Melody woke up early the next day, she was excited and nervous at the same time. She woke up before her alarm and made sure she was quiet so she wouldn't wake up Roman. She decided to go outside on the porch to look at the ocean. The sun was coming up over the horizon, Roman's porch had become her quiet place to think.
"Today is the big day... I have a one in three chance of getting this job. Lisa said that if I could handle her kids that I could handle any of the kids. I've never worked with kids before. There is a chance they may not like me, I've always thought of myself as a fun person, but if they don't like me that's it."
Melody turned around when she heard a door behind her and saw Roman come out.
"Is everything ok Babygirl?"
"Yeah... Everything is fine."
Roman came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Are you sure? You seem to come out here by yourself when you have something on your mind."
"I came out here to think so I wouldn't wake you up."
"It's ok to wake me up... If there is ever anything you want to talk to me about you can. Communication is important in relationships, even friendships...you don't have to keep everything bottled up to yourself. If you don't feel like talking to me, you could always talk to Dean or Seth. What you talk about with them is between you and them, but they are very good listeners. I know we just started dating a week ago, but really we've been together for a little over a month now. I can tell when something is bothering you...So we'll try this again... Is there anything you want to talk about?"
Melody leaned up against his chest and let out a breath.
"I've mostly been thinking about how this evaluation will go. I've always thought of myself as a fun person, but I don't know if I can do this... I've never worked with kids before, I don't know if I can handle kids...what if they don't like me?"
Roman rubs her shoulders to try to calm her down.
"You can do this. You're very fun to be around, those kids will love you."
"It's not just about being fun... I have to also be serious, look, and act professionally or Lisa won't take me seriously."
"You'll do great! I believe in you."
Roman drove Melody back to the school, wished her good luck, and gave her a good luck kiss before she went in. Melody wanted to make sure that she was early in case she was needed. She actually showed up twenty minutes early. She wasn't exactly sure where to go so she went back to the office area and went to Lisa's office and knocked on the door. She was surprised when a kid opened the door. She looked in the office and saw two other kids younger than the one that opened the door. Melody smiled and introduced herself.
"Hi... My name is Melody, I'm here for the day to hopefully become the new music teacher. I'm looking for the principal ."
One of the younger kids sat down in the principal's chair.
"That's me... What can I do for you?"
The kid that opened the door interrupted.
"She's pretending to be our mom. She's in the bathroom right now."
A few seconds later Lisa came into the office.
"Oh... Good morning Melody, you're early."
"Yeah... I like to show up for things at least ten or fifteen minutes ahead of time... That's just the way I am."
"It's understandable...I'm the same way. I like to show up early to prepare for the day. It looks like you already kind of met my kids."
She pointed to the girl that opened the door for Melody, she had blue eyes and blonde hair and looked a lot like her mom. She looked older than the others. Melody would have guessed that she was about eleven or twelve.
"This is my daughter Tiffany, she's probably the most behaved out of the three, she's not shy around new people."
"I can see that, she opened the door and smiled right at me."
Lisa pointed to a boy sitting quietly in a seat acting nervous and shy. Melody guessed that he was about eight or nine.
"This is my son Jacob, he may be acting quiet and shy right now, but it's still early in the morning. He's actually the troublemaker of the group, he likes to fight with his little sister Hannah."
Melody looked at the little girl that was sitting in her mom's seat, she looked like her mom too but her hair was a dirty blonde. Melody guessed that she was about five of six years old. Jacob had brown hair and brown eyes.
"It's nice to meet all of you. I hope we can have a day of learning, but also a day of fun. I met with you mom yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to look around the school."
Lisa smiled at her kids and grabbed Hannah's and Jacob's hand.
"So how about we show Ms. Shores around the school?"
"Um... It's ok if you call me Melody."
Melody smiled and followed Lisa and her kids around the school. There were three separate hallways for the growing age groups. She went around and saw the gym, cafeteria, playground, computer room, art room, drama room, and finally the music room.
