"Daddy please just stay next to me?" Sally asks, her green eyes shining as she looks up at Sam.
"Alright, but you'll have to get used to me being gone at some point," Sam points out with a chuckle. "I wasn't even supposed to be here yesterday!"
"Never! You stay by me all the time!" She pouts, crossing her arms and stomping her foot in displeasure. "Just stand next to my table until you have to go!"
"Sals," He chuckles with a shake of his head. "Don't start throwing tantrums on me please."
"Two more days Sam," I say, winking as I walk past the two of them with a tote for our science project.
"I swear you're wrong," He tells me with a shake of his head. "I never hear the end of it once I get home! She's still insisting that I need to somehow become a little kid so I can come to school with her."
"We'll see if I'm wrong," I say with a laugh. "So far I've been right. If you could turn yourself into a kid that would be very impressive. I'm sure I'd enjoy teaching you."
"Nuh-uh! Daddy is a.....know it all!" Sally pauses before figuring out the statement. "My Uncles said so!"
"Oh really? Then I guess I'll be paying them a visit," Sam growls out softly. "They're not perfect either. I swear I wish I was an only child sometimes."
"Trust me, you'd hate it," I snort with laughter. "I wish I had had siblings. Would have made childhood a lot more fun."
"Average home sure, but my siblings are anything but average," Sam explains with a soft huff. "Alright, there's the bell. I gotta go."
"WAIT! What about my hug and kiss?!" Sally demands, her green eyes narrowing with displeasure.
"I'm sorry," Sam laughs, scooping Sally into his arms and giving her a tight squeeze. "Be good. I love you."
"I love you too!" She smiles, hugging Sam tight and placing a kiss on his cheek before he lets her down.
I smile as she takes her seat and Sam then leaves, turning back to my students. I quickly take role call and then we're all ready to dive into the lesson of the day.
"Alright everyone! I have quite the experiment for you today! I'm going to show you the color changing milk experiment," I explain with a smile.
"Color changing milk?" The students question, looking at one another in confusion.
"Y/N you do this every year. It gets stupid," Mrs. Rose complains when she suddenly enters my classroom. "I'm taking a few things. You're always stocked up so I don't see it as a big deal."
"I think the experiment is still fascinating," I growl softly at her before I return my attention to my students and try to ignore her. "Okay partner up while I lay out the ingredients on the table."
Everyone gets partnered up and I go around and lay out the items that would be needed for the experiment, mostly pouring the milk in the bowls and then adding a bit of dish soap to some small Dixie cups.
"Now, I've poured milk into these plates and I want you to take your food coloring and add about four drops of each color to the milk. Don't mix them but make sure they are close together. Then, dip your cotton swobs in the dish soap and place the cotton swab right in the middle of your food coloring drops," I explain, doing everything on the projector as I explain the steps.
"WOW!" Everyone says excitedly, soft murmurs of delight going through the classroom as they watch the instructions.
"Alright, now your turn," I tell them. "If you need any kind of help please ask me and I will be by to help."
I smile in delight as I watch everyone eagerly attempt it in their groups, everyone fascinated as the watch they food coloring practically explode in the milk. Some question if the same reactions would happen in different drinks, everyone turning to me eagerly with their questions.
"Well, let's give it a shot and see what happens," I assure them with a smile, grabbing a few of the drinks I had come prepared with out of the tote.
We try to recreate the chemical reaction with different drinks, water making the food coloring move away from the middle while other drinks fail to cause any reaction at all. Everyone is excited as we experiment with the different drinks, everyone chatting excitedly as we work together on the experiments.
"Why does it do that?" James questions after raising his hand.
"Milk contains fat. Dish washing soap bonds to the fat. So the molecules in the soap are racing around joining up with fat molecules. It keeps going until the soap becomes evenly mixed in the milk. Kind of like when you add chocolate syrup to milk. You stir it until it's blended," I explains to them. "Everything has molecules and those molecules can bind to other molecules and create something brand new!"
"Now, when you go home you can tell your parents all about why the milk moves away from the soap," I tell them. "Go ahead and get your things, the bell will ring soon."
Everyone chats together as they grab their things and I get everything cleaned up, dismissing everyone once the bell rings. I go to turn back to pack things away once I have the trash cleaned away, my eyes widening when I see Sally loading things into my tote.
"Sally? You don't have to do that! You can hurry home, I'm sure your dad is waiting for you outside," I protest as I hurry over to her with a frown.
"He'll come get me if I'm too late," She explains, giving me a bright smile. "Plus you shouldn't have to do it all by yourself!"
"I appreciate it," I tell her with a soft chuckle, getting everything put away with her.
"That lesson was so much fun! I wanna try heavy cream now and see if it has the same reaction since it's the fat molecules separating from the dish soap!" Sally smiles with excitement once we're all done.
"Trying to kidnap my little girl? Shame on you Miss L/N," Sam scolds as he walks in, my cheeks flushing red.
"I was not!" I protest. "Besides, it's too obvious to do it at school. I'll have to plan a different method as you have foiled my plans."
"Gonna have to be more sneaky," Sam says with an amused grin. "Sally, you ready to go home?"
We both turn to look down at Sally who is staring up at us with wide eyes.
"Yes?" I ask her in confusion.
"Miss L/N, do you like my daddy?" Sally asks, looking at me with those big, green, innocent looking eyes of hers.
"Yes I do Sally. He is a very nice man and seems like a very good father," I tell her with a smile. "I'm sure he's the best man in your life and that's always a good thing."
"Would you date him?" She asks me with an innocent smile.
"Oh! I um......," I trail off, my face as red as a tomato as I squirm in place. "Y-You see, I.......well...."
"Sally! I'm so sorry Miss L/N! She heard her brother talking about how I needed to get a date and has been trying to pair me up with someone ever since. We best be going ,come on Sals," He tells me with an apologetic smile, ushering Sally out of the classroom before I get the chance to respond.
"Would I date Sam?" I ask myself, blushing and pondering the question as I finish cleaning up my classroom.
Was it unethical for a teacher to date one of their student's parents? Honestly, I hadn't even found myself attracted to anyone until I met Sam. It wasn't necessarily that I had high expectations, I just wanted someone who was kind and thoughtful. Someone who put others before themselves. If Sally was asking then that answered the question about whether or not Sam was married. Was Sally from a one night stand? Or perhaps her mother had passed away? A divorce maybe?
I wasn't against dating someone who already had a kid. I had learned a long time ago not to judge someone based on that and it opened a whole new world of possibilities! I absolutely adore kids and definitely wanted some of my own someday. Plus, if I was honest, even though a teacher shouldn't have a favorite, Sally was definitely number one in my eyes for top student. So the question at hand.
Would I consider dating Sam Williams?
In a perfect world I'd say absolutely. I'd kill for a man like him but I had a feeling plenty of other single women were certainly betting on the same. Besides, I wasn't anything special so I'm certain Sam would be capable of getting any woman he wanted so why go for someone like me? He was probably more embarrassed by the question than the actual thought of dating me in all honesty but that's okay. If I didn't get my hopes up then that also meant I wouldn't be disappointed either. I sigh and lock up my classroom, shaking my head to clear away those thoughts. Don't even consider it Y/N. It's never going to happen.