Right Where I Belong

by Krista McGee

  “Come in, come in!” he said, walking toward his office. He suddenly turned. Natalia almost ran into him, so abrupt was his movement. “Oh! I’m sorry, Natalia. I already feel like I know you, so I didn’t even think to introduce myself. I’m Mr. Lawrence, principal here at TCS.” He stuck his hand out and Natalia shook it, smiling. This was one of the most energetic men she’d ever met.

  “Pastor Brian was over here just this morning, bragging on you and saying what a help you’ve been to Maureen. Little Brian was pretty impressed too.” Mr. Lawrence winked.

  “Little!” Maureen laughed. “I barely recognized him when he came over this weekend.”

  “You’re telling me.” He motioned for the women to enter his office. “I said good-bye at the end of the school year, looking down at his little red head, and came back in the fall looking up! Have a seat, ladies.”

  Natalia sat in the plush leather chair, Maureen beside her in a matching chair. Mr. Lawrence walked behind a large mahogany desk and pushed aside a stack of papers.

  “Résumés,” he explained. “We need a PE coach, a band director, and a Spanish teacher. All by the end of the month. Lots of applications for band and PE, but none for Spanish. That’s always hard to fill.”

  Natalia looked at Maureen, eyebrows lifted.

  Maureen shook her head emphatically.

  Mr. Lawrence caught the exchange and clapped his hands. “Señora Lopez!” He laughed. “Of course. You would make a great Spanish teacher. You were always the kids’ favorite Sunday school teacher.”

  “Teaching Sunday school and teaching Spanish are very different, Jim.” Maureen frowned.

  “But a teacher is a teacher,” Mr. Lawrence countered. “And you are a teacher.”

  “No.” Maureen sat up straighter, her chin up. “I am an international corporate businesswoman.”

  “Maureen.” He leaned forward. “I have no doubt you are a very gifted businesswoman. But teaching, while paying less, is not a career to shun. Here, it is a calling. We get the privilege of investing in the lives of young men and women. And those young people go out into the world and take what we’ve taught them, being lights in a dark world. This is one of the most fulfilling jobs you could ever have.”

  Maureen laughed. “I’d forgotten what a salesman you are, Jim. And I agree, teaching is a calling. But it’s not my calling.”

  “How do you know?” Natalia asked. “You have been looking for a job for three weeks. Nothing is opening up. And here there just ‘happens’ to be an opening for a Spanish teacher. Don’t you think God could be in this?”

  “I like this girl.” Mr. Lawrence beamed.

  “I do too,” Maureen responded, frowning. “But I don’t agree. I have no desire to be a Spanish teacher.”

  Her tone made it clear that the conversation was over. Mr. Lawrence recognized it too, but a wink from him when Maureen’s head was turned let Natalia know that he would pray Maureen changed her mind.

  “Got the last of the desks moved out of Mrs. Kennedy’s room.” Brian Younger Jr. poked his head in Mr. Lawrence’s office. His crystal blue eyes widened when he saw Natalia.

  “Brian.” Mr. Lawrence stood. “I was just about to give Miss Natalia here a tour. But I’m sure she’d rather see the school with you than with me.”

  Natalia glanced from Mr. Lawrence to Brian. “No, I don’t want to take up your time. I can see you are busy.”

  Brian’s dirt-stained T-shirt revealed a more muscular body than Natalia had expected from such a thin boy.

  God, I know I prayed for a friend. But this can’t be it. I’ve sworn off boys. Friendship could lead to something else. Something I won’t allow.

  “It would be my pleasure, Natalia.” Brian beamed. “I dropped in to pick up my supplies list, and Mr. Lawrence put me to work. On my day off, no less. I could use a break. Please?”

  Natalia looked into Brian’s blue eyes and her heart sank. “All right, then. But just a quick tour. I’m sure there is more work that Mr. Lawrence needs done.”

  “Yes, there is.” Mr. Lawrence turned to his credenza and pulled out a stack of papers. “But Maureen here has to fill out all this paperwork, so you can take your time.”

