The man stepped out of the bathtub, wrapped a towel around his waist, and headed towards the cabinet, he pulled out a blow drier and other hair products. After fixing his hair he went into a small bedroom and slipped on the clothes he had prepared the previous night. As he stared into the mirror he tried to ignore the bag under his eyes. Once he was done changing he glanced at the clock. He had a few minutes to spare. 

He passed by the living room avoiding staring at a picture. It was two men hand in hand. Him and his lover on the day of their civil marriage. They looked happy. The man scoffed and flipped the bird before muttering, “Good morning asshole.” He went into the kitchen and grabbed his lunch, and left his apartment.

Taking a deep breath he sped down the stairs into the lobby. He greeted the doorman and the receptionist. Mother and son who took care of the apartment complex for various years.

“See you later, Reed.” The blond winked at him.

Reed rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face and walked out and slid into his 1966 Mustang. Turning on the radio he drove to his work. 

He remembered the first time he saw it, at the time it was polished and when he peeked at the hood he could see his reflection. It was smiling back at him. Reed was seventeen when his mother handed him the car keys and allowed him to drive them. At first, he didn't really like the model compared to the rest of the kids at his school you could tell a big difference as to who had the money and who didn't. It wasn't until his mother passed away a few months after that he changed his mind. He grew rather fond of it. Now he found it really hard to think about selling the car or replacing it.

A sudden bang pulled him out of his thoughts. He hit the brakes and looked to the left to find the local store being robbed. Two individuals dressed in black came out of the door with a gym bag. Most likely having money or values in it. 

The man shook his head and continued to drive. He prayed for the people who were inside the store to stay safe and for the damage to be minimal. Another man walked out and broke down. He could almost feel the salt of the other man's tears dry up his throat. It wasn't unusual to see people get jumped or robbed in these streets. That’s just the way the town was...

Reed arrived at his destination, San Bernardo High School, home of the Cardinals. He locked his steering wheel and stepped out of the car, he then again locked his door in the process. With a steady breath, he walked. The front gate was crowded with more students than usual, loud voices and cheers along with the scent of blood. Another fight probably happening. The man let out a sarcastic chuckle.

Reed stepped up pushing through the crowd. All students, who were unwilling to go into the "not-so-safe" school. He rolled his eyes, poor man just wanted to get his work over. Most students parted seeing that an adult was in the scene, but a few remained unmoved wanting to record every minute of the fight. 

Blood was drawn out from both teens. Only one was covered in sweat. There was no surprise when one of them got pinned down to the floor.

The man began to turn irritated at the fact that the pair of idiots decided to fight in the entrance. Couldn't they have fought in the quad or in any other place that wasn't the school entrance? Taking a deep breath he shoved himself to where the pair was. Reed only hoped he looked good on the cameras.

Pulling the student to stand up and grasping the other's incoming punch he begun to drag both of them to the office. He recognized both of their faces but not their names. Not that it mattered to him, they weren't in his class.

"'Ey mother fucker! Lemme go or I'll-" 

The student started pulling himself away from the man's grasp. The man rolled his eyes at the pitiful attempt of a "gangster" talk.

"Mr. Reed!" A bike stopped Reed from his walk. Both of the students remained still. The security hopped off his bike and shook his head while placing handcuffs on both of the students. Mr. Reed's hands were allowed to rest. 

Mr. Reed gave the security a small smile. "Took you long enough. Their catfight wouldn't let me get through the gates." 

The security laughed. "Sorry about that. Next time I will try getting there on time!"

Mr. Reed chuckled and began to walk. "Good luck with that Mr. Gonzalez." He waved and immediately he dropped the smile. He despised this place! His teeth ground against each other. Mr. Reed never would have taken this job if it weren't for that man. 'Show a little Cardinal pride by applying for work there!' He took a deep breath. As if the fact that this used to be his old school would soften the fact that this place just seemed to get worse by the second. 

No, it wasn't the place, it was the people inside the darn location. The faculty was pathetic, cranky, and disgusting. Mr. Reed always asked himself why he considered and took the job here. Oh right, that man-

"Good morning Mr. Reed!" a group of giggly girls waved. All dressed neatly in their band uniforms.

He smiled and waved back. 

Arriving at his classroom door he thought more positively. The school was beautiful in its own ugly way. There was always something happening, from a fight to a sex scandal or even a crack head accidentally stumbling onto campus. The list was endless, so there was never a normal day at San Bernardo High.

Mr. Reed shoved his classroom door open, he always bugged the office to get his door fixed but they never budged. Throwings his keys on the desk, he placed his satchel on the floor. Mr. Reed took a deep breath. He was sick of this. This whole work thing, this thing called teaching, what did it matter, the students didn't care, and neither did the adult-

The school bell rang.

Mr. Reed backed his thoughts. Some adults cared, most students cared, and teaching... well someone had to do it. He flicked his forehead. Mr. Reed couldn't lie to himself, he loved teaching. Especially his subject.

He stood up to open the door for his students, all of them pouring into the room and finding their seats. Mr. Reed took a breather and began his class...

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It was the last class of the day when another security guard came over to hand a slip. Mr. Reed skimmed over it and continued his class. The guard stood at the door. When he noticed that the security hadn't left he took another look at the slip. 

“Mr. Reed is needed in the office as soon as possible, visitors are waiting- Ms. Kirk” 

Mr. Reed resisted the temptation to roll his eyes back.

