Just Because (Completed)

Chapter 23: Delilah

23Delilah

The first day of school was an absolute nightmare. Who knew that being in a classroom with seventeen scared five year old's by myself would be difficult? Three of them cried so hard when their parents left that they threw up, more than half of them refused to take a nap, even more than that didn't know to write, and thus couldn't (and wouldn't) participate in the 'get to know me' activity, so we ended up spending the majority of the day going over our ABC's and trying to get kids to stop screaming and bouncing around and didn't even touch the required curriculum.

By the end of the day, my carefully arranged classroom was a mess, and I was sitting at my desk with my head in my hands, wondering if it was worth it to throw away four years of college and training and just give up.

And it was only day one.

A knock on the door drew my eyes upward, and I wasn't surprised to see Jeremy walk in. His eyes passed around the room with an expression that was partly amused, partly disappointed before they landed on me.

"I take it the first day didn't go as you planned."

Rubbing my hands over my face, I shook my head. "They were horrible. Half of them cried, and the ones who weren't crying were screaming and throwing toys, and the ones who weren't doing that were coloring their crayons all over their desks..."

He chuckled softly and lowered to sit in a kiddie chair beside me. "I'm sorry it was so rough. At least tomorrow you'll know what to expect, so you can start cracking the whip on them."

I slowly shook my head as I scraped a hand back through my hair. "I wanted to be such a nice teacher, the one all her little angel students loved..."

"That starts coming about third grade."

My eyes met his. "Wanna trade?"

Laughing again, he rose to stand and offered a had to pull me up. "How about I help you get this classroom cleaned up, then we go get something to eat?" He raised his hands in innocence when I arched a brow at him. "Just friends."

Smiling, I let out heavy, burdened breath and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds perfect. You can talk me out of quitting tomorrow."

He squeezed my shoulder, and we spent the next hour and a half putting my room back together. In the end, it looked as nice as it had during the summer, with the addition of some lingering crayon marks that wouldn't come off, and a smear of paint on the alphabet rug. Standing in the doorway, Jeremy patted my back, gently.

"Looks better, huh?"

I nodded. "Thank you so much."

He grinned. "Just let me lock up my room and we can get out of here."

I nodded and locked my own room, then we walked together out to the parking lot. We took our own cars, me following him toward the seafood place we'd had our first 'date', and into a parking space beside his. I ordered the peanut crusted tilapia he'd suggested last time, while he ordered the weird but wonderful orange and capers salmon. He got a non-alcoholic beer, I got a strawberry margherita.

"I really hope the rest of the year isn't going to be as bad as it was today." I said as I sipped on my drink.

He knocked back a swig of beer and shook his head. "No, it won't be. Give it a week, maybe two, you'll eventually find your rhythm and settle into a routine. Once you're calm and comfortable, the kids will be too."

"I hope so. Today had me rethinking my entire career."

"You know, I remember when I first started six years ago." He began. "I was a sprightly twenty-four year old with high hopes for the coming years of teaching. I wanted to be the cool teacher that the kids called 'bro' and would come to me with all their problems so I could kind of low-key minister to them, you know?"