Chapter 10
The next day at school in second period, Ms. Johnson called the class to order.
"I have heard more about Mrs. Peacock's husband," She said. "He is doing well. But he is going to have a long recovery. Mrs. Peacock is going to be out for the next few weeks. But we will follow her lesson plan. So who's ready to read The Crucible?" She held up a book.
"What is that about?" A male student asked.
"It is a play by Arthur Miller about the Salem Witch Trials," Ms. Johnson replied. "Can I get a volunteer or two to help me pass out the books?"
Maria raised her hand. She always volunteered for things. Another girl raised her hand too.
"Come on up, girls," Ms. Johnson said.
Maria and the other girl got up. They walked to the front of the class.
"Please pass out the books as well as these few papers," Ms. Johnson said.
Maria grabbed the books while the other girl grabbed the papers. Maria went from desk to desk passing out the books. The other girl counted out a number of copies of each paper and went from row to row. The papers were passed back.
Ms. Johnson wrote a few things on the board.
Once all the books were passed out, Maria sat back down. She looked at the papers. One was a packet. It was a listen of questions for each act of the play. Another one was a list of characters and a description of each.
"All right," Ms. Johnson said, getting the class's attention. Maria looked up. "These are characters in this play. The main ones are here," She pointed to one side of a column of names. "And the ones here are secondary characters. One of the papers passed out to you lists all the characters as well. And there is a brief description of who they are. There is also a packet. There is a list of questions that will need to be answered for each act and scenes as we read and you read. Let's go over who the characters are."
Maria followed along as Ms. Johnson read off.
A half hour later the bell rang.
"All right, everyone. Read the first pages listed on the reading list. We'll read together and talk tomorrow," Ms. Johnson said. "Have a good rest of the day and a great evening."
Maria packed up her stuff.
"Maria, can I see you just for a moment?" Ms. Johnson asked.
"Sure," Maria said. She looked at Madison.
"I'll wait outside for you," Madison replied.
Maria nodded her head. She gathered the rest of her stuff and walked up to the front of class where Ms. Johnson stood.
"I'm pretty sure your parents told you about my nasty freak out back in high school," Ms. Johnson said.
"They did," Maria said.
"That was very bad. After I was expelled I ended up in therapy for it. We actually discovered I am bipolar. I have been on medication for it since then. Tell your parents I deeply apologize for it. And I am happy that they got married and had a beautiful daughter."
Maria smiled. "Thank you. I'll tell them."
"Thank you, sweetheart. Now go. I don't want you to be late to your next class."
"Thank you. See you tomorrow." Maria smiled and walked out of the classroom.
Dawn Marie smiled as Maria left. It was true what she said to Maria. But she was really not sorry about her freak out and attack on Stephanie. They could think she was.
Maria told Madison about what Ms. Johnson said as they walked to their next class.
"Wow. That is bold of her to tell you that," Madison said. "But nice of her to say and apologize."
"Yes. I like her," Maria admitted.
"I do too. I am looking forward to reading The Crucible too."
"As am I. I am into witches and stuff like that."
"Have you ever watched Charmed?" Madison asked.
"Yes, I love that show."
"As do I. Who is your favorite guy Phoebe dated: Cole or Coop?"
"Cole!" Maria answered. "I also love Piper and Leo so much! That is a relationship that went through hell and back a few times."
"Oh, yes. Do you want to do our Crucible homework?"
"Sure."
"Great. You can come over to my house after school."
"Sounds great," Maria said.
Madison smiled.
Again that day after school, Maria ran into Randy Orton.
"Hey Maria," He said.
"Hey, hi," She replied with a bright smile.
"So I talked to my mom. She said she would love to talk with you about becoming a nurse. She said she could even arrange for you to shadow her. She just would need to clear it with her boss."
"Of course. Where does she work as a nurse?"
"At the hospital, neonatal unit."
"With newborns?!"
"Yes."
