The final bell rang and I quickly headed to my locker shoving every book inside. This weekend was a homework free weekend and I planned on sleeping until the cows came home.
Reaching in my pocket, I pulled out the parenting project key and refrained from skipping down the hall toward Mr. Lloyd's class.
Peeking in, a rush of my classmates were leaving as a blanket of babies dotted the classroom desks making it look like I was looking in at newborn nursery at the hospital. However, out of all the babies that looked the same, one stood out. It was burrito wrapped Chloe lying still on Kyle's desk, the diaper bag pushed down in his seat.
Walking over to her, I picked her up and cradled her one last time. This was it. This was the last time I would see her and that just sent all kinds of emotions rushing through my body making it difficult to swallow. Not wanting to get caught being all sentimental, I placed her back on the desk and walked over to the box with the word KEYS on it.
Hesitating, I dropped mine into the box as I looked up to see Mr. Lloyd looking at me with a satisfied smile on his lips.
"I told you. You of all the people in this classroom... you were the one who could do it."
Giving a half smile, I nodded. "So help me, if your data is wrong or there's a glitch... I'm coming after you," I threatened teasingly.
"Oh, I have no doubt you and Kyle got an A. Now get. Go have fun at the homecoming game and I'll see you at the dance. You are still volunteering, right?"
I nodded.
"Do you have a date?"
"Maybe," I said knowing full and well that I didn't. Waving my fingers, I moved from the room and headed to my car.
Finally, I was free.
So why couldn't I smile about it?