“Please let me take you, just in case. No charge. We’ll cover it, and of course your meal is on the house.” Melody reads my mind.
“It’s better to be safe,” I input. She looks up at me, and when she does, those hazel eyes search mine. Her eyes are so much like the leaves changing in the fall, brown in color, but you see the glimpses of green that come and go.
“Okay, I’ll go, but I’ll pay for my meal. And I have health insurance. So, please don’t worry about that.” Her voice seems to come out more clearly now.
“Ryder, I’ll take her. You can handle the kitchen, and I’ll be back to close down,” Melody inserts before I get the chance to offer. I see the stern look she’s giving me. Fucking big sisters are the bane of my existence tonight. I give her a look. One she knows all too well. “Thank you,” the beauty before me says.
“Anything for you.” The words slip past my lips. I squeeze her hip one last time before Melody is taking over. Fuck, I hope that’s not the last I’ve seen of her.OneBerkleyPresentToday is the day I take over full time in my first grade class. The elementary school told me when they hired me that I’d transition into my own class after they did an in-depth training, so I was basically a teacher’s aid until I found my groove. Some people would think that’s weird, but honestly, it was refreshing to see a school care about not only their students but their teachers as well.
Moving to Texas was hard but also amazing. I couldn’t have found a job like this in Virginia. Saying goodbye to my parents was the hardest part, as well as living with Aspen and Jasper for the first couple of months while they were full on in their honeymoon phase. Not easy, but they found a house shortly after, and I took over the lease from them. Smartest decision ever. I’m sure they were happy too. I love my cousin, but hearing her and Jasper trying to be quiet, that was not fun.
I will say I’m probably one the youngest teachers right now. That’s only because I was an overachiever all throughout my high school and college career. I knew from the time I was a little girl that I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. No way was I going to teach the older grade levels. That would just beg for me to pull my hair out. So, here I am, waiting for my kids to come in this morning after I spent all weekend turning my classroom into something exciting, fun, and cozy all at the same time.
Truth be told, I probably went overboard, but when your cousins come down on a whim and we all get together, it’s like a smorgasbord of craziness all wrapped into one. We all ended up painting the walls, placing signs here and there, creating a reading nook, and a plethora of other stuff. Well, it came out looking ridiculously amazing. It’s something I’m beyond proud of and I hope will give my class a good start. The fact that they’ve had to merge two classrooms while I was in training instead of having three teachers really sucks. I have my fingers crossed that none of the kids got lost in the shuffle, which happens much too often.
I stand by my door as the first bell rings. The children walk in one at a time. Some parents drop them at the door, some come in to say goodbye. The one who stops me in my tracks is the little girl holding what must be her mom’s hand. She’s leading the way, telling her, “Hurry, we can’t be late to Miss Jennings’ class. She’s our new teacher.”
Holy moly, I’m in trouble. It’s Melody from the steak house where I choked and almost died. She was quiet the entire time we were at the walk-in clinic, and only once the doctor gave me a clean bill of health, I got her to finally leave—without paying the bill. I was already on as a teacher, but my parents’ health insurance was still overlapping. So, there was no need for Melody or her husband or maybe boyfriend to worry about paying the bill or me suing.
“Hello, you’re not late. That was the first bell, so you have plenty of time.” I squat so Sienna can be eye to eye with me, something I’ve learned to do from years of my parents doing it for me and my cousins. It was the best way to keep our attention with all the energy we had running around. In the past week, I’ve visited the two classes my room was split into, so I’ve met every student, giving us a chance to get to know each other. That way, they weren’t just thrown into a pool, so to speak, and be expected to sink or swim.