Prologue
“Ms Phillips!” Edward, one of the students I watched in aftercare, called out to me.
“What is it Eddy?” He liked it when I called him Eddy instead of Edward and it was especially great when I saw his adorable smile stretch across his face and heard the giggle that blew past his lips.
He was just too cute to be true.
“Look what I drew for you!” He showcased his drawing that consisted of irregularly shaped stick figures, eleven to be precise. It was him along with his nine other classmates and me, standing at a strange height above them all.
“Oh wow! That’s really pretty,” I exclaimed in an exaggerated tone but he was eating it all up and that was what mattered to me, keeping the smiles on the faces of my kids.
They weren’t biologically mine but the relationship I felt that we had developed made it feel like they were mine. All the children loved me and I loved them just as much.
Soon enough someone else realized the reasoning behind Eddy calling me and then suddenly the other nine of my children where buzzing for my attention. It had a soft smile coming to my lips as I went around and expressed delighted remarks at each and everyone of their drawings.
Many of them probably wouldn’t even remember me after they moved forward in their lives but I knew for a fact that all the students that I took care of held a special place in my heart. The drawings and little notes that managed to scribble would always be there as a reminder.
Every year when the students began filtering out and new ones started to come in, I uploaded all the work that I got as keepsake from the children and labelled them all. Despite the small amount of students I took care of they were young ones and they seemed to thrive on my praise and felt that they should constantly give me more art pieces or cute little phrases. So what kind of teacher would I be if I didn’t take them all.
At the ending of the year I made time to upload them to my cloud, ensuring to put them in a folder that had several different folders with the names of each of my students of that year. It would always me with immense happiness as I looked through them all and reminsince about all the memories that I had with that specific year group.
As the hour stroke, parents began coming in to collect their kids. With children being at this age, their parents, often times, didn’t want to have them waiting too long. There was, however, one specific child, who although her parents did come to pick her up, seemed to come no earlier than thirty minutes after school had ended.
One by one, nine of the ten left, all of them saying their goodbyes to me and whoever else was in the classroom. Until, Taylor, the last one to leave this early left with his grandma, leaving me and Amy, the student who always stayed back late, in the classroom.
I began walking around to see if there was anything that the students had left, just doing my normal check up before heading over to my desk, where Amy had a small seat and she was sitting there. With her parents coming to pick her up after everyone had already left, she was always here so I made the decision of getting her a seat close to me so that she could sit down beside me as I tried to entertain her as best as possible.
Since the others always left on time, none of them knew about Amy getting to sit up there because if they did, they would all go crazy with excitement, wanting nothing more than to sit at Ms Phillips’ desk. In their eyes it would be like the acheivement of a lifetime if it ever happened but for now it was just Amy who enjoyed that and she made sure not to tell a single one of her classmates.
“Ms Phillips can I tell you a secret?” Amy asked after I sat down in my seat.
“Sure,” I gave her a smile.
“But you can’t tell anyone, not even my Daddy when he comes to pick me up,” she said her face forming into one that she might have thought looked serious but just looked so cute.
“I pinky promise,” I gave her my pinky to sign of the deal and she took it with good faith.
“Eddy said that he and I are going to get married when we grow up like his mommy and daddy,” Amy smiled as she recalled the what took place and I was just surprised that they were already at that stage of development.
“Really?” I questioned, not holding back the shock in my tone.
“Uh-huh, he told me at break today. I was happy about it but then I was sad cause of my mommy and daddy,” she whispered, the smile dropping from her face as she recaleld everything that happened.
Amy’s parents had just gotten a divorce and even though they were civil about it all and it wasn’t one of those messy break up situations, it still apparently affected Amy. Not to an extent that was obvious but there was just this inkling that she probably wished that both her parents were still together.
“But Amy, not all married people are going to be like your mom and dad,” I told her in hopes that her views on the fairytale lifestyle had not been crushed as yet.
It was just too early for something like that to happen.
