Leona couldn't believe her luck when she found out that she had nailed her interview and gotten a teaching job in her little village of a town. Leona had been going after the art/music/and drama position for some time. Now, finally endless inquisitions later, she was about to set foot into a classroom. Equipped with binders full of lesson plans and sheet music, as well as costume props, she made her way into the school. It was still too early for students to be arriving, but there were several teachers in the process of preparing for the new year in their various ways. The school itself was small, and could use with some upgrades. Immediately she noticed things like faulty lighting and heaters that were not working properly. A quick walk by inspection of a school quilt that was donated by last year's graduating 7th graders, caused Leona to trip on the carpet and spill all of her materials.
She made a noise to herself, not trusting her ability to remain calm at the moment. She was about to pull herself up when she came face to face with a bright pair of magenta heels which she was sure were designer. They were glorious things really, and it was all Leona could do to not touch them.
"Here, let me help you with that!" Came a high pitched girlish voice. The woman crouched down carefully and began to gather papers. Leona blinked and shot up from the ground and hustled to gather her materials as well. "I'm sorry…I like your shoes," she said blushing not sure what to say at the moment.
"Oh thank you, I just bought them a few weeks ago," she said with a warm smile. Leona stared at her for a moment, taking in her appearance: blond hair, blue eyes and a warm skin tone. Leona hated her, this woman was infuriatingly stunning. She was about to thank her for her assistance when the woman in pink, for there was a lot of pink in her attire, began to speak again. "My name is Jyssica, spelled with a "y." Students know me by Miss Klutz, I teach Kindergarten. I would not worry too much about that carpet by the way; I trip over it all the time."
There were so many things running through Leona's mind, some of them were not appropriate to repeat, and little would be helpful in this situation. So she made a compromise to the woman with a simple thanks you, and was about to get away to her classroom, before Jyssica invited her to come over to her classroom for lunch. It would be rude to decline, so she simple nodded her head and shuffled towards the gymnasium where she assumed the music room would be similarly located.
She found her classroom, conveniently enough and began to deposit her belongings on her desk. She looked around and frowned at what she saw: dilapidated bleachers for the choir, musty looking costumes, a supply of 20 year old paint brushes and easels that had seen better days. Leona rubbed her neck and let out a sigh, trying not to be too surprised by it all. Students would be arriving soon anyway and she had to make sure that she had something ready for them. She looked at her schedule and refreshed herself on what group she was getting first: Kindergarteners. "Great," she mumbled to herself betting anything that she would be seeing Miss Klutz again in all her Californian glory, this poor lovely woman had done nothing to get on Leona's bad side, and she knew it, but couldn't help herself. "What did I have them doing?" she asked herself in reference to the children. She knew it had something to do with singing, and when she found her lesson plan she discovered that they were going to be learning the school song. She rolled her eyes at herself, well duh. She then came to the realization that she did not know the school song herself, and a panic rolled through her. She looked up the words and tried to imagine the tune as best she could, but it was not clicking. She had to hurry, students would be showing up at school in five minutes and then there would no teacher available to help her. She sprinted into the hallway and made haste towards the offices that she passed by when she entered the school. She was about to ask one of the secretaries if they knew anything when she spotted a young red headed woman with a small child attached at the hip. The girl seemed upset about something and they were arguing softly with each other. The only thing she could make out was that this girl did not want to be here, and the woman promised that they would not be here for long. Even after saying that, the mother was in the process of getting this little girl registered. "I don't have time for this," Leona thought to herself, and walked on to the next classroom that she saw.
After another meet and greet, and a quick lesson on the school song, Leona was back on track and ready to take on the day. The only problem was that she wasn't getting a group of students for another hour. So she decided to waste more time by decorating and cleaning her room. She pushed back the bleachers; too afraid they would collapse and instead set up a row of chairs. In front of the chairs she placed music stands that contained large print copies of the school song. She knew it was too soon for kindergartners to be able to read them, but sound/word association should help…somehow.
Finally the magic hour arrived and she could hear a group of very noisy children outside her door. Curious, Leona walked over to the door and opened it to find a group of 15 children in their best line formation the teacher could muster, who herself was at the middle of the pack. It was indeed Miss Klutz.
With the widest smile Leo could muster, she introduced herself and summoned the class to take a seat in the chairs. Some students were hesitant, some sprinted in and immediately began to play with anything their fingers could grasp, and a small portion did was they were told. Jyssica was holding hands with the small red-headed little girl from earlier.
"She is just nervous," Jyssica said warmly, giving the girls hand a squeeze.
"Nuh-uh," she replied back, removing her hand sharply, "I don't wanna do muggle things. I told mommy, I don't!" The girl was in tears.
"What's a muggle?" Leona asked curiously looking the sobbing girl up and down.
"I'm not sure, her mother says that she has a wild imagination, and that we shouldn't get too worried about it." She paused to kneel next to the girl. "Miss Brittany, are you going to behave for Miss Peppercorn?" The girl, Brittany, looked straight at Miss Klutz. "I-I guess," she hiccupped.
"Great. Glad to hear it, want to come sing some songs with me?" Leona asked trying to be extra nice. Brittany nodded quickly, and wiped a tear. She walked quickly into the room and took a seat on the floor. Leona gave a smile to Jyssica and sighed at the chaos that she was going to have to wrangle in. "Any tips?" She asked Jyssica as she walked into the classroom.
"Don't let them bite!" She said as she nearly sprinted away. Leona couldn't tell if that was a sincere suggestion or sarcasm, but suddenly all she could think about was that she definitely did not tell Miss Klutz her last name.