Hey roomfriends! This is my first fic and it's going to be a multi-chapter! I got the idea from the episode "Clavado en un Bar," and I love AU stories. I've got a lot of plans for this story, but since I'm busy with college stuff, I'll probably only have time to update once every week and a half or so. If anyone has any fic-writing tips or anything, feel free to message me on my tumblr, lockedinabirdcage! Hope you guys like it so far!
-Haley (lockedinabirdcage)
"Miss Day, I'm sorry, but due to budget cuts, this is the only option we have while the building is being renovated this year! Otherwise we're going to have to start laying off teachers, and you, unfortunately, would be one of the first to go due to seniority." Principal Foster stated matter-of-factly. He stood at the front of the teacher's lounge before all of the faculty members of Coolidge Middle School looking disgruntled at his employees.
Jessica Day sighed in exasperation and ran her hands through her long, dark hair, her brow furrowing in frustration. This was not how she was planning for the upcoming school year to go. Her classroom only fit about thirty kids as it was, and now her students would have to be sharing desks, and she would have to be sharing her classroom and her class time with another teacher.
She straightened up in her chair and smoothed her dress over her knees, letting her unceasing optimism take over her mind. Maybe it would be even better than last year—and last year, her students all passed the state tests with flying colors. Maybe she'd become best friends with the teacher she'd be sharing a room with. The more she thought about it, the more the idea began to appeal to her. She had always had a bit of a hard time making friends with the other teachers since she started teaching at Coolidge last year. She hadn't even met all of the faculty yet (none of them seemed to be interested in her Muffin Monday Mornings or her Jam-borees she'd organize).
She began to get excited thinking about all of the possibilities having another teacher and more students in the room. They could stay after school together and collaborate on lesson plans and grade assignments together over tea. They could bond over their lives and order Chinese food when they got backed up on work and had to stay after school for hours at a time. Maybe they would start hanging out outside of school and could knit together, craft together, or get drinks together and be each other's wing-women! With two teachers, they could teach the students in a more diverse way and end up helping the students more than if they only had one teacher.
Jess looked around the jam-packed teacher's lounge, wondering who her new partner-in-crime would be. As she looked through the crowd of women, her eyes landed upon the music teacher, Paul Genzslinger. God, he's so hot, she thought, absentmindedly pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. What if I get paired with him? She hadn't even thought about if she got paired with someone like Paul! Her heart started beating faster thinking of how perfect it would be if she had to share a classroom with Paul. They could turn lessons into musicals to entertain the kids while they learn! They could eat lunch together in their classroom and throughout the year as they got closer and closer, Paul would eventually admit his feelings for her and they'd fall in love and—
"Miss Day? Jessica?" Principal Foster's stern voice shook her out of her daydream, startling her.
"Yes?" she said, blinking rapidly as she realized that while she had been so caught up thinking of her future teaching partner, she'd been staring at Paul the entire time. She felt her face heat up, as she realized everyone was staring at her. Great. This totally isn't going to help me get any friends here, let alone a potential boyfriend.
Principal Foster cleared his throat, "I said, you will be sharing a classroom with Mr. Miller, one of our history teachers."
Mr. Miller? History teacher? As Principal Foster began to move on to the next agenda of the meeting, Jess raised her hand to ask why on earth she would be paired with a history teacher instead of another one of the English teachers. Coolidge Middle School was a pretty big public school in Los Angeles. Most of the families whose children attended it were not very well-off financially, and the school didn't get much funding, but there were several teachers for each subject between fifth and eighth grade. Jess saw no reason that she should get paired with some history teacher she didn't even know. She looked around the room, searching for whom Mr. Miller could be, considering there weren't exactly a ton of male teachers at Coolidge, when she saw a rugged, scruffy man in a flannel shirt stand up.
"Excuse me, Principal Foster, but can we back up the conversation for a second," the man she assumed was Mr. Miller, asked, his hands held outward in confusion and his eyebrows knotted together in annoyance. Principal Foster paused, raising his eyebrows questioningly and gestured for Mr. Miller to continue. "Now, nothing against Miss Day, here, but why the hell am I being holed up with her? Why not ole' Sue, the world history teacher? Or Mr. Smith, the ancient history teacher? Just—why not another history teacher?" Mr. Miller[HB1] began to sound a bit desperate, his voice becoming a bit shriller, "I mean, an English teacher? I'm not even convinced I know how to read; I've just memorized a lot of words."
Jess sat in her chair, perplexed[HB2] . I was wondering the same thing, but what the heck is his problem? He's not sure he knows how to read? He sure seems a lot more hell-bent on getting out of rooming with me than I am…is he sweating through his shirt..?
Principal Foster rolled his eyes, "Mr. Miller, all of the history teachers are doubled up, and all of the English teachers are doubled up; this is just how it turned out. A few classes are even tripled up! I figured it would be easier to collaborate an English and history class together as opposed to history and math or English and science, for that matter. Now, would you two stop interrupting me! You're lucky you only have to share a classroom with each other and not a third person. You'd think I was asking you to marry each other—you're worse than the kids in group projects! Now, if you'd let me continue: the school events coming up for September are…"
The rest of the faculty meeting proceeded uneventfully after the initial shock that all of the teachers would have to be sharing classrooms, with discussions over classroom rosters, bake sales, and the annual Coolidge Middle School winter formal. There was only one week left before school was supposed to start[HB3] .
