3. Simple Biology and Coolidge Middle School - Part 1

Jess reached the school an hour earlier than usual, bubbling with curious excitement. Dr. Foster had told her to come to school early because he had finally gotten her what she'd been begging for a long time. It was difficult to pinpoint what it could be because she'd been begging him for a lot of things for quite a long time and all he'd ever say was "Soon, Ms. Day. Very soon." His definition of "soon" was obviously very skewed.

But he had actually sounded quite excited while talking to her last evening and had refused to give away what it was because he wanted to see her reaction. True, Dr. Foster always had a quiver of excitement in his voice no matter what it was that he talked about, but secrets had never been his strongest suit. So maybe it was actually something quite unprecedented that he'd planned. Her mind was jumping all over the place, trying to think about what it was that would give her immense happiness.

Maybe it's a new stationery set… Or he'd finally gotten a new pin-up board for her class…. Or even better, maybe she could finally take the class to the beach for a field trip!

She walked through the quiet corridor, marvelling at how silent it sounded. The usual chatter of children was absent and for the first time she had joined, she hadn't had to take someone to the nurse within the first ten minutes of stepping into the school building. She walked towards Foster's office, pausing for a second to have a sip at the water fountain; the fountain was hardly ever free, and hardly ever clean enough to use.

Ha, what do you know, the school is almost a sanctuary of peace in the morning.

As the frosted glass door of Dr. Foster's came into view, she found her curiosity bubbling up again. Filled with anticipatory excitement, she knocked on the door twice, as per custom, before entering the office.

"Ms. Day!" he exclaimed delightedly from behind his desk, gesturing for her to take a seat. Grinning ear to ear, she sat down and looked at him questioningly.

"So Ms. Day," he said, smiling knowingly at her. "I know you've wanted this for a while and-"

"Is my class getting a new pin-up board?" she blurted excitedly, unable to help herself.

Foster laughed with surprise. "Something better!"

"Oh my god, can I finally take the kids to the beach!?"

"No, Ms. Day, I'm afraid that's going to take a while to process. And-"

Jess was about to retort that she supposed nearly a year was long enough a while, but Foster's sentence was interrupted and her words never made it to see the light of day as someone knocked on the door frantically.

The frown dropped off his face, Foster started to smile again, looking expectantly at Jess as he said, "Come on in!"

The door clicked open, followed by a familiar voice apologizing, making Jess freeze in her seat. "I am so sorry I'm late! I got stuck in - Polka Dots!"

Jess was on her feet, eyes wide as she saw Nick walk in, dressed in the same suit she had seen him wear at the book reading but paired with jeans this time. He had stopped in his tracks as well, his eyes meeting hers. He was frozen in the doorway, eyebrows raised as he took in the sight of her in a blue dress that brought out the colour of her eyes. Their shocked stare-off was broken by the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and Jess turned around to see that Foster had stood up.

"Mr. Miller, I presume?" he asked, smiling warmly at Nick.

Nick shook his head, clearly taken aback by the unexpected sight of her. "Yes. Yes, Mr. Foster. That would be me. Nick Miller."

"Wonderful," he smiled, gesturing at him to take a seat, looking at Jess excitedly. "See? I told you it'd be a great surprise!"

"It sure is Dr. Foster," said Jess, chuckling lightly, still not having taken her eyes off Nick. "Believe me, I've never been more surprised in my life."

Nick walked slowly over to the chairs in front of Foster's desk, and Jess sat back down as well, grateful that Foster has always been an oblivious sort of person. The man was intelligent, but was dense in equal parts, always terrible at gauging moods in the room. As Foster continued to look quite pleased with himself, she wasn't quite sure how she could explain to him that the two of them had gotten off on the wrong foot.

"So, Mr. Miller," said Foster. "You were saying earlier about getting stuck in er, polka dots? I don't quite follow."

Jess felt her cheeks turn red with embarrassment as she looked down at her lap, twiddling her thumbs nervously. As she heard Nick mumble something about actually being stuck in traffic, she was glad he didn't explain the Polka Dots; that would probably end up being Foster's new nickname for her and the school would've caught on. While Foster vehemently agreed to Nick's complaints about the traffic, she had a vision of the entire school calling her "Polka Dots" and shuddered.

"I don't always wear polka dots," she thought indignantly. "I'm not wearing any right now. Except for my underwear. But that doesn't count. And-"

"Anyway," said Foster, bringing Jess's attention back from wherever her mind was taking her. "Mr. Miller, this is Ms. Jessica Day…"

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Miller," she said, giving him a smile and hoping she didn't look like she was choking on something because she sure felt like it. She couldn't quite put a finger on why her nerves were acting up. This was definitely not a big deal, and she decided that she had to act like it.

This was merely an instance of having one of her students' (and hers) favourite author at school and have him meet them. They had always wanted to do meet him (as had she), so this would be a good day and she wouldn't ruin it for them. She pictured their smiling faces and all the questions they would probably ask in excitement.

"Ms. Day," he nodded at her, and the slowly forming smug smirk on his face made her wish the children asked him uncomfortable questions.

She chastised herself immediately at the thought because she started feeling like she was being nasty. Nastiness wasn't even in her directory of feelings. But why did he have to be so smug all the time?! It drove her nuts that he found something seemingly funny and she was simply getting agitating by the minute. She felt like a different person altogether and this just wasn't like her.

