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Not knowing how to say goodbye but not wanting to let her go, I simply raise my hand and she knows exactly what I am looking for. A second later I get the slap to my hand that I was anticipating, and instead of grabbing her hand and pulling her into my arms I simply say, “Have a good night, Em. Drive safe.” She shyly smiles, gets into Justine and drives away.
The only thing going through my head is MORE! I need more of her!
The Face
Emily
So far I have loved my time at my new job. It’s only part time, but that actually works well as far as my Masters classes and being able to afford pre-school for Ireland goes. I’m working at Happy Valley High School and am assisting the SPED (special education) teacher, Heidi Colyer, for the first half of the school days. The thing I love about the SPED group is that I get to spend time with all sorts of great kids. There are kids that just have mild ADD and need additional assistance focusing and with organization. There are kids with behavioral issues that can be a bit of a handful, but are still great. And there are kids that are not neuro-typical and may be somewhere on the autism spectrum or have other challenges that require additional support. These kids usually have one-on-one time with specialized aides. I don’t get much time with them but I love the time we do get to spend together.
All my kids are great, even the kids that have behavioral problems. When you get down to it, there’s usually a reason for their behavior and sometimes in these smaller settings where the kids can get some one-on-one time with an adult, you can figure out what those things are and really help them.
There are also some kids that you just click with and I already have a couple of those. Austin Gilbert and Jesse Miller are two such kids. They happen to be good friends and great kids. They’ve both had a rough start but they seem to have each other’s backs and they have never been anything but respectful to myself and Mrs. Colyer. For some reason, I just get these two and I feel like I’ve helped them here and there. Their list of missing assignments seems to be dwindling, but the school year has just begun so only time will tell.
Today, when the boys arrive to class there’s something odd going on between them. Jesse is keeping his head down and pretending to look at his work but is clearly off somewhere in his head, while Austin is doing everything he can to get my attention without causing a scene.
“Hey guys, how was your weekend?” I ask as I approach their table and heed Austin’s signals.
“Not too bad, Miss Jacobs. How about yours?” I get from Austin, but Jesse doesn’t reply.
“It was good, thanks for asking. Either of you need help with any of your classes?”
I can see Jesse just barely shake his head, but it’s clear that Austin would like my attention.
Practically begging he asks, “Miss Jacobs, can we go over my English essay?”
“Sure, let’s see what you have so far,” I say as I take the seat next to him.
As Austin turns his notebook towards me I can hear my heart pounding in my head when I read the note that he has written for me.
Jesse’s dad hurt him this weekend. He’s not okay and needs help but he made me promise I wouldn’t say anything to anybody but we have to help him. He has to get out of that house. He stays to protect his younger brother but it isn’t safe for either of them. Check his arms.
I write ‘ok’ on the paper and my mind starts spinning with ideas of what to do. I know I have to play it cool so that Jesse doesn’t notice anything is off, so I spend another couple of minutes with Austin and we do actually look at his English essay and then I leave him to work.
I walk around the class and check on a couple of other kids before I get to Jesse and once I reach him I take the open seat next to him.
“Hey Jess, you’re pretty quiet today. Everything okay?”
“Yep.”
“Why are you wearing such a heavy coat today? It’s gotta be like ninety degrees outside.”
“Dunno, just felt like it.”
“Hey bud, can you look at me?” He’s been hiding behind his long hair and I can tell he doesn’t want me to see why.
“Jesse, you aren’t yourself and you won’t even look at me. What’s going on?” I press on.
“Nothing, just leave me alone,” he huffs. It’s clear he’s getting frustrated with my insistence.
“Well, I won’t do that but let’s see what you have for homework that we can work on. Whatcha got?”
“Just some math, no big deal,” he shrugs.
“Well, get it out of your backpack and let’s take a look and make sure you understand what you guys are studying in class this week.”
He just sits there, but once he realizes I’m not going anywhere he gets his binder out of his backpack and flops it on the table awkwardly.
On a heavy sigh he says, “I don’t have a pencil.”
