by Kari Trumbo
Just as the minute hand struck the twelve, Lula and Izzy walked into class and silently went to their seats. Relief flooded him so fast, he nearly fell from the rush to his head. She wasn’t gone, and he could mark her as on time. Barely.
Barton sighed as Professor Cook strode into the room and closed the door behind him. He set his face in a teacher’s rigid mask and mentally said a prayer that he’d find a minute to talk to Lula later. They had a lot to get out in the open and only a short time to do it.
Chapter 6
Lula deliberately slowed her steps as she approached the classroom. Her skin tingled to life. Barton would be inside preparing for class. She couldn’t go in until she was sure he’d have no time to talk to her, to persuade her. Could she ever trust him? Wasn’t his word completely tainted by the past?
He’d hurt her day after day without care – in fact, he’d reveled in it. He’d turned the teachers against her and some students too. His taunting had encouraged others to take part, and she’d soon earned the name “Lousy Lula.” He didn’t call her that, but his nickname for her –Buttercup, after he’d slathered her with it – hurt even worse. So what would he say or do today to convince her he was a changed man, if indeed he was? Would he be as obvious as he’d been the day before – talking to her, leaning over her desk?
She tucked her curls behind her ear and bit her lip. As much as she hoped he was reformed, she didn’t want him around her, testing her judgment of him. Just seeing him set her on edge and made her want to flee. But hadn’t he said he’d be there to catch her? Well, he certainly thought highly of himself, but hadn’t he always?
Izzy touched her shoulder as she waited, startling her from her thoughts. “You can’t just stay out here. They’ll mark you absent, and you only get two of those before you get expelled. Get inside. We’ve only got a minute to spare.”
Her lungs didn’t seem to work right as she pushed herself to walk through the door. There, front and center, stood Barton, his crisp white shirt bright against his tanned face and snug across his shoulders. How did a man who’d studied all summer long still get kissed by the sun? She almost giggled at the thought that a man like him wouldn’t pass up getting kissed by anything. Instead she rushed to her seat just in time.
Professor Cook marched in and cleared his throat, dismissing Barton with a quick wave. Barton’s gaze met hers for just a moment, sending heat to her cheeks and belly before he sat right in front of her. His shirt collar sat right at the edge of his sandy brown hair. Hair that looked much softer than a man’s should, like he spent time preening it. Most men didn’t care much for grooming, either covering their heads with a hat or using quarts of pomade, but Barton’s was clean, neat and trimmed. If only his behavior had been. If it had, she might relish having him there for an additional year.
The thought stopped all reason and anything else from entering her mind. Professor Cook’s voice disappeared. Was she attracted to the man who’d made her life so miserable? Certainly not beyond his looks. There wasn’t anything else for her to like. If she considered that alone, she had to admit, he was certainly a fine specimen.
The professor droned on, and she tried to pay attention, but having him so close left her wary and tense. Even in front of her with no way for him to attack, he made her anxious. She sighed, and Barton tensed at the sound, his shoulders bunching with muscles that were usually invisible under his tailored white shirts. So, she wasn’t the only one rattled by proximity. What could be bothering him? She’d already lost all concentration in the class, unable to pay any attention when he was around. His threat to woo her, such as it was, was having the effect he’d desired. She couldn’t stop thinking about it, or him. Or what he might do next.
Chalk screeched across the board, bringing her attention back to the class. Izzy had a handout on her desk and was feverishly writing on it. Lula looked down, saw a copy on her own desk, and wondered when it had been handed to her. She looked up to see Professor Cook wipe the board with his left hand as he wrote with his right, and any chance she may have had to catch up with the class was literally left in the dust that choked the front of the room.
The professor turned to the class. “And that, students, is the conclusion I want you to come to as you look at writing your essays. Be sure to include every point discussed in today’s lecture. You’re dismissed for the day to work on it.”
The blank lines in purple mimeo ink on the handout taunted her. How had she let her mind wander for so long that she’d missed an entire lecture, one which would determine much of her grade for the first nine weeks of class?
Izzy sighed next to her, flung her pencil on the desk and massaged her palm. “I hope you got good notes. I did my best to keep up, but my hand cramped near the end and I missed the last point.” She smiled and blew a wisp of hair from her temple, then looked at the sheet on Lula’s desk and winced. “Wait…how…?”
Lula blushed and frowned. She hated that she’d been distracted, and by whom. But she wouldn’t say so here – he’d think he’d won, and she’d never let him have that satisfaction. He could woo her until his dying breath and she’d still say no – it was impossible to fall for such a horrid man, and she had to stay single to be a teacher anyway. Whether his arms were open and willing or not—not that she cared—she didn’t want him catching her. There was no two ways about it. “Let’s talk when we get back to our room.” She shoved her paper into her book and slapped it shut.
The clock to the left of the door read 9:02. It had only been an hour since they’d arrived. Mercifully, Barton couldn’t talk to her – he was busy cleaning the board with that awful-smelling cleaner. He hadn’t even wished her a good morning. Odd, since just the day before he’d sounded as if he would try to talk to her daily. It would’ve been a cause for rejoicing if she hadn’t missed an entire lecture because of him. She just hoped she could get enough from Izzy’s notes to make up for her inattention.
