I sit through the meeting listening to the principal, Mr. Silverson, talk about how this year is going to be the best yet. And how they are excited about the new renovations that were made to the gym and library over the summer.
At the end of his 30 minute speech, he says, "Now, let's welcome our new 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Beatrice Prior, who will be replacing Mrs. Maitlan who retired last year. Ms. Prior, would you like to come up and share something about yourself?"
I slowly stand up and look at all the eyes on me, making me blush slightly. I walk to the front of the room, "Hi, as Mr. Silverson said I'm Beatrice Prior, but I would prefer Tris. I moved here to Cedar Falls about 4 months ago, after I graduated from the University of Chicago. I'm really excited to get to know all of you! Oh, and I'm going to be taking care of my niece, Elizabeth, for the next 6 months" People turn to look at her, as I point her out in the back of the room.
At the sound of her name, Elizabeth looks up from her books, she sees me standing in the center of the room. She gives me a grin and a wave of her hand, people chuckle at her response. I smile and wave back at her, as I go back to my seat.
"Well everyone, let's get started on a new school year!" Mr. Silverson exclaims.
People clap, then start filtering out of the cafeteria, but some people like Christina linger behind. I'm introduced to Mr. Johnston, the 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Jacobs, the kindergarten teacher, and Ms. Timothy, the office secretary.
After they introduce themselves, they head to their classrooms, except for Christina who stays with me. I walk back over to Elizabeth, as she is putting her books back in her bag.
"Elizabeth, this is Ms. Kravitz, she is going to be your teacher this year."
"Hi" she responds shyly.
"Hi Elizabeth! You can call me Ms. K, do you have a nickname that you like to be called, like Lizzy?"
Elizabeth laughs, probably because that's like the name I gave her, "Sure, you can call me Lizzy, just like Auntie calls me Lizard!" Yup, I was right.
Christina throws me a grin with her response, "Okay then Lizzy, let's take you to my classroom where you can drop off your stuff. Then we can wait for your classmates to come" she turns to me, "And I'll take you both on your official tour of the school."
This is Lizzy's first time in the school, Caleb made sure to register her as soon as he knew that they were going on the mission trip, about 2 months ago.
Christina leads us out of the cafeteria and into the music room through the connecting hallways. I see a large classroom with a whiteboard in front, and long steps filled with chairs leading to the back of the room. At the desk is a older lady, she stands up and makes her way over to us.
"Hello dear, my name is Alice Kelly," She shakes my hand then Lizzy's hand, "Aren't you just a sweet little thing, your name is Elizabeth right?"
"Ya, but I go by Lizzy now." She says as she looks up to Christina with a smile.
"Lizzy, I like it, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl."
"Thank you Mrs. Kelly" Lizzy acknowledges.
Christina cuts in, "Okay we better get moving on, bye Mrs. Kelly!"
"It was nice to meet you Mrs. Kelly" I say. We walk down the hallway, Christina explains where everything is and who everyone is. We pass the art room and turn right down the next hall, getting into the older kids' classrooms. At the end of the hallway is the 6th graders, the oldest class at this school. We turn around and go back after we talk to Mr. Carney, the 6th grade teacher. We walk all the way to the other end of the building to the kindergarten wing, she then takes us to the office to show us where the nurse's and principal's offices are.
Finally, she takes us to the gym, after walking in I notice the windows lining the top of the wall, letting in lots of natural light. There is a rock wall located on one side of the gym and a stage area on the other. There are basketball hoops down and ready to play on, with a ball cart against the wall.
But what I notice the most is the tall man who has his back to us because he is checking things in the closet on the farthest wall. He is wearing a dark blue shirt and black basketball shorts. I see two black marks crawling up his neck, indicating that he might have a tattoo.
"Four!" Christina calls out.
The man turns around quickly at the sudden intrusion and my eyes widen at the sight of him. From across the gym I notice that he has a strong jaw, short dark brown hair, a slightly crooked nose, and a thin upper lip compared to his full bottom lip. He also has scruff on his face like he hasn't shaved in a few days, I won't lie, he is good-looking.
I realize that I'm stuck in place with Lizzy pulling on my hand. I walk forward and try to make it seem natural that I was just full out staring at him. Christina is trying not to laugh at my reaction so I shoot her a glare.
He makes his way over to us, "Hi, I'm Four." He reaches out his hand for me to shake.
"Tris" I respond, shaking his hand twice. Man, he has a strong grip. Focus, Tris. Focus.
"Lizzy!" Lizzy says, offering her name, with a giggle. Four cracks a small lopsided smile. "So, you're my gym teacher, what are we going to be doing in class?"
He crouches down to her height and starts talking to her as I turn to Christina with big eyes and mouth 'Wow'. She laughs and grabs my arm, pulling me away from them.
"I know right! That's why I saved the best for last. I was like that when I first met him too."
"Wow, I mean look at him, wow!"
"Ya, don't get too attached, he's really closed off. We hardly know anything about him, I'll tell you more later" she rushes out. I look at her confused on why she stopped so quickly. I then feel like somebody's watching me.
My eyes widen when I realize why she did that, so I slowly turn around to see Four standing behind me with his arms crossed and a stern face. Then I hear Lizzy giggling behind him, so I lean over and see her laughing at my uneasiness. I narrow my eyes at her, making her laugh even harder. I see Four try to withhold a smirk from the corner of my eye.
"So," I say holding out the 'o', "It was nice to meet you Four, but I had better be getting ready for the students." I try to get over the awkwardness of this, and I'm not sure how well it's going.
"Okay, bye" he replies and turns back around, getting back to work.
I give Christina a surprised face and we leave the gym. It's only when we make it back to her classroom do I realize that it is 4:57.
"Thanks Christina for everything! I'm going to go and make sure everything in my room is ready"
"Okay, it was great showing you around, and I'm sure you'll be great to work with!"
"Lizard, you are going to stay here with Ms. K, you'll get to meet your new friends okay?"
"Okay!"
"I'll be back to get you in a few hours, if you get bored I'm right down the hall"
"We are so going to talk later" Christina proclaims flashing me a smile as I'm about to leave her classroom.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I respond, knowing that she is talking about my reaction to Four. I smile to myself thinking about Four, but I really need to stop, I know nothing about him. I shouldn't be thinking about him all the time, I need a distraction.
I walk into my room, number 19. It faces the back of the school, so you can see the playground from the windows. I had already put up my decorations when I had my first tour of the school. The desks are set up in pods facing each other, 4 in a pod and there are 5 pods, for the 18 children in my class. My desk is in the corner by the whiteboard, the alphabet is printed on the wall above the board. There is a bulletin board that says 'Welcome Back'. There are cubbies and hooks in the back for the kids to put their stuff.
I straighten out the desks and put the final details into place, I have my chart next to me of the names of the kids so that I can get to know them. I grab the name tags that I will give the children when they pick out a seat.
The final minutes tick by as I see some kids walk down the hall to find their classes, I am getting more nervous each minute. But, this will be a helpful distraction from Four, who is all I can seem to think about.
The first child comes into the classroom, officially starting the next chapter of my life.