Substitute Love

I hear my alarm clock go off & I groan. Today is my first day as substitute teacher for 2nd grade at this school my friend’s sister works on. She is pregnant so she suggested me. Don’t get me wrong, I like being a substitute teacher, for a week or 2, not 5 months. Especially with kids this young. But if I want to eat, I have to work. I throw the covers off me & turn the damn beeping clock off. I scratch my arm & turn to see a mosquito bite. Its sucks that my air conditioning decided to stop working when there’s a heat wave all over California & I had to leave a window open. I get up & start heading to the shower when I trip over a pair of shoes hurting my pinky toe. “Fuck” I mutter jumping on one leg, while grabbing my injured foot. I kick the shoes out of my way & head to the bathroom, jumping into the shower after stripping all of my clothes, which isn’t much since I only sleep with my panties & tank top on. I feel the warm stream of water on my body. Even though is fucking hot outside, I hate cold water. After 10 minutes, I get out, & start blowing my hair. I glance at the clock to see its 7:29 AM. I have at least 30 minutes to get ready. I look at the outfit Abby chose for me. She said I needed to look professional. Truth is, I will fucking die from dehydration in that shirt. Long sleeve? In this weather? Really? It’s a fucking school, not a law firm. I fluff my hair one last time, before walking to my room to get ready. Finally, deciding to change my shirt for a DC tank top, that I can put on a jacket or shirt over, I start applying a bit of powder & mascara on me. No need of much makeup. By the time 8 rolls, I’m walking out of my apartment, ready to start my first day of school.

*~*~*

“Attention, everyone. This is Ms. Forbes. She’ll be your teacher while Mrs. Cooke is out on a license. Be nice to her” Principal Hyde says. “Say ‘Good Morning, Ms. Forbes” He says & all the kids chorus ‘Good Morning, Ms. Forbes’. I smile & wave at them. “I understand Mrs. Cooke left you some work to finish, so get to that & I’ll see you guys later” He says, motioning me to walk him to the door. “Don’t be scared. It’s your first day & I know I was scared on my first day. They are nice kid. This should be a piece of cake” He says, placing a hand on my shoulder. I nod. “Mrs. Cooke said you’re great with kids & very creative, I’m sure you’ll be fine” He says walking outside. I turn to see all the kids writing something. I sigh & walk to my desk, taking a seat & looking at the seat charts, trying to learn all the names. I have 0 to no retentive so keeping the seat chart over my desk will be really helpful.

*~*~*

Piece of cake my ass! It’s my first day & I’m at the principal’s office because 2 of my students got into a fight. 2nd graders fighting, what a charm. Although, that kid, Gavin I think his name is, really knows how to throw a punch. I could already tell the other kid to be kinda of a bully to all his classmates, & I’m glad somebody stepped up. I would’ve done the same, but I can’t look past this. So here we are, Mr. Hyde talking to the kids while I stand behind them. “What do you think, Ms. Forbes?” He asks.

“Well, although I think that even though the school rules are against all type of violence, I don’t think Gavin should be the only one punished. Yeah, he hit Brian-”

“Ryan” The kid interrupts me while sporting a black eye. He looked kinda funny.

“Ryan, right… sorry” I apologize suppressing a smile. “Ryan was really bothering him. I think it’s a normal & natural reaction, although not the best” I say eyeing Gavin. He was looking down. You could tell he was a nice kid.

“So what do you think we should do about it?” He asks, leaning more on his chair.

“Detention instead of expulsion. They can stay with me after class & I can tutor them since Ryan has really bad grades & Gavin is almost failing science. I’ll talk to their parents to inform them & meet them as well” I say. Mr. Hyde nods.

“Ok. If you think that’s the best” He says. “I don’t want this incident repeating, ok?” He says to the 2 boys who just nods. “You can leave” He says & I open the door for the kids to walk. “Ms. Forbes?” He calls & I turn to look at him. “I think you made a great decision. Tell Beatriz to send their parents by your classroom when they come get their kids” He says & I smile at him nodding. I walk outside & do as I was tell, before walking with the 2 kids to my classroom.

