Rose Grove - (H.S.)

07

"Hamster, okay." I say with a nod as I quickly write the word on the paper in front of me "What else?" I look up at all my students sitting on the rug below me. I've been considering getting a class pet, but I've been stuck on what kind of animal to get. I want to get something they all seem to agree on so they'll all enjoy it equally.

"Fish!" Gemma yells out with a large smile on her face - she's obviously been sitting on that one for a while.

"Fish, got it. Raise your hand next time, sweetheart." I say softly, not wanting to embarrass or upset her while also enforcing my classroom rules. My eyes scan the list to make sure every basic animal their little brains could think of has been suggested.

Frog. Gerbil. Guinea pig. Bird. Stingray? Dog. Chicken. Cow. Hamster. Fish.

"Anything else, little ones?" I say with a large smile and look at all of their faces to see if any of them are holding back. Many of them are very shy and I'd never force them to speak in front of the class but I like to encourage them to add their thoughts and opinions into our discussions.

Autumn slowly raises her hand and I nod toward her "Cat." She says with a shy smile as she wraps her arms around her body, hugging herself. I've noticed this before and it's definitely some kind of self-soothing technique, which is amazing because many kids will just throw tantrums or get over emotional rather than try to soothe themselves. Autie is incredibly emotionally intelligent already and I think that has something to do with Harry and how he deals with her feelings.

Harry.

I suck in a large breath and shake my head when I imagine the little moment we had on Saturday, as I have been over and over since it happened "A cat would be lovely, but I don't think the school would allow it. I'm sorry." I say with a sad smile, trying to let her down easy.

She nods and looks around at her fellow classmates and I sigh as I step off of my stool "Alright, let's go back to our desks, and Miss. September and Haley will be around with your worksheets." I instruct and they all listen beautifully before I round my desk and sit in my chair, preparing myself to look over some of their printing worksheets from last week.

Some of them are great at it and I don't have to worry, but the ones who aren't so good we have to pay extra attention to before we move on to something else.

"Miss Anderson?" A small voice peeps from their desk and I look out at them, trying to figure out where the voice came from. My eyes find Trevor who has his hand up slightly, seemingly nervous.

"What's up, Trev?" I ask as I push the end of my pen in and out on my desk over and over.

"Did you color your hair?" He asks as he points to the ends of my hair that I dyed a light shade of purple last night. I usually color my hair according to the holidays or seasons to excite my students and although fall is coming up and this is more of a spring color, I'm in love with it.

"I did." I smile widely that one of them recognized "Do you like it?" I speak with an amused tone in my voice as I flip my hair dramatically, causing only a few of them to giggle.

Tough crowd.

He nods and blushes a little bit before wrapping his hand around his crayon and turning his attention back to the paper in front of him.

As I try my absolute best to read these worksheets, I can't focus. Each time I try, I begin to zone out and think about Harry and what happened this weekend. The way he looked into my eyes, it felt like he was looking directly through me. The way he showed that he cared without pushing me to confess anything to him. Everything about that night was so gentle and lovely and I feel guilty for fantasizing about it as much as I have.