  “Yes, sir.” Brian’s white teeth seemed to sparkle.

  Natalia forced herself to look away from his adorable smile. And his beautiful eyes. And his muscular arms. This is going to be the longest tour ever.

  Chapter 10

  Chemistry.”

  Natalia looked at Brian. Oh yes, definite chemistry.

  “No. Not for me.” She shook her head, trying to rid herself of those errant thoughts.

  “You already took chemistry?” Brian flipped through the key ring Mr. Lawrence had given him.

  She closed her eyes. Idiot. “I did. Yes. So no chemistry at all for me this year.”

  Brian’s light eyebrows came together. “All right.”

  Natalia stared at the floor as Brian slipped the key into the door.

  “This is Mrs. Stevenson’s room.” Brian opened the door and Natalia entered.

  The classroom looked just like all the others in that hallway—blue walls, brown carpet, two bulletin boards, a whiteboard, and twenty desks. But Brian managed to make each room interesting, with his background information on the teacher or funny stories about things that happened in the room.

  “She teaches algebra, which is not the most exciting subject. But”—he turned out the lights before continuing—“one dark and stormy afternoon, we walked into the classroom to find Mrs. Stevenson had disappeared.”

  Natalia laughed. “Disappeared?”

  “Hey, this is a horror story, not a comedy. Wipe that grin off your face.”

  She did as she was told. Or she tried to, anyway. She couldn’t help a small grin from lifting the corners of her lips.

  “As I was saying.” Brian cleared his throat. “On a dark and stormy afternoon, when even the sun was too frightened to come out, we were visited by . . . Mr. Monotone.”

  “Mr. Monotone?”

  “He talked just like this.” Brian imitated the teacher, his voice remaining exactly the same with each word. “‘Class, I am your substitute. Take out your books and we’ll discuss the FOIL method. That’s right. It is so exciting.’”

  “He didn’t really talk like that.” Natalia shook her head.

  “You accuse a pastor’s son of lying? How dare you.” Brian clutched his heart. “And I haven’t even gotten to the worst part yet.”

  “Sorry.” Natalia laughed, enjoying herself far more than she had intended. “Go on.”

  “The combination of Mr. Monotone’s boring voice combined with the boring subject caused the star of the class, best-looking guy in the school, and all-around amazing, almost-super hero—”

  “I assume we are talking about you?”

  Brian’s grin was wide. “Aw, you flatter me, Natalia.”

  She normally hated the English pronunciation of her name, with the long l and the flat a, but when it came from Brian’s mouth, it was endearing.

  “But you guessed it.” Brian spread his arms. “Star pupil, Brian Younger Jr., every girl’s fantasy and every boy’s nightmare, fell asleep right in the middle of class.”

  “How terrible.” Natalia laughed.

  “Oh, that’s not all.” Brian folded his arms. “If I had just fallen asleep, it would have been nothing. Oh no. I fell asleep and started having a nightmare. I was stuck inside the algebra book, being chased by square-root signs and little x’s.”

  “Oh dear.” Natalia smiled as Brian bent toward her. Her eyes widened as his face was just a few inches from hers.

  “You have no idea.” The smirk on Brian’s face faded, just for a moment, and Natalia stepped back, refusing to allow herself to enjoy his nearness.

  “So the x’s were chasing you?” Natalia prompted after an awkward moment of silence.

  “The x’s.” Brian got back into character, mock horror filling his eyes. “They were terrible. Chasing me a
round the odd problems, knocking me into numbers. I was running for my life.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then the fire alarm went off.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “No, and it was right when I was about to be pushed down into a quadratic equation.”

  “So what did you do?”

  “What any normal person being chased by an algebra problem would do.” Brian shrugged. “I jumped out of my chair and screamed. Except that you can’t jump out of these chairs. So I ended up falling out, screaming at the little x’s to leave me alone.”

  “You’re joking with me.” Natalia couldn’t imagine that actually happening in a room full of students.

  “Do you think I could make something like that up?”

  Natalia looked at Brian for a moment. “Yes, I think you could.”