*~*~*

Ryan’s parents where as obnoxious as their son. Her mother’s face cannot take another injection of Botox. I found myself constantly staring to see if she even blinked. & his father was constantly on the phone, yelling about something that I would never understand, nor I care. They forbid Ryan staying after school because he was the ‘victim’ in this whole incident. That kid was a brat & deserved to get his ass kicked. Of course I didn’t tell them that. I told them that it was the principal’s orders & that if they had a problem with it, they should address him instead. They left unhappy to say the least. Like I give a rat’s ass. “Ms. Forbes?” Gavin says from where he is finishing his Math homework. “I’m sorry” He says, looking at me. I smile at him. You can tell a lot about someone’s family from their kids. I can tell that Gavin is well raised, with a killer sense of fashion since he’s sporting a black t-shirt with a skull on the front that read ‘Vengeance University’. He has a gray beanie. “It’s just that he bothers me constantly & my Uncle told me to him to beat the shit out of the little fucker next time he bothered me”

“Gavin, first of all, you’re not allowed to speak like that here. Or elsewhere for that matter” I say & he apologizes. “Second of all, there will always be people in your life that will try to bring you down & hurt you, but punching them & fighting like you did, is not the way to solve the problem. You’re very young to be doing that & you should NEVER do that”

“I promise I won’t ever do that” He says, a timid smile on his face.

“Good” I say, returning to do whatever I’m doing. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing.

“I like your shirt” He says & I look at him. He was still working.

“Thank you. I like yours too” I say & he smiles. Just then, a knock is heard & I turn to see someone standing there through the small glass window. I see Gavin smiling so I’m assuming it’s their parents. He gets up as soon as the door is opened & runs towards this man. My mouth hangs open. Totally what I not expected Gavin’s father to look like. He has piercings & arms covered in tattoos. His hair is kinda long & looks almost greasy. He’s sporting some jeans with chains hanging, a shirt similar to Gavin’s & a baseball cap. I catch a tattoo behind his ear too.

“Hey, buddy” He says. “Ready to go home?” He asks & I see Gavin lowering his eyes.

“My teacher wants to talk to you” He mutters. He turns to at me & I see him get surprised. Guess he thought he would find Mrs. Cooke here, not a 25 year old girl, that looks almost like the girls from high school. That’s when I catch his green eyes. So captivating. I stand up & notice that I’m a bit shorter than him. If I would be wearing high heels, we would be almost the same height. Well… kinda. I see him eyeing my DC shirt & smile.

“Hi. I’m Ms. Forbes” I say, stretching my hand to shake his.

“Like the magazine?” He asks & I laugh. No one has ever asked me that before. Very sharp. He looks down at my hand & I see him eyeing the knuckle ring Abby gave me when I turned 15 & I was really troublesome.

“Yes, but without the fame. I’m Mrs. Cooke substitute” I say smiling. “I just wanted to talk to you about something” I say & I turn to look at Gavin, still in his arms.

“What did you do?” He asks him & Gavin’s looks down in shame.

“Why don’t we take a seat?” I say, motioning for the chair in front of my desk. “Gavin, why don’t you finish your homework while I talk to your dad?” I say, sitting down.

“Oh, I’m not his dad” He says & I look at him confused. “I’m his uncle. My sister couldn’t make it so she asked me to pick him up. But don’t worry, you can talk to me & I’ll make sure she gets the message” He says, smiling at me, his snakebites glistening. I nod. “I’m Zack” He says.

“Nice to meet you, Zack”

“Nice to you too, Ms. Forbes” He says, flashing me another one of his smiles. He has a deep voice & somewhere deep inside, I’m glad he’s not Gavin’s father. “So… what did you wanted to talk about?” He asks, leaning back on the chair. By the way he is sitting; you could tell he was a bad boy in high school. Maybe still is.

“Well, first of all, I wanted to meet the parents of my students since I’m gonna be working with them for 5 months”

“What happened to Mrs. Cooke?” He asks.

