One step at a time

Trish Parker


Ashby Parker


Ryan Sumer

Trish Parker blinked away her tears as she watched her little boy, Ashby, walking with her to the car so she could take him to school. It was the first day of school...ever. He was going into kindergarten, which she couldn't believe was happening. She never thought her little boy would go up so fast. It seem like it was just yesterday she was going into labor, while out with some friends, that had just got married. She was 21 years old at the time and nervous as can be. Now, here she was, five years later, with this incredible little boy.

She quickly helped her son get into the car before making sure everything was set. She then got into the driver's seat and started driving to the school. When they got there, she parked the car in the parking lot, having to wipe away more tears before looking at herself in the mirror, seeing that she was messing up her make up. She quickly fixed herself up again and then looked at Ashby in the back.

"Ready sweetheart?" She said and smiled as he cheered happily. She got out and then went to his door to open it, helping him out and grabbed his bookbag for him, helping him put it on. She then walked with him to his classroom.

It was 6 am when Ryan Sumer finally forced himself out of bed. He had an hour to get to work and another half hour before the children would flow into the class. He would never fully understand the reasoning behind becoming a kindergarten teacher but he enjoied teaching. He spent the past year and a half working as a teacher assistant and now it was finally his time to shine as a real teacher.

After a short shower and spending almost forty minutes finding the right first day outfit Ryan was in his kitchen making breakfast. He was never really one for breakfast but he figured it would be best to eat before he left. It was a ten minute drive to the school so after he ate he was in his car with a travel mug full of steaming coffee.

There was a few paretns standing outside of the classroom when he got there which suprised him. He plastered the nicest smile he could come up with on his face and said hello everyone. He opened the door and told the kids to find their cubbies for their things and then sit on their names on the carpet.

He placed his things on his desk then made his way to the door to greet the more kids to come.

Trish walked with Ashby to his classroom. She couldn't believe it still as she walked through the halls with him. As she walked down the halls, she saw parents, moms and dads with their kids, and she couldn't help but looked at her son for a moment. Now he would be interacting with other children his age, kids who have both mom and dad, while he himself only had a mom. It wasn't her fault; It just seem to be the way fate played with her when it came to her getting pregnant. Sure she had her father, Ash's grandfather, but wasn't the same as having a father for Ash. However, she had came this far on her own, and she knew she could do it for the rest of her life...if she had too.

When they got to Ash's classroom, she looked at all the kids that were in the room and just smiled. "Look honey." She said with a smile. "Look at all the kids. All the new friends you're going to have." She said as she kneeled down, looking at him. "Yay mommy! I'm so happy!" Ashby said in that cute little voice of his. "Come on lets go meet your teacher...Mr. Sumer." She said softly as she got up from kneeling down and taking his hand before walking into the classroom with him.

@ Ms. Pepper Potts

Ryan was growing more excited with each passing second. The excited energy that came off of the small children around him was flowing into his body. He saw a very attractive blonde mother holding the hand of her son walking down the hall. His smile widened when he saw the two walking to his class. "Hey there little buddy. What's your name?" He greeted, kneeling down to the boy's height. He stuck his hand out to the boy for a high five. He wasn't much of fan of hand shakes, so he tried to high five as much as he could rather then shaking hands. At the same time Ryan felt like giving the kids high fives would make them feel more comfortable around him.

Trish smiled sweet at the handsome brunette man who she assumed was Mr. Sumer. She looked down at Ashby for a moment, feeling him cling onto her leg and hiding behind her as Mr. Sumer walked up to them, and kneeled down to his height. She giggled a little. "Honey...it's okay. This is your teacher." She spoke softly as her son continued to hide behind her legs. She kneeled down to her son and smiled sweetly just hugging him. She continued to look at Ashby for a moment before looking up at Ryan. "He's a little shy with meeting new people." She said softly. "This is Ashby, he goes by Ash sometimes." She said with a small smile. "And I'm his mother Trish Parker." She said as she stood up, being eye level with Ryan, even thought he was rather tall compared to herself, who was only about 5'2'', and when in heels, she was only 3 inches taller.

Ryan let out a little chuckle at the shyness that came with the ginger boy. He stood up and watched the two. "Ryan Sumer," he formally introduced himself to Trish once she was stood at almost his height in her heels. "Don't worry Ashby, we're going to have lots of fun today," he smiled down at the boy. "If you want to take him inside the room and find his name on the rug that would be fine," Ryan smiled at Trish.

Trish smiled as she watched Ryan talk with Ashby, who was kind of warming up to him, just smiling a little at his new teacher. She then nodded, listening to him saying that she could take him inside and find his name on the rug. "Certainly." She said with a sweet smile as she held Ashby's hand once more while walking into the classroom with him. When she got into the room, she looked around and just smiled, seeing how nice it was. "Look mommy! Books!" Ashby said as he started pointing out things that caught his eye around the classroom. "I see that baby."She commented as she walked with him to the rug. "Look Ashby. I found your name." She said smiling. "My name!" He said, grabbing the tag from the rug. He held onto it then sat down. "Come on mommy, you have to sit with me!" He then told her, pulling her down to him, and waiting on Mr. Sumer. Trish just smiled, seeing how her son was slowly starting to come out of his 'shy bubble' already.

