Spellman Ch. 07

"Oh." She seemed surprised that I didn't jump at the chance to help her. "Well, maybe you could show me tomorrow, if you're here?"

"Sorry. I usually work out a lot earlier than this, my schedule was just thrown off a bit today. I really need to get going though, have some things to do for work."

"What do you do for work?" Damn, this girl is persistent. I had to give her credit, she was really going for it. I may have even unintentionally increased her interest by not immediately falling for her, something that I'm sure was pretty common with guys her own age.

"I'm a teacher."

Her eyes lit up. "I thought you looked familiar. You teach at Eastwood, right? I'm a cheerleader there."

Nailed it. "No, I don't teach at Eastwood. My mother does, though."

"Oh my god, that's it! You're Mrs. Dillon's son! I had her for AP English last year. She has a picture of you on her desk. All of the girls were obsessed with it, but you're even hotter in person." Her eyes went wide and she blushed even through her dark complexion when she realized what she had said.

I decided to pretend like I hadn't noticed. "That's great, my mother is a fantastic English teacher, I'm sure you learned a lot from her. I sure have. What's your name? I'll let her know I ran into you."

"Oh, it's Missy. Missy Rodriguez."

"Nice to meet you, Missy. I really need to get going, though. I'll tell my mother you said hi. Have a great day." With that, I retreated to the locker room, leaving Missy to scurry over to her blonde friend and whisper excitedly.

I took a quick shower before heading home to eat some food. The plan was to have a pretty full lunch, since Meet the Teacher starting at five made for some slightly awkward dinner timing. I'd probably grab something small on the way there and then eat afterwards if I was still hungry which, knowing myself, I probably would be. I cooked up some pasta and chicken then threw them together with a solid helping of olive oil and parmesan. When I was done all of the food—combined with a less-than-ideal night of sleep on the couch at my dad's apartment—had me feeling ready for a nap. I still had several hour to kill, and I wanted to be at full energy for tonight, so I set an alarm for three-thirty and hopped into bed.

The next thing I knew my alarm was ringing. I silenced it and rolled out of bed. Apparently I had forgotten to turn the AC on, because my apartment felt like it was a million degrees and I was absolutely drenched in sweat. I hadn't planned on it but I'd definitely need another shower now. I turned the air on and then treated myself to a cold shower that had me shivering by the time I was done. Wanting to make sure I made a good first impression on the parents tonight, I grabbed a nice grey shirt, a navy tie and slacks, and a brown belt and dress shoes. My haircut from Roman proved to be surprisingly low-maintenance, which was very helpful. On the way out the door I grabbed an apple and a granola bar for a little snack then hopped in my car to head to Spellman.

I arrived at the school just before five. The parking lot was starting to fill up with teachers, parents, and students. I noticed Tori's car was already there. My first appointment wasn't until five-twenty, so I took a few minutes to eat my snack before heading into the school. When I got to my classroom I found an attractive woman, probably in her late thirties and dressed in expensive-looking clothes, standing outside the door with a young girl I assumed was one of my students. The girl was tiny even for a ten year-old, dressed in expensive clothes just like her mother, her light brown hair done up in curls that probably cost a fortune at a salon. My five-twenty slot was for a boy named Joshua Garza, so this definitely wasn't them.

"Are you Mr. Dillon? It's about time, we've been standing here for five minutes already."

"I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone had signed up for the five o'clock slot, so I was just finishing a quick snack before we got started." I looked down to the little girl and reached out my hand. "Hi, I'm Mr. Dillon. What's your name?"

The woman stepped in front of her daughter. "Her name is Rosemary. Rosemary Carlson."

I ignored the mother and spoke directly to her daughter again. "Well it's nice to meet you, Rosemary. I'm very excited to be your teacher this year. Are you ready for fifth grade?" Rosemary nodded but didn't say anything. I was having a hard time telling if she was just naturally shy or if she was only this way because of her mother. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Mrs. Carlson. Let me unlock the door and we can go inside."

"It's Ms. Carrington. Rosemary's father and I are divorced." And I can already see why that might be the case.

"Sorry, Ms. Carrington." I unlocked the door to my classroom and flipped the light on. "Please, have a seat by the desk." Ms. Carrington stomped into the room in her heels, Rosemary following silently behind. I took a seat at my desk and then turned to the pair. "Again, I'm sorry that you were waiting. Last I checked no one had signed up for the five o'clock slot tonight."

"We didn't sign up for any slot. We just returned from our summer in Europe. The information on the school website said that Meet the Teacher began at five p.m. on Thursday night and so that's when we arrived."

"You should have received an email with information about registering for a timeslot, but it's no big deal. I had the time open and you're here now, so we can just get started."

"Frankly, I'm a bit confused as to what you're even doing here."

I did my best to control my expression. "You're confused about why I'm here? I'm your daughter's teacher."

