24/7

Diane was coming out of the back of the school building around 4:30. Her Ford 500 was one of the only two cars left in the parking lot. The other one was the basketball coach’s car. She was there late again working on trying to complete an IEP. She wasn’t done, and the principal, Ms. Adams, was probably going to send her another nasty email tomorrow, but she didn’t care. It was just a document, a formality—unlike having to deal with the real child the document was about on a daily basis. Her plans right now were very simple: She was going to go home, take her dogs for a walk, and go to bed.

As she pulled out of the parking lot, she spied a couple boys standing on the corner. She wasn’t really paying much attention, but then the boys started waving at her. Oh my gosh, she thought. It was Fabian (aka Polo) and Eric! They were there waiting for her.

She stopped and lowered her passenger window. “What in the heck are you two doing?” she asked.

Like the children they were, they stuck their heads into the window, looking a lot like her dogs would look when she got home. Fabian had on a baseball cap turned to one side, a fake gold chain, and, of course, a polo shirt and shorts. As usual, Eric’s hair was perfectly quaffed.

“Take us to Dairy Queen, Ms. O’Malley,” he said.

“Yeah, Ms. O’Malley,” Polo echoed. “You said you’d take us again.”

She had no idea how long they had been standing on that corner waiting for her. School was out over two hours ago. She was exhausted, but she didn’t have the heart to say no to her to little sweethearts. Actually, they weren’t that young (both fifteen) and rarely were sweethearts at all. She had them in class three periods a day, and like with her other special needs students, it was a constant struggle for her to keep them in a seat, to keep them off their cell phone, and to try to teach them something—anyth