“She’s on maternal leave. She’ll be back once she has her baby” I say & he stares at my hands.

“Cool ring” He says. “What is it?” He asks, scooting closer to take a better look, unconsciously grabbing my hand to graze the surface of the ring with the pad of his thumb. His hands feel slightly calloused.

“Oh… a panther. It’s my favorite animal” I say, while he plays with the ring, until I scoot my hand back. It was kinda of a bold move & it made slightly uncomfortable. I could feel the heat in my face.

“Sorry” He says, leaning back on the chair. “So… what did the little one do? I suppose he must’ve done something bad since he has the guilt painted all over his face” He says turning to look at Gavin, who was looking at us & quickly looked down at his notebook, like he was doing his homework.

“Um… he punched a kid” I say & his eyes widened in shock, making them even greener.

“What?” He asks.

“Yeah. Apparently this kid has a history of bullying him & he punched him” I say & he turns to look at Gavin again. I feel kinda bad. Gavin’s gonna get into so much trouble now. “When I asked him why he did it, he told me that his Uncle told him to ‘beat the shit out of the little fucker’ next time he bothered him” I finish & he turns around slowly, looking at me guiltily. Busted! “You wouldn’t know where he got that, right?” I say with an amused smile on my face.

“Um… no idea” He lies horribly & I tilt my head to the side, narrowing my eyes at him. I hear Gavin snicker & he turns to look at him. “What are you laughing at? You’re in deep sh-“ I clear my throat, letting him know he’s not allowed to curse. “Trouble… you’re in deep trouble” He says rapidly to him turning once again to look at me. “OK. I might’ve said something like that, but I never thought he would do it” He says & it’s kinda cute. “I’m sorry”

“I don’t condone violence in my class” I say & I him pondering on what I’m gonna say next. “But I don’t condone bullying either” I say. “Gavin & I talked for a long time, right, Gavin?” I look at him & I see him nodding his head. “He knows what he did was wrong & he promised me he won’t do it again”

“So, you’re not gonna suspend him?” He asks & I shake my head no.

“No, but he will be staying after school with me until he improves his grades. He almost failed science”

“Does your mom know about this?” He asks him & he shakes his head no. “Zina is gonna have a fit” I hear him mutter. I guess Zina is Gavin’s mother. He then turns to look at me. “Listen, what are the chances that my sister doesn’t find out about this?” He asks me & I sigh, ready to complain. “Look, I take full responsibility for what he did. & I’ll take full responsibility from here on. Just… let’s keep it between us right now. I promise you that if he doesn’t improve his grades, then I’ll talk to my sister” He says, pouting a bit.

“That’s against the rules, Zack” I say. I see him pouting & bite the corner of my bottom lip. “This is what we’ll do. I won’t say anything to his mother or father if you guarantee me that he will study hard & stay out of trouble” He nods his head yes as Gavin does as well. “Ok. I think that’s all” I say, smiling. “You can pack your things, Gavin”

“Thank you so much” Zack tells me while we’re walking towards the door. “My sister would freak out if she finds out she has another Zacky on her hands” He says & I laugh. Guess I wasn’t wrong with him being a bad boy.

“I strongly suggest you not to give him those types of advice though. I can see that he idolizes you, which means-”

“He’ll do whatever I tell him to do” He cuts me & I nod.

“I’m ready” Gavin says, standing between us. “Goodbye, Ms. Forbes. Sorry for everything” He says.

“Don’t worry about it, as long as you don’t do it again” I say, crouching to his level. I saw on one of those Nanny shows that you should always address kids leveled up with them, so they don’t feel intimidated. Or something like that. “Promise?” I say, stretching my hand. Gavin nods & take my hand. “Ok… we shook on it. That’s a pretty big deal. You can’t break it” I say & Gavin laughs. “Take care, ok. I’ll see you tomorrow” I say, fixing his beanie that was crooked. “Nice to meet you, Zack” I say shaking his hand. I walk back inside the classroom & I let out a breath, closing the door & leaning against it. He’s absolutely gorgeous.