As Jess walked out of the teacher's lounge after the meeting was dismissed, she walked down the hallway, trying to concentrate on finding her new classroom through the sounds of drilling, hammering, and construction workers yelling at each other. She tried to duck around a ladder that was taking up most of the hallway without disturbing the man on it, but being the klutz she is, she tripped into it, dropping the books she was carrying and almost knocking the man on the ladder off of it.
"Geez, lady, watch where ya' goin' would'ja?! I'm workin' up here!" The man yelled down at Jess, sneering at her as he steadied himself on the ladder that led up to a gaping hole in the ceiling of the hallway.
Jess gasped as she tried to gather up her papers and books that had slid all around and underneath the ladder, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, sir, I'm just trying to find my new classroom so I can start organizing it and-"
"Listen, lady, I don't care; I'm just here to do my job and you should go do your's instead'a talkin' my ear off," the construction worker raked his eyes up and down her body with no subtlety from atop the ladder, "but if you wanna talk my ear off after work back at my place, we could continue over a couple'a beers." he raised his eyebrows suggestively and winked at Jess, beginning to climb down the ladder.
Jess tried to hurry to get all of her papers so she could get out of there, but kept dropping them in her haste. What a creep, she thought disgustedly, as she fumbled, dropping another book.
"Here, lemme help ya, dollface[HB4] …" the construction worker said in a low voice, as he reached the ground and began snaking an arm around Jess' waist, his hand moving down her hip to her thigh.
"Ugh, get off of me, I don't need your help-" she said agitatedly, trying to push the man away, but he only tightened his grip on her.
"[HB5] Aye, ladies don't talk to the men like that where I come from, darlin', why don't 'ya—" he began to say, but was cut off by another voice.
"Hey pal, get your grubby hands off of her! What the hell, man?!"
It was Mr. Miller. He had just walked into this end of the hallway, holding a few books and a burrito. He strode over toward Jess and the construction worker who still had his arm around her and pushed him out of the way. He helped Jess up from the tiled floor, her papers and books spilling out of her arms again.
"Our room is that one right at the end of this hallway, 4D. Finish grabbing up the rest of your supplies on the floor and I'll take care of this clown." Mr. Miller said, nodding his head toward the principal's office and grabbing the construction worker by the vest.
"Oh, I see how it is; just have ya little boyfriend come to ya rescue. You women are so dramatic sometimes-" the construction worker started to say.
Mr. Miller started to drag the man down the hallway by the loops of his vest. "I'll be back to help you start setting up the room, Miss Day."
Jess stood bewildered in the middle of the hallway beside the gigantic ladder with all of her papers and books strewn across the floor. What the hell just happened? Did that seriously just happen in a middle school? she thought, making a mental note to propose having an assembly on sexual harassment for the students and faculty this year.
Jess finally gathered up all of her belongings and continued walking down the hall, looking for room 4D. It was the last door on the left. She opened the door, went and set her belongings down on the desk and peered around the room. The desks and chairs were disorganized, the walls and bulletin boards were bare, and the white board had crude doodles drawn all over. It's a good thing I brought my heavy duty expo markers and erasers! After surveying the amount of work that would have to go into the room within the next week, along with estimating how long it would probably take Jess to write out her lesson plans for the first week of school, she dug into her craft bag to find her heavy duty white board erasers and began to work on getting rid of the phalluses on the board when Mr. Miller walked into the room.
He walked in, set his things on the desk by Jess,' sat down in the chair and began stuffing his face with a burrito.
Jess cleared her throat, "Uh, thanks for…helping me back there, Mr. Miller, that was really kind of you."
"Call me Nick." he replied between bites of his burrito, "It's no problem, Miss Day, honestly, that guy was an ass. I took him to Principal Foster and told him about what happened. He said he'd talk to the head of construction about it so that nothing like that happens again, especially since the kids are coming back next week and the construction workers will be working on the school all year."
Jess turned and smiled gratefully at him. "Well, thank you, Nick. It was really gallant of you."
Nick looked at her with a chunk of salsa hanging off of his lip and scrunched up his eyebrows. Jess tried not to laugh at his face. He looks like a turtle. she thought, stifling her laughter.
"Gallant? Isn't that what a horse does?"
Jess glanced at him in disbelief and confusion, "Are you talking about…galloping..?" she asked. "I said 'gallant,' like brave or heroic."
Nick nodded, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "Oh, so, like a knight, then[HB6] ?"
She laughed, "Yeah, sure, like a knight."
Jess finished cleaning off the white board and went to start straightening up the students' desks. Nick finished his burrito (very messily, by the way) and helped Jess set up the room. Once the desks and chairs were in order, Nick sat down at the front of the room and put his feet on the desk. Jess began rummaging through her crafting bag, pulling out mason jars full of various colors of glitter, yarn, construction paper, scissors, knitting needles, paints, pencils, and markers. Nick looked at the pile of crafting supplies dumbfounded and then at Jess' craft bag.