"So this is the music room. So Melody... I'm going to go back to my office for about thirty minutes and then I'll come to check on you."
"Ok."
Lisa left Melody alone with her kids and went back to her office. She had cameras in her office that showed video footage of the whole school. Melody and her kids were the only people at the school, she thought this was the best way to watch her kids and see what Melody could do. In the music room Melody thought that the best way to get started would be by having the kids introduce themselves and say a few things to get to know them before they started.
"So... I think we actually met each other a bit earlier, but you'll have to say your names again. It takes me a while to learn names, but I guess I'll start. My name is Melody Shores, but you can call me Melody or . I wanted to be a music teacher because music is something I've always loved and my goal is to hopefully help kids know what they want to do and hopefully learn to enjoy music. If there are any questions just raise your hand and say your name that way I can learn your name.
The little boy raised his hand. Melody smiled and answered him.
"Yes... What is your name, and what is your question?"
"Um... My name is Jacob... Are you here to replace our teacher ? I like Mrs. Burns."
"Hi Jacob... No I'm not here to replace anyone. I'm guess is your main music teacher. If I get this job... I'll be like her helper."
He still had his hand in the air and his younger sister cut him off.
"What will you be helping with?"
Melody was about to answer her question until Jacob cut her off.
"Hey! Hannah I wasn't done!"
Jacob actually hit Hannah in the arm. Instead of crying like Melody thought Hannah would she actually hit him back and they started screaming as they started hitting each other. Tiffany the oldest started shouting at them to stop fighting. Melody started to panic, she didn't think they would start fighting. Things were not going well and she had to figure out a way to get them to stop fighting without getting physically involved because she knew that teachers couldn't physically get involved to break up a fight. She knew shouting wouldn't help so she had to think of something and she had to do it fast. She saw one of those train whistle toys, grabbed it and did one loud, long whistle and held her hand up in the air. All three kids were shocked and stopped fighting and arguing. Melody didn't really yell at the kids, but she did want to speak so that she had their attention.
"Ok... It looks like you two need to be separated."
Melody found some tape that would stick to the carpet. She put some down on the other side of Tiffany.
"Jacob... So you and Hannah aren't fighting, I'm going to have to ask you to sit over here by Tiffany."
Jacob was mad, but he got up and did what she said. Melody made sure that they were all separated with enough space between them so that they couldn't fight each other. Jacob actually looked like he was about to cry.
"Now we're going to get in trouble."
Melody remembered getting in trouble a lot in school and felt bad for him.
"No... You're not going to get in trouble."
"You're not going to tell my mom?"
"No... I got in trouble a lot of trouble when I was your age. You're not in trouble this time, but I wanted to know why you hit your sister."
"Because she interrupted me. I had my hand up and she interrupted me."
"I'm sorry about that, but she's younger than you. She's probably not used to the rules yet."
Melody looked around the class room and spotted a drum that was about his size and had an idea.
"Hang on Jacob, I'm going to get something for you."
Jacob watched as Melody brought a drum over to him.
"Why did you bring me a drum?"
"Because I thought of something that might help you. How are you feeling right now? Sad?"
"Not really... Mostly mad."
"Are you mad at me... Or Hannah?"
"I'm mad at Hannah... And myself."
"Why are you mad at yourself Jacob?"
"Because... I didn't mean to hurt her... I just get mad a lot."
"It's ok to get mad sometimes, I get mad a lot too, but instead of getting mad and fighting I've got an idea for a little game... I think it will be a lot of fun. Whenever you feel mad... Instead of hitting Hannah you can hit the drum. You can't really hurt the drum. I found a drum for you too Hannah. Tiffany... I found an extra train whistle toy if you want one."
Tiffany smiled and took the train whistle toy. Now they all had something in their hands.
"Ok so we all have something. Hannah... Next time you want to ask a question raise your hand and wait until Jacob is done ok?"
