"I'm walking on sunshine! Oh oh, and don't it feel good!" Arizona sang as she danced around her apartment, despite it being the early hour of five o'clock. She decided that she could sulk for just a short time on Saturday, and then she had to let go of her short lived high and quick deescalation from Friday night with she who shall not be named. After truly thinking about what happened, Arizona had to admit that it was best that whatever may have started, ended when it did.
So Arizona was a good man in a storm and put the weekend behind her, ready to take on a new work week. She was excited because she had some really great lesson plans and resources to use this week. She was convinced that one of these days she would get through to her students one way or another.
Driving to work, Arizona had the music turned up to an ungodly volume to force thoughts of a certain brunette from her head. She reluctantly lowered the volume as she pulled into her favorite Dunkin drive through. "Good morning. What can I get for you today?"
Arizona chewed on her lip as she weighed the various options in her head, before deciding to get her typical. "Yes. Can I get a medium iced caramel coffee with cream. No sugar."
The woman on the other end of the static filled box gave Arizona her total and asked her to pull around. Arizona got her coffee and drove mindlessly to work. Naturally, her thoughts went
to the last topic she wanted to think about, her teacher coach. Despite the time she allowed on Saturday to ruminate over the incident with the woman, Arizona still couldn't figure out what went wrong. She was fairly certain it wasn't her...well her competence. No one had ever complained before. She knew that Callie being her teacher coach could complicate things but she also didn't see how them dating or whatever they would have done would affect either of their jobs. It's not like Callie would officially be observing her.
Mentally slapping herself as she pulled into the school parking lot, an hour and a half before she had to be there, Arizona vowed that she was not allowed to think about Friday's incidence at school.
"Alright everyone, I'm going to give you your exit slip paper. Remember to just try your best based on what we learned about multiplying fractions today. When you're finished, place your exit slip in the bin you think it goes with and then you're free to use the bathroom. You should read your weekly book until everyone has finished and we are ready to begin writing."
Arizona smiled as she looked around the room. Most students dropped their heads to their papers and began writing furiously as she put the problems up on the smart board. Her lesson went really well today. It should have, considering she put all of her pent up energy from Friday into her plans this week. They were also in a good mood and behaving relatively well without having to put on a pony show. She took a sip of her coffee and began pulling up materials for the next lesson on her computer as the students completed their exit slips. All seemed right again. Finishing her Dunkin for the day, she turned to the contraband Keurig she kept in the classroom to make more. She filled the basin and just put in her favorite french macaroon coffee when there was a knock at the door. Assuming it was April coming to get coffee for herself, Arizona turned around and her face fell. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath, praying that none of her current little angels heard her.
The beautifully sculpted brunette with the most delicious, full lips was definitely not April. And as Arizona's luck would have it, said brunette chose the same moment the Keurig began to brew to walk into the room. A quiet "pshhhhh" was easily heard. Arizona thought of the irony with this being the moment her students decided to be perfect angels and not make a peep. Thankfully, Callie gave her a slight smile and nod before making her way to the back of the room again. Arizona mentally wiped a hand over her forehead.
With all of Arizona's careful planning this weekend, she was pleasantly surprised when she finished another successful lesson. Her students were putting finishing touches on their 4-square about their favorite Thanksgiving Parade float, and she almost completely forgot that Callie was sitting in the back of her room with her perfect flowing hair and dark, soulful eyes. Okay, she did say almost.
Feeling the spot between her thighs tingle, Arizona was extremely relieved when she noticed the time.
"I'm going to set the timer for one minute. Once it goes off, Jayda will collect your papers and I need you to clean the room and show you're ready for lunch."
Arizona encountered another pleasant surprise when a mere minute and half later, all of her students were cleaned up and sitting with their hands folded on their desks. She also happened to notice Callie typing furiously on her computer with a slight smile on her face. Maybe this day wasn't doomed.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Arizona entered her room with her warmed up lunch and confidently walked to the back table. "Good afternoon, Callie."
