Kelly sighed as she looked over one of her students' papers. It seemed like there wasn't a place on the body of the paper that she hadn't marked in purple ink. Kelly didn't like to use red. It was such a harsh, cliché color. Purple seemed a little gentler, less abrasive color. There was no way that this paper wasn't going to be abrasive, though. It was practically bleeding purple.
She sighed and rubbed her temples. They were starting to throb. The roasting aromas of the coffee shop were singing a siren's song to her. Kelly loved coffee, and she could use a cup, badly. She stood and moved to the counter, caving to her thirst for coffee. Well, she was craving the caffeine more than anything, but she enjoyed the flavors too.
Once she had her cup, she headed back to the table where she'd been grading papers. As she moved to sit down, she was tackled from the side. "What the hell?" It wasn't something a teacher should say, but the circumstances were extenuating. A man had just flattened her in the middle of a coffee shop, and worse, he'd spilled her coffee.
It took her a minute to notice the stinging throb in her arm. She looked at it, and blood was blossoming on her left shirt sleeve. The man on top of her chuckled. "That would be someone trying to kill you, ma'am."
"But…I'm a teacher. Why would someone want to kill me?" The man shrugged and pushed up off of her.
"Don't know, but it looks to me like you could use some protection, and a trip to the ER. The bullet grazed your arm." Kelly put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. It was the best of her teacher looks.
"Look, I appreciate the knightly gesture and all, but I don't know you. I don't know anything about you."