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"Mr. Agreste. I'm Adrien's teacher, Ms. Nathalie."
Gabriel couldn't focus on the woman in front of him. The classroom was full of kindergartners and their parents. The blur of movement and primary colors, adult conversations and childish shrieks made him regret attending the school's open house.
"I received your email saying that you didn't have a lot of time to spare tonight, so why don't we talk now, while the other parents socialize?" Nathalie gestured to the chairs set up opposite her desk. Gabriel took his seat and Adrien ran around Nathalie's desk to climb up her side, attaching to her torso like a small monkey.
"Adrien!" Gabriel stood, reaching for his son. "I'm sorry, he's usually much better behaved for me."
Nathalie scooped Adrien into her arms and held him on her lap. "I teach Kindergarten, Mr. Agreste. This is fine."
Gabriel sat down again, but the way his brow furrowed and lips pursed put Nathalie on the defensive. The young woman who worked in the school's office had said that Gabriel Agreste was difficult. She had hoped she was wrong. How could a sweet boy like Adrien be the product of a man who made Bridgette, the world's sweetest secretary, cry?
“Do you have concerns about Adrien's behavior?” Gabriel watched Adrien cuddle into his teacher and felt the urge to pull his son back to his side of the desk. "For his age, he has more self-control than seventy percent of his peers and is better at following directions than sixty-fi-"
"-sixty-five percent, yes," Nathalie cut in. "I sent those numbers home with him last month if you remember."
Gabriel blinked. "Oh." She was right. She had sent him a summary of Adrien's development and he had been well above average in every area. "Yes. Of course." He mentally shook himself. Stay on task. Why had she sent him multiple reminders to attend the open house? Andre and Audrey Bourgeois had said they had received one email between the two of them. "Then what is the purpose of this time?"
Nathalie frowned. "The purpose is to develop a partnership in helping Adrien grow while he's my student. While he is, in most areas, a model student, there are still some concerns."
Adrien looked up at Nathalie with big eyes. "Did I do something bad?"
Nathalie put a hand on Adrien's head. "We talked about this today, remember?"
"Oh. The flowers." He sighed. "Can I go color, please?"
Nathalie helped him off her lap and the adults watched him trot across the room to a table covered in paper and crayons. Chloe latched onto his sleeve with one hand and started grabbing handfuls of crayons from other children to drop in front of Adrien. Gabriel and Nathalie sighed at the same moment. The Chloe Sigh.
"'The flowers?'" Gabriel echoed as he turned back towards the desk, quirking an eyebrow at Ms. Nathalie.
"To the point then," she said. She folded her hands and placed them on the desk, straightening her spine. "Despite being told to stop by multiple school bus monitors and teachers on multiple occasions, Adrien has been stealing flowers from the house next to the school."
One of the children who had lost their crayons to Chloe started shrieking at that moment. Gabriel visibly flinched. Nathalie waited for his attention to return, watching him watch Adrien for a few seconds, then eye the door to the hallway. The tension didn't leave his posture, but his eyes returned to her after a long moment.
"He's been 'stealing' flowers?" Gabriel all but rolled his eyes at her. "That's the reason you insisted I attend tonight? My son picked a few flowers?"
"Mr. Agreste, your son took those flowers from private property. When he gets off the bus, he runs away from the school and over to the house. He's opening and entering a gate on private property and taking flowers from a well-maintained garden. This is more serious than just 'picking a few flowers.'"
He shook his head, drawing a breath. “If Adrien really is-”
Another child started shrieking. Two more started crying. Gabriel stood, his eyes wide, his fists clenched.
"This is not a real problem. If you’re more worried about a handful of daisies than keeping the children in your class from throwing fits-"
"Those children are fine! They're safe and with their parents. Expressing emotion is-"
Gabriel wasn't listening. "Adrien! Come here, we're leaving."
Adrien looked up from handing out crayons evenly with his classmates. "Father, can we stay until I finish my drawing?"
"You can draw at home. Come here, now."
Nathalie came around her desk and reached out to Gabriel. "Mr. Agreste, I'm sorry I upset you, but-"
Adrien was standing next to his father, clutching a handful of the leg of his colorful pants. Gabriel swept him into his arms, one supporting his weight against his side, the other holding his head close to his shoulder- defensively, protectively. "I'm not so sure this is the best schooling option for my son. I'll evaluate over the weekend."
He turned and walked out of the classroom without another word.
"Mr. Agreste!" Nathalie called, following them out. "Please, reconsider. It's Adrien's safety I have in mind by bringing this up."
He turned around, clutching Adrien closer. "I know what is best for my son."
He was around the corner before she could get out another word.
Adrien was not in school on Monday. Nathalie tried not to worry. She had children here to focus on, each with their own troubles. She poured herself into the development plans she had for each that day. She even managed to get Chloe to apologize for throwing a marker at Juleka.
When school ended and she was standing in her classroom alone, however, Adrien's voice came to the front of her mind.
"School is my favorite place to be."
"Thank you, Ms. Nathalie!"
"Can I take my drawings home to show Dad what we did today?"
"Writing practice is my favorite. Except for science. Oh, and drawing! And..."
The overhead lights, on an automatic timer, shut off above Nathalie's head. She must have been standing at her desk thinking for longer than she realized. She finished tidying the room and gathered her things. After closing and locking her classroom, she headed towards the parking lot.
She stopped in the doorway. There was a torrential downpour. How had she not noticed? She reached in her bag for her umbrella and-
Her umbrella was in her entryway at home.
