All I've Got

Franklin Elementary School
Classroom 112
August 9th, 2018
3:12 pm

Miss Brinley Douglas looked out at her classroom and smiled as she surveyed the buzzing room of children and parents in the small space.

It was the end of the first week of the school year and so far she was pleasantly surprised with how things were going so far.

There had been little to no major incidents and all the kids seemed to be settling into the new school year with relative ease. It was still a little early to make any serious judgments, but Brinley was fairly convinced that she had the best students in the second grade.

Whenever she told people that she taught elementary school, they either gasped in shock or laughed in surprise.

"Oh, you must be brave!" They'd say to her, with a glint in their eyes that told her that they actually thought she was nuts.

She loved teaching, though. Loved it more than she had ever thought she could.

It hadn't been part of her life plan to become an elementary school teacher, but the moment she had taught her first class, she had known.

Known that there wasn't anything in this world that she wanted to do more than teach. It was like she was made for it.

She had been teaching for a little more than six years at this point in her career and she was learning new things about herself every single day.

For example, even though she knew it wasn't what was supposed to happen, she always wound up with a favorite in her class.

This year, her favorite was a little girl by the name of Josie Dixon. The little blonde girl was new to F.E.S this year and was quite shy, but from the time that Brinley had spent with her, she knew that the little girl was destined for great things.

As she stood there mulling over the year to come and the blissful work-free weekend that was awaiting her once she left the school that day, Brinley noticed that Josie seemed to be standing by the door of the classroom rather anxiously.

Brinley recognized that specific brand of anxiety, the fear that occurred when someone was running late to pick you up. It was something that Brinley was acutely familiar with, and she could see the recognizable signs of anxiety weighing on the six-year-old.

Pushing herself away from her desk, she made her way across the room towards the little girl. Most of the other students and parents had cleared off by now, making the stragglers look even more out of place.

"Hi Josie," She greeted the small blonde girl as she came to stand in front of her, noticing the very firm set of the small child's lip, turned down in concentration as she kept her eyes peeled on the hallway outside of the classroom.

"Hi, Miss Brin," Josie said with a small smile as she glanced up at her, though the smile seemed very dull in comparison to the beaming grins that Brinley usually saw from the shy yet enthusiastic little girl.

"Is somebody coming to pick you up today?" Brinley asked her in concern, her eyes flickering between the little girl and the rapidly emptying hallway.

In all her years teaching, Brinley had come across a handful of her students who were in rough situations at home and she always did her utmost to support and help those students.

Josie hadn't displayed any of the usual signs, though, and from meeting with her mother on the first day of school, Brinley had been under the impression that the little girl was the adored by her entire family.

Still, first impressions weren't everything. That was something that Brinley knew far too well by this stage in her life.

She had been across the Atlantic and taught in a variety of different schools before returning home to her native Arizona earlier that summer.

"My daddy said he'd be here," Josie frowned as she looked up at her teacher, worry and disappointment evident in the girl's hazel eyes, "He's never late when he's 'sposed to pick me up."

"I'm sure he'll be here, Josie," Brinley told the little girl with a smile of reassurance, her mind aflutter as she tried to remember the protocol and school procedures for a situation such as this, her memory flying to the employee handbook that was sitting on her desk.

Brinley had half a mind to tear this neglectful parent a new one, her mind whirring with all the things she could say to him while still remaining professional.

Her brain is still fixated on this idea when a body suddenly skids into the hallway, a mess of brown hair and fitted jeans and a worn t-shirt that looked oddly familiar to Brinley.

"Daddy!" Josie burst out, suddenly fleeing from her spot beside Brinley and running into her father's arms, squealing in excitement and happiness when he lifted her off of the ground.

A phantom of a smile ghosted over Brinley's lips as she watched the interaction take place, glad to see that this wasn't another case of neglectful parenting, or so she hoped.

There was something about Josie's father though, something eerily familiar to Brinley in a way that was disconcerting. She had yet to actually see his face properly due to her position near the door but there was something about his stature and the lines of his body that reminded her of someone.

She supposed that it wasn't impossible to think that she could have gone to school with this man, she had gone to school with over 2000 kids and could only really name a handful of them outside of her friendship circle.

She was torn out of her pondering by the sound of Josie's voice, "Daddy, come and meet my teacher!" She urged her father, allowing Brinley to paint her professional smile on her face.

Nothing could have prepared her for what happened next.

As soon as Josie's father lifted his head, Brinley felt her heart drop out of her stomach and the immediate instinct to run hit her like a cold shower.

This could not be happening right now. Out of every person in the world to be Josie's father, why did it have to be him?

There were a thousand and one people who Brinley would have preferred to be having this conversation with.

It starts to make sense to her, however, the reason why Josie was her favorite student. Oh gods, her eyes. She had his eyes.

How didn't she know about this? About him and the fact that he somehow had a six-year-old daughter that she had no clue existed? They still had a fair few mutual friends, so how come nobody had ever mentioned it to her?

He hadn't noticed her yet, his eyes remaining on his daughter as she pulled him towards her classroom, watching her with a fond smile on his face.

It was only going to take a second for him to figure it out though.

The moment that Josie makes it back to the door of the classroom, her father's hand clutched tightly in her own, that is the moment where Brinley wonders whether she should have stayed in London.

She can tell the moment that he realizes it because it's the same moment that his eyes meet hers for the first time in nearly ten years.

"Brin?" Her name falls from his lips in a sound of disbelief, his hazel eyes meeting her green ones in what feels like a time warp.

Like they're seventeen again and still standing in the halls of Mountain Pointe High School.

Like the past thirteen years of their lives hasn't even happened and they're just two kids who are dodging meddlesome friends and unsavory classmates, hiding in broom closets while they were meant to be in study hall.

"Hi Kenny," Brinley said with a soft smile, her eyes displaying no sign of animosity or anger towards him, though there is a hint of unexplained sadness there, "Long time no see."

It wasn't the most original thing that she could think of to say right then and there, but she was grasping at straws as it was.

Honestly, who expected to run into their high school boyfriend while in an elementary school?