As wrapped up as she was in her own thoughts, the drive was short this morning,  After dropping the kids off at their school, she continued on to hers, trying to focus her thoughts on the school day.

 Walking into the school, Alyssa swept her long blond hair up into a pile on top of her head, and secured it with a pencil she found in her purse.  She didn’t have time to look in a mirror in the morning, much less fix her hair.  She pulled a few tendrils down to make it appear purposeful, and walked to her room, keys in hand.

Alyssa’s classroom was fastidiously neat.  She had motivational posters up on the walls, and spirited orange drapes over the windows.  She walked into the room, and opened up the drapes, to let some sunshine into the room.  Before she could even grab her coffee cup, and escape to the teacher’s lounge for some caffeine, a tall young man, wearing impossibly baggy jeans and a dirty hooded sweatshirt came ambling into her room.  He dropped his backpack onto the floor by a desk and pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his sweatshirt pocket.

   “Ms. Fuller.  I don’t get the homework.”  He threw himself into the desk, and slouched down as low as physically possible without actually sliding out of the bottom.

   “Well, get a book, and show me exactly what you didn’t get.”  Alyssa said to him, after putting her coffee mug back down on the corner of her desk.

   “I didn’t get any of it.  I don’t get what a verb is.”  He made no move to get a book off of the shelf.

   “Well, a verb is an action word.  It’s a word that conveys action, like run, drive, or sleep.  But what the homework was over was adverbs.  They describe action, and most of them end in -ly.  Honestly, Logan, you should have learned this stuff in junior high.  Get a book, while I get some coffee, and I’ll come back and help you with it.”  She grabbed her coffee mug and power walked down the hallway to grab her morning caffeine.

   The rest of her day passed in a blur.  Trying to get kids to understand the parts of speech and basic grammar principles was the reason she had chosen not to teach junior high. She had never in a million years thought she would be teaching it to tenth graders.  

   Seventh period was her conference period, and also when her children were bussed over from the elementary school to hers.  They bounced into the room about halfway through the stack of papers she was grading, and opened the snack drawer to get some nuts and juice Alyssa had stashed there just for them.  

   “Hey, guys.  How was your day?”  Alyssa’s brain was mushy by this time of the day, but she had to sound chipper for her kids.  She had learned a long time ago, her moods rubbed off on them.

   “It was awesome.”  Sierra answered matter of factly, like she always did.

   “It was awesome.”  Cayden parroted his sister.  He idolized her, and did everything she did.

   “Did you guys do anything interesting in class?”  Alyssa had to prod to get details out of the kids.

   “Ummm...Jonafon stole my turn wiping tables.  I was supposed to be fe helper today, but he stole my turn.”  Cayden’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

   “Did you get mad and throw a fit?”  Alyssa asked.

   “No, I told the teacher it was my turn, and she said I could do it tomorrow.”

   “Good, I don’t want to hear about any fits at school.  You’re my sweet boy.”  She leaned down and brushed a kiss across the top of his head.  “How about you, Sierra?”  

   “Today was art class.  I got a star.”

   “Good!  You’re my sweet girl.”  Alyssa brushed a kiss across her daughter’s head, too.  “Now, you guys get started on your homework.  Mommy doesn’t have to do duty today, so we can leave at 4:00.  Okay?”  They giggled at the words ‘do duty’, like they always did, and Alyssa rolled her eyes.

Dream OnWhere stories live. Discover now