Page 6 of Make the Play
* * *
“Well,if it isn’t my favorite lady. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
“Starting early with the flattery this year, Mr. King?” Mabel grins, her too-dark rouge making it look like she’s blushing.
“Never too early for you, Mabel.” Jason shifts the stack of donut boxes under his left arm so he can grab the white paper bag off the top. “Got your favorite, didn’t want anyone else taking it.”
“Buttermilk knot?” she asks, peering inside the bag.
“You know it,” Jason grins. “You and Theo single-handedly drive the demand.”
“How is that boy? Such a nice man, that Theo. I remember when he used to come in here looking for you. He never got into trouble like you did.”
“Are you calling me a troublemaker, Mabel?” Jason pretends to be shocked. He isn’t really. He never did anything too horrible when he was a student, but he wasn’t above shenanigans.
“You know, between the two of you, it was always you getting Theo in trouble. I’ll never forget that senior prank with the goats and?—”
“Now, now,” Jason interrupts. “We don't need to relive senior year. I keep hoping maybe you’ll forget about that.”
“I might be seventy, but I’m sharp as a tack, young man.”
Jason can’t help but grin. Mabel’s been in the front office as long as Jason can remember, working the desk when he and each of his brothers attended Santa Leon High. When he’d first started working here, seeing her in a more professional capacity had been a little odd, but once he stopped feeling like he was going to get into trouble for being in the office, he developed a rather wonderful friendship with Mabel. She’s easily one of his favorite people on campus and he’s probably going to sob like a baby whenever she retires.
“I know you are, and since you’re so sharp, I bet you know all about the new teacher.” He widens his smile.
“Oh, are we getting a new teacher?” Mabel pretends to look at her long, shimmering nails. They’re hot pink and very glittery, matching her oversized glasses.
“Mabel, you can’t hold out on me.”
“I’m sure Mrs. Hernandez will send out a staff-wide email soon.”
“You and I both know she did that this morning,” Jason sighs. “It gave me nothing. I need details.”
“You know, I always thought that Alexander was the nosiest King, but now I’m not so sure.”
“I like to think of it as curious more than nosy. Besides, how can I welcome our new staff member if I don’t know who I’m looking for? Come on, give me something, Mabel. You know everything at this school.” She smiles and Jason knows he’s got it in the bag, but he continues anyway because she really is the best. “You know we’d all be lost without you. You’re the glue that holds us together. You’re our shining star. You’re?—”
“Alright, alright,” Mabel huffs. “Mr. Miller is here from?—”
“Morning, Mr. King.”
“Morning, Mrs. Hernandez.” Jason straightens, offering his principal a wide smile. She’s a little stern at times, and definitely doesn’t share Jason’s love of office gossip, but she’s fair, decent, and a good administrator on the whole. “I got your favorite—blueberry.”
Jason pops open the lid on the top box of donuts, withdrawing a napkin from his pocket and offering it to her.
“Thank you.” She takes the donut in question, offering a polite nod to both him and Mabel before heading towards her office.
“Now, about Mr. Miller,” Jason starts, turning his attention back to Mabel and frowning when he realizes she’s on the phone. She holds up a hand, shaking her head, and Jason resigns himself to having to wait. Ten minutes later there’s no end in sight to her phone call with the district to handle some kind of IT problem, and Jason decides to get his day started, aware he needs to open up his own office and get things in order.
Before heading across campus, he takes a detour to the staff room where he leaves the donuts, sneaking one himself. He picks one of the larger donuts, something covered in chocolate with chocolate chips in the layers inside, letting the carbs and sugar fuel his morning as he heads off, intending to figure out exactly who Mr. Miller is.
Since today is a staff development day, it’s a prep day more than anything else. Some of the other teachers have classrooms to finish setting up or curriculum to finalize, but Jason’s work is a little less tedious. As the physical education teacher and football coach, he doesn’t have a classroom and his office is already set up, something he made sure to do when he stopped in last week to handle some paperwork from his preseason tryouts.
Technically speaking, Jason doesn’t even need to be on campus today, but there’s not a chance he’d miss it. The first week of school is always kind of chaotic and busy, so having a day to get himself back in the groove of things and catch up with his coworkers before the students arrive on campus is perfect. He also likes to make himself useful and a lot of the other teachers usually need help unloading boxes or moving furniture. That’s how Jason ends up spending his morning after he finds Mrs. Montalvo, one of the science teachers, struggling to get an armload of boxes and a wagon of necessities into her classroom.
The following few hours are spent helping her bring up some miscellaneous supplies from the storeroom, along with helping her rearrange her lab desks and change a light bulb. It’s nearly noon by the time he’s finished helping her and his breakfast sandwich and donut feel ages ago. Making his way across campus he heads to the vending machine near the cafeteria, kicking himself for not taking the time to pack a lunch today. He’s gonna need to get back into the habit unless he wants to starve to death or live on takeout. Neither of which he really wants to do since when football starts, he’ll be living on that for dinners. Maybe if he sweet talks Alec, he might cook for him at least once a week.
Pausing in front of the vending machine, he eyes the selection, wondering if he can talk to the vendor about getting a different flavor of Pop-Tarts stocked. He can’t figure out why it’s always strawberry when brown sugar cinnamon is clearly the superior flavor. Lost in thoughts of Pop-Tart fillings, it takes him by surprise to notice someone unfamiliar walking past him. They look decidedly lost, muttering to themselves.
