Cristina Yang stepped through the front doors of St Michael's School. It was her second day of teaching at the school. She had enjoyed her first day of teaching and was looking forward to continuing for the rest of the term. The children had all seemed eager and willing to learn. At least that was what she hoped.
She headed first to the teachers' lounge to grab a cup of coffee. There were a couple of other teachers there. Each of them smiled at her, as she entered. There was a young woman, having her coffee in the corner of the room, who beckoned her to join. Cristina made herself a cup of coffee before having a seat at the corner table with the woman.
"Hi, glad you could join me," the dark-haired young woman said. "I am Delia Murray. I teach fourth grade. I didn't meet you yesterday, when you first came. Since we are the two youngest teachers here, I thought we should get to know each other. I am 26 and I am guessing you are around that."
"Hi, Delia. I am Cristina Yang," Cristina said, offering her hand to Delia to shake. The two women shook hands. "Good to meet you."
"So you took over from Old Man Fletcher," Delia said, with a grin. "He was practically an institution around here. He was actually the vice-principal at one time, then he retired, and they took him back on contract for one year to teach fifth grade. Well, you now have what used to be my fourth grade class."
"Yes, I have. Anything you need to tell me about them, so I will be prepared for their little tricks," Cristina asked, as she took a sip of her coffee. She was taken aback by how good the coffee tasted. Usually, coffee in the teachers' lounges, usually tasted like a step above dishwater. Well, at least in the ones in the schools where she worked. "Wow, good coffee."
"Well, that is Mrs. Bennett's doing. She is the sixth grade teacher. We are lucky to have her around to make this great coffee. Also, Mr. Stevens, the third grade teacher, has a wife, who loves to bake. So we can usually get cookies, pastries and muffins on a daily basis. We all chip in for a petty cash so that Mrs. Stevens will be able to buy the ingredients for her baked goodies," Delia said.
"That sounds wonderful," Cristina said, picking up a blueberry muffin in the basket in front of her. "Let me know when you are collecting for the petty cash."
"Will do. As for the kids in your class, they are a good bunch, overall. There are a couple of jokesters. Watch out for Rufus Jeffries – he loves to play pranks and is generally a class clown. Talia Blackstone is a very helpful girl. Loves to help out with the administrative side of things. She is also quite bright. Tommy Roberts is lazy so he doesn't make much of an effort but I know he can do the work. Christopher Hunt is also another one to watch but he is different from Tommy in that he isn't lazy but he does just enough to get a good grade and to get by. Right now, he is averaging a B-plus but with just a little more effort, Christopher could be an A student. I just think he needs a little bit of motivation. I will tell you more about the rest, as the days go by," Delia said.
"Thanks for the info. That was very helpful," Cristina said, finishing up her muffin.
"So tell me about yourself. Where are you from and why did you come to Laguna Beach?" Delia asked. "Most of us here are from somewhere else."
"Oh, I am originally from Philadelphia. I went to school at there at UPenn. My great aunt Soo-jung died and left me this classic Laguna Beach cottage with a great view of the ocean. I was trying to escape a bad relationship and it seemed coming to Laguna Beach was a great chance to start over. To start anew," Cristina said. "I needed to do that."
"Oh, yeah, those bad relationships can be a killer," Delia said. "So if we are starting fresh, maybe we can check out a local bar this weekend and see what is out there. You know there are some pretty handsome beach guys around here. All blonde and tanned. We're not looking for relationships, just someone we could have fun with," Cristina laughed. She wasn't really ready for a next relationship after her last one ended so badly but there was nothing wrong with looking.
"That's a date, Delia," she said. The young woman grinned back at her.
"We are going to have a good time, Cristina," Delia said. "Finally, I have someone at work I can hang out with. Thank God the board hired you, Cristina Yang."
"Thank God the board hired me, too or I wouldn't have any money. Anyway, I think I better go to class and see the inhabitants," Cristina said. "I will see you at lunchtime." She got up and headed to her classroom, pondering about what she had just told Delia about her bad relationship. It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the whole truth. Scott was her boyfriend, whom she had dated for two years. Scott was a charmer but also a serial cheater. The first time he had cheated, she had forgiven him and to her, everything seemed fine, until one of her friends had told her that she had seen him holding hands with a blonde woman in a restaurant.