  “Well, thank you.” He stood a little straighter. “But, unfortunately, that is totally true.”

  The door to the classroom opened and a young man walked in. Dark hair and eyes, muscular, quite good-looking, but with a smile that indicated he knew just how good-looking he was. He reminded Natalia of her father. Not a good first impression.

  “I’m Spencer Adams.” He held his hand out to Natalia. “Mr. Lawrence told me Brian was showing the new girl around. I couldn’t allow that. I’m the class president, so it’s really my responsibility.” He looked over his shoulder at Brian. “You understand, right, Younger?”

  Brian’s face turned pink, but he didn’t say anything. His shoulders slumped, though.

  “Actually”—Natalia removed her hand from Spencer’s—“Brian is doing a fabulous job.”

  His face lit up and Spencer scowled. “Of course he is. But he’s got work to do. Right? He’s on the crew fixing up my family’s new mansion. You’ll have to come see it when it’s done.”

  “It sounds lovely,” Natalia said. “But I think this is the end of the tour, right, Brian?”

  He nodded.

  “Fine.” Spencer grabbed Natalia’s arm and pulled her to the front of the room. “But let me offer you a word of advice. Younger, here, may be the pastor’s son, but he’s a loser. Doesn’t play sports, doesn’t do well in school, spends all his free time here.” Spencer spat out the last word like it was a virus. “Not the kind of guy a girl like you would want to be seen with.”

  Natalia bristled. She knew this boy’s type. And she did not like it. “And what makes you think that after a two-minute conversation you could have any idea what kind of a girl I am?”

  Spencer’s face went from shock to pleasure. “I like your spunk. We’re going to get along well.”

  She turned to Brian. “Can we go please?”

  A huge grin splitting his face, Brian looked from Natalia to Spencer. “We sure can.”

  Once the pair was sure Spencer was gone, Brian gazed down at Natalia. “I’m sorry. Spencer’s the big man on campus.”

  “What?”

  “Oh, sorry.” Brian rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s so hard not to use clichés.”

  “No, use them. But then explain them so I know what they mean. It’s like a whole new language inside a language.”

  “Okay.” Brian sat in a desk and motioned for Natalia to sit beside him. “‘Big man on campus’ is like the guy all the girls like and all the guys want to be.”

  “You want to be like him?”

  “No, that’s kind of a saying too.” Brian stretched his legs out, his foot brushing Natalia’s.

  Her toes curled at the touch, and tingles rose all the way up her leg. She yanked her foot away.

  “Sorry.” He blushed.

  Natalia looked away. I will not let myself be attracted to him.

  “So Spencer is popular, then?” She needed to get the conversation back on neutral ground.

  “He’s the captain of the football team, star basketball player, gets straight As in school, and his parents are filthy rich. They paid for the new science lab I showed you. So, yeah, I guess you could say he is popular.”

  “Wow.” Natalia liked Spencer even less than before. There were plenty of his type at her school in Madrid.

  “I know.” Brian hung his head. “He’s impressive.”

  “No, that wasn’t an impressed ‘wow.’ He sounds like a—what is the word?—jerk?”

  “No.” Brian sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make him sound bad. I wish I could be all those things. Well, except for the parents. Mine may not be rich, but they’re awesome and they love each other. Spencer’s folks got divorced a few years ago. His dad remarried as soon as the divorce was final. It was pretty tough on him.”

  Brian is actually defending this boy.

  “But I’d sure like some of his skills. I don’t play any of the school sports. And he’s right; I’m not the smartest guy here.”

  Natalia wished Brian could see that he was far more attractive than the arrogant Spencer. But she couldn’t tell him that. He might think I’m interested. And I’m not. Definitely not.

  “Speaking of school . . . tell me about Bible class.”

  Brian’s face lit up. “My favorite class. This year we’ll get my dad. He teaches the seniors. We get a semester of apologetics and then a semester of life management.”

  “Apolo . . . what?”

  “Apologetics—how to defend your faith. My dad wrote his thesis in seminary on that. It’s his favorite subject.”

