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Chapter 1
Ellie
I stood in the middle of the kindergarten classroom, taking in the bright colored numbers and letters on the wall, the tiny tables and chairs in clusters around the room, and the one large desk in front of a dry erase board on the wall.
“It’s your classroom. You’re welcome to change it if you want. Just remember, there isn’t any money for it now, so you’ll need to use what’s here or your own money.”
I turned to Mrs. Snyder, the Waller Elementary School principal, and smiled. “It’s fine.”
It was more than fine. It was my first very own classroom. The children were gone home for the weekend, but the smell of art supplies and juice filled the air. In my classroom. I was giddy at the idea.
I earned my master’s in education a year ago, but back in my home town in Illinois, I could only get substitute teaching work, which I supplemented with temp work. Two weeks ago, I left Illinois for a much warmer Florida at the encouragement of my best friend from college, and now I was about to be a full-time teacher.
It was kismet. Since it was April, I’d totally expected to do temp work while I sought teaching positions starting in the fall. But here I was standing in my classroom taking over the position from a teacher who left to have a baby and planned to be an at-home mom, so she wouldn’t be coming back. I wanted to do a happy dance but restrained myself. I didn’t need the principal thinking I was an oddball.
“Make sure you’ve reviewed the policies and procedures manual. We take the rules very seriously here at Waller Elementary.”
“Yes, I’ll read them again.”
“I think you’ll do well teaching here, but you’re young, and a few parents may have some concerns about that.”
“I understand. I’ll do my best to show them I know what I’m doing.”
Mrs. Snyder’s smile had a hint of a smirk as if she thought I didn’t really know what I was getting into. “Also, we have a strict policy about having relationships, beyond friendship, with other staff. And there are to be absolutely no relationships with parents.”
I nodded, but my mind went back on my classroom and imagining myself teaching my students. After all, I’m a professional, and would never cross the line with a parent or fellow teacher.
“As I said, you’re young and very pretty, and some of our single male teachers and dads, or maybe even a few of the married ones might take an interest in you.”
“It won’t be a problem.” I waved the idea away. I wasn’t the type to have men falling all over themselves as Mrs. Snyder seemed to suggest. Not that I was unattractive, because I thought I was good enough looking, but I carried extra weight, and for some men, that was a deal breaker. I imagined it would be even more so here in Florida where most the women I came across were skinny, tanned, and had sun-streaked hair. That most definitely wasn’t me, but of course, in Illinois in the winter, I didn’t want to spend too much time outside because it was frigidly cold, and the little extra weight kept me warm, right?
“Then I guess we’ll see you Monday, bright and early. Mrs. Keener, the substitute for this week, left the lesson plans on the desk if you’d like to take them home over the weekend.”
I nodded. “Yes, I’d like to see what the children are working on.”
Fifteen minutes later I had the lesson plans in my bag, and I was in my little used car heading back to my condo, which was another serendipitous event. The condo complex was on the beach but the unit I bought was affordable. It was probably cheaper because the view was on the pool and not the beach, and because it needed a little bit of work. But still, I couldn’t believe my luck to get such a great location. It was like God was smiling down on me. I hoped he was still smiling on my blind date tonight.
The only area of my life that hadn’t had any good fortune was my love life. Perhaps because I was so focused on school, and working to pay for school, that I didn’t have the time to date. But at twenty-three years old, I still hadn’t had a man touch me, and I was ready to turn in my V-card.
It’s not that there hadn’t ever been opportunities. Nor was it because I was saving myself for the ‘right’ guy, or marriage. Mostly, I was a virgin because I hadn’t met anyone who turned me on enough. I didn’t think I needed to be madly in love to sleep with someone, but at the very least I should like him and be sexually attracted to him. I just hadn’t met anyone who made me want to get naked yet. So, I let my best friend Angela set me up with someone in the hopes that he’d be able to help me complete the last thing on my ‘start a new life’ bucket list.
