The cold wind bites at Tris's cheeks as she exits her car, shutting and locking the door quickly so she can make her way inside. The walk into her building is short, but the open parking lot provides no shelter from the winter temperatures that arrived overnight. She notices Tobias's car in it's usual parking space as she strides past it, reaching the door as quickly as possible.
Her classroom is in the first hallway, but she glances down the long hall towards the gym before she turns the corner. Shaking her head lightly, she wonders why she even thinks about Tobias anymore. Her job and the daily demands of it were enough; she didn't need the added stress of trying to read his mixed signals thrown into her day.
A new teacher to the building, he'd been friendly enough towards Tris and her class of special education students, accommodating them in gym and providing them with regular assistance during his activities. As the year went on they became friendlier, joking during class time and venting to each other about difficult students and difficult adults in the building. She'd offered a listening ear every time she saw him stressed and worked up, and he'd been more than willing to help her out when she needed it.
"Good morning!" Christina's sing song voice from down the hall put a slight smile on her face. "Happy Wednesday!"
"Yep," Tris shoots back sarcastically. "So happy to be here!" She unlocks her classroom door and swings it open, entering and heading to her desk while she hears Christina coming in after her.
"Cheer up, buttercup. Three more days until Christmas break!" Christina's chipper attitude is uplifting sometimes, yet annoying at others.
"Yeah," Tris replies. "And still 800 things to do before then." She holds up the ever-lasting to do list on her desk. "This isn't shrinking."
Christina waves her off. Tris knows that Christina is busy as well, but sometimes she feels like she carries more responsibility than other teachers in her building. "Well, I was in a team meeting with Sexy PE Teacher yesterday after school," Christina begins, using their nickname for Tobias. "And he mentioned how he can't make the staff Christmas party because he has to go pick his daughter up. He said it's hard to do anything after school because he always has to go get her from school."
Tris doesn't reply, just hits the button to turn on her computer. She's done getting worked up over him.
"Tris, he's telling me that so I will turn around and tell you why he never comes out on Fridays!" Christina says with exasperation.
"Look, I've invited him like five times. He could figure something out. And he has my phone number, so if he wanted to try harder, he could." She'd gotten over the embarrassment of not hearing from him when she emailed him her phone number, letting him know they were going to the bar that evening after work. It wasn't the first time she invited him, and it wasn't the first time he hadn't shown.
"I see the way he looks at you!" Christina says more urgently.
Tris held up her to do list again. "Christina, I don't really want to think about this right now. I've got so much work to do over the next three days, I don't think I can worry about anything else added to my plate ok?"
Throwing her hands up in defeat, Christina nods. "Alright. I'll stop, I promise."
Tris smiles softly, not wanting to take her frustrations out on her friend. "I know you're just trying to help." She runs a hand through her hair. "I just…need to stop thinking about him."
"I know," Christina nods. "I do tend to be slightly nosey."
Snorting with laughter, Tris's mood softens. "Slightly isn't exactly accurate."
"I'll see you at lunch," Christina chimes as she walks out the door.
Tossing her coat on the back of her desk chair, Tris prepares to get to business before the students arrive. They've got a long list of Christmas activities to get done before they take off for break in three days, and the pressure to get all of that done on top of her regular teacher duties has had her up late at night for the past three days.
She's on her way back from the office when she sees Tobias entering the building, his blue Indianapolis Colts winter hat pulled over his ears. He carries his typical gallon of water in one hand, his backpack hanging on both shoulders. He waves when he sees her, offering her a genuine smile. Despite her frustrations with him, she can't help but smile and wave back.
Tobias is the first to stop walking as they approach each other, initiating a conversation.
"Think you can make it three more days?" he asks playfully, as they'd been counting down for the past four weeks of school.
She tilts her head thoughtfully. "It's touch and go right now."
Chuckling, he brings his hand up to scratch his beard, a gesture Tris finds incredibly sexy despite never being one to totally love facial hair. "I feel the same every day when it hits about 12:00," he says in reference to his poorly behaved afternoon classes.
"Sometimes I feel that way at 7:30," she shoots back with a smile, referring to the time the students arrive at school.
Tobias laughs, a genuine gesture that Tris finds herself doing with him often as well. "Well, good luck," he says, and Tris nods in response as she begins to walk away.
"You too!" she calls over her shoulder.
It's moments like those that she feels some sort of…something…between them. The way he's sure to stop and talk to her when they cross paths in the hall, the regular laughs they share together. She doesn't see him talking to other teachers the way he talks to her, but could it just be her imagination.