“Ms Phillips, since my mom and dad don’t like each other anymore maybe you could become my second mom and stay with my dad,” she had this hopeful look on her face and I just wasn’t sure how to respond to something like that.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to because Mr Jones, Amy’s father decided to step in right that moment and save me from having to break Amy’s dream of having me as her second mom.
“You should think about it, Ms Phillips,” she patted my legs and I was pretty sure that was something she learned from either watching t.v. or from either one of her parents.
“Think about what?”Mr Jones said, amusement lacing his tone as he greeted his daughter.
Tristan Jones was a sight for the eyes as he stood at about six feet tall and had broad shoulders to match his tall frame. His hazel orbs were almost always set in a cold and caluclating stare which always seemed to disappear as soon as he entered the classroom and his gaze made it’s way on his daughter.
His smile was almost the exact replica of his daughter’s own as they both shared that slight dimple that formed at the corner of their lips when they were smiling brightly. His dark brown hair was slightly ruffled but still held it’s slicked back nature, no doubt a look that was maintained for work purposes.
He was a gorgeous man and several of my coworkers didn’t fail to admit that but it was relatively normal for the staff. Everyone that wasn’t already in a relationship or was interested in one paid attention to all the sexy mothers and fathers out there. No one dared to even try and flirt with them though, especially if they were still married but it was always nice to admire the view.
“Hi daddy!” she said in a cheerful tone, completely covering her discomfort with the idea of her parents no longer being together.
“How was she today?” He held her in his arms as he spoke with me, joy covering his features as he played with her a bit. His hands running along her sides to have her bubbling with laughter.
“She was an absolute darling like always,” I smiled as I looked at the ahppy look that was painted on Amy’s face.
“That’s great to hear, I really am sorry about having to come so late everytime but it’s already hard enough as it is to get out of work obligations this early so it really means a lot that take the extra time to watch over her like this,” he said, looking extremely sincere.
“Trust me it’s no problem at all, she’s like a daughter to me as well,” I told him and Amy seemed to perk up at that.
“Yeah dad, I was telling Ms Phillips that she would make the perfect mom,” as soon as the words left from out of her mouth, I was groaning in embarrassment.
“I thought you said that we were going to keep that to ourselves?” I asked her, knowing that my cheeks were being painted in red.
“I don’t remember saying that,” she looked at me innocently but I could see the underlying amusement in her eyes. “But don’t worry Ms Phillips dad thinks so too,”then she giggled only to have Mr Jones to tackle her with more tickles which had her laughing like a maniac.
I would think that Amy was only joking around but the light tint that coated Mr Jones’ cheeks had me thinking otherwise. It was a strange thing to see but oddly enough it didn’t look too much out of the ordinary that I couldn’t picture it on him once more.
“You’re really a trouble maker, aren’t you?” He teased once he was finished making her run out of breath.
“By the way, you’ve been coming around everyday in recent times, if you don’t mind me asking, where is Ms Anderson,” I made the effort not to call his ex-wife by her marital name, considering that she was no longer married. It just seemed awfully disrespectful to do that.
“It’s fine, she’s out on a business trip, I don’t remember when she’ll be back but we discussed it prior and the school also knows that I’d be picking up Amy until she’s back,” he informed me and I nodded my head in acknowledgement.
“Well, Mr Jones, Amy has some homework to finish up for tomorrow,” I informed him, even though I knew that Amy would already tell him.
“I’ll make sure to let her get it done,” he resonded to my information. “It was lovely to speak with you as always,” he gave me a charming smile, one that had me thinking certain thoughts and feeling a particular way that wasn’t acceptable around a child.
“Good,” I responded but my voice sounded a bit too heavy for my liking, my arousal making its appearance known but thankfully, Mr Jones didn’t comment on it even if he realized. “I’ll see you tomorrow Amy,” I said to her once I regained control and even gave her head a pat.
The two eventually made their exit, leaving me alone in the classroom. I cleaned up once more and when it was to my liking, I packed up my things and began heading home.
With my plans for the week already made, I had the entire night to relax and I was going to take it.
