Read Online Unfinished Business by Karyn Langhorne - Free Book Online Page A

see we’re going to have to talk about personal responsibility again. As young learners, you’re responsible for your supplies. You all know that you’re supposed to check your pencils when you come to the classroom in the morning, and have them ready before we begin the day’s work.”
    â€œBut Miz Johnson,” a little girl with long braids interrupted, her hand waving frantically in the air. “We would have, but they made us go to that assembly as soon as we got here. To listen to him .” She jerked her thumb in Mark’s direction. “And that’s why we didn’t have time to…”
    From his seat at the back of the room, Mark watched Erica’s lips turn downward like she was swallowing a particularly nasty medicine. Mark suspected she was biting back something she desperately wanted to say and he couldn’t stop a smile from curving his lips.
    She glanced in his direction just in time to see the smile. Immediately, her eyebrows knit together and her dark eyes flashed.
    â€œI had hoped that we would be able to carry on our lessons today as usual,” she began slowly in a voice that barely concealed her irritation. “But that clearly isn’t going to be the case, so I say we take advantage of the senator’s presence and skip ahead to our civics lesson. We’ve been studying the Constitution. Perhaps Senator Newman can give us some insight beyond what our textbooks can offer?”
    â€œI’d welcome the chance to try.” Mark stood and crossed the room in a few uneven strides until he was at the front of the room beside her. He leaned againstthe edge of her desk and winked at her. “What do you want me to do, Teacher?”
    Go straight to hell .
    If he read it right, that was what the look on her face said, but the words that came out of her mouth were a quietly controlled, “Get your butt off my desk.”
    The children laughed.
    â€œDon’t nobody touch Miz Johnson’s desk. Everybody knows that!” he heard called out from the young voices in the room.
    â€œIt’s rickety,” she said quickly. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
    â€œOf course it is,” Mark agreed, giving the desk a shake and pretending not to notice that it hadn’t moved an inch. “Very rickety.” He laughed at the way the children’s eyes fixed on him, sparkling with interest. He felt movement at his elbow and realized that Erica had placed a chair in the center of the room for him.
    â€œThey’re too young to vote,” she murmured in a voice for his ear’s only. “And I’m immune, so you can bump the charm down a few volts, okay?”
    â€œHey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it, that’s what I always say,” he muttered back and watched those big brown eyes roll contempt in his direction before she addressed the class again.
    â€œWho wants to give Senator Newman an overview of what we’ve studied so far?”
    All over the room, little brown hands shot into the air, waving with enthusiasm. Mark stole a glance at Erica: her lovely face was suffused with pride.
    â€œDamon. Rise and present.”
    At this command, a little boy with a round head shaved bald like an old man, stood up and placed his hand over his heart as if reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
    â€œWe’ve studied the three branches of government,” he began seriously. “There’s the executive—that’s the president and the cabinet and their agencies. And then the judicial—that’s the court system. And then there’s the legislative. That’s the House of Representatives and the Senate.” His eyes found Mark’s. “That’s where you work.”
    â€œRight,” Mark said, grinning. “Very good. In the Senate, we—”
    â€œWe haven’t talked about them yet,” Damon interrupted. “We’ve been talking about the House of