Love Me Curvy

Part 1 - Revised

Erin

"Alright class it's time to wrap up for the day," I shout clapping my hands together, hoping to catch the attention of every child in the room. "Before you leave remember to take your addition and subtraction worksheet with you and complete it by tomorrow. We will go over the answers during math lessons, make sure you come prepared."

At the end of my speech, the final bell rings signaling the end of the day. In an instant, a hoard of 15 little boys and girls rush to their mini lockers, each one grabbing their backpacks before exiting through the doors. Somehow it didn't matter how much fun they had in class, everyone always looks forward to leaving.

Some children make their way to where the buses were while others walk to the entrance where their parents awaited them.

Assuming all the children have left; I turn towards the board and start erasing the notes for the day when I hear a noise behind me. I whip around and see Kale, a student of mine standing by the large windows looking outside. I watch him sigh deeply as he observes another student entering a car while their parents drive away.

Confusion and concern wash over me because Kale has never stayed late before. If his mother, Abby, wasn't available to pick him up his dad would come instead, and they were always on time. I wonder what was wrong.

I walk to where he stands, "Kale, sweetie are your parents late this evening to pick you up?" I ask squatting down until I reach his eye level.

He silently shakes his head no.

"Is someone else picking you up then?"

He shows me a smile and replies, "Yes, my uncle is, but I think he's late."

I glance out the window to see the first bus starting to leave. The long line of parked cars in front of the school is slowly diminishing. "I see," I respond as cheerfully as I can, "Well... you know what, since you're waiting do you want to help get the class ready for tomorrow?"

"Yes, please!" He exclaims happily while nodding with excitement.

I laugh joyfully. Kale is one of the top students in my class and one of the quietest. He regularly did what was asked of him and rarely acted out. Sometimes I feel like he acts too mature for his age.

Grabbing the chair and making sure it is stable, I place it in front of the board. "Here," I reply handing him the eraser, "just do as much as you can." He gladly grabs it from my hand and attempts to finish what I started earlier.

Fifteen minutes later, the board is cleaned, the agenda for the next day is written down perfectly, and the quote of the day, which was written by Kale, is placed neatly on the right side of the board just like it should be. Yet, there was still no sign of Kale's uncle anywhere.

I was starting to get worried and I suspect so did Kale because he was constantly looking out the door.

Wanting to distract him I suggest, "Since we have some time, do you want to help me with something else? But you have to keep it a secret from your classmates."

"Secret?" He says cocking his head to the side in question.

"Yes, can you do that for me?" Kale nods enthusiastically. "I was thinking the other day of throwing a little party for everyone. Think of it as a 'pre-end' school celebration, because it's not long until the end of the school year. Can you believe it, there are only four and a half weeks left of school?"

Kale shakes his head in disbelief too.

"Me neither. Plus, you guys have been doing so well with keeping up with your daily journals, I wanted to thank everyone for their hard work. So, I will be baking cupcakes and ordering pizza for the whole class in a couple of weeks. However, I'm also making decorations in hopes of decorating the classroom and surprising everyone. Do you think you can help me make some?"