All Chapters of When a Mother Loves Her Reputation More: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All of a sudden, a sense of weightlessness came over me. I found myself drifting up to the third-floor hallway of the classroom building.The faculty office, which Mom shared with the other teachers, was at the end of the corridor. Its door was ajar, and I saw her hurrying into the office, a plastic shopping bag swinging from her hand. It bore the logo of the convenience store right outside the school.Mom sat at her desk and took a strawberry ice cream out of the bag. That was my favorite flavor. Her lips lifted ever so slightly as she looked at it.After storing it away in the mini fridge, she muttered to herself, "She's been standing outside for almost an hour now. That's enough to prove my principles and professionalism as a teacher. It's almost time for me to bring that stubborn girl back inside."She opened a drawer at her desk, took out a sports drink, and set it down on her desk. After pausing in thought for a moment, she retrieved a small towel as well."When I bring her

I floated high above the track, watching as Mom walked briskly, her figure soon disappearing into the classroom building. As the door swung shut behind her, I caught her lifting a hand to hurriedly wipe at her eyes.Alas, she had no idea that I would never get to eat the ice cream she said she'd prepared for me.Mr. Hodge was the only one left on the track.He crouched beside me, hesitating for a long time. After glancing toward the students watching from the third floor, he finally dragged my body over to the base of the flagpole, where there was a small patch of shade."Just hang in there a little longer," he said to me.After taking off his cap to cover my face, he got up and walked away with the bin of basketballs.Still, the patch of shade was far too small. As the sun started to move westward, the flagpole's shadow shrank inch by inch. Ten minutes later, it was completely gone, and I was exposed to the blazing sun once again.My body was still twitching a little, the movem

The police arrived a few minutes after the ambulance. Two police officers came out of the car and immediately cordoned off the field with police tape. The paramedics covered my body with a white cloth.Mom sat on the edge of the flowerbed beside the track, her entire body stained with melted ice cream. Her eyes remained fixed on the body beneath the sheet, never blinking.Mr. Stuart, the school principal, and Mr. Fenwick, the dean of academics, were both standing behind Mom, their expressions grave.Leaning down, Mr. Stuart tried to help Mom up. "Ms. Campbell, why don't you head inside first and—""Don't touch me." Mom's voice was almost scratchy beyond recognition.One of the police officers approached her. He crouched down to meet her at eye level and introduced himself as Officer Payne before asking, "Are you the deceased's mother?""She's not dead," Mom fired back robotically.Officer Payne paused for a moment before flipping open his notebook."I need to understand what ha

A heavy silence filled the security room. Dad was staring at the paused frame on the screen—at the piece of paper stuck under my hand that had been rustling in the wind."Rewind the footage," he said. "Play the part that showed she was writing something."The footage was rewound to 1:40 pm. This time, everyone got a good look at what happened.When my fingers moved, it was because I was reaching toward my pocket. It took me forever to pull out my pen. I made several attempts to no avail.Mom's lips trembled as she watched the screen. She suddenly remembered that it'd been right around 1:40 pm when the chalk broke in her hand three times during the fifth period.She'd been preoccupied with writing the lesson on the blackboard when her daughter was out there, less than 250 feet away from her, using the last of her strength to hold a pen.Mom remained frozen for a full five seconds before letting out her second shriek of the day, this one more anguished than the one she'd let out on