The next day Melody decided that she would take over the music lesson to see how the students respond to her. She needed to talk to Stephanie before school started.
"Stephanie... I was hoping I could talk to you before the day starts."
"Ok, what's on your mind?"
"Well... I don't know if I have a say in anything since I'm new, but there was something that I just had to talk to you about."
"What is it?"
"It could have been because yesterday was the first day, but it seemed like the Kindergarten and first graders were really tired and they really seemed to struggle with reading from the book. Everyone else didn't have a hard time, but they didn't really seem interested. Then at the end of the day it seemed like the sixth graders weren't interested in anything, maybe this could have been anyone because at the end of the day I guess the kids want to go home. I was just watching, but the third, fourth, and fifth graders seemed the most interested once you started playing the piano. Maybe it was because their age group is right in the middle or it could have been because of the time of day. Again... I'm new here and I don't really have a say in anything, but couldn't we make it so that the older kids have music first, and if you want them to learn from books, couldn't you focus on the older kids?"
"I noticed all of that yesterday. I wanted you to watch yesterday to see how I did things, but you're right, they didn't seem really interested in learning from the book. I guess I was a little tough on the younger students by expecting them to read from the books. I don't think I can do anything about what time the classes come in, you'll have to talk to Lisa about that. I can let you take over for today, I'd like to see how the students respond to you."
The school bell rang and the Kindergarten class came in looking tired. Melody was going to be in charge for the day, she was nervous and excited. The Kindergarten class was only on their second day of being at school so they weren't used to the way things were supposed to be. Once Lisa finished the morning announcements some of the kids were sitting down being quiet while a few others were walking around the room talking. Melody decided that the best way to get everyone's attention would be by blowing the train whistle like she did during her interview. The kids that were talking got quiet and the kids that were tired were scared. Melody had her hand in the air and now everyone was looking at her.
"Can I please have everyone go stand by the wall?"
They did what she wanted and stood by a wall near the piano Melody still had her hand up.
"I don't know if you remember me from yesterday, but my name is Melody... Ms. Melody. I'll be here to help out . I do have one rule... Everyone listen ok?"
Everyone was listening.
"When I blow the whistle and put my hand in the air, it means to be quiet and look at me. Whenever you have a question, quietly raise your hand and I'll answer your question. Let's test it out... I want everyone to raise their hands in the air... No talking please."
They were quiet and put their hands in the air, some of them put both hands in the air.
"Ok very good, but just one hand. I noticed that everyone seemed really tired yesterday... Some of you look tired today, who's tired?"
Most of the kids kept their hands in the air.
"Ok... So I have an idea to wake up... I want everyone to take your hands and reach up as high as you can."
The kids had their hands up and were on their tippy toes trying to stretch and look really tall.
"Very good, now everybody reach down low to the ground and touch your toes like this..."
Melody had to show them what to do and then they did it.
"Ok... Everyone remember that when I have my hand in the air and blow the whistle that means to look at me and be quiet ok? I want to do something else... On the count of three I want everyone to yell HEY really loud... One... Two... Three!"
The kids all yell HEY really loud. They didn't know whether to yell it once or more than once. Some of the kids stopped after yelling one time while the others kept shouting. Melody raised her hand and blew the whistle. They stopped shouting and looked at Melody.
"Ok good... I want you to try one more thing... While I beat on this drum, I want you all to jump and shake your heads. When I stop beating on the drum, everyone stop jumping ok? Ready... Go!"
Melody beat on the drum twenty times as they jumped and shook their heads. They were all smiling and laughing. Once she stopped the kids stopped.
"Great job everyone! Is everyone awake now?"
They all shouted yes and they were now happy and full of energy. Melody smiled at them and was officially ready to start the day.
"Good. Everyone is awake now. I don't know if will do this tomorrow, but on the days that I'm in charge we can do this to wake up. Did everyone have fun with our wake up exercise?"
Everyone shouted yes.
"Good, we can do this next time I'm in charge. Now that everyone is awake, we can have some real fun."
