t seen my nephew in a long time. I think my day off is a really good opportunity to hang with the little guy. He adores me & he’s the coolest kid on earth. My biggest fan too.

After a 20 minute drive, I arrive to the white colored school. I see a couple of kids running around & playing with each other. While other ones where escorted by their parents to the cars. I start looking around but I can’t see Gavin anywhere. He must be inside. I park my car & start walking towards the building. “Excuse me” I say to a lady. She must be in her 40’s. “I’m looking for my nephew” I say.

“What grade?” She asks, with a polite smile on her face.

“2nd grade” I say. “His name is Gavin”

“Oh. He’s with Mrs. Cooke. Follow me” She said. I furrow my brows. I thought school was done by know. I follow the short lady through the halls of the school & she pointed the door. I thank her & see through the small glass window Gavin seating on one of the front chairs, doing some kind of homework. I knock & see him turning to look at me, a smile forming on his lips when he sees it’s me. He motions me to come in & I open the door, him running towards me & pick him up.

“Hey, buddy” I say. “Ready to go home?” I ask him & he lowers his eyes.

“My teacher wants to talk to you” He mutters. I look towards the teacher’s desk & I’m surprised to see a young woman sitting there, looking at us. She must be in her mid 20’s. She had wavy dark brown hair that reached below her shoulders & the same shade of brown for eyes. She wasn’t wearing too much make up. I wish I had teachers that hot. I would’ve gone to school more often. I see when she stands up that she’s a little bit shorter than me, but is her shirt that caught my attention. It was a DC shirt. I smile at the thought that she might have a wild side. I really like that.

“Hi. I’m Ms. Forbes” She says, stretching her hand & I take it in mine.

“Like the magazine?” I ask & she laughs. I look down at her hand & see she’s wearing a knuckle ring. She might be into trouble too.

“Yes, but without the fame. I’m Mrs. Cooke substitute” She says smiling. “I just wanted to talk to you about something” She said & I turn to look at Gavin, still in my arms.

“What did you do?” I ask at him & he looks down.

“Why don’t we take a seat?” She says, motioning for the chair in front of her desk. “Gavin, why don’t you finish your homework while I talk to your dad?” She says, sitting down.

“Oh, I’m not his dad” I say & she looks at me confused. “I’m his uncle. My sister couldn’t make it so she asked me to pick him up. But don’t worry, you can talk to me & I’ll make sure she gets the message” I say, smiling at her. She nods. “I’m Zack” I say.

“Nice to meet you, Zack”

“Nice to you too, Ms. Forbes” I say, flashing another one of my smiles. “So… what did you wanted to talk about?” I ask, leaning back on the chair.

“Well, first of all, I wanted to meet the parents of my students since I’m gonna be working with them for 5 months”

“What happened to Mrs. Cooke?” I ask.

“She’s on maternal leave. She’ll be back once she has her baby” She says & I stare at this weird ring she’s wearing.

“Cool ring” I say. “What is it?” I ask, scooting closer to take a better look, unconsciously grabbing her hand to graze the surface of the ring with the pad of my thumb.

“Oh… a panther. It’s my favorite animal” She says, while I play with the ring, until she scoots her hand back. It's then I realize how uncomfortable I must've made her, since she was a bit blushed now.

“Sorry” I say, leaning back on the chair. “So… what did the little one do? I suppose he must’ve done something bad since he has the guilt painted all over his face” I say turning to look at Gavin, who was looking at us & quickly looked down at his notebook, like he was doing his homework.

“Um… he punched a kid” She says & my eyes widened.

“What?” I ask.

“Yeah. Apparently this kid has a history of bullying him & he punched him” She says & I turn to look at Gavin again. My sister is gonna be really pissed when she founds out. “When I asked him why he did it, he told me that his Uncle told him to ‘beat the shit out of the little fucker’ next time he bothered him” She finishes & I turn around slowly, looking at her guiltily. I remember that talk now. “You wouldn’t know where he got that, right?” She says with an amused smile on her face.

“Um… no idea” I lie & she tilts her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. I hear Gavin snicker & I turn to look at him. “What are you laughing at? You’re in deep sh-“ I hear Ms. Forbes clear her throat, letting me know I’m not allowed to curse. “Trouble… you’re in deep trouble” I say to him turning once again to look at her. “OK. I might’ve said something like that, but I never thought he would do it” I say. “I’m sorry” I apologize.

“I don’t condone violence in my class” She says & I’m afraid of what she might say next. Is she gonna expel him? “But I don’t condone bullying either” She says. “Gavin & I talked for a long time, right, Gavin?” She looks at him & I see him nodding his head. “He knows what he did was wrong & he promised me he won’t do it again”

“So, you’re not gonna suspend him?” I ask & she shakes her head no.

“No, but he will be staying after school with me until he improves his grades. He almost failed science” She says.

“Does your mom know about this?” I ask him & he shakes his head no. “Zina is gonna have a fit” I mutter & turn to look at Ms. Forbes. “Listen, what are the chances that my sister doesn’t find out about this?” I ask her & I see her sighing ready to complain. “Look, I take full responsibility for what he did. & I’ll take full responsibility from here on. Just… let’s keep it between us right now. I promise you that if he doesn’t improve his grades, then I’ll talk to my sister” I say, pouting a bit. No one can resist that.

“That’s against the rules, Zack” She says. I see her think about for a minute, biting the corner of her bottom lip. “This is what we’ll do. I won’t say anything to his mother or father if you guarantee me that he will study hard & stay out of trouble” I nod my head yes. “Ok. I think we're done then” She says. “You can pack your things, Gavin” She says & I see him do as he was told.

“Thank you so much” I say to her, walking towards the door with her. “My sister would freak out if she finds out she has another 'Zacky' on her hands” I say to her & she laughs. It’s a nice laugh. Most would consider it a polite-to-get-out-of-the-way laugh, but it wasn’t. It was delicate.

“I strongly suggest you not to give him those types of advice though. I can see that he idolizes you, which means-”

“He’ll do whatever I tell him to do” I finish for her. She nods.

“I’m ready” Gavin says, standing between us. “Goodbye, Ms. Forbes. Sorry for everything” He says.

“Don’t worry about it, as long as you don’t do it again” She says, crouching to his level. “Promise?” She says, stretching her hand. I see Gavin nod & take her hand. “Ok… we shook on it. That’s a pretty big deal. You can’t break it” She says & Gavin laughs. “Take care, ok. I’ll see you tomorrow” She says, fixing his beanie. “Nice to meet you, Zack” She says shaking my hand. She walks back inside the classroom & I let out a breath.

“She’s nice. I like her” Gavin says as we are walking through the hallways. I smile. He has a crush on her teacher. “She has nice eyes & smells good” He says. She did smelled good. Like… coconut or something. I don’t know. “I liked her shirt too” He says as I opened the door for him.

“I liked it too” I say walking outside to have the sun rays hit us. We walked silently to my car, me opening the back door so he can hop in & buckle. I walk to the driver side & get in. “You can’t go around punching kids, Gavin” I say, backing my way out of the parking spot. “No matter what I say” I look at him through the rearview mirror to let him know I'm being serious.

“I know. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again” He says & I see that he is truly sorry.

“Did he… you…” I didn’t know how to ask him without feeling like I’m encouraging him or letting him know that what he did was the same I would’ve done.

“You would’ve been proud. I did it exactly like you taught me” He said, an evil smile on his face. I nod smiling & drive silently to my sister’s house.