She had to decide if she should get a cup of bad coffee from the staff room and wait out the storm or brave the rain. If she stayed, it would make her late for her book club that afternoon. If she ran to her car, she would soak her last clean pair of dress pants, favorite shoes, and probably the inside of her car. Just as she started raising her purse to cover her head for the dash to the car, someone called her name.
"Ms. Nathalie?"
She blinked at him a few times before calling, "Mr. Agreste?"
He caught up to her and held out a piece of paper. Her heart sank.
"If this is the paperwork to withdraw Adrien, I urge you to-"
"Just look." He shoved the paper into her hands.
It was a crayon drawing. One of Adrien's by the look of it.
"Mr. Agreste, why-"
"I spent the day with Adrien. When I asked about the flowers, he drew this. Look at the drawing."
The drawing contained three figures; one was clearly Adrien with lots of scribbled yellow hair, one looked like a cross between a man and a gorilla, and the third stood in the doorway of a house, smiling and waving. The house was surrounded by gigantic flowers in every color.
"I see Adrien holding hands with... Is this the gentleman allowed to pick Adrien up in the event of an emergency? The head of your security?"
Gabriel nodded, tapping the paper over the second figure. "That's Gorilla, as Adrien calls him. Gorilla picked Adrien up from school recently when he had a fever. Apparently, on the way to the car, Adrien asked him to take him to the house next to the school- the house with the flowers."
Nathalie was seeing where this was going. She pointed to the third person in the drawing. "Adrien asked permission to pick flowers, didn't he?"
Gabriel nodded. "I asked Gorilla about this. He had forgotten to tell me because right after he got Adrien home, he had to leave unexpectedly to pick up his own son from school, probably with the exact same virus Adrien had. Gorilla also said that the older gentleman in the house told him that had Adrien not asked so politely and just taken the flowers, he would not have hesitated to call the police on a five-year-old."
"He has before," Nathalie said, handing the drawing back. She looked him in the eye. "I was trying to tell you that."
He met her gaze, then looked away. "Yes. It seems I was a bit hasty to dismiss your concerns."
"The safety of the children in my care is my highest concern."
He sighed, his hand coming up to the short hair at the back of his head for just a moment before returning behind his back with the other. "Clearly I misjudged you. I apologize."
She nodded, her own hands clasping behind her back. "I apologize for sending so many reminders about the open house. I tried to call, but I never got through. Perhaps I should have tried leaving a message."
Gabriel's hand raised to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Yes, I seem to be between assistants. The phones are not being answered as often as they should be because of that."
"Between assistants? I couldn't possibly understand why."
Gabriel looked up at large blue eyes blinking innocently at him from behind stylish glasses.
"Are you making fun of me?"
She kept a perfect poker face except for the smallest twinkle in her eye.
"We've only just met. Why would I do that?"
Gabriel was surprised to hear a laugh from his own lips.
"Well, I've heard I can be rather unpleasant. Hasty, judgmental, quick to anger."
"You know, I have heard that." She gave a small smile. "But I know your son, too. One so kind can't come from someone without good points."
"Adrien is... He's the light of my life."
There. Under the layers- cold, professional, angry, anxious- there was love in this man. There was love in him, and it was shining out his eyes as he talked about the other drawings his son had made for him that day.
She wanted to get to know him under those layers.
Gabriel's phone beeped, interrupting him and pulling Nathalie from her thoughts.
"I'm neglecting a work meeting," he said, putting the phone back in his pocket. "They'll get along fine without me."
"Oh, I won't keep you," she said. "I was heading home anyway." She glanced out the door. The rain had not gotten any less intense.
"Forgive me if this is forward," Gabriel said, a bit more of the "professional" and "anxious" layers falling over him. "Would you consider letting me take you to get coffee?"
"Oh!" She ignored her heating face, hoping he couldn't see her blush. "Coffee? Now?"
"Only if you'd like."
Oh, she wanted to say yes. "I have an event soon. Book club. I picked the book we just read, so I have to be there."
He nodded. "I apologize if I made you uncomf-"
"Would you consider dinner on Friday night instead?"
They both froze. It was as if her words were hovering in the air between them, expanding and pressing against the silence that had overtaken the hallway.
"Dinner sounds nice."
They exchanged details and set a time for him to pick her up. As they were saying goodbye, Gabriel noticed her lack of umbrella.
"It's pouring out. Allow me." He picked up an umbrella Nathalie had failed to notice leaning against the wall next to them. He walked her to her car, both huddled together under the barely-wide-enough umbrella.
“Thank you,” Nathalie said when she was settled in her car, hand on her open door. “I’ll see you Friday.”
“See you then.” He took a step back, then paused and closed the umbrella.
“You’ll get soaked!” Nathalie said, her hand reaching out as if she could reach the handle of the umbrella to stop him.
“I’m fine,” he said, tucking the umbrella carefully next to her. “Enjoy your book club.”
Gabriel Agreste walked away with his hands behind his back and his hair gel slowly dissolving and making his hair stick to his skull.
He turned back a few yards away. “I forgot to ask. Do you happen to know why Adrien was picking flowers in the first place?”
Nathalie covered her mouth to smother a laugh. “He brings them to a girl in the other kindergarten class across the hall from us. She brings him a cookie or hand-sewn sock puppet or something every now and then.”
“Young love.” Gabriel smiled. “I look forward to seeing you Friday.”
Nathalie couldn’t wait to tell book club about this.