"Yes, that's why I'm confused. When we registered at the end of fourth grade I specifically requested that Rosemary be placed in Mrs. White's class. She's the best and most experienced fifth-grade teacher at this school and I always want to make sure that my daughter has the best."

"Ah, I see. Unfortunately Mrs. White had to resign her position over the summer. I was hired as her replacement. I'm sure the class rosters were already set, and I just took over hers."

"Why did she resign?"

"I'm afraid it's not really my place to discuss the reasoning behind Mrs. White's decision. I'm here now though, and I'm excited to start the year and be Rosemary's teacher."

"That won't work," Ms. Carrington said. "I'd be much more comfortable if Rosemary had a more...experienced teacher, and I believe she'd feel much more at ease with a woman. She's always had female teachers."

"I assure you that I have more than enough experience to teach your daughter, and part of education is learning how to handle new and varied situations." I looked down to Rosemary and smiled. "I promise that I'm very nice, and we're going to have a great year together." She gave me a shy smile and nodded, but still didn't speak. "Here, I have something for you." I reached into my desk, pulled out one of the Deputy badges, and handed it to Rosemary. "This is your official welcome to Dillon's Desperados. I have a feeling that you're going to be a really good Deputy for me this year, won't you Rosemary?"

She nodded vigorously and I thought I even heard a tiny "Yes, sir" but I couldn't be sure.

"I'm still not sure about this," Ms. Carrington interrupted. "I'm going to speak to Mrs. Mitchell about this situation."

"You're welcome to do that," I said, "but Mrs. Mitchell reached out to me specifically to fill this opening. I'm sure she'll tell you the same thing that I am."

"We'll see about that. Come along, Rosemary." She stood and took her daughter by the arm, turning to leave the room, dragging Rosemary behind her. Rosemary gave me a wave and a smile as they left, which I returned.

Well, this is sure off to a great start.

Luckily the rest of the night was much smoother. Joshua Garza and his family arrived for their slot a few minutes after Rosemary and Ms. Carrington left. Joshua—always Joshua, never Josh or Joshie—was as tall for his age as Rosemary was small. He was a soccer player who also might have had a little bit of ADHD in him. Joshua was very excited to have a male teacher, and his parents were pleasant.

After Joshua was Susan Lynch, who arrived with her mother. Susan was mousy in her appearance, with big glasses, but she was also very confident and well-spoken. She had more questions about the year's curriculum than her mother did.

I had a break between six and six-twenty, so I hurried off to use the restroom before my next student arrived, or before I had another surprise like Rosemary and Ms. Carrington.

Dean Newman arrived next, with both of his parents. Mr. Newman spent the entire time in the back of the room on his cellphone, while Mrs. Newman made several less-than-subtle flirtatious comments. She was attractive, in a very stereotypically Southern California trophy wife sort of way, fit from lots of free time spent doing yoga or Pilates and subsisting on a diet of salads and white wine, but I was not at all interested in messing around with the mother of one of my students, especially not a married one.

After the Newmans came Jana Carroll and her father. Jana was a blonde softball player who loved math. She proudly told me how she was already well into algebra. When I handed her a Deputy badge I let her know that I would be happy to have her assist me the other students during math lessons, which she seemed very excited about. Her father didn't say much but he came across as a nice guy and smiled proudly when Jana told me about her summer travel softball team.

My last slot for the night was at seven-forty. Cindy Connor arrived with her family, including five younger siblings. The Connors were a very clean-cut Mormon family. Cindy was their eldest and played the piano, violin, and flute, on top of being a talented basketball player. Assuming I stayed at Spellman, I could expect lots of Connor kids in my future classes.

We wrapped up just after eight. I was straightening out the chairs when Mrs. Mitchell knocked on my doorframe. "How'd it go, Ryan?"

"Pretty well, I think. They all seem like nice kids. I'm excited to get started. Only one real bumpy meeting."

Mrs. Mitchell shook her head. "Don't worry about Ms. Carrington. She's a real piece of work. She would obviously rather have Rosemary in a private school, away from all of us riff raff, but Mr. Carlson is on the school board and it would look bad if his daughter didn't go to a public school. I told her that we're very lucky to have you and that you'll be an excellent teacher for Rosemary."

"I appreciate that. She seems like a sweet girl, despite her mother."

"She is. Did you get to meet Miss Jackson yet?"

I shook my head. "I haven't. I was ambushed by Ms. Carrington when I arrived. I haven't met Mrs. Allen yet either."

"Mrs. Allen just left, but I think Miss Jackson is just finishing with her last meeting for the night. Come on, I'll introduce you."

I followed her next door to room 5B. A family was just leaving the classroom as we went in. I stepped aside to let them pass by, smiling at the boy who was carrying his baby sister. "Miss Jackson, I wanted to make sure you got to meet your new partner teacher, Mr. Dillon," Mrs. Mitchell said.

I stepped into the room and then stopped short. At the other end of the classroom, standing behind the teacher's desk, was Riley.