There was no cleaning to do. The students took care of it before they left. It was something that still surprised Brian. Stella Stutzman lingered at the back of the room, pretending to look for something in her cubby. Katie nodded her head toward the girl and raised her eyebrow. “I’ll handle it,” he said quietly. Brian had dealt with starry-eyed students before. He understood it was less about him and more about stages a girl went through. He walked to the back of the room, asked Stella if she needed anything, and then pointedly said, “We’ll see you tomorrow.” “She seems attached to you,” Katie said when he returned to his desk. He simply shrugged, which was his way. Brian Walker was not one to talk when a shrug would do. Or it could be that they were both exhausted at the end of every school day, but especially one involving critters in the outhouse. “So you gave the boys an extra reading assignment?” “I allowed them to choose, actually. I told them I could speak with their parents, or they could accept an extra assignment.”