But this man. God, this man evoked such intense feelings in her.

Intense feelings of anger, of course.

"Her class is a huge fan of your work, Mr. Miller," said Foster, and Jess gave him the side-eye of triumph, grateful at Foster's unintentional collusion to her previous lies. "Thank you for coming to talk to them. In fact, if this goes well, maybe you could come again and talk to more than just one class!"

Nick looked visibly nervous. Loosening his collar slightly, he said, "Um, sure, I guess. But I've never really spoken to kids before and-"

"Don't you worry about that, Mr. Miller!" said Foster, pointing at Jess. "That's why Ms. Day will be with you throughout. She's great with kids and besides, it's her class so I'm sure she can handle them for you."

Oh, great.

Jess wasn't quite looking forward to this because she'd in all likelihood have to be polite and nice to him in front of the students. A part of her was making a disapproving face at her, because really what had Nick done to deserve the hostility she was feeling towards him?

Her (ir)rational mind was telling her that he had been rude to her when they had first met (but was he really?). And then, he had ruined her dress (but was it really his fault?). And well, he was really good looking (and frankly, that wasn't his fault either, was it?).

She found herself frowning at the thought and how shallow it sounded. That just wasn't her style! She couldn't figure out why it was that her mind was going in this direction because she knew (from experience) that she was behaving like a middle schooler. Any normal, adult person would probably just ask for his number or ask him out for a cup of coffee.

Not that I want his number. And I don't even like coffee!

She shook her head mentally at herself. Her mind wasn't making sense at all. It was almost like it was being controlled by her "nether region". It was all out of sorts because she hadn't really acted on her twirliness in a long time. Maybe that was it. Maybe the seemingly eternal singledom was making her brain think these things. It was simple biology!

I just need my Vitamin D.

Oh, god. Get it together, Jessica!

"Ms. Day?"

Startled, Jess blinked a few times before her gaze focused back on Foster who was staring at her with an amused smile. "Did you space out again while I was speaking, Ms. Day?" he asked knowingly.

Jess smiled sheepishly, shooting a side glance towards Nick, who was watching her with raised brows and an amused smile to match Foster's on his face.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Foster. What were you saying?"

"I was just asking you how you wanted to introduce Mr. Miller to your class. Just have him walk in abruptly and have him surprise them? Or introduce him first and then have him walk in? Or maybe-"

"Yes," said Jess quickly, cutting him off. "I think introducing him first would be a better idea. Otherwise it'd be like, you know, a strange man walking into class," she said chuckling nervously, and hurried to clarify as she took in Foster's and Nick's bemused faces. "I-I mean they wouldn't recognise him because there aren't many pictures of him, so because it's the first time, better to er, you know start with the introductions."

Foster nodded and looked at his watch. "Well, you both have half an hour until the kids start to come in. Ms. Day, why don't you show him around the school in the meantime?"

"Of course," she said, standing up and looked at Nick who followed suit.

As Nick thanked Foster, Jess started to walk towards the door, clueless as to how the next half an hour was going to go. Just as her hand was on the doorknob, Nick caught up with her and his hand reached for the doorknob at the same time. She looked at him with raised eyebrows, but merely shrugging, he pulled at the door, his hand enclosing over hers on the doorknob.

Once the door opened, neither of them budged, staring at each other challengingly. "Ladies first," he said.

"Mr. Miller," she said, removing her hand from underneath his and crossing her arms tightly against her chest. "Since you're our guest, please, you first," she finished, gesturing towards the empty corridor.

Nick frowned. "I don't see why this-"

"Is there a problem, Ms. Day?" came Foster's concerned voice.

"No, Dr. Foster," said Jess quickly. "We er, couldn't decide if we should head to the library first or the er, pool."

"I think I'd like to visit the library very much, Ms. Day," said Nick.

"Well, that's decided then," said Jess, putting on a bright smile. "To the library it is."

"Great!" said Nick, and started to smirk. "Lead the way, Ms. Day."

Jess started to say something, but instead throwing a furtive glance at Dr. Foster, stepped out of the office feeling slightly disgruntled. Once again, she felt disapproval directed towards herself.

What was the entire door-scene about!?

She simply couldn't understand why everything about him was setting her off, especially when he was being so nice! Maybe it was that smirk of his. Under normal circumstances, she would've literally melted if someone held the door for her.

'Normal' circumstances? What is so abnormal about this circumstance!?

Nothing. NOTHING.

She jumped when she felt Nick tap her shoulder, turning around with a small squeak.

"Goodness, you scared me!" she said, shaking her head.

"Ms. Day, we were literally just-" he started, but she interrupted him.

"I know, I know. I just…"

"Spaced out? You seem to do that a lot," he said, chuckling lightly.

"Yes, well, what can I say? I love space. Space is my favourite… space, ha," she said, laughing at her own joke.

"Right," said Nick, watching her with amusement. "So, er, to the library?"

As if just realizing he was there too, she looked at him sheepishly and nodded, cheeks flushing slightly. "Right. To the library."

A/N: Sorry, I know the plot isn't going fast and that I'm exploring too much of their psyche. It's necessary for the buildup :')

Also, if any of you notice any grammatical/spelling errors, please do tell. I'm usually writing at night so my brain is too glazed over to notice, lol.

UGH I hate that FF restricts number of characters in chapter titles.