  “I have been praying for someone to teach me that.” Natalia stood and walked around the room, barely able to contain her excitement. “My friends in Spain think I’m crazy for becoming a Christian. I’ve tried to tell them why I believe what I do, but there’s so much I don’t know.”

  Brian leaned back. “Wow, no one ever gets excited about taking apologetics.”

  “What?” Natalia stopped pacing. “How could they not? To know how to answer people with questions and criticisms. Isn’t that what we’re commanded to do? To have an answer to any who ask?”

  “Oh man, my dad will want to adopt you.” Brian stood and smiled. “You’ll have to come over for dinner sometime and pick his brain. He’d love that.”

  “Pick his brain?” The image that popped into Natalia mind was disgusting, and she shuddered.

  “Sorry, another cliché.” Brian headed toward the door and held it open. “It means to ask questions and find out what another person knows.”

  “I’d love to do that, then.” Natalia walked out in front of Brian. “To pick his brain.” It still sounded strange coming from her lips, but she was determined to learn “American.”

  He showed her the rest of the school, but all Natalia could think of was apologetics. She wanted to invite herself to Brian’s house right then.

  But that would mean spending time with him. And I can’t. I already feel some of my resolve weakening after just a couple of hours. I am not made to be anyone’s girlfriend. Although if I were, I would want someone like Brian. He is kind and funny and he loves God. Really loves God. And isn’t afraid to talk about him. But I can’t like him. I won’t.

  “I have to go.” Natalia interrupted Brian’s story about the former band teacher and her antics.

  He stopped midsentence, his brow wrinkling. “Oh, all right. I’ll walk you back to the office.”

  “No, please.” Natalia began walking away. Quickly. “I can find it. I’ve taken enough of your time.”

  Brian called after her, but she ignored him and kept walking. Too much temptation. A godly guy who can laugh at himself and has a great family? Oh, Lord, why couldn’t Spencer Adams have given me the tour? He’s not tempting at all.

  Chapter 11

  I am a complete idiot.” Brian walked into his dad’s office and threw himself into the chair.

  Gazing up from his computer, Dad took his glasses off. “No Younger is a complete idiot. Partial, maybe. But not complete.”

  “Mr. Lawrence made me give Natalia Lopez a tour of the school.”

  Dad leaned back in his seat. “That
should be a good thing. I saw how you were looking at her the other day.”

  “She’s beautiful, Dad. Of course I was looking at her.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “I actually let myself believe, for a minute, that she might be interested in me.”

  “And why wouldn’t she?”

  Brian looked at his dad. “I’m not exactly the class Casanova.”

  “Nor would I want you to be.”

  “I know, Dad.” Brian slumped farther into the seat. “But she’s out of my league. I forgot that until Spencer Adams came up and reminded me.”

  “So you’re letting Spencer tell you how to think?”

  “No.” Brian sighed. “Forget it. Why can’t I be attracted to a girl who’d actually like me back? Like Lexi Summers. She’d probably go out with me.”

  “She is a wonderful girl.” Dad smiled. “Your mother and I would approve of her.”

  “But she’s like my sister.” Brian shrugged. “We’ve known each other forever.”

  “So what happened with Spencer and Natalia?”

  “She saw him. And she talked to him. Now she knows I’m the class joke.”

  “Did she treat you differently after Spencer came in?”

  Brian thought back to Natalia’s response. “No. Actually, she kind of put Spencer in his place.”

  “So why are you upset?”

  “Because, Dad, I’m basically a geek. But a geek that isn’t even all that smart. What do I have to offer a girl like that?”

  “She moved all the way out here to help her stepmother, son.” His dad leaned forward. “She’s probably struggling with a lot of things. You can offer her your friendship.”

  Brian sighed. “Yep, that’s me. Everybody’s best friend.”

  “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” Brian clapped his hands. “She can’t wait to take apologetics.”

  “Really?” Dad’s face broke into a huge smile.

  “Yeah, she said she’s been praying for someone to teach her how to defend her faith.”

  “I like this girl.” Dad nodded.

  Me too, Brian thought.

  Chapter 12