"Go back to your seat," Tris states firmly to a misbehaving student. "You need to think about your behavior and the choices you're making."
"I'm not doing anything!" Myra whines for what is at least the twentieth time that day.
"Myra, you can either begin to work, or you will move to yellow," Tris says calmly. When Myra continues her complaints and whines about moving her clip down on the behavior chart, Tris calmly moves towards the cabinet where it hangs and adjusts the clip.
Taking a deep breath, she focuses back on the activity she was organizing for the afternoon, spreading craft supplies out over the table. She can hear Myra mumbling things to herself, disrespectful words and complaints about her. Despite her cognitive disadvantage, Myra is definitely the most challenging student in Tris's class. Her constant argumentative attitude, inability to take redirection, and desire to be disruptive and rude was overwhelming the entire classroom, pulling Tris away from students who truly needed her help to complete assignments and learn daily living skills.
What bothered Tris the most was Myra's attitude towards other students, taking advantage of the lower functioning students and manipulating them, while also bullying and making fun of them. On top of that, it was clear that Myra enjoyed getting on the nerves of any adults in the classroom.
"Ms. Susan," Myra calls from behind her to a classroom paraprofessional. "I wasn't doing anything wrong!"
Ignoring Myra, Ms. Susan continues on with the student she's already working with, and Tris does her best to tune her out. She sets out more supplies, but she can already feel the weight of the day crushing her energy and her attitude. Myra's behavior had been constant, sucking the life out of her since the bus had pulled up that morning.
A soft knock on the door draws her attention away, and she turns her head to see whose knocking. At the door is Tobias, and she nods at him to come in. He enters, taking a few steps to get nearer to Tris.
"Hey," he says with raised eyebrows, as if he can sense the tension in the classroom. His eyes flick over to Myra, knowing she's the source of stress in Tris's daily life. "Are you bringing the kids in for free time today?" His eyes roam over Tris's face. "I wanted to leave the equipment closet open if you are."
"I don't know why Miss Prior moved me to yellow!" Myra whines from behind her, her volume increasing. "I'm not doing this work! I didn't do nothing wrong!" She begins to mumble under her breath.
Tris turns away from the class, facing the wall, leaning back against the table. "No, we aren't. But thanks." She smiles weakly at him, then notices his attention has diverted and his eyes settle just behind her.
"Miss Prior, I wasn't doing nothing wrong!" Myra stands behind Tris on the opposite side of the table, giggling in between her complaints.
"Myra, go back to your desk," Tris says with a calm, even voice that Tobias can tell is wearing thin.
"But I –"
Not letting her finish the sentence, Tris's sharp voice cuts her off. "Go back to your desk or you will be moving to orange!"
Stomping her foot behind her, Myra opens her mouth, but this time is cut off by Tobias.
"Go sit down, Myra." His voice is gentle, but only because he's noticed the tears that have welled up in Tris's eyes. He's seen her stressed and upset, but he's never seen her pushed to tears.
Myra attempts to step around the table, probably wanting to evaluate why Tris is quiet now. Instead, he holds a hand up to stop Myra and takes a step towards Tris. "She asked you to go sit down, and I asked you to go sit down. If you can't do that, I'll call an administrator." He taps the walkie talkie on his hip that he uses to communicate with the office.
That's enough to make Myra back off, with a few statements muttered under her breath and several stomps of her feet. With tear filled eyes, Tris looks up at him gratefully but remains silent.
He knows exactly how she feels in that moment, not wanting to show weakness to her students but also the feeling of defeat. She'd witnessed the same situation in his physical education class, recalling the way he'd thrown her glances of desperation while she attempted to supply moral support and minor interventions with the class.
Glancing up around the room, he gets Susan's attention quickly and nods down to Tris and then to the door, effectively conveying he's going to take her out of the room. Susan nods sympathetically, knowing just as much as he does how stressed she's been. Luckily the rest of the classroom staff is present and the class is fully supervised to allow Tris leave.
Putting his fingertips lightly on her elbow, he urges her to stand from the table she's leaning on. Her eyes flutter open and meet his, and he nonchalantly nods to the door behind him. She starts to turn to Susan and the other staff members, but he shakes his head. "I got it," he whispers, and he backs up to the door, opening it and urging her to follow him by her elbow.