But Barton wasn’t far from her mind. Maybe he’d given up. He’d said he’d pursue her but had since ignored her. Was he teasing her again? He was so confusing and her desire to watch him walk away but also to come talk to her warred within her.
Izzy gathered everything off her desk. “Lula, come on. We’ve got so much work to do. He gave so much information today – I don’t know how we can use it all.” She grabbed Lula’s arm and yanked her toward the door. “Don’t worry about Mr. Oleson – he’ll still be there after Thursday.”
Barton must have heard his name – he stopped wiping the board and glanced over his shoulder. His cool blue eyes met hers for a moment and he smiled as a knowing heat crept over her cheeks.
Lula felt ill. Oh, yes, he would definitely be there after Thursday – and unfortunately, he hadn’t given up.
The dust from the chalkboard choked Barton worse than the cleaner did. If he ever became an actual teacher, he’d find a student to do that job. But while his nose and eyes were full of chalk, his mind and heart were full of Lula. He’d been ready for her heart for two years. It might have been a boyish infatuation to begin with, but now, at eighteen, it was anything but. Even the thought of children with her excited him.
He heard Izzy say his name, glanced over his shoulder to catch Lula drinking him in, and he couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t spoken a word to her today, but she was thinking about him. Her sigh during class, her gentle breath over the back of his neck, had made concentration difficult. So difficult, in fact, that it had also caused him to miss Professor Cook asking him to hand out the mimeos. The poor man had to resort to having the students take one and pass them back.
The professor approached him and rested a heavy hand on his shoulder. “Barton, I know we’ve expected a lot of you the past few months. You’ve done an excellent job – none of us can complain. But you must complete this year, and I can’t expect any less of you just because of the short time you chose to complete the task. You assured me and the other staff that you could do this. Have you changed your mind?”<
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Barton’s hand on the chalkboard slowed to a stop. “I’m sorry about this morning. I was thinking through how I would rewrite my paper and missed your question. I won’t let my mind slip again. I promise.”
A smile curled under that mustache as Professor Cook patted Barton on the shoulder. “You did a fine job on all your assignments. No need to worry a bit about your past work. Think only of your future now. It’s very close. When you complete this year, I have no doubt I’ll be writing you a glowing recommendation to wherever you want to teach. It’s good to see one so driven that they give up a summer to get ahead.”
He couldn’t tell the professor he hadn’t done it to get ahead in his career, but to get ahead of Lula’s. He was driven all right, to prove to one woman he was worth a chance. “I won’t forget, sir. And thank you again for taking time over your summer to help me.”
The professor ignored his gratitude and left, leaving Barton alone in the room. Now he had to rush to prepare notes for the next day if he wanted to be at the cafeteria the entire time it was open. There were precious few times he could get away with talking to Lula, and after mealtime was one of them. He wouldn’t miss her. He had to remain silent during class so he didn’t raise the professor’s or the other students’ suspicions, but he couldn’t go a whole day without speaking to her.
If he could catch up with her, there had to be somewhere they could meet, somewhere they’d have the privacy to talk. Spearfish had a bustling boardwalk with blocks of hardware stores, post office, a livery and blacksmith… None of which were all that interesting. None of that would tempt Lula to leave the campus.
Frank popped his head in the doorway and waved. “Still here? I heard Professor Cook let you out early. Figured you’d take the afternoon to go riding. Weren’t you complaining that the weather would turn before you got the chance to take that nag of yours out?”
Star wasn’t a nag, but Barton let the insult pass. Frank had just given him a fantastic idea. He could rent another horse, and he and Lula could ride to one of the nearby falls, Bridal Veil or Rough Lock. He’d let her pick. Students didn’t make the jaunt out there, so they wouldn’t be seen, but there would be enough visitors that they wouldn’t be alone, either. It was perfect.
He just had to convince Lula.
Chapter 7
The small dorm room wouldn’t hold Izzy’s anger. “I can’t believe you didn’t get any notes!” She clutched her cheeks. “What will we do? I didn’t get everything – he erased it too quickly… There has to be someone else who got all the notes. She whipped around and paced back and forth in the narrow space between their beds.
If Izzy continued, Lula would have to leave. Pacing always gave her a headache. “I’m sorry, Izzy. It’s just…he was sitting right there in front of me and I couldn’t even think straight.” It sounded like the poor excuse it was. Though…Barton would have the notes and she hadn’t talked to him all day. No, that was a bad idea. She would not seek out his attention. She would think of someone else…anyone else.
Izzy’s voice broke into her thoughts. “And just how do you intend to pass your courses if you can’t keep your head? He didn’t say a word to you. This is a hard course and we need each other. We promised each other two years ago that we’d go through this together. Are you still with me? I teased you about spending time with him, but you’ve still got to focus.”
Lula nodded. Through all the messes and tears of the past two years, Izzy had been faithful, the best of friends. “I’m sorry. I’ll sit further back so he won’t be near me. I won’t let him distract me further. Let’s see what you have – maybe the other point is in one of the textbooks. It’s a good thing he gave us this whole day to work on it.”
