Sebastian walked the boys down the hall past the kitchen. "I'm told that you boys are to be in here," he said, sliding the pocket door open before entering yet another door.
"Rather secretive," Logan mumbled nervously under his breath. Sebastian stood aside so that the boys could enter their new school room.
Kendall peeked in first. "Whoa, this is strange! It's like this room just dropped out of a schoolhouse and landed right here at Slate's Acres."
"How could we have never seen this room?" asked Carlos, his small features furrowed in wonder.
"Something tells me that it was waiting here at Satan's ….er..Slate's Acres, all the while in case we failed at Prairie Ridge," Logan said, as if he had just solved the mystery of 'Jack The Ripper'.
"Isn't that a bit paranoid?" asked James, as he took in all of the special touches around him, such as the silk drapes that hung in the windows and a vase of fresh flowers on the teacher's desk. They had figured that anyone Farmer Slate had chosen, was bound to be evil and scary looking, but at least this person had taste, he thought.
Kendall noticed that it had several rows of desks, just like in a real school. But why so many for four boys? He wondered. There were bulletin boards with charts, chalkboards lining the wall behind the teacher's desk, and a clock on the wall. There was even an American flag on a pole stand, in the corner of the room.
"I wonder what our teacher will be like this time?" Kendall asked, with a touch of sarcasm lacing his tone.
Sebastian nodded to the boys."I will leave you now to discover the answer to that very question. Have a good day boys," he added, before leaving them alone.
They wandered around the room curiously. Carlos noticed a louvered door on the back wall and opened it.
"Wow! An actual supply closet with loads and loads of neat stuff!" he cried happily. He picked up a jumbo-sized rubber-band. He was stretching it every which way, when they heard footsteps approaching. The other boys sat down quickly in the nearest desks, apprehensive about who or what was about to come through that door.
Carlos quickly shut the closet door and took the seat behind Logan, shoving the rubber-band into the front pocket of his knickers. A very young, and very pretty woman, wearing a colorful purple coat with an orange and purple scarf, entered the room. Mrs. Benson would not have been caught dead in that outfit. She removed a purple cloche with a rosette from her head to release a crop of loose sandy curls.
James gasped involuntarily, when her bow mouth parted into a perfect white grin. No one was prettier to him than Bonnie, but this older woman was a close second. She removed the belted wool coat, revealing a surprisingly form fitting lavender sweater, and an above- the- knee, purple skirt. They skimmed over her appreciatively, unable to contain the boyish lust they felt, or to keep the silly grins from spreading across their faces.
Her heels clicked over to the wardrobe and she hung her coat and hat on the hooks. She clicked back as their eyes followed her every move.
"Hello boys!" she said cheerfully in a sweet girlish voice. "My name is Irene. But you boys will call me Miss Irene."
"HELLO MISS IRENE!" They chorused out, remembering that that was how it was done. She jumped in surprise.
"OH! Oh...okay then," she said once again, flashing a smile. She reached up and pushed a stray curl from her eye, and they noticed that she did not wear a wedding ring, hence the Miss. Their grins widened.
"Now I would love for you boys to introduce yourselves to me before I tell you more about myself," she said, pointing to the first boy on her left, who happened to be James.
"I'm James!" he said, leaning back in his seat and puffing up his chest. She pointed a well manicured finger at Kendall next.
"I'm Kendall," he said, with his eyes wide and his dimples making a sudden appearance.
"I'm Logan," he said shyly, under slightly hooded lashes, as he slid a bit lower in his seat.
"Oooh! And I'm Carlos!" he said, thrusting his hand in the air while bouncing up and down in his seat.
"Well, it is so nice to finally meet you boys. Hello James, Kendall, Logan and Carlos," she said, giving each boy a personal nod as she called his name. They squirmed happily in their seats.
"I will be your teacher full days on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I will also be here on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. You will have music lessons after that I am told. Do you have any questions?" she asked.
"Um...where did you teach before?" asked Logan, wondering how she could be so young, yet have so much experience.
"I taught first grade for five years," she replied. Logan looked at the others with a perplexed look. "But, I have studied abroad every summer. Any more questions?" she asked. They just grinned back at her.
"Okay! Let's get started! First I want all of you boys to sit in a seat that is not in the same row and not in the same column," she announced. They stood and shifted apart, feeling oddly vulnerable with no one on either side of them.
So that's what the multiple desks are here for, they thought. "Now stand for the Pledge Of Allegiