Dark Hollow Road (Taryn's Camera Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

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Chapter 4
     

     
    T aryn got to her classroom a little early, nervous about her first day at school. She hadn’t excelled at school when she was a student, at least not until she got to college, so being back in a classroom was a little intimidating. In true Matt fashion, he’d packed her a lunch (in a vintage tin Scooby Doo lunchbox, as a joke) and kissed her on the nose before he pulled away. On most days she’d drive herself in, but he was in the mood to bake and wanted to do some exploring. She felt like a little kid being dropped off by her daddy, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.
    They hadn’t spoken about the previous day’s adventure, nor had they smelled or seen anything suspicious since. Indeed, had Matt not heard the sound himself she might have thought she was hearing things. She did have terrible headaches that concerned them both and despite her best intentions of going to a doctor and having them checked out, she hadn’t yet. Maybe she was having some kind of petite seizures (she DID occasionally, use the Google) or a crazy parasite eating at her brain.
    But then, Matt would have to suffer from the same thing and that wasn’t likely.
    While she waited for her students to arrive, she arranged the chairs and easels in a semi-circle, placing herself at the top. She wanted them to feel like she was a part of the group, and not necessarily an instructor. Taryn was a little confused as to why she’d been asked to do the job; she had zero teaching experience. She was no stranger to speaking in front of groups, though, so she hoped she could just fake her way through the actual teaching part.
    While she set up the computer and ran through her PowerPoint presentation the first wave of students began trickling in. Most appeared to be in their late teens and early twenties, although at least two had gray hair and appeared decades older than their counterparts. They all wore comfortable looking, casual clothes: sweaters, jeans, tennis shoes, and hoodies. Some had wet hair while others wore dirty, faded baseball caps.
    She felt overdressed in her red layered skirt, black sleeveless shirt, and white cardigan. She’d spent an extra half-hour trying to tame her hair and even applied makeup in an effort to make herself not only presentable but professional-looking. Taryn, used to working alone, had forgotten what it felt like to care about her appearance on the job. Matt had “oohed” and “aahed” over her and playfully tried to tug her back to bed with promises of delicious things he’d like to do, but she’d swatted him away, secretly pleased at the lavish compliments.
    Feeling awkward and shy, she busied herself with the computer screen until the last student settled themselves into a desk and the clock showed her it was a minute past class time.
    “Hi everyone,” she looked up and smiled, raising her fingers in a small wave. “I’m Taryn Magill. Not ‘Miss Magill’ or ‘Professor Magill’ or anything like that. Just Taryn. Just so you guys know, I’ve never really done anything like this before. This, uh, is my first go at it. I’m very excited to be here, of course, and, uh, hope you enjoy the class…” She was rambling and knew it and could feel her face grow red and hot. The sea of college kids gazed back at her with polite interest. Some had notebook paper out and their pencils were raised. Good Lord , she thought. I hope they don’t expect me to say anything interesting …
    “So, um, today I thought we’d just go over what I do a little bit. I’m going to show you some pictures I’ve taken, along with some paintings I’ve done of those places. Of course, yours don’t have to look like mine or anything. Yours will probably be better!” Her joke fell flat, though, as only a few people cracked good-mannered smiles. “Um, anyway… Let’s get started!”
    The first few images she showed them were of older houses she’d taken pictures of early on in her career. She was careful to