Clarke knew what she was going to school for. She knew that finishing her degree would only bump her pay up by a couple of dollars from when she first started, but the money didn't matter. At least that's what she told herself. Being a teacher is one thing, being a preschool teacher is a whole different story. First you're a "glorified babysitter" then you're told your job doesn't make much of a difference. Clarke watched from her car outside of the school, parents fighting to put their child's shoes back on their feet, children running to the gate and ready to see their friends, and the few children who get carried in kicking and screaming. "If they spent a week in my shoes they'd be running for the hills."
She didn't clock in until 8am but she was always there two hours early to get things ready for the day. Putting out art supplies, double checking the lesson plan, bringing out the books, and preparing the small group work, which all makes two hours seem like two minutes. Sometimes she's even able to eat breakfast before she starts. Sometimes.
By the time 8 o'clock rolls around majority of her class is here and they greet her with tiny hugs and loud shouts of "Ms. Clarke is here! Yay!" It's cute really, 20 three year olds running at you at once, every morning at 8am because they're happy to see you. "Hey tiny humans!"
"What? I'm not a hooman, I'm Jossiah!"
"You are Jossiah, but you're also a human, like me! Just a little smaller."
"Nooooo I not."
"We are humans Jossiah. But she's a girl and you're a boy." Aiden. The smartest three year old in the class.
Clarke couldn't help but smile. These kids may give her enough to turn her blonde hair gray overnight, but there was no other job she would rather have.
"Very good Aiden! Thank you!" Aiden gave Clarke a thumbs up from the carpet he was sitting on and Clarke began the beginning of circle time. "Ok friends, today is Monday, the first day of the week, so we're going to go around and share what we did this weekend. Listening ears on, criss cross applesauce, put a bubble in your mouth and don't let it pop till it's your turn to talk ok?" Little heads nodded and Clarke began the discussion. "Over the weekend, I went to the movies with my friends"
By the time her lunch break came around, Clarke was in major need of a coffee. Three accident reports, two incident reports, two phone calls home, and one kid who peed on the carpet. Nothing out of the ordinary really, but it was a lot for it being a Monday. She walked over to the BrewArk for her usual cup and a chocolate chip cookie. The line stopped right as she walked in the door; the place has had a lot of buzz recently and everyone is here to take pictures for their Instagram feed. By the time she got to the counter, 10 minutes had passed. Her items were being handed to her before she could even look up from her phone and place her order.
"I saw you come in. It's on the house."
"No Luna…at least let me tip you?"
"Don't worry Clarke, really it's fine. It's Monday and I know my terror of a nephew is over there giving you a hard time."
"Jossiah's not that bad!"
"You say, "not that bad" which still implies that he's bad." Clarke knew Luna was right and they both shared a laugh before Clarke made her way towards the exit and back to the school.
"Four more hours Clarke, you can do this." One would say talking to yourself is a little crazy, but once you tell people you work with kids it seems to make sense. Most of the time Clarke thinks out loud it provokes the children to ask questions and she loves trying to explain things a million different ways until they are satisfied with the answer you give them. Some may say that her reasoning was crazy, some may think she was crazy to begin with just by her career path, but if crazy was the title than she was glad to have it.
6:00 rolled around quicker than Clarke realized and all the staff had gone home. She always stayed till the last kid went home, and today that was Aiden.
"Who's picking you up today bud? Mom or dad?"
"Um…I think my aunty is picking me up."
"Oh, what's her name?"
"Aunty Lexi."
Clarke grabbed Aiden's file from her cabinet to make sure Aunty Lexi was on the pick up list. Lexa Woods. Huh, maybe I should give her a call to remind her about Aiden? Normally Clarke wouldn't hesitate to call a parent or guardian to pick up their child, but something about the name had Clarke's brain scrambling.
Five minutes passed and Clarke was grabbing the phone ready to make the call, but as soon as she hit the first button a car pulled up and Aiden went running to the fence. "Aunty Lexi! Aunty Lexi!"
"Hey bud sorry I'm late!"
Aunty Lexi, Lexa, walked through the gate and scooped Aiden into a big hug. Apologizing to him for being late, not even realizing Clarke standing right next to them. Aiden giggling made Clarke smile, dispite the fact his aunty is five minutes late. "Ms. Clarke calls me "bud" too!"
At that Lexa pulled back and set Aiden down ruffling his hair a bit. "Hey I am so sorry! I totally forgot I was watching him tonight…which is probably not the best thing to say that I forgot about a child. But it wasn't on purpose! I was just busy…and now I'm just keeping you here longer when you should already be on your way home and, I'm sorry."
Clarke didn't even care what time it was anymore. Here was this beautiful woman standing right in front of her, high cheek bones, green eyes, the cutest little ears. She couldn't put her finger on why she looks so familiar, but she wouldn't mind staring at her until she figured it out. "It's fine don't worry about it, I don't mind spending time with this little guy." Clarke offered a smile to a frantic Lexa which seem to calm her nerves.
Now it was her turn to study Clarke, blue eyes, messy blonde hair from a long day chasing little monsters, light freckles that dotted her cheeks, pink lips…
"Uh, can we go now?"
Both women cleared their throats and turned towards Aiden, "Of course bud, just let me sign you out."
Once they were done, Lexa helped Aiden get in his car seat then into the drivers seat, but not without a second glance at the teacher who was looking back at her. "Sorry again!"
Clarke couldn't help but laugh at the woman, who is she? "It's fine! Have a good night!"
Lexa smiled back at Clarke and drove off, leaving Clarke alone at the school to finish closing up and head home. Clarke hadn't touched her phone since she took her lunch break and wasn't surprised when she saw a bunch of messages on her lock screen all from the group text she had with her friends. What she was surprised to see was a message notification from tumblr.
Decaheda sent you a message.
Clarke unlocked her phone, swiping on the notification to take her straight to the app. She couldn't figure out why someone would be sending her anything on tumblr considering she hasn't been on in over a year and even at that point she wouldn't reblog anything, she was just there for the memes and relatable posts about being single forever. Once she got to the messages tab on tumblr, she stared at the message before opening it fully,
Decaheda: I thought you looked familiar
Clarke finally opened up the message and scrolled up, realizing they had talked many, many times before. "Oh my gosh!"
Skaigirl: It's you!
Decaheda: well I hope so lol
Lexa. She met her on tumblr, when they were both active and what some would consider "tumblr famous". They became quick friends and played with the fine line of flirting, until another girl started showing up in Lexa's posts with the tags #mine #loml #gwlg, and Lexa started to speak with Clarke less each day.
Decaheda: why did we ever stop talking?
Skaigirl: good question
Decaheda: did you read the last message I sent you? The one before today…
Clarke scrolled back up to their previous messages. The last one was sent over a year ago.
Decaheda: I miss talking to you, Clarke
She didn't know how to respond to that. They were always very honest with each other and never failed to say exactly how they felt. Clarke and Lexa could've been the next Shannon and Camden, until Costia happened.
Decaheda: what are you doing after work tomorrow?
Remember when measuring in Lexa deca Lexas was a thing on tumblr lol. I will have no regular update schedule because work, but I will try to update regularly (lol me) Also, sorry if you're not familiar with the tumblr stuff, but if you're still on there, follow me and give me ides please? shtmaliaa