Chapter Text
The Rainwood School was built by Marc and Eveline Rainwood in 1997. It quickly became one of the most popular in the area during the late 1990s and early 2000s. When the couple retired, their only child, Ray Rainwood, took over the school. However, the school’s popularity rapidly declined. Ray ruled with an iron fist and cared more about money than the well-being of students and staff. 2014 Ray was arrested for money laundering, and the school was swiftly shut down.
The beautiful school soon began to deteriorate. It wasn’t until 2016 when a newlywed couple, Athena Grant and Bobby Nash, drove past the abandoned school. Both were teachers who had only heard stories about the once-famous school. Athena and Bobby quickly decided to try to restore its former glory and purchased the property. After a year of renovations and recruiting staff, Rainwood was reborn as Grantwood Private School. It became the 118th private school in Los Angeles and a family cooperative, as many staff members were relatives.
Bobby and Athena decided that she would serve as principal while Bobby continued as a math teacher and part of the school’s administration. Her biological daughter and Bobby’s stepdaughter worked in administration and IT. Their best friends were teaching other subjects.
Karen and her wife Hen taught physics and biology, while Maddie and her husband Chimney taught English and P.E. Maddie’s brother Buck taught science. Finally, Ravi taught art, Taylor handled social studies, Josh taught geography, and a few others covered additional subjects.
Ring… Ring…
“Not now,” Buck mumbled, trying to find the alarm clock in his half-asleep state. After several failed attempts to swipe at his nightstand, he finally managed to turn off the alarm. Opening his eyes, he glanced at the clock: 5:15 AM.
“I’m too tired for this,” Buck muttered with a yawn.
The phone on his nightstand vibrated, and he reached for it. There were four new messages in the staff group chat.
Athena (Principal):
Reminder: Today and tomorrow, LAFD will visit to review fire safety at 10 AM. LAFD will go classroom to classroom, so there will be no assembly in the auditorium this time. Today’s classes are 7, 8, and 9. Tomorrow, they are 10, 11, and 12.
“Right,” Buck thought as he threw off his blanket and got out of bed. He placed the phone back on the nightstand and headed into the bathroom, splashing water on his face to wake himself up. Buck was never a morning person, and despite being a teacher, he doubted he ever would be. Grabbing a towel from the wall, he dried his face before reaching for his toothbrush.
After brushing his teeth, Buck returned to his bedroom to get dressed. His style wasn’t anything fancy: a pair of light blue jeans, a black T-shirt that hugged his broad shoulders, and an open, plain-colored shirt. After a quick look in the large mirror, he headed down to the kitchen.
His apartment was a loft, with a bed and a small bathroom upstairs. Below was a large open space combining the living room and kitchen. Buck opened the fridge and grabbed a protein shake. Breakfast had never been his favorite meal, but lunch and dinner? He lived for them, especially cooking with Bobby at the Grant-Nash house. Bobby was an incredible cook, and Buck loved learning new recipes from him. It had become a tradition to gather every other Saturday at someone’s house (taking turns) to cook a big meal together. Buck cherished these moments, especially since neither he nor his sister Maddie were close to their parents, who didn’t live in L.A.
Buck shook the protein drink as he packed papers and his laptop into his work bag. Before he knew it, he was in his old Jeep, driving to Grantwood School.
The drive to the school wasn’t long—just 15 minutes, to be exact. The parking lot was almost empty when he arrived. Buck was usually one of the first to arrive, aside from Athena or Bobby. Locking his car, he walked up to the large building, pulled out his keys, and unlocked the door. Someone had already disarmed the alarm system, so he didn’t have to worry about setting it off.
He headed to the staff room to grab a cup of coffee. Hen was sitting at one of the tables with a pile of papers in front of her.
“Lots to grade?” Buck asked.
Hen jumped. “Jesus, Buck,” she said, looking up. “Yeah, we had a biology test for the eighth graders yesterday. I didn’t get much grading done since Denny had baseball practice. So I thought I’d come in early while Karen drops off Denny and Mara at school.”
Buck nodded and sat across from her with a steaming cup of coffee.
“How’s it going with the seventh graders?” Hen asked.
The school followed a different model than most. Students had different teachers for each subject from an early age, while every class had a mentor. Buck was the mentor for seventh grade and taught science for grades 7–12. Hen mentored eighth grade.
“It’s going well,” Buck said, taking a sip of his coffee. “We’ll have our first drill with LAFD today.”
“Let’s hope none of the students pull the fire alarm like last year when they visited,” Hen said, laughing.
They chatted for a bit before Buck realized he needed to rush to set up for his first class.
“See you at the 9:30 break,” he said.
“Mm-hmm,” Hen replied without looking up. Buck chuckled as he left the room and headed down the hallway to his classroom.
The first hour before the break flew by. He went over the upcoming test, which was scheduled for two days later, and informed the class about the LAFD visit. When the bell rang for break, he returned to the staff room, where Hen and Chimney were deep in a heated discussion about the latest episode of the TV show Hotshot.
“They can’t end the episode with Branner in a coma!” Chimney exclaimed.
“There’s no way he could’ve survived without ending up in a coma,” Hen replied, frustrated. “We’ll see what happens in the next episode.”
“Hey,” Buck said, sitting down in an armchair nearby. “Good episode?”
“Didn’t you watch it last night?” Chimney asked.
“No, I went to bed early,” Buck said. “I had a workout at the gym before bed.”
“You and your workouts,” Hen teased.
“They’re relaxing,” Buck replied.
“I couldn’t do it as often as you,” Chimney said, leaning back on the couch. “Running every other day is enough for me.”
“Says the P.E. teacher,” Buck teased.
Chimney gave him the middle finger.
They had all been friends for nearly 15 years. Maddie and Chimney had been together for about four years. Buck’s thoughts drifted toward his search for the right person. He’d had relationships with both men and women over the years, but none had lasted long. Now 31 years old, he felt ready to settle down. But the dating apps hadn’t worked, and he had given up on them, hoping his time would come soon.
Chimney looked at the clock and said:
“Time’s up and back to the lessons.”
They all agreed and stood up, started to walk towards the door.
As Chimney, Hen, and Buck left the staff room, Buck remembered a fun fact he had read online the day before.
“Did you know there’s a bat that flew over 200 miles and is called—” he began but stopped abruptly when he bumped into Chimney, who had suddenly halted. Hen also froze.
“Oh, that’s a beautiful man,” Chimney said.
“Where’s the lie? And I like girls,” Hen added.
Buck followed their gaze and felt his breath catch. In the hallway ahead, Athena was talking to a man from LAFD. The man was the most stunning person Buck had ever seen. The uniform hugged his muscular arms, his brown hair fell perfectly over his forehead, and his smile was dazzling.
The only thing Buck could think of was the song Whatta Man.
What a man, what a man…
Suddenly, Buck heard the song playing behind him and turned around abruptly. There stood Josh, holding a laptop with a surprised expression.
“Oh, sorry! I’m on my way to give this laptop to May. It never stops playing songs on its own,” he said before continuing down the hallway.
Buck first looked after Josh and then at the others standing beside him. They stared back at him.
“I think someone got a little starstruck,” Hen said.
“Love is in the air,” Chimney began to sing as the two of them walked off to their classrooms, leaving Buck standing alone.
The bell rang, and students began filling the hallway around him.
“It’s going to be a long two days…” he muttered with a sigh before heading off to start his next lesson.