Written 2015
Revised April 2021
A/N - This chapter is twice the length of my other chapters. I know...these chapters can be hella short compared to other stories on here. But I used to post them on instagram so for an Instagram caption, 1,000 words was long. On here its short lol. Please enjoy!
*Ellies POV*
*Next day*
"You're going to do great, baby." Demi says through the phone. I'm sitting on the edge of my bed, putting on a pair of dress shoes. Her encouraging words make my lips curl into a smile.
"Thanks, I'll call you later today to tell you all about it." I say, standing up, letting my feet adjust to the new shoes. I rarely dress up and even though I've owned these shoes for a few years, the pristine soles tell me this is my first time wearing them.
"You better." She says before hanging up the phone. I toss my phone on the bed, checking myself out in the mirror. I had to settle on a blue turtle neck for my first day of work. I tried various scarves, but none of them stayed in place long enough to cover up the love bites Demi left from my neck down to my cleavage and below. I wasn't taking any chances of letting a thin piece of fabric fall and expose my neck, especially on my first day of work at an elementary school. A catholic one at that.
I take my time driving to school. With the uncertainty of Los Angeles rush hour traffic, I left my apartment a little before seven thirty, giving myself over thirty minutes to drive a measly 7 miles. Better early than late. I pull into the first teacher's parking spot I found. I open my car door slowly, careful to not scratch my brand new car against the pole. I probably shouldn't have parked here. As I walk towards the front doors of the school, I can feel myself start to loose control. My hands are shaking and my stride has increased, both indicators that my anxiety is building. I stop in the middle of the parking lot, deciding to do a quick exercise I learned in theatre in high school. I shake my arms, counting down from ten before shaking my legs. I count downwards until I reach one, shaking all four limbs at once. It's an exercise actors and actresses would do to get nervous jitters out before walking onstage. I was never one to perform onstage, I worked backstage. Nonetheless, the exercise helped me in this moment of anxiousness. I fix my shirt which had risen up a bit, exposing my lower stomach. I take a deep breath, walking through the set of doors and into the lobby.
Ms. Sanchez is at the front desk, talking to the main office clerk. She catches me from the corner of her eye, stopping her conversation to walk towards me with a smile on her face. She is wearing a black pencil skirt again, but this time instead of a white button down shirt revealing her cleavage, she's wearing a red button down shirt, matching perfectly with her red stilettos and red lipstick.
"Ellie." She says, walking up to me, embracing me in a hug. I forgot she mentioned she was a hugger. I lightly hug back, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. Demi is my girlfriend, and I wouldn't want me hugging an attractive women in skin tight clothing to constitute as cheating. Paparazzi can be everyone, and it wouldn't surprise me if they were hiding in some bush or pretending to escort their kid into the school for a blurry photo of me wrapped in some other women's arms. I don't need that, especially today.
"Hi, Ms. Sanchez." I say.
"Oh please, call me Andrea." She says, letting go of the hug, looking at me deeply. I swallow, a lump in the back of my throat forms.
"O-ok, Andrea." I say, agreeing to her demand.
"Follow me, I'll show you to your classroom." Andrea says, tugging on my arm slightly. I follow her down a long corridor that is decorated with dozens of student artwork. I smile, taking in each piece as I kept up with Ms. Sanchez- I mean Andrea. Andrea's hips sway as she turns the corner and up the stairs. She is no where near dressed appropriately for such a job. But I'm in no place to say anything unless I want to get fired before I even start. I try my best to look away, only glancing a few times. What? It's hard not to. We turn one final corner before entering a classroom that compared to the other classrooms I looked into when walking past them, was very bare. The classroom had the basics. Tables, chairs, a rug for reading circle, a teachers desk and chair and a few posters that advertised numbers as well as the alphabet. Other than that, there was nothing else. Other classrooms had toys, decor, pops of color. This had almost nothing.
"Feel free to make this space your own." She explains, straightening a table and chairs so they were all lined up perfectly.
I glance around the room again. Did the other teacher not care about decorating the room? Or did she take all the decorations with her? Whatever the reason is for this room being so bare, I'll definitely be decorating it once my first paycheck hits. I walk over to the teacher's desk. There is a pink flamingo bobble head and a picture frame with a photo of a man and a woman, who I assume was the previous teacher. Andrea notices, grabbing them and placing them under her arm. I open my bag, taking out the trophy that Demi gave me, placing it right where the frame was.
Andrea smiles. "Looks better already." She says before nodding and leaving me alone in my classroom. I take a seat in my chair, lifting my legs up and spinning around in excitement. When the chair slows down, I hear noise and see kids walking down the hall. I grab the attendance sheet that I printed before leaving my apartment and stand in the doorway like the other teachers, greeting their students back from their vacation. A little boy with a spider man backpack is the first to walk towards me.
"Hi, I'm Miss. Welch. I'm you're new teacher." I say with a smile plastered upon my face. I greet a few other students excitedly, almost too excitedly. I take a deep breath, trying to compose myself. I wait for a few more minutes, until there is no one else in the hallway. I've checked off every name but one. I turn on my heel, shutting the door behind me. A few students are sitting in their seats, while others are hanging their jackets up in their cubbies. I wheel my chair to the middle of the room, waiting for everyone to sit.
"Hi everyone. Welcome back from break. I'll be your teacher for the rest of your time as a kindergartener. How about we go around the room and tell everyone your name and something you like?" I ask. Some of them nod their head. "Okay, I will go first. My name is Miss. Welch and I like Superman and Supergirl." I say, emphasizing the superhero's names. A little boy in the back stands up, showing me his Superman shirt.
