~ Claire's POV ~
This week has been long, I seriously can't take anymore thinking when I'm alone, during lunch and after school. Sure, I have grading and entering, which I still do but there's another activity called thinking that's constantly bothering me. The bell just dismissed my fourth period class and it was lunch. I went to the mini fridge right next to my desk and pulled out my salad and water. Nothing like a healthy lunch while I work. All my classes have been going well, and it is finally Friday. I can't wait to get home, to sit, and think some more. Isn't that fun? I just sat here eating and thinking back to the beginning of this week that had gotten me tripped up about everything.
<>Flashback To Monday<>
My week began great as I was running late Monday morning, since my alarm didn't want to wake me up at six. I woke at 7:30am to a call from Juliette, "Morning, I had fun last night at the movies. Although, since its Monday, I wanted to give you a morning call. Hoping and making sure you didnt over sleep." She spoke.
"Crap... I'm late. Thank you for the wake-up call, if it wasn't for you, I'd be sleeping through my first class."
"Yeah, of course." She said.
I exited the house at 7:45am, which is basically when first period starts. The more I rushed, the more it holds me back to get somewhere close to eight at least, it always happens. I called Mr. Smith, an English teacher whose room was right next door to mine, he had prep first period and I asked if he could cover at last the first fifteen minutes for me, saying that I was running late. I had a warm up on the top of my desk to pass them out to students, giving them the first ten minutes before going over it. He said he would love to, that it's no problem. I took a breath and got in the car, I drove there cautiously trying my best to keep my patients on the road and not rush, wouldn't want to cause anymore problems. I came to the school at 7:55am. Only ten minutes late. I sighed and got out of my car. I sped walked to the front entrance, as quick as my heels could take me. I felt like I forgot something... Keys, case, purse, apple... what am I missing? I repeated everything I took, over and over... Then realized that I forgot my thermos. Plastering a smile on my face, I'll wake up somehow. Walking up the steps and there was someone sitting on the bench waiting for... me?
"Juliette?" I questioned.
"Hi, you said you were running late, so I decided to bring you a cup of coffee."
"My goodness... You are a life saver. Thank you." I said and took a sip. Moaning at the deliciousness, the favor... and I heard her laugh and smirked at me.
"You're welcome. Anyway, I have to go, I have work in thirty minutes." She said and kissed me, "Bye honey, have a nice day."
"I will, and you too sweetie." I smiled and walked into the main hall. Yeah, we've been dating for two weeks now.
I walked into the class and Mr. Smith was leaning against my desk watching the students complete their warm up. "Morning Ms. Bryant." He greeted with a sincere smile.
"Morning Mr. Smith, thank you so much for covering." I said.
"No problem, anytime you need a cover for first period." He smiled and said goodbye to the class.
"Okay, sorry I was running late, but lets get started..." I spoke and let out an exhausted breath, plastering my smile back on my face.
Then after four periods have passed and it was lunch, I'm sitting at my desk... Thinking. I normally don't think. I just read, grade, comment and enter. I swirled my finger around the cap of my coffee cup she had given me. We've been dating for two weeks I don't know how I feel to be honest. I thought back to all our dates from day one till now. We've gone out on Wednesdays and Fridays. It's fun, not going to lie about that, but There's something about each one that progresses closer to today, making me wonder. What happened every date that doesn't make them as memorable as the first? I thought back to the last date, which was yesterday, we went to see a movie, a comedy and I was definitely least expecting all of it...
<> Flashback to Sunday Night <>
The door bell rang, I groaned. I finally finished grading the test the classes took on Friday, I finally can relax. Just as I sat down and began watching FRIENDS... the bell rings. It's like being in the living room forever, waiting for someone to call... then when you decide to go take a shower, or do something upstairs... they always call at that moment. It always happens. I stood up to walk my tired legs to the door, it was Juliette, smiling at me.
"Hello." She said.
"Hi, what are you doing here?" I asked, surprised to why she decided to show up suddenly at my front door, no call, no text message, on a Sunday, at 7:30pm. I stepped aside and she came in.
"What, I can't come and see my girlfriend?" She asked and pecked my lips.
"Well you can, but you normally call or something before showing up out of nowhere at my front door." I noted.
"Well... I wanted to surprise you." She said and wrapped her arms behind me, kissing my cheek, "You want to see a movie with me? I have two tickets right here." She said, waving the two tickets in front of my eyes.
I laughed, "Okay, since you're already here and all, let me go change." I said and ran up the stairs.
