Sharla was out of breath as she sprinted down the road, chest heaving as she was bound and determined to make it on time. She was NOT going to late, not today...not on her first day of teaching. She meant to be there days ago, but a major train issue caused it to breakdown in the middle of nowhere for a day, then was only able to run half speed for the remainder of the trip. She did call ahead of time, but stupidly told the superintendent that she would be there on today at 8 am...and it was already 7:50 and still had to get the morning curriculum ready. She huffed angrily as she continued to feel her legs burn, running down the familiar roads to her old school. She burst though the door, much to the shock of a coyote that was walking out, and ran straight into the main office, gasping and clutching for air as she tried to speak.

"Sharla...Sharla Ewles...Reporting for the day.." She gasped and bent over holding her burning abs. A chuckle brought her attention to a large tiger standing in the principle office doorway. She glared at the laughing feline as he sipped his coffee.

"You know...when you called in a panic earlier...I tried to tell you that today was an in service day for us to prep for tomorrow, which is the actual starting day.

"WHAT!? I was told today was the first day of classes." She seethed angrily.

"Yes...it is...of the official school year on the calendar and for us educators...its tomorrow for the students. I did try to tell you that...but you were to panicky on the phone about being late...there was no way to correct you." The tiger shrugged, "But since your early basically early...your room is 24, so why don't you go check it out, take a breather, get orientated with the room layout, and meet up in the gym at about ten?"

Sharla grumbled to herself as she left the office, dragging her bag on the floor as her hoofs clopped on the hard surface on her way to her new room, her exhaustion making way to her giddiness about her first teaching job, yea it meant changing her major from her original plans, but she was happy none the less. She walked past all the other doors, finally reaching her number, the bold and colorful 24 blazing on the wooden door. She slowly shuffled in and let the newness wash over her, as she sat at her desk and let out a heavy breath.

A few hours later she hesitantly made her way to the gym from memory, following the halls she once walked years ago now, although everything now seemed much smaller to her. Sharla took a deep breath as she got to the gym door, and walked in seeing a random collection of mammals. A coyote, jackrabbit, a tiger and a whitetail deer just to name a few. Once they saw the newest and latest member of the staff, they all cheered a happy hello and raised glasses of pop and water to her. She smiled and waved to them all as she grabbed a glass of pop and made her way over to the gathering group, where the tiger she met earlier started to speak.

"OK OK all, first off we have a new member joining us this year, a former student, Miss Sharla Ewles," The staff clapped and cheer in her direction, "She will taking over for Mrs. Brenton who retired last summer. Secondly, after this little party, we all need to go over the years courses briefly, then we will all return to our respective classes to go over things for the first day tomorrow, and then at about 3 we will all meet up in here once more for a little chat before we split for the rest of the day." He raised his glass, "Too another great year!"

"Too another year." They all responded.

After chatting for a few more minutes, they all went their separate ways back to their own rooms to get things ready, Sharla going over her own things; memorizing child names, supply locations, emergency procedures among other things. After making sure she could do it with her eyes closed, she got up to stretch her limbs, and realized it was about time to meet back up in the gym. With a smile on her muzzle she made her way back to the large room, seeing she wasn't the last one this time, with only a few mammals in the room. She walked up to them as they stood around a table with a LOT of bake goods of all kinds. Her stomach grumbling, a blush on her muzzle as she remembered that she hadn't eaten all day. The other two mammals, a female coyote and a male raccoon, smiled brightly to her.

"Hi Miss Ewles, Shane Veil, math teacher," the raccoon stated with a smile, offering his paw. She shook it vigorously, responding to him, "Sharla Ewles, history."

She turned to the coyote and offered her hoof to the canid, who returned it with a toothy grin, "Amanda Shaw, social studies."

"Nice to meet you both," She grabbed a random muffin and took a bit, wherein she quickly moaned in pleasure, "Oh my ...by the divines this is THE most amazing muffin EVER!"

Amanda smiled widely, "I know right! They are made by this local guy and he is the best around."

Sharla looked confused for a second, before shrugging in understanding, "Oh yea...old man Johns...he was an amazing baker when I was growing up."

Amanda looked thoughtful, rolling her eyes to the side as she was thinking, before shaking her head, "No...that wasn't the name of the guy, he was a relatively new baker...and he wasn't old... pretty young...about your age."

Sharla looked confused, "Really? Maybe I should go check it out sometime."

Amanda wagged her tail in excitement, "Why don't we go after this meeting? We can go check it out together...besides we was pretty cute last I remembered."

Sharla laughed, "Sure." As she said this, the principle walked in, smiled at them all and gave the closing speech about being ready for tomorrow. Not long after, Sharla and Amanda were walking side by side down the roads, making their way to the bakery, Sharla by memory for the most part, until they got to the unnamed building the previous name faded cleanly against the old paint. They walked in, the bell ringing as it swayed. As they were looking around, a voice rang from the back, a voice that made the ewe freeze for a second, and she wasn't sure why.

"One moment folks, be there in a sec." The sound of moving pots and pans told the two females there was quite the commotion going on back there.

Sharla was looking at a few pictures recognizing a certain predator standing next to old man Johns, before the sound of paw steps drew her attention to a figure walking from the back room. A very familiar figure. Sharla froze up as a larger red fox tod came from the back area, wiping his flour covered paws on his apron, ears leaning half back, eyes bright as his drawl started bringing back several memories, "Well, afternoon Miss Shaw, how can ah help ya?" He leaned on the counter.

"Oh just us two wanting to meet the newest baker around, uh mister." She smiled at the tod.

"Ah just call me Gideon...Mister Grey was ma old mam." He smiled warmly, looking from her to the ewe standing still in the room. His eyes stayed on her, his ears shot up pupils widening in shock and rememberence, "S...Sh...Sharla?"

He took a step forward, which caused her to panic and run, fleeing from the store in a mad rush. Gideon sighed heavily, ears falling back against his head. He looked to the now confused she-coyote," Long story miss...um anything ya need?"

Amanda looked at Gideon, then shook her head, "Not really...just wanting to check the new place out." She looked at the door where the ewe disappeared, then gave the fox a small smile, "Ill be in tomorrow morning though to pick up the usual for the morning classes."

Gideon smiled warmly, "No problem miss." Amanda nodded and smiled back, before turning to leave the store. No sooner had the door shut and the bell stopped ringing, did the fox sigh heavily, leaning on the counter. He looked at the sky and offered a small prayer for his apology to at least be heard by her, for she was the last one he needed to make amends with.