"That's exactly what I want to be, a neonatal nurse. Or even a pediatric nurse."
"Great. We'll again talk to make the arrangements."
"Great. I have to go."
"Bye," Randy said.
"Bye," Maria said. She hurried off to meet Madison.
Randy smirked.
"Yay, I can get a quick hug and kiss from you," Bobby said when Maria came to the parking lot a few minutes later.
"Yay, indeed," Maria said.
Bobby grinned. He kissed his girlfriend and then gave her a big hug. "Have fun with Madi."
"I definitely will. I'll text you later," Maria said.
"Sounds good."
Maria smiled. She headed over to Madison's car.
So for that afternoon Maria and Madison did their English homework together. They did their assigned reading with each one picking a few characters for them to read lines in the play. After reading, they then answered the questions for that assigned reading.
"I'm home," Maria called as she walked through the front door. It was about 5 o'clock.
"Hey sweetie," Stephanie called from living room.
Maria smiled. She went into the living room. She saw not only her mom sitting on the sofa, but also her dad.
"Hi," She said, walking over to them and hugging them.
"Hello my beautiful little girl," Hunter said.
"Hi."
"How was school, hun?" Stephanie asked.
"It was great," Maria said, sitting down on the love seat, which was to the left of her parents on the sofa.
"Did you get your homework done with Madison?"
"Yes, I did."
"What was the assignment?" Hunter asked.
"Reading for the play The Crucible and then answering some questions for that particular reading."
"You got it all done?"
"Yeah. We each picked a few characters to read for in the play. It went faster. Then answering the questions was each."
"Good," Hunter said.
"Ms. Johnson also said something to me after class."
Hunter and Stephanie looked at each other. "What did she say?" Stephanie asked looking back at her youngest daughter.
"She told me that after she was expelled she ended up in therapy. She said she was diagnosed with bipolar and ended up on medication because of it."
Stephanie looked at Hunter. He nodded his head at her.
"That is a good explanation maybe," Hunter said.
Stephanie nodded her head. She looked over at Maria.
"She said she is also sorry for what happened," Maria said.
"Well, tell her thank you and we hope we can put the past in the past. But also not to focus on that so much, but as to teach you," Stephanie said.
"I sure will. I think she is a great teacher. She did great presenting the information and material for The Crucible to us."
"Well, Dawn was a smart girl in all honesty," Hunter commented.
"I agree," Stephanie added. "She was a great student."
"And one of her dream careers was to be a teacher."
"Yes, it's very nice she is where she wants to be. Tell her we are happy for her with that and that she also got the helped she needed.
"Oh, yeah, I will," Maria said. "I think she would appreciate it. She seems like she really is sorry about what happened."
"Well, tell her whatever you want, sweetheart," Hunter said.
"I will. I'm going to go up-stairs."
"Do you have any more homework other than English?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes," Maria commented. "Math and science. I did some of the math at Madi's. But I'll finish and the science now or maybe later."
"Well, I'm going to get a start on dinner," Stephanie said. "If you want to help me with that or come talk to me some more, please do, sweets."
"Yeah, I'd love to help with dinner. Is Amy home?"
"She's up-stairs doing her homework. Mark brought her home and then she did some swimming before hitting the books," Stephanie said.
"Okay," Maria said. "I'm going to go put my stuff in my room, say to her and then I'll come help if you need it, Mom."
"Yes."
"Okay, I'll be back."
The next day before the start of English class, Maria went up to Ms. Johnson and told her about her parents.
"Tell them thank you as they have with me," Ms. Johnson smiled.
"I will."
"Did you get your homework done last night?"
"Yes. Madison and I did it together. It was very fun and enjoyable."
"Great. I hope you two will volunteer to read for one of the characters as well."
"I sure will."
"Good," Ms. Johnson said.
Maria smiled. She headed over to her seat next to Madison.
Dawn Marie smiled as the bell rang.