Callie finished typing on her laptop, closed it, then looked at Arizona. "Good afternoon, Arizona. That was a great lesson you put on. The environment was very different from Friday. I'm pretty certain that Friday's are a curse put on all teachers on a weekly basis."
Arizona couldn't help the small smile that made its way across her face. "Can't say I disagree."
Callie didn't respond immediately and Arizona took the awkward moment to put some of her Nourish Bowl into her mouth. Mid-chew, Callie spoke. "I didn't plan to bring this up at this exact moment, but I'm not sure I can sit here much longer without bringing it up."
"Just when I was beginning to forget Friday…" Arizona replied, allowing her sentence to go incomplete.
"Like I said, I didn't want to bring it up but it feels inevitable. I know it's complicated. Would you prefer another mentor? I can see about making arrangements."
Arizona wiped her mouth and contemplated Callie's question. She knew she should tell Callie to request a different mentor, but at the same time, that would mean that Arizona would probably not see the woman again. Despite the previous Friday, Arizona wasn't ready for that option. "I don't feel that's necessary."
Callie let out, what Arizona felt was a relieved breath. "Okay. Great. So let's continue on to your lesson today, and maybe you can brew me some coffee with your contraband Keurig."
Sitting at home, eating Chinese, Arizona actually felt pretty good about her day. The kids were well behaved while Callie was there and by the end of their meeting, they both seemed to be significantly less awkward around one another. Which was why she justified buying Chinese for dinner. She was just finishing up her last bite of chicken lo mein when her phone buzzed with a text from April. 'I may or may not need to go to Target to get a pregnancy test.'
Arizona almost spewed all of her lo mein all over the floor before casting the to-go container aside and texting April back. 'WHAT?!"
'I'll explain in 5...which is when I'll be picking you up.'
Entirely antsy to hear what was going on with April, Arizona threw all of the containers out, threw on the closest pair of sweats and a tshirt and shot down the stairs to wait for April. As soon as she saw her blue tinted headlights, Arizona ran out of the building and almost tore off April's door handle. "Explain. Now."
"Fine, but you are not allowed to say anything until I'm done."
Arizona acknowledged April's request by zipping her lips and throwing away the key.
"So you remember when I had to go to the doctor's about a month ago because of that gash on my forehead from falling down the stairs?"
Arizona attempted a nod without allowing her laughter to escape, remembering April's fall.
"Well, the plastic surgeon who stitched up my face kind of asked me out. We went to Joe's for a drink and it was all downhill from there. We have been hooking up since. And I only noticed this morning that I should have gotten my period three days ago."
Sitting with her lips clamped together, Arizona bounced in her seat while gesticulating with her hands at her mouth. April dramatically rolled her eyes before allowing Arizona to speak.
"So are we excited about this or is this some scandal that we are hiding?"
"Well we aren't screaming to the rooftops, but I can't say I'm super disappointed."
Letting out a squeal, Arizona reached across the console to hug April. I'm so excited for you April. I know this isn't something planned, but I think you'll be a great mom. Have you told the doctor?"
"Jackson. His name is Jackson. Not yet. I don't want to say anything if this doesn't end up being anything."
Arizona was literally skipping down the baby aisle in Target, with April trolling behind her pretending to not be blissfully excited. "I can't believe I'm going to be an aunt," squealed Arizona as she almost collided with the row of strollers.
"Is there a reason you're more excited than me? I haven't even gone to a doctor yet to confirm."
"Well Ms. Pessimist, I know the TEN pregnancy test you took aren't a definite, but there's never any harm at looking at adorable tiny human clothes!"
Smiling when April gave into the baby bliss, Arizona grabbed her hand and dragged her down the next aisle before coming to an abrupt stop. The previous chipper mood of the blonde immediately deflated like a helium balloon. April almost collided into Arizona. "What the heck, Arizona?"
As soon as April said Arizona's name, Callie detached her lips from a leggy blonde and looked at the two, a blush immediately crawling up her face. "Good evening, Arizona. It seems I'm destined to run into you in public."