"Okay, who would like to go next?" I ask. Multiple hands shoot up in the air, anxiously waiting to share about themselves.
***
Before I know it, the school day is over and I'm escorting each child to their parents at the front doors. I return back to my classroom and pull my phone out of my bag. I notice I have a missed call and a voicemail from Demi. Pulling my bag over my shoulder and turning the classroom lights off, I press play on the voicemail, listening to it as I walk down the hallway.
Hey, Miss Welch. I hope you had a great first day teaching. I know if you were my teacher, I wouldn't be able to concentrate. Anyways, can you stop by my place on your way home? There is something I want to show you. I love you.
I laugh at Demi's playfulness over the phone. Maybe we'll have to introduce some role playing into the bedroom. My laugh echos through the empty school lobby, catching Andrea's attention.
"Ellie." She screams, hurrying to catch up to me before I leave. "How was your first day?" She asks, placing her hand on her hip, leaning to the side.
"It was good. The kid's were well behaved for the most part." I say, chuckling as I remember Reese tried to color Abigail's hair with a marker.
"Don't get used to it, they can be off the wall most of the time." She laughs. "So what are your plans for the rest of the night? Are you celebrating the completion of your first day?" She asks, her piercing eyes searching mine.
"I'm on my way to Demi's. No celebration, but knowing her she'll probably take me out to some fancy restaurant before I head back to mine for an early night." I admit. If I plan on being on time every day, I'll have to get used to going to bed earlier.
"I'm glad you have such a supportive friend like Demi." Andrea says. I'm about to interject and correct her use of the word friend when the phone in her office begins to ring. "I'm sorry, I have to get that, but I'll see you tomorrow. Tell Demi I said hi." She says, giving me a quick hug before she hurries to her office.
The ride to Demi's is short. In a matter of minutes I'm parked in her driveway. "Demi?" I call out, putting my bag by her front door.
"In the theater." She calls out. I follow the trail of popcorn to the theater room, finding her reclined in her chair. "Hey" She says, throwing a piece of popcorn in the air and capturing it in her mouth. She is wearing one of my night shirts I left here weeks ago and a pair of oversized sweatpants. Her hair is in a messy bun. I've never seen her so relaxed and comfortable.
"So this is what the famous Demetria Devonne Lovato does behind closed doors." I say, giggling as I take a seat next to her. She throws a piece of popcorn at me.
"You know very well what I do behind closed doors." She says huskily. I roll my eyes at her. "Anyways, how was your day at work?" She asks. I begin to ramble, starting from the parking lot jitters to returning each kid to their parents. I knew being a teacher was something I wanted to do, but finally doing it was better than I imagined. I sit back into the recliner, a smile plastered on my face.
"So what did you want to show me?" I ask, taking a few pieces of popcorn from Demi's bowl and popping them into my mouth.
Demi stands up from the recliner, pausing her tv. "Come with me." She says, holding her hand out. I grab it, following her to the kitchen.
"I went to the post office today and collected the mail from my PO Box. This was in there." Demi says, handing a pink envelope. I take it, reading the return address. Massachusetts. Isabella's group home. I turn it over. It's still sealed. "I figured we would open it together." Demi says, taking a seat at the island. I sit down next to her, starring at the envelope in my hands. What on Earth could be inside it? I loop my pinky finger under the crease, tearing the envelope open. It's a thank you card. I open it and something falls out, landing on Demi's tile floor. I ignore it, reading the card.
Demi & Ellie,
Thank you so much for your generous gift. We greatly appreciate your kindness and generosity. If you are ever in the area, feel free to stop by. We would love to thank you both in person.
Take care, and thank you once again.
The bottom of the card is signed by each kid in a variety of colored pencils. My eyes gaze over the letter, looking for that name in particular. Within seconds, I find it. I trail my fingers over the blue letters. Isabella in all capital letters. She wrote her letter L backwards, making me giggle. I don't even take the time to look at the other names. All I can focus on is her name, Isabella's name.
"It's her name. Demi, it's her name. She wrote that." I say repeatedly trailing my fingers over her name. Demi caresses my back.
"Honey, you dropped this." She says, handing me the piece of paper that fell. I unfold it, letting a tear run down my cheek and land on the piece of paper. It's a photo of the kids at the group home. They are gatherers on the floor around the toys. I scan the photo, landing on a little girl with piercing blue eyes. She is holding the Supergirl doll in her hands as she smiles. I draw a heart over the little girl with my index finger. Isabella. I can't believe it, after all these years I have a photo of her. I hold the photo to my chest, letting tears fall down my cheeks. Demi wraps her arm around my shoulder, pulling me into her in a comforting hug.
"I can't take this anymore, Demi." I say against her shirt. I lift my head up, looking Demi in the eyes. She tucks a few strands of hair behind my ear before caressing my cheek.
"You can't do what?" She asks softly.
"I can't keep loving her from afar." I admit, wiping my face on my sleeve. "I know what I have to do." I say, clearing my throat. I look at the photo one more time, caressing my daughter with my thumb. I fold the photo in half, placing it in the thank you card, placing it on the table. "I have to visit her."
__________________________
What do you guys think? Ellie and Demi are about to visit Isabella!
Also.... what's up with Andrea?
If I don't update tonight, I'll update tomorrow! I'm hoping to get through three chapters tomorrow. I have 7 hours to write tomorrow.