"Ok."
"How are you feeling Hannah? Sad, Mad?"
"Kind of mad."
"Ok... How about you Tiffany?"
"Kind of annoyed that Jacob and Hannah are always fighting."
"I think I have a way of fixing that. Just keep them separated until they don't want to fight anymore."
Hannah was just looking at her drum while Jacob had his hand raised.
"Yes Jacob?"
"You said we were going to play a game. How can we play a game with drums?"
Melody grabbed a drum and sat down in the middle of the room so she could see all three of them.
"Ok so do what I do... You hit the drum three times if your happy and count one, two, three. If you're mad... We can hit the drums ten times and shout as we count to ten."
"What if you're sad?"
"If you're sad you can blow on the train whistle toy. How is everyone feeling now?"
Jacob was still mad, Hannah was actually a bit sad and Tiffany was actually happy now. Tiffany and Hannah had to trade. Hannah blew on the train whistle while Tiffany hit on a drum three times, while Jacob yelled as he counted and hit the drum ten times. They kept going so Melody had to blow on her whistle and put her hand in the air to get them quiet and to get their attention.
"Ok... When I have my hand in the air and blow on the whistle that means stop and listen ok. So... Jacob... Now that you hit the drum ten times and counted to ten, how do you feel?"
"I feel better now. Thank you ."
"Hannah... You had the whistle, you were feeling sad. How do you feel now?"
"Better, thank you."
"So what we did was use music to feel better. I get sad or mad sometimes and I have to listen to music until I feel better. So... Is everyone happy now?"
They all answered with an excited shout of yes. Melody laughed.
"Good. Now how about we have some real fun. I have another idea for a game. Who likes trains?"
Jacob and Hannah both are excited and shout.
"We do!"
"Great... I had an idea, but I was hoping Tiffany could help me with this. I need you to keep a beat on the drum like this. We're going make music, but we're also going to pretend to be a train. Tiffany, you're going to keep beat on the drum, you're our train's engine."
Melody hits on her drum until Tiffany caught on. Then she went over to Hannah.
"Here Hannah do what I do."
Melody did a march in place and Hannah started doing the same thing.
"Good job, with our train's wheels we'll get to where we're going really fast."
Jacob had a frown on his face and started to feel left out.
"What about me? What am I supposed to do?"
Melody looked around the room and found a train conductor's
"I couldn't forget about you Jacob... You'll have the most important job."
She hands Jacob the train conductor's hat and train whistle.
"Can we count on you to be the leader of the train? I need you to be our train conductor. You'll blow the whistle and warn us if any cars, trucks, or wild animals are coming. Can I count on you to get us home safely."
Jacob had a big smile on his face as he put on the train conductor's hat, took the whistle and blew on it two times.
"You can count on me."
Tiffany continued to beat on the drum and pretend to be the train's engine. Hannah continued to stomp her feet and pretend to be the train's wheels.
" watch out! There is a big truck coming at us!"
"Oh no! Hurry Jacob, blow the whistle and let them know to watch out."
Jacob blew the whistle long and hard. Everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing when Lisa walked into the room. Hannah smiled, stopped what she was doing and ran over to her.
"Mommy!"
"Hey Hannah. What's been going on?"
"Me and Jacob got into a fright, but then we started beating on drums and blowing on train whistles when we were mad and sad. Now we're being a train."
"I see... Why don't you keep being a train while I talk to ."
"Ok."
Melody follows Lisa outside of the room.
"So... Hannah and Jacob got into a fight?"
"Yes, and I'm so sorry about that. I didn't expect for them to get into a fight. I knew I couldn't physically get involved to break up the fight so I did the best I could."
"It's ok Melody... I actually have a camera in my office that shows the whole school. This isn't the first time they've got into a fight and I'm sure it won't be the last time either. The other two people that applied actually did get physically involved to break up the fight. What you did was very smart."
