Chapter 1

Before the holiday, I repeatedly and sternly warned the students not to secretly go to the river to play in the water.

But Zaylee in my class treated my words like empty air and even led a group of classmates to go down to the river to catch fish together.

On the way, he suffered a muscle cramp and nearly choked on the water.

Yet he pointed at my nose and cursed.

"Why do you have so many damn rules every day? Everything seems to be forbidden. If you hadn’t come to the river to catch us, wouldn’t he have been so scared that he got a leg cramp? You’re fully responsible!"

“You’re just some lousy teacher. Do you really think you’re so important? My son goes wherever he wants. Why do you get to control him?”

I repeatedly tried to persuade them, saying that there had been a lot of rain that summer, and once flooding occurred, people near the river would have no time to escape.

But Zaylee’s mother didn’t believe it at all:

“Stop trying to scare people with bullshit! The water level in this ditch has been this low for years. What could possibly happen?”

“Having a teacher like you at school is just bad luck! You don’t teach properly. You just cause trouble all day! If you want to work, just work. If you don’t, get lost!”

As she wished, I resigned and left.

Later, the provincial authorities issued a heavy rainstorm warning.

The other students realized the water level was rising rapidly and didn’t dare stay near the river. They quickly packed up and left.

Only Zaylee remained unconcerned, loudly mocking others for being timid.

There was a river in the county, and the water level was usually pretty low. Every holiday, kids would go down to play in the water.

But I'd already warned my students countless times.

Safety came first. Without adult supervision, going into the river was strictly prohibited.

But I didn't expect that, on the afternoon of the second day of the holiday, I'd get a message from my colleague, Wallace Gibbs.

[Ms. Hinton, Zaylee is getting the boys from your class together to go catch fish by the river. He says he knows a good spot.]

[There are already seven or eight kids who've gone with him.]

I just skimmed the message and felt my blood boil.

Zaylee was the kind of kid who made every teacher's life a nightmare.

He was failing his classes, never listened to anyone, and always argued just for the sake of it.

He craved attention, always trying to be different, and loved to butt heads with teachers whenever he could.

But I never expected he'd actually challenge me over something as risky as sneaking into the river.

I'd warned him over and over before the holiday, but it was like everything I said went in one ear and out the other.

When I rushed to the river, one of the boys noticed me right away. "Ms. Hinton's here! Hurry up, get out of the water!"

The boys scrambled out of the river, not daring to stick around for even a second longer.

But Zaylee was still soaking in the water, swimming a lap on his back like he didn't have a care in the world.

I kept my face tight, trying to keep my cool. "Zaylee, get out of the water, now!"

Zaylee kept drifting toward the center of the river, then shot a spit right in my direction, totally ignoring me.

He sneered, "Ms. Hinton, look at you, freaking out like some scaredy-cat! I've been swimming here since I was eight. Nobody knows this river better than me. Seriously, what could happen?"

He smirked, "Don't believe me? Watch. I'll catch a fish for you right now!"

Showing off, he dove straight under the water before I could even start yelling at him.

I was so furious I nearly lost it.

But just a few seconds later, Zaylee came up gasping, thrashing desperately. "Help! My leg cramped up!"

The boys on the shore were shocked and all started to rush in to help.

I shot them a cold glare, stopping them in their tracks. I watched as Zaylee struggled, his energy draining fast, nearly sinking. Only then did I strip off my coat and shoes, swim over, hook my arm around his neck, and drag him back to shore.

After Zaylee was loaded into the ambulance, I made sure to use the moment to lay into the rest of the students.

"So, do you still think playing by the river is just harmless fun? What if something really happened. How would you deal with it?"

"Go home and write a reflection essay! And don't forget, you'll be reading it out loud in front of everyone on Monday!"

The students were totally freaked out this time, nodding like crazy.

Finally, I could breathe a little easier. If they were scared now, maybe they would keep themselves out of trouble next time.

Especially Zaylee, he'd nearly drowned. Surely he knew better now, right?

But I didn't expect that, on Monday morning, just as the morning reading period started, I'd hear from a colleague that Zaylee's mother was at the school looking for me.

"Ms. Hinton, you need to get to the principal's office right now! She's saying she's going to complain about you!"

I was stunned.

I rushed into the office and found the place in chaos, people talking over each other.

Zaylee's mother was standing right in the center. As soon as she saw me, she put her hands on her hips and started screaming, her spit actually hitting my face.

"Ms. Hinton, do you even realize you almost killed my son? When he was drowning, you just stood there on the shore and watched him struggle! You didn't lift a finger to help. How can you even call yourself a teacher?"

"If my son hadn't been so lucky, by the time the ambulance got there, he'd already be dead!"