"I can't take this anymore," she releases as soon as they're in the hallway with the door closed, allowing a few tears to roll down her cheeks. "She is draining me every day. It's non-stop, constant. Imagine what you saw just now…but all day long. Every minute. There's not a positive thing that comes out of her mouth."
"I know," he says softly. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when he pulled Tris out into the hallway, he just knew that she needed an escape, even if it was brief.
He finds himself putting a hand on her back, rubbing between her shoulder blades as she takes a few deep breaths of composure.
"I might have lost it if you didn't intervene in there." Her admission is quiet, like she's embarrassed to admit how defeated she feels. "I don't know what else to do with her."
"You're doing the best you can, Tris. That girl has more than a plateful of mental problems, I think." Hearing what Tris had told him in the past and his own observations with Myra had made him understand Tris's frustrations with her. She wasn't a typical special needs student, and Tris felt guilty that all of the other students in the classroom were subjected to her behaviors.
"God, I can't believe I'm crying," she whispers as she wipes her cheeks. "So embarrassing."
Tobias shrugs, not caring that Tris is so emotional. "Hey, you've seen me at my worst during 8th hour many times."
"That was your worst?" she jokes, knowing that it truly was. "At least you didn't shed any tears."
He chuckles at her response. "Three more days, Tris. Then you get to recharge. Hang in there." Squeezing her shoulder lightly, he gives her a genuine, encouraging smile, making her smile enough in return to head back into her challenging classroom.
As she turns to grab the door, she looks back at him. "Hey, Tobias…thanks."
He shrugs and grins, as if his support is no big deal. But to Tris, it means a lot more.
Tris turns her head as she hears the door to her classroom open, wondering who could be coming in after school hours. The students have left, and she just wants to clean up some parts of the room before heading home for the evening. Both mentally and physically exhausted, she's ready for the day to be over.
It's Tobias standing in her doorway, leaning on the door frame with one hand on his hip. Her heart clenches at the sight of him, one she could never get sick of. "You survived," he observes.
"Barely," she says with a roll of her eyes. It's almost painful for her to remember the heightened stress level she had today with the kids.
Tobias lets the door close behind him as he approaches Tris, leaning one hip on the counter where she's currently working on reorganizing. "Only two more days now," he replies in attempt to cheer her up.
"I know," she sighs, turning to face him, mimicking his stance against the counter. "It's just…hard. And it's getting harder every day. I don't know how much longer I can do this." Her admission is quiet, almost as if she was afraid to say it out loud.
"You can't think that way." He shakes his head. "You're a good teacher, Tris. The kids love you. Let Myra roll off your back."
She sighs again, knowing Tobias is right. "Thanks, but easier said than done."
"Even the kids in your class that are in my PE class, they've learned a lot so far this year. They've grown a lot, because of you." Tobias's eyes stay fixated on her, waiting for her to look up and meet his gaze. "You're funny, you're smart, and you're extremely innovative."
Tris can feel the heat rising in her neck. Why is he complimenting her like this? It's new territory, and he's never spoken to her this way before.
"You have some really valuable qualities, Tris."
Raising her head, she finally brings her eyes to meet his, and his blue eyes stare into hers with a depth she's never felt before. "Thank you," she finally squeaks out, nervous about the way he's looking at her.
Tobias doesn't speak, but just looks at her intently as he steps forward a bit, closing the gap between them and reaching out. His fingertips touch her elbow like they did earlier that day, gently urging her to move close to him.
Following his lead, her body becomes flush against his, her head tipping back to look at him.
"Tobias…"
"Can I kiss you?" His voice is throaty and almost nervous, worry of rejection written across his face.
Tris doesn't answer, but stands up on her tiptoes to meet his mouth. He reciprocates without faltering, both of his hands finding their way onto her hips.
Wanting to keep it simple and not get over-excited, Tris places her hands on his abdomen. Her fingers grace across his solid stomach muscles and he sighs into her kiss, content with the way her hands are resting him.
It's Tris who finally pulls away, a content noise escaping her mouth as she rests back on her feet and looks up at him. A smile dances across his face as his thumb rubs small circle around her hip. "I hope that made your day better," he finally teases.
"Eh, just a little," she says with a smile and a small shrug.
He shifts his weight uncomfortably before continuing. "I just…wish I didn't have to do that at school. Because…we…you know…we had to stop sooner than I liked. "
Tris attempts, and likely fails, to suppress the blush that she feels creeping up her cheeks. "Well, maybe we can do that again sometime."
"We definitely will."