Tracy was at work again. She got a call to come in and work a little over-time, then decided to just stay for the night shift, since she had to finish whatever she had, mine as well do it and get it done. She just left at 7:15pm.
I wore a pair of black pant and a blouse. I came back down and she looked at me strangely. "Why are you wearing that?" She asked.
"Because... This is my casual wear."
"Casual wear are normally jeans and a t-shirt." She said.
"Yeah, that too, but I'm comfortable in this." I said nonchalantly, pushing away the judgement I feel that will show up sometime.
"Okay," she said. She raised her hands up, innocently and walked out to the car first.
I grabbed my purse and jacket and ran out after her. Turning off all the lights and locked to door. She grinned and got in the car. I walked and got in the passenger side. When I closed the door she instantly reared the car and we sped off, when I finally buckled the seat belt, my hands quickly clammed up when I noticed she was going a just a 'bit' too fast.
"You sure you're not going too fast?" I asked her.
She frowned, "No, why? No one is going to see us anyway, besides, I want to get there a bit early. The movie starts at 8:00pm. I'll give you the credit for dressing nicely, which drew like ten minutes away. But that won't matter as much." She said.
My mind went on high alert. Why was she suddenly acting like this? And for the fact, she decided to show up in surprise, as I wanted to sit and relax, she invites me to a movie, even on a school night, I decided to accept and she's blaming me for taking five minutes to change and wash my face, I didn't even put on any make-up. I regarded her for a bit before deciding I was probably just being uptight and dropped it, "You're right, sorry." I said.
She smiled at me, showing her teeth. Suspecting she was supposed to be reassuring, but I couldn't quite shake the strange feeling off. I just decided that I'm being unreasonable and just pushed it aside, for now, not wanting to start some little argument.
We arrived at the theater. It was the theater downtown. We got out of the car and started to make our way in, she laced her fingers with mine, it kind of felt forceful for the first second, whatever, didn't matter. We bought a tub of popcorn and two drinks then went into one of the rooms where the movie was being held and found our seats. The movie started at eight and ended earlier than ten-thirty.
We sat there for a while waiting for majority of the people to make their way out first before we do. Finally standing up, we laced our hands and walked out the room, throwing our empty bucket and cups into the trash. The weather outside was nice but it was a bit chilly. We arrived thirty minutes later back at my place and I smiled, she turned off the car engine and came in with me. We sat on the couch talking for a bit. Turning on the TV and leaving as low background noise. I felt tired and decided to say something, till I turned my head towards her and she gave me a seductive look. Honestly, she's great, an amazing person from the time that I've gotten to know her, but I didn't feel ready for anything to move this fast. But my thoughts were wrong.
Her look told me she knew I didn't want to move far along this quickly. So, she leaned in and just kissed my lips. It was only a couple of seconds before she pulled back, a smile appeared on my lip for a few seconds before she reconnected our lips again, feeling light and soft as her hands traveled slowly up my thigh, up my waist and chest till she locked them together behind my neck. Suddenly the kiss got more and more intense. Her hands were still behind my neck as she pulled me even closer, and my hands were on her waist. Our lips worked with each others, she parted her lips and sucked on my bottom lip, she gave me access, as I slipped my tongue in, we started out light and it continued and slowly progressed into a want and need type, trying to gain dominance, she suddenly rose herself up on her knees on the couch and straddled my lap, pulling me closer, if it was even possible at this point. We broke apart after the need for oxygen, I breathed and looked at the clock. It's already eleven. We've seriously just had a fifteen-minute intense make-out session. Our foreheads leaned together, after a few minutes she suddenly got up and off my lap, abrupted.
"Well... that was enjoyable. But I have to go, as for you missy. You have school tomorrow." She said. I remembered it's Sunday. I groaned as I fell back against the couch. She chuckled. "Okay, goodnight." She said and began walking to the door.
I went after her and locked it, "Goodnight, I had a great time, thanks for surprising me by showing up at my door." I smiled.
"Yeah. Okay, goodnight babe." She said and kissed my lips before leaving.
I watched her car leave then closed the door. I sighed. I have so many thoughts wandering my mind right now. But the most important one is... I need sleep. I walked up to my bedroom and changed out of my clothes, climbing into bed and falling asleep... But I have one problem. I couldn't, so I laid there till about midnight when I last saw the clock before my body had given in and drifted.
<> End of Flashbacks <>
I sighed after finishing my salad, I could see the stack of papers out of the corner of my eye, I had already finished grading them, but now I just have to enter the grades. I spun around in my chair to face my computer as I took one paper at a time and started to enter, I got about half way when I received a text message.
Juliette: 'Hey babe, want to come to my house this weekend? We can spend the day together. I'm completely free.'
I smiled at her text and responded, 'Sure, when and what time?'
'Tomorrow at about 10:00am. Or if you want, you can come over tonight as well.' She suggested.
'Okay, I'll let you know when I get off work.' I replied.
Anyway, I went back to entering grades. We've been doing well overall, some days aren't as great as others, but everyone has tiring and irritating days, right? Also, her job had been calling her in more often this past week, which I completely understand, she's a vet and pets need care, like people do. She often leaves early when she's at my place, or when I'm spending time at hers, she needed to be back at the building about two hours later or something... I have got to stop thinking about her during school. Or, just not most of the time. Let's take my mind off of this topic for a while.
Back on the topic of school, all my AP students have written a total of three essays. We've had many discussions about authors and poets from the 17th and 18th century. We haven't moved towards the 19th century yet, but we'll be getting into that as we progress through the second semester. All my students have been getting A's and B's which was a good thing, meaning they're understanding the material that we cover every day. Even my honor students.
The lunch bell rang and I looked at the clock, fifth period already? Wow, time is definitely flying by today. I sighed and rested my head on top of my arms. Staring at the door. My mind flew back to Juliette I couldnt think of anything else after that except for one question... Am I where I want to be in a relationship?
<><><><><>
The day ended with worksheets for my seventh period. The bell was about to ring, "Remember this is due Monday." I said, the class nodded, then went back to chatting.
The classroom was empty as I began to scribble some notes and suggestions onto students work and 'try again' in red pen. I was playing some music in the background, it was at low volume and decided to sing to lighten up my mood.
You dont have to try so hard
You dont have to give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You dont have to change a single thing
I turned around and looked up, startled when I see Amelia, who was leaning against the door frame. "Oh my god. Don't do that to people." I breathed.
She chuckled lightly and walked in further, "Sorry, I was going to knock, even though your door was wide open, but I heard you singing, so I decided to lean against the frame, listening. You know, have an amazing voice." She smiled.
I'm blushing, "T-thank y-you. Umm... di-do y-you need help with anything?" I stuttered scratching my head a bit with embarrassment.
"I was wondering what we did today and if we had homework, since I left in the beginning because I got a pass to the counselor, to discuss the help of my graduations and things, and also with checking in with me of my schedule. I was going to come in during lunch but it completely flew past my mind."
"Oh, yeah. We had a worksheet, just about the poet that you guys read this week and to revise and rewrite those essays and do any of the 'try again' papers that you got back. Let me just find you the worksheet." I said as I spun around in my chair trying to find it... Apparently, I was completely distracted today, not a surprise there, I don't even remember where I had placed it. Usually it'd be right by my computer but I constantly looked around. Nothing, no where in sight. I didn't even realize my plastic cup of pens dropped to the ground, till I heard it hit the carpet floor and after that, a new stack of assignments that I began preparing for next week fell along with it. I paused and sighed, closing my eyes a bit to breathe. I ran my hand through my face and in my hair. When I opened my eyes, Amelia stood up from the ground after collecting the pens and papers that scattered around the desk. She placed them back on the area neatly.
"I'm sorry... Is this a bad time? If it is—" She stated.
"No, I'm just... super tired. This week hasn't been a great one. I've just been overthinking myself." I breathed. "...You know what, if it's okay with you, I could just place the assignment in as 'Excused' until I can provide you with the paper. So, it won't deduct your grade. My apologies Amelia, this is my fault." I placed my hands on the desk and looked at them.
"It's okay, Ms. Bryant. I understand. You looked like you've been managing a lot the past week, your expressions kind of explain it, when you teach and when you grade, your handwriting is a little bit different compared to other papers... But that's not the point... The point is, we've all had times like that, so don't blame yourself for any of this." She said and carefully leaned against my desk. Her eyes were looking into mind, and I did the same to hers. I could see her sparkling hazel eyes shining. She gave a warm smile at me and I nodded my head, "Well, I should let you get back to your things, so I won't bother you any further, have a good weekend Ms. Bryant." Amelia said and began walking towards the door.
"Amelia," I suddenly spoke out, she turned around and flashed me her beautiful smile, "...Thank you."
She nodded and waved as she walked out of my room. Okay, now time to head home, I've cleared my grading schedule. And completed everything that was needed to be graded, now I'm free from my 'homework.' Looking at the time, I thought back to how to respond to Juliette. I just decided to tell her I'm coming over tonight, couldn't get her off my mind, so why not.