September 9th, 2022
Salem Black
"Cassidy, is your poster done?" I asked the little girl.
She shook her head 'no' causing me to give her a look, "So why are chatting like it is? Actually- nobody should really be talking unless I have a poster with their name on it, and so far I only have three."
Today was Friday. The day I've been dreading. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to meet my students' parents, I just want to go home. I don't know what the cafeteria put in their lunches today, but my kids were a mess.
Not a big fan to be honest.
"Rylee, you're done. Can you run this to your mom?"
"Sure."
Raven had texted me to print her out some papers because her printer was "being a silly goose". I didn't want to leave the kids unattended so I just asked Rylee to give his mom the papers.
I gave the boy the papers and scrolled through my phone.
"Miss Black?" I heard a voice call.
"Yes, Isla?"
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
"Are you done?"
"No?"
"Good God", I mumbled, "Be quick so you can finish."
The seven year old nodded as she grabbed the pass and scurried out of the classroom.
Charlie, Atticus, and Vera all walked up to my desk at the same time to give me their posters. Now I had six.
Soon enough I ended up with twenty. I have twenty two students so the math doesn't make sense. After going through all of them I realized I was missing Valentine and Isla's posters. They spent most of their time talking so they're going to be the ones to explain to their parents why their posters aren't completed.
I might have to switch their seats...nah, that's too much work. Plus, I'd rather them be next to each other and talking than them yelling across my classroom.
I myself don't even yell, so why would I allow them to?
"Alright that's all we have time for. Go grab your book bags and come back to your seats quickly and quietly. If your poster isn't completed that's your fault, not mine because I gave you more than enough time to start and finish it."
_+_+_+_
"Good evening, everyone." Principal Weathers spoke into the microphone, "I am Principal Weathers if you didn't know. Tonight is a night you won't forget! Your children have been working very hard these past couple of weeks and now you're getting a chance to see that. If you follow your child's teacher they'll lead you to their classroom and they'll take it from there!"
I made sure I had all twenty of my students and all of my parents before leading them to my room. I was a good five doors down from the auditorium so it didn't take us long to get there.
I had moved the desks out of the way along with the chairs so that we had more than enough room to move around. My class wasn't the smallest, but it wasn't the biggest either.
"Alright if I could just have everyone's attention for a quick second. I'm Miss Black, your kids' teacher. Earlier today I had them make posters so that you could see what we've been doing so far. Though this is only our third week of school I would just like to say I believe your children will grow up to become amazing adults. I'm not just saying that because I'm their teacher either. All twenty two of these kids have potential to do something great. Give yourselves a huge pat on the back for raising such intelligent little humans. They're going to show you around but if you have any questions, comments, and/or concerns I'll be right here!"
It's only six-thirty and I already want to go home. I couldn't even pick up Binx and Beast from daycare. My mom had to! I want to see my children but no. Instead, I'm stuck at school dealing with parents.
"Miss Black? Hi. Josephine Azura and this is my husband Leo. We're Esmeralda's parents."
"Nice to meet you Mister and Missus Azura. Esme speaks highly of you!" I smiled.
"Same here! She never shuts up about how "pretty and smart and nice" Miss Black is. Makes me feel jealous." Leo chuckled.
"Well that's good to hear," I laughed, "Do you have any questions or concerns?"
"Multiple but we'll keep it short. We just want to know how she's doing."
"She's great! Very, very intelligent. My only concern is her confidence. She second guesses herself a lot even when she knows she's right."
"She does that at home too...I don't know how to get her to stop." Josephine frowned.
"I just think we need to praise her and reassure her that she's right. We've been working on that here."
"Thank you! That was all we're gonna leave you alone now."
"No problem."
After talking to a few parents I noticed a group of people who weren't here a few minutes ago. Amongst them were Halo and Atticus who were chatting with Valentine and Rhodes.
I made my way over to them because I didn't want to be rude and pretend they weren't there.
"Good evening." I smiled.
"Hello! I'm so sorry we were late. Somebody didn't know what shoes they wanted to wear." A woman spoke, giving Atticus a not-so-subtle side eye. "I'm Lilian by the way. Atticus is my son and this is my boyfriend, Finn.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Your son is a very bright boy. He's very smart and caring."
"Really? Because at home he's a big meany who doesn't know what the word 'share' means." Lilian smirked.
I just gave the woman a nod and turned to the next set of people. An interracial couple. Definitely Halo's parents. The woman, Halo's mother looked a little familiar.
"You look familiar."
"I may or may not have ran away from you Monday morning while I was picking up my keys." She replied.
"Hmm." I hummed, "Well that's a shame. I wish you would've stayed we could've talked."
"You made me nervous," she blurted, "you are in fact very pretty. Halo never shuts up about you."
These kids must love me a lot!
"Ahh, so Halo does belong to you. I see where she gets her looks from."
Was I flirting? Maybe. She's fucking beautiful!
Out of the corner of my eye I could see her partner giving me a strange look. It made me uncomfortable.
"I didn't catch either of your names."
"We didn't throw them." He finally spoke.
"JJ!" The woman whisper-yelled.
"Im so sorry. I'm Harlow and this is Jason."
"Nice to meet you Mister and Missus Hanes-"
"Nope. No Missus," Harlow interrupted, "My last name is Hanes. His is Jackson."
"So he's not your husband?" I asked.
"Nope. He's not my husband, he's not even my boyfriend."
Perfect. Absolutely, positively perfect.
1164 words
A/n: I'm not the biggest fan of the way I ended this chapter but it's ok. I hope the next chapter is better! (Unedited chapter, per usual)
-Mj