"I just thought that if I made a loud noise that they would stop fighting and pay attention to find out what the noise was."
"That was a good idea... The other two people that wanted the job had music books with them, but the kids don't seem to be interested in learning that way. Tell me what you did."
"Well I knew they were probably mad at each other so I thought that instead of beating on each other, they could beat on some drums instead. I did this until they weren't mad anymore. I had the train whistle and thought of something. I asked them if they liked trains, they said yes so I thought of a way that we could all have fun. I gave Tiffany the drum to keep beat and be the train's engine. I let Hannah stomp her feet to pretend to be the wheels, and I found a train conductor's hat for Jacob and gave him the whistle so he could be the conductor."
"I have to say Melody... I'm very impressed with the way you handled that stressful situation. I do need to go talk to them about you and the two other people that want the job. The kids help me make the final decision so if you would wait a few minutes out here while I go talk to them."
"Ok."
Melody was nervous, she had done everything that she could do. She started pacing back and forth. The final decision was up to Lisa and her kids. Five minutes went by and Melody became even more nervous as each second went by. Suddenly the door opened and Melody was surprised when the kids hugged her. Melody laughs at this as Lisa walks out.
"What's going on?"
"I believe we've found our new assistant music teacher."
Melody was shocked but had the biggest smile on her face.
"Are you serious?!"
"I am... You knew how to stop a fight without getting physically involved and you managed to teach my kids something while still having fun. Kids aren't interested in learning music from books. You did a great job with my kids... I think you can handle a whole classroom. I already told you that it's not necessarily the smartest people that are the most qualified... It's about the connection with the kids that really matters. My kids... They already love you, and I'm sure the rest of the students will too. I would be crazy if I picked anyone else. So if you really want this job, can I expect you here in two weeks at eight?"
"Yes! Absolutely! Thank you so much! I've wanted this job more than anything!"
Lisa holds out her hand for Melody to shake. Melody smiles and shakes her hand.
"We'll see you in two weeks then ."
Melody left the building with a huge bit of weight lifted off her shoulder. She now had a job, but she knew that if Roman went on the road with WWE that she wouldn't see him as much. She didn't want to feel like a burden to Roman, she wanted to find a place of her own while Roman was on the road. She also thought that things were going really fast between them and wanted to really test their relationship. How would their relationship be if they spent time away from each other? If they spent months without seeing each other, how would their relationship be? She thought of the many married couples in the army, their loved ones are overseas fighting for months before they get to see them, and they don't always come home alive, but they still loved each other. Melody thought that if they could do it, she could do it. Roman was told that Melody would be at the school all day, but she was really out looking for her own place. She found an apartment for rent, and found the person in charge of the rent and explained her situation. She told the person that she was new to the area and that she just got a job as a teacher and that she would get get paid every two weeks. She convinced the person to let her stay in two weeks when Roman left. The person that would rent her the apartment was very understanding and was willing to wait the two weeks that Melody needed to get her first check for rent. The apartment was nice and already had furniture. Melody was happy that she had a place to go to once Roman left. She managed to figure out how to get a job and a place to stay on her own. This apartment was about a mile from the school but it was farther to Roman's house. Melody walked back to the school and called Roman to come pick her up. When Roman got to the school Melody ran up to him and gave him a hug.
"I got it Roman!"
"You got the job!?"
"Yes! I'm going to be a music teacher! This is what I've always wanted, I get to start in two weeks!"
Roman picked her up, spun her around then kissed her.
"That's great Melody! You've come so far, I'm so proud of you Babygirl! You're going to be the best teacher here. We should go celebrate!"
"Can we maybe go back to the arcade so I can challenge Dean and Seth to air hockey and guitar hero?"
"Sure... We'll do whatever you want. I was hoping you would want to go back to the arcade... I'm going to beat you at air hockey today."
Melody laughed and smirked at Roman.
"We'll see about that won't we?"
(To be continued. Thanks for reading. Review.)