"Is….that…the bag the grandma in Halloweentown had?" he asked quietly, "Are you a witch, Jessica?" his tone became very serious as his gaze met her's. "Because I don't know if I can share a room with—"
Jess cut him off enthusiastically, "No, of course not! This is my crafting bag!" she added laughing, "I can't exactly bring my crafting table or even my portable crafting table to school since there isn't enough room for either of them in the classroom, so I brought my crafting bag!"
Nick began to examine the glitter, picking up a mason jar full of shiny bright blue confetti, turning it around in his hands to reflect the light, "Why do you have this stuff in mason jars?"
"Aren't they cute? I saw the idea on pinterest and I just had to update my glitter supply since they were just in the containers I bought them in." she said picking up the jar of gold glitter.
Nick set the jar he was holding down on the desk. "Mason jars are for canning peppers and selling moonshine out of your back door, not glitter, Jess." he chuckled. "What are you even gonna do with all of this stuff, Jess? These kids are in seventh grade; there's no real reason for them to be making crafts in an English or history class anymore."
Jess looked at him appalled and gasped in mock horror, "Nicholas, art benefits the soul. Crafting relieves stress. Our job is to shape the minds of the future of our society! To cultivate learning in a wonderful, loving environme—"
Nick rolled his eyes at her and cut her off. "Jess. We're here to teach them how to take state tests and to ignore their bullies so that they can build character, so they don't grow up to be assholes. Education isn't a right; it's a privilege. There's no need for glitter and…giant needles?" He picked up her knitting needles and looked at Jess like she was crazy. "Oh, man, I did get roomed with a witch!"
Jess grabbed her the needles out of Nick's hands aggressively, "Those are my knitting needles, thank you very much, Miller." she huffed in annoyance, "Education is the most noble profession in the world! Our students are the future! They need nurtured and encouraged. They need our guidance. We need to be a ray of sunshine in their cloudy day—or maybe a rainbow, if you will."
"These kids need to be shown how the real world is, Day." Nick replied, "L.A. will eat these kids alive if we make 'em think life is just gonna consist of singing kumbuya in a knitting circle while they eat your frilly little muffins and read Hairy Otter."
"Harry Potter, Nick, it's only the most well-known young adult fantasy series about a wizard ever. Are you serious?"
Nick pointed at Jess accusingly, "I knew you were a witch!" he yelled.
Jess rolled her eyes at him and started gathering up her crafting supplies, "I'm going to go make a bulletin board of famous authors and it's going to be covered in glitter from my mason jars, whether you like it or not, Miller." Jess flipped her hair as she turned and walked to the other side of the room with her craft bag. What a grump, she mumbled under her breath. She glanced at Nick over her shoulder. He was sitting at the large wooden desk in the front of the room, going through papers for lesson plans and writing notes down, probably, she assumed. Jess sighed and began humming to herself while she started working on sketching a picture of Emily Dickinson for her bulletin board. I'll win him over, she thought, we'll be great friends by the end of this school year, I'm sure of it.
With that thought in mind, Jess continued crafting as Nick sat on the other side of the room, writing in his leather-bound notebook.
Yes, he thought triumphantly, finally done with the first chapter.
Nick glanced at Jess across the room, busy at work on her board of famous authors and self-consciously tried to hide that he was staring at her. She laid on her stomach on the floor, her feet absent-mindedly swinging back and forth in the air like one of those girls in cliché teen movie. Her red sundress was draped over the middle of her thighs and Nick shook his head to keep himself from getting distracted by her long legs. He made a note in his book to add that to her description in his book.
His mind drifted back to the meeting this morning when he tried to make it seem like he was appalled at the thought of being stuck in a room with Jessica Day all year. He had been sure any of the other teachers could see the sweat soaking through the back of his shirt. "Just talk to her, Nick," He remembered his roommate, Schmidt, saying to him, "I'll even talk you up to her next time I'm over at Cecelia's if you want. I mean, the woman wears pajama sets and knits! There aren't exactly a line of suitors banging down her door to bang her if you know what I mean. You can't just keep watching her at school every day and then hiding behind the nearest trash can when she turns toward you. It's creepy, man."
Nick groaned in frustration over his notebook. Jess looked up from her construction paper, her piercing blue eyes wide in question. Nick cleared his throat loudly, "Uh, n-nothing. Just, uh, lesson plans, ya know?" He was already sweating through his shirt again at the tiniest lie. He laughed nervously, hoping that she wouldn't press him on it. She nodded and turned her attention back to her project. Nick let out a sigh of relief and looked at Jess across the room.
God, I had no idea she was just as stubborn as me. She's going to hate me by the end of the year! What am I doing?
Nick looked down at his notebook and reread the last sentence he wrote, wondering how he would ever get to the end of this story.
"Jessica Night was the whole reason Pepperwood got out of bed in the morning, and he'd be damned if he was going to let her get away."