But Izzy kept pacing. “What if it isn’t? I should go ask the other students.”
“No, you stay here. It’s my fault we’re missing the last one. You go ahead and look through the books. I’ll go ask. The other students from class might be in the library.”
Izzy was still seething. “You’d better not get distracted. If he’s there, you will not speak to him. You can speak to him after we’ve passed this essay.”
“Agreed.” There wasn’t really a chance she would. Hopefully Barton would be off doing something for Professor Cook, so she wouldn’t have to worry. “I’ll go to the library, copy the notes from somebody and come right back. We can spend the rest of the day writing our papers, read through each other’s this evening and have them perfect to turn in.”
Izzy visibly calmed at the plan and sternly handed her a notepad and pencil. Lula didn’t require more. Despite her need to be social on occasion, Izzy preferred structure and placidity. Lula had always appreciated that both of them were happiest with one friend: each other.
The room emptied to a long, whitewashed hall of doors for identical small whitewashed rooms, each housing two girls. Lula walked down the hall, keeping a lookout for other girls in her class. If they were around, her search would be over quickly. But no one was, and soon she exited the doors to the wide courtyard between the women’s dorm and the administration building. Most students were still in class, so the grounds were empty.
A large bushy hedge sat at the corner of the administration building, and as Lula walked by she was yanked behind it with a screech, her heart racing. Barton stood there, covering his lips with a finger. “Barton!” she yelped, though her heart was stuck in her throat. “Let me go!”
He covered her mouth with his hand, sending a surge of terror through her. She should’ve known – he was always ready to attack her. He’d just been waiting to catch her unawares. She took a step back to get out of the hedge, but he tugged her back into the wall of his chest. “Shhh,” he pleaded.
She lowered her voice to a squeak, “Just what do you think you’re doing besides frightening me? Again.” Hadn’t he promised to stop, though this was different than any of his other teasing behavior. He’d never done anything in private, had never been allowed a moment alone with her.
He frowned and let her step back a pace. “I was waiting here to catch an unsuspecting underclassman…”
“I don’t doubt it!” She hissed as she backed away a little more, hoping to break free of the bush and get back to work.
He caught her arm again, holding fast this time. “Do you really think so little of me, Lula?”
Those blue eyes had tricked her before, but now there was earnest hurt in their depths. Still, after so long she couldn’t give up being wary of him. It was second nature – and common sense. “I think I’ve earned the right. I hoped I’d make it through a whole day unscathed after you didn’t speak to me in class.”
A brief whisper of triumph lit his eyes, then he hid it. “You came in too late and I had work to do. Strictly speaking, I’m not allowed to have any sort of relationship with my students. It…wouldn’t be proper.”
Relationship? She hadn’t thought in those terms, but he had mentioned holding her in his arms. “If that’s the case, why do you keep trying to have one? Are you trying to get me expelled? Because I know from experience that you won’t admit any fault if we’re discovered. No matter how much it’s deserved.” She pulled from his grasp and crossed her arms. Being so near him always left her feeling exposed, as if he somehow knew everything about her and could use it against her.
“We never would’ve gotten caught if you hadn’t been so persistent in trying to get me into trouble.” His laughed and his grin was more than infuriating. How could he think for a second she would ever want to put up with all the trouble he’d dealt her?
“And just what was I supposed to do, Barton – allow you to bully me further? You used to distract me from studies, kept me from going outdoors, forced me to wear my hair one way and pick clothing that would never show stains. I let you control every part of me because you turned everyone against me so I couldn’t fight back …” Blasted tears. Hadn’t she shed enough over this man?
He reached toward her cheek but drew away in the next
heartbeat, a pained expression covered his face that she’d never seen before. It was so much like…remorse. “Oh, Lula, I never knew. I just wanted …” He took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter now. Please, let me make it up to you. I won’t get you in trouble, and if you ever report me, I’ll take the full blame. But please give me a chance to make it right. Give me the chance to start fresh.”
His words kindled hope within her, that she could complete the year of studies without worry, that Barton wouldn’t stand in her way, that his troublemaking would stop. “Barton, I …”
He held up his hand. “As much as I love hearing my name on your lips, you can’t get used to calling me that. If we are ever caught, they would see our familiarity.
And just like that, he’d gotten her again. “You’re going to lecture me on propriety?” She took another step toward what she hoped was a way out of the bush.
“No, only a warning that you and I both have to follow. Equally. I’d like the chance to talk to you away from the school, away from where we would be seen. I’ll be taking a ride in Spearfish this afternoon. Would you care to join me?”
A ride? He wanted her to join him away from the school? What sort of pleasant adventure would the son of a cattle baron plan? The little voice in the back of her mind reminded her, even if she’d wanted to spend time with him – which she absolutely did not – she knew that if she planned to teach, she couldn’t marry. But Barton wasn’t asking to court her. He wasn’t looking for a wife, he was looking for forgiveness. And they both had the same goal, teaching …
However, the notebook she held was all the reminder she needed. “I’m sorry, Mr. Oleson. As much as I love riding, I have to write a paper tonight. I’m sure you understand.”