She confronted him and he admitted that it was true. He also admitted that there had been a third woman. That was the final straw. She kicked him out of her apartment and told him never to come back. He begged but she turned a deaf ear. When news came of her inheritance of the house in Laguna Beach, she made up her mind, there and then, that she was going to leave Philadelphia to move to this seaside town. She sold all of her furniture and left Philly with only her clothes, her academic diplomas and a few precious personal belongings and moved into her great-aunt's cottage. The place came fully furnished and she realized that Soo-jung loved the beachy lifestyle, judging from the furnishings. It was a far cry from her Philly apartment but she knew that it was what she liked about it. The view of the ocean was incredible, as she often marveled every morning how lucky she was to be living there.
She got this job at the school after a couple of interviews with the school board and the principal. She had been a teacher in Philadelphia of a seventh grade class but she didn't mind teaching the younger children. In fact, it was refreshing.
As she entered the class, all of the children scrambled to get into their seats. She noticed that there was a bright, shiny, ripe nectarine on her desk. It was neatly wrapped in a pretty pink napkin. She wondered which of the children had left it there for her. She looked around the class and knew, immediately. It was the boy with the reddish-blonde hair in the second row. He had the biggest smile that had enveloped his whole face. What was his name again? Oh, yes, his name was Christopher Hunt. She remembered what Daphne had said about him. All he needed was some motivation and he would be a straight A student. She smiled back at him.
It was a lively morning session, with the children actively participating in the lesson. Cristina was a wonderful teacher, who offered lots of encouragement to the students. She never chided anyone if they got something wrong. Instead, she turned it into a learning opportunity. The children were all eager to learn and please their teacher.
The session was going so well that when the bell rang for the break, there was a collective groan in the classroom. To hear that sound made Cristina feel very gratified that she was doing a great job.
"We will continue after the break," Cristina said. As the children filed out of the classroom to head to the school playground, one child stayed behind.
"Miss Yang," Christopher said, shyly.
"Christopher, why don't you go out and play with the rest of the children? You could grab something to eat or drink, too. You don't have to stay in here with your boring, old teacher," she said. She picked up the nectarine and bit into it. "And thank you for this nectarine. It tastes delicious."
"You knew it was me?" Christopher said, his face lit up that she had figured out that it was him.
"Yes," she said. "But you know that you can't make this a habit. I can't be expecting gifts from my students, no matter how delicious this is. Thank you very much for this, though. I am quite hungry and I am grateful."
"Okay, Miss Yang. I am glad that you like it," he said. Christopher could not stop smiling.
"Run along now," she said. "I will see you back here in 15 minutes." As Christopher left, Cristina savored the rest of the nectarine.
After school, Cristina headed to the local Whole Foods supermarket. She needed only to get a couple of things but found herself lingering in the aisles. She loved shopping at Whole Foods – there was always something new to discover. After lingering a lot longer than she should, she went to the cashiers to check out. Then, she saw him.
He was at a cashier, a couple of lanes away. He was a strawberry blonde man, who seemed to have an awful lot of groceries. There was something familiar about him but she didn't know why. She was certain that she had never met him before. She certainly would have remembered such a tall, handsome man. She spent the next five minute observing him, trying to offload all of his groceries from his trolley. It was rather pleasant viewing, she thought. She wondered what he would like if he were shirtless. She already had the image in her mind.
The cashier's voice broke her out of her reverie, "$64.72. Will that be cash or card?" Cristina shook herself to break herself from her daydream. She dug into her purse and pulled out $65.00 and handed it to the cashier. All the while, she continued to steal glances at the man.
It was during one of those stolen glances that the man looked up and saw her, staring at him. Their eyes met and they both broke out in a smile. Cristina felt a little sheepish at having been caught but it was clear that the man did not mind her looking at him, since he was smiling back at her. They both began flirting with each other with their eyes.
"Here is your change, miss," the cashier said, handing Cristina her 28 cents change.
"Thank you," she said but she really wasn't listening to the cashier but still staring at the man, a couple of lanes away. Then, she saw it. He was wearing a wedding ring. Her expression changed, immediately, and then she quickly turned away. She picked up her bags and headed out of the grocery.
The man had noticed her sudden change of expression and he wondered what had just happened. He then realized that she had seen his wedding ring. He wanted to chase after her to explain why he was wearing a wedding ring but he couldn't really leave the cashier, since he was halfway through checking out his groceries.
When he finally got out of the supermarket, he looked around the parking lot for the small Asian girl with the head of ebony curls. But she was nowhere in sight. She had probably left, already.
"Damn it!" Owen said. He was indeed a frustrated man.
A/N Please leave your thoughts and comments. I really do appreciate when you leave your reviews. I got 31 reviews for my first chapter. That's a record for me. Thank you very much. I hope you continue leaving reviews, please.