"Class is still in session." He glanced at the security guard finding her unfamiliar. She looked fresh out of police academy, a possible chance of being a dropout. Police Academy... Hair up in a bun, tag on, and uniform neatly put. Her tag read Ms. Lee. He had never seen her before on campus.

"Ms. Kirk said that the visitors wished to see you urgently." She began to tap her foot and checked her watch to see what time he would leave. "I'll take care of the students until you come back."

Mr. Reed went back to the board and inhaled. "Tell Ms. Kirk, that I was very clear on how I feel about visitors during class." He wrote on the board. "They can schedule an appointment with me some other day. I am teaching during school hours and busy after school." 

Seeing that she wasn’t moving, Mr. Reed turned his head and tilted his head motioning the door. She nodded and nervously walked away. To hell with those visitors, his time was not theirs to waste.

Mrs. Lee nodded and left. Moments like this one made Mr. Reed thank the heavens for letting his classroom be far away from the office. "Now, continuing the lesson, a costume is an essential part of a play. It gives the character a personality, the set, time, and era of a play" He paced around the class making sure they wrote notes or at least faked learning something.

"A costume must be well fitted for the actor. The actor must be able to move or do any necessary blocking." He held out his left hand, "For example, if the actor has a scene where they dance, the costume should allow them to move comfortably." Mr. Reed then opened his right hand, "Or if a technician has to work on something backstage they need to be able to move in their costume."

The bell rang.

The students gathered their stuff. "Do not forget auditions for the spring play are next week. It's extra credit if you join." Mr. Reed went to his desk, organized papers when he realized that he forgot to take attendance. He took a deep breath. Everyone was here except...

"Mr. Reed?" A soft voice broke into his thought. 

He looked up. "My apologies Penny I was just taking attendance." Reed looked at Penny analyzing her. "Did you need something?" 

Penny's cheeks flushed red. "You see..I..um...I just wanted to ask if you were well." Reed blinked and looked away, he had been caught. She balanced herself on her heels and looked down. "You haven't been acting like yourself lately, so it kinda worried me." Mr. Reed stared at her before smiling.

There was a knock at the door

Mr. Reed stood up and thought carefully about what to say. "Thank you for asking Penny." He placed a pile of paper in her hands. "There's an anniversary that's coming up and... I'm not looking forward to it." He opened the door and walked back without taking a glance at the odd duo that came in.

"Well, that's one way of greeting your dear friends." The tallest officer sneered. He was blond, blue-eyed, and youthful. The first thing he did when he walked in was flop into a desk chair.

"These are tinier than I remember them being!" The short woman curiously looked around.

"That's surprising coming from you." Mr. Reed teased as he sat back down at his desk.

The woman sassed flipping her curly brown hair. "Shut up, I grew two inches last year." They all laughed, aside from the young girl.

Mr. Reed glanced at her then said: "You may go now Penny, we can continue stapling the scripts next week."

Penny nodded gathering her stuff. "Have a nice weekend Mr. Reed!"

He waved and bid her well. "So what brought you guys here unexpectedly?" Mr. Reed crossed his arms looking at the duo sitting at the desk.

"Well, you know..." The blond shrugged muttering the rest of his words. 

Everyone remained silent. No one dared to be the one to bring that topic onto the table.

Mr. Reed shifted in his seat. "I understand." The anniversary...

"So what are we doing this year?" The woman looked down at her nails. The silence continued.

"You're the one calling the shots." The blond shrugged, "We could do what we did last year-"

The woman threw her arms in the air. "No Jacob! We went over this in the car." She glared with a disgusted frown.

"Why not? It wasn't that bad." Jacob rolled his eyes. "You're only mad because it wasn't your idea!" He turned to Reed. "Anyways, Katrina came up with the marvelous idea to let you decide this year."

Reed closed his eyes and pondered. "Ok..." he massaged his temples, "Well, we could go to a gay bar, watch a musical, then visit him." He opened his eyes to find Jacob and Katrina smiling somberly.

"Perfect" Jacob said and blew a chef's kiss. A successful attempt to lift the atmosphere.

"He loved those didn't he..." Katrina stood up and stretched, "Speaking of bars we should go drinking tonight!"

Reed smiled. "Sure," he gathered his stuff and motioned them to follow, "maybe I'll take you guys to the one we met in."

Jacob's eyes widened, "Wait you guys met at a bar?!" Katrina smacked the back of his head.

"Of course we did. Did you really believe the story we told you of how we first met?" Reed and Katrina laughed. Meanwhile, Jacob crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at them. "Ok so here's how the real story goes..."

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Jacob walked towards his car sluggishly, Reed asleep. He snored away peacefully on Jacob's back. The dirt crunched under his feet and a light breeze teased their hair. He sighed and glanced towards Katrina. She followed along and walked at a fast pace attempting to keep up with Jacob. She looked at him back and grimly smiled.

"I thought you would do it today..." 

Jacob stopped walking and looked away. "I thought so too-" he took a deep breath, "-but I looked at him today...and... I just don't want to hurt him."

Katrina slightly shook her head. She muttered, "I think the longer you hold it away from him the bigger the threat will get."

She continued to walk and Jacob lingered behind. He listened to Reed's soft breaths and held a nostalgic breath. What else could he have done? Was there another choice? Another way to tell him that...

He shook those thoughts away and caught up to Katrina. They placed Reed in the backseat. Closing the doors of the car they began to drive forward into the dark night. With the lingering thought of how would they tell Reed, that his deceased husband was missing from the morgue.