Once Ryan was sure everyone was in the room he walked in. A few parents had left already and he was glad no one had started crying yet. "Okay. The school bell rings in about five minutes so by then all parents must be out of the room," he announced. He smiled at the kids and parents trying not to scare any kids. The idea of being left with a strange man without your parent was always scary. "Until then you can look around room and explore the things in here," he added joyfully.

Ashby sat there on the floor with his mom for a moment before a little girl came up to him and started talking with him. Trish just smiled as he got up and started playing with the little girl, exploring the room. She stood there watching her son as tears filled her eyes once more. Gosh, how could this be so hard? She knew this day was coming, but for some reason, she felt like it happened to fast. She wiped away the tears on her cheeks as she stood there. She knew she had to give Ashby just a little bit of space even though he was in elementary school and in kindergarten - she wanted to show her son that mommy would always be watching, just not always right there with him.

As Ashby played with a couple of new kids that he met, Trish walked over to the table and grabbed a tissue wiping the tears on her cheeks and making sure she didn't smudge her make up. She looked over at the teacher, hoping he didn't catch her looking at him. She stood there running a hand through her long blonde hair.

Ryan watched all of the students with their parents for a moment before he walked over to his desk and grabbed a stack of paper. He walked around the room and handed a paper to each parent. Ryan hesitated a bit to go over to Trish, Ashby's mother. But he finally walked over to her. "Mrs. Parker," he said lightly. "This is just a list of supplies to get, its all optional but I don't get much of a budget," he said lightly showing her the paper.

Trish looked at Ryan as he walked up to her, calling her Mrs. Parker. "It's actually Miss Parker. I'm not married, and please call me Trish." She spoke as she gently took the paper from him. She looked over the list, and smiled at him. "I'll make sure Ashby has everything on this list." She said with a smile. "It's not a big deal." She said, being truthful. Even though she was a single mother,her finances were perfect, especially since she was a paralegal for one of the best law firms in the city.

Ryan nodded along with what Trish was saying. He mumbled out a small apology when she corrected the proper saying of her name. "Thanks, that means a lot." He smiled. Ryan was glad that he would have a least a few simple supplies. He never really noticed but tissue boxes were really expensive when you were planing on buying at least ten boxes. Working with children he'd also come to notice that a lot of kids ate the supplies. Like the crayons, markers, glue, and even the odd few that chewed on the paper. It was impossible to make one box of materials last the entire school year. Ryan opened his mouth to say something more but the loud sound of the bell cut him off. "Looks like it's time to start class. You can bring the supplies in when ever. It's not a big deal," he concluded.

"You're welcome." She then said with a warm smile on her face. "I am willing to help whenever. Getting supplies isn't a problem." She spoke softly. She looked over at Ashby and just smiled, seeing him playing with some kids still, and if you didn't know it, you would have never thought that he would ever be the shy type. When she heard the bell ring and then Ryan saying that class was starting, she took in a deep breath, not believing that this was actually happening. Her little boy was in kindergarten now and he was officially going to be starting his day. She watched as Ashby quickly walked over to tell her bye and give her a hug along with a kiss before going back to sitting with some new friends. Trish sighed softly and looked at Ryan once more. "Here's my cell phone number just in case he starts crying." She spoke softly as she wrote down her number on a small piece of paper. "Really if you need anything...call." She then said.

Ryan nodded and took the number from Trish. "Don't worry. He will be fine," he smiled at her trying to reasure her that it would be okay. He watched as parents started to leave and a few kids began to cry. "All right kids, everyone sit at the carpet," he said turning to face the kids. While the one that weren't crying took a seat next to their newly made friends Ryan walked over to the crying kids to pry them from their parents legs. He made small simple deals with them, like they could have their stuffed animal out with them or they could sit on the beanbag chair. He knew that it was better to compromise with the children rather then get angry and punish them for crying. He placed the remaining supply list on his desk along with Trish's number. Then he walked to the carpet and took a seat on one edge.

Today would be a simple day, he decided. Since there were a few still blubbering and this was new for both him and the kids. He pulled a book off the shelves that sat to the left side of him. A few kids perked up and some of them even yelled about how they had read that book before. It really put a smile to his face.

Trish watched Ashby for a minute more before walking out the door. "You got this little man." She thought to herself as she walked out to her car. She got in and sat there for a moment. This was a little hard for her, but she knew he would be okay. Ashby was in good hands with his new teacher Mr. Sumer and she was okay with that.

Ashby watched Mr. Sumer cautiously and smiled when he pulled out the book. It was his favorite book and his mommy would read that to him all the time. "Mr. Sumer that's my favoritist book ever." He said walking up to the teacher.

Ryan smiled wide at Ashby. "Don't spoil the ending, okay Ashby?" He asked. Once Ashby nodded he opened the book. "You wanna help me hold the book?" He asked Ashby who was still standing by him.

"Ooh I like that." He said smiling as he held the book with Ryan. He looked at the teacher and just smiled widely at him.

Ryan started to read the first page. Before he would turn the page he made sure everyone saw it. After the first few pages he let Ashby turn the pages, it seemed to make the boy really happy and that made him happy to.

After they finished that book and another three Ryan looked out the window before making his next decision to go to the playground.

As everyone lined up, Ashby stood by ryan. He took a liking to his teacher, which was a really good. When they walked out to the playground, Ashby walked next to Ryan. "You know Mr. Sumer my mommy is the bestest mommy in the world." He said as he talked about his mommy to his teacher.