Once the day was over Stephanie was really impressed with how Melody handled the kids. Melody had more fun teaching the kids than she did standing and watching. She was happy that the kids were able to have fun and learn at the same time. She got to her apartment and remembered that she could video chat with Roman, she was really happy and couldn't wait to tell him about her day. She started the video chat and waited to see if he would answer. After a minute the video chat no longer showed that there was a call waiting which means that Roman missed the call. She knew that he was probably busy so she didn't think much about it. She sent a text message to Dean and Seth and told them that today was really her official first day of teaching and for them to tell Roman to call her back with a video chat when he had the chance. She didn't really expect for Dean to respond, but thought about sending him the message anyway. Seth on the other hand had his phone a lot and Melody was surprised that he didn't respond back. Seth was usually fast to respond, but Melody didn't get a call or a text from anyone all day. Melody spent a lot of time singing along with her radio. The hours seemed to go by slow for her, but she stayed up after eleven hoping for a message, call, or video chat request, but didn't get anything from them. Melody sighed sadly and held the bear that Roman got her close. She held the bear close to her heart, turned on the tv for a while. Not much was on, but Melody watched tv until she fell asleep. Melody's phone was on silent so thirty minutes after she fell asleep she didn't know that Roman was trying to video chat with her. Once Roman knew Melody wasn't going to video chat with him he noticed that it was after midnight and assumed that Melody was asleep so he sent a text message to her that she would get the next morning.
"Hey Babygirl, I really sorry I couldn't video chat with you earlier. You sent messages to Dean and Seth, we were all very busy today, we stayed and signed autographs for hours, then we had the taping for Smackdown. It was after midnight when we got back to the hotel, I wasn't really thinking and I tried to video chat with you, I forget that you have to get up early now. Dean and Seth told me that today was your official first day of teaching. Congratulations Babygirl, I hope it went well. Wednesdays we don't really do anything. I promise I'll video chat with you tomorrow, please don't be upset with me for missing your call. I'm sorry I didn't get to see or talk to you today, I hope you sleep ok and I hope you get this message in the morning when you wake up. I love you so much Melody." - Roman.
The next day Melody did get his message. Since she got up so early and he got to his hotel so late she was sure that he was still sleeping. He promised to video chat her so she smiled at his message and got up to get ready for school. This time Stephanie was in charge of the classes, but she went with Melody's plan with morning stretches. Melody didn't get to do much because it was Stephanie's day to teach, they agreed to switching days. She did get to video chat with Roman. A few weeks went by, video chats between Roman and Melody were hit or miss. The date was September twenty eighth, Melody's birthday, it was a Friday, but it had been two days since she talked to Roman and she was really starting to miss him. The kids had unusual bad behavior. When she didn't get to talk to Roman and the kids act up, it would make Melody feel down and out. It was lunchtime and around noon, Melody had fourth graders this hour, they had their good days and bad days. Nobody knew it was Melody's birthday, with not talking to Roman for two days and the fourth graders acting up she wasn't having a very good birthday. Everyone came back to the music room from the lunchroom and some of the students noticed a bunch of flowers on a table along with a bunch of cupcakes. Melody was feeling down and out and didn't notice it at first. Lisa's son Jacob was in this class and got her attention.
"Ms. Melody?"
"Yes Jacob?"
"There is something over there on that table for you."
Melody was surprised but confused, she didn't think that anyone at the school knew about her birthday. There were flowers, but also a card. She told the class that they could all get a cupcake. Stephanie noticed that Melody was busy and decided to take over. Melody loved the flowers and opened up the card. The kids were quiet as they noticed a few people come in. Melody read the card.
"Happy Birthday Melody. Sorry We've been busy for the past few days, I guess the last few days have been rough on you. I hope these flowers and card are enough to cheer you up, but since today is your birthday, we do have a surprise for you... Turn around."
Melody was confused when she finished reading the card, but turned around when she was finished reading and was in the biggest surprise of her life. Her eyes went wide and she had the biggest smile on her face when she saw who was.
"Roman!"
He was standing right behind her with the biggest smile on his face. Melody almost tackled him with a hug.
"Hey Melody."
Dean and Seth were there and saw the way she hugged Roman.
"Hey... We're here too."
Melody gave Dean and Seth a hug too. Everyone in the room was confused. Stephanie came over to Melody.
"I didn't know today was your birthday Melody. You've done a good job for today so you can go ahead and leave if you want to. You seem a little busy anyway."
"Ok thanks Stephanie. I'll make it up to you on Monday."
"Oh don't worry about it. Happy birthday, go have fun."
Melody left the room and the boys followed her out. As soon as she was in the hallway she tackled Roman with a hug again.
"Oh my God! How are you guys here?!"
Roman smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss.
"We had the weekend off. Plus it was your birthday... I just had to be here. Come on, let's go enjoy your birthday, and the weekend while we can."
Melody had a smile on her face, and even a few tears. She really missed him and was so happy he was here. She gave Dean and Seth another hug before kissing Roman again. They made their way out of the school and got in the car, the first place they went was the arcade. Melody didn't have a birthday cake and she didn't blow out candles to make a wish, but today she got exactly what she wished for.
(To be continued.)