Arizona couldn't even speak, her mouth just hung open. Beside her, April was equally as silent. Arizona assumed she was working through the scene in front of her. "Yes. We do keep running into one another. This is my friend from school, April. We should get going."
Grabbing April's hand, Arizona went down the aisle just as quickly as before, but definitely not as chipper. She hated herself for the tears she felt to begin to form in her eyes.
"What was that all about?" April asked as she was pulled towards the front of the store.
"Remember the woman I told you about the bar on Friday?"
"The one that left you high and dry? Wait, that was her?" April asked incredulously.
"The one and only," replied Arizona, resentment clearly in her voice.
"Well it's probably best that you both moved on from that. Not sure how the district would respond."
"Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound, April."
Arizona could hardly make it up the stairs of the large high school. Coffee in one hand, and eyes barely open, she reluctantly make it to room 306. She couldn't believe that the School District of Seattle was cruel enough to make new teachers come to induction on Saturday mornings, on top of all the other crap they were going through. It had already been a hard week. Granted, that was mostly due to seeing the brunette lip locked with someone who wasn't her. On top of that, Arizona beat herself up for caring so much about someone she just met and was merely a resource for her and her professional career. Taking a long sip of coffee, Arizona moved her thoughts to today as she approached her room. Said coffee almost came shooting out of her mouth as she saw the last person she wanted to see this morning, greeting other inductees: Callie. "Good morning, Arizona. I'm so glad you could make it today. Go ahead in and sit where your name plate is."
Blinking a few times, Arizona walked into the room and as directed, found her name plate. Naturally, her "A" name has her sitting smack dab in front of the teacher's desk, AKA, Callie's desk for the day. Arizona was in her self-pitying thoughts of woe me, and questioning how the hell she ended up in Callie's induction class, despite there being over 50 classrooms, when Callie walked into the room. Arizona pretended as if the woman didn't phase her as she got her computer, notebook, and pens out. Of course the more she pretended not to care, the more she cared. It didn't help that Callie was wearing the most amazing ass hugging jeans with a casual black v-neck tee that allowed a subtle, yet very appealing, amount of cleavage to show. Next think Arizona knew, she missed Callie's entire intro into her induction.
"Honestly, we should get a refund from our college programs. I don't feel prepared at all. Of course we came up with behavior management plans and wrote a philosophy of discipline, but those don't touch the issues we deal with on a daily basis."
Everyone at Arizona's group nodded along with what she said. "I completely agree. I don't feel like I'm teaching at all," Stephanie added to Arizona's previous comment.
"It's definitely a challenge, but it gets better. It's just the battles you choose to confront as a teacher. Deal with snooty, rich parents, or deal with kids who have been dealt a bad hand," Brittany responded, the woman who was currently in her third year of teaching and had to get induction completed to keep her certification.
Voices started to quiet, so Arizona looked up to see Callie walking around with a hand in the air, their signal to get quiet. "I heard many of your conversations about the struggles you're currently facing this year. I have good and bad news based off of my observations. The good news is, you all shared similar concerns. Therefore, you're not alone. The bad news is, you have a tall mountain to climb from here and it may take up to three years to reach the top of that mountain. However, we are all here to support each other to reach a common goal. With those final thoughts, your homework until we meet again in two weeks is to observe a veteran teacher at your school and make observations using the attached t-chart. Now, I will no longer hold you on your precious Saturday. Have a great weekend everyone."
Arizona began packing up and couldn't help thinking about how good of a mentor Callie actually was. She didn't make anyone feel like she was superior or that they weren't good at their jobs. Stephanie and Brittany interrupted Arizona from her thoughts. "It was great meeting you. At least we can struggle through these Saturday sessions together," responded Brittany as she waved goodbye.
Stephanie and Arizona had stayed back talking and exchanged numbers. "Well I'll see you at Starbucks next Saturday then to do teacher stuff," Stephanie laughed as she gave Arizona a quick hug.
It was that moment, when Arizona realized that she was left alone in the room...with Callie.