Troublemaker - Kayley Loring Page 0,13
devil, there’s a new notification from Ryder’s school.
“Oooh! Can I get a calculator?!”
I can’t help but laugh at how excited he is by the shitty plastic calculator he’s holding up. “You think you’ll need one for school?”
“Maybe? Can I just have one for home?”
“Sure, why not. You can use it to count up all the times I was awesome.”
“I don’t even need all my fingers for that,” he deadpans.
This kid.
“Harsh.”
“How many notebooks do I need?”
“Hang on, I just got an email from your new teacher.”
It’s only addressed to me. Not a bcc email to all the parents. Which is weird and slightly disturbing.
FROM: [email protected]
SUBJECT: school supplies
Dear Mr. Vega,
Good morning!
I hope this email finds you well and as prepared as possible for Ryder’s new school year! I am the new second-grade teacher here at Silver Lake Elementary School, and I have the note from Mrs. Hernandez (at the front office) to address emails to you regarding Ryder Tully-Vega this year. I just wanted to make sure that you received the email I sent a few days ago. The one regarding Ryder’s school supplies. I didn’t hear back from you, so I wanted to confirm that you have the list. I’m attaching it again here.
Please let me know that you got this!
Thanks so much!
I look forward to meeting Ryder next week.
Best,
Miss Stiles
Well, at least there are about six fewer exclamation points in this email.
“What’s she say? Is it about me?”
“She just wants to make sure we got the list of school supplies. Hang on.”
I reply with a three-word email and then open up the list.
Miss Stiles. Another “Miss.” I hope this one isn’t going to be like Ryder’s first-grade teacher. She eye-fucked me so hard at the parent-teacher conference, I was chafing by the time I got out of there.
I finally look over at Ryder, who’s watching me with an expression on his face that nearly breaks my heart. It’s concern. For me. Why would my seven-year-old son be worried about me?
“What’s wrong, buddy?”
He shrugs. “Are you sure you don’t want a donut?”
“Yeah. But let’s try to get everything on this list, and then if we have time, we’ll see if they have the new Mario.”
“Okay!”
“Okay.”
Maybe a new Mario adventure is what I need to take my mind off of Judge-y Leggy Glasses Girl with the Soft Pink Lips.
Or if there’s a single-player mode for this game, I can finish reminiscing about her while Ryder keeps busy.
I don’t think I’m ready to take my mind off of her yet.
6
Emilia
The first day of school is nothing like the first kiss with a sexy stranger.
First kisses with sexy strangers are dazzling because they’re so unexpected. They might lead to another kiss, a night of hot and dirty sex, an awkward morning after. They might even lead to a few months of bliss, a lifetime of happily ever after, or an even more unexpected tango with a public toilet—followed by mild disappointment. And then a month of hot and dirty fantasies and some very rewarding tangos with a vibrator.
But you always know the First Day of School is coming. It’s there on your calendar and your day planner and your upcoming To-Do list and your daily/weekly worksheet, highlighted and bookmarked with a neon pink sticky note. You plan and prepare and mentally practice your introduction and your explanation of class expectations and agreements. You memorize the names of your students. You get your best friend to help you decorate and organize your new classroom with inspiration, flow, safety, and practicality in mind. Despite your best friend’s exasperation with the overuse of plastic products and rainbow colors, it turns out better than you’d imagined. And way cuter than any of the other classrooms as far as I could tell from peeking inside—not that it’s a competition.
But no matter how much you’ve prepared, no matter how many years you’ve been teaching—if you don’t expect the unexpected, you’re basically screwed.
I always expect at least one little troublemaker amongst my new group of adorable scholars. It’s very important that I don’t try to predict who it will be or label him or her or them right away. Because we all have off-days. It’s not my job to judge these sweet, tiny brilliant people. It’s my job to help them learn and grow and be.
And no matter how well it goes on that first day, you’ve got another ten months with these little boogers, so you just gotta roll with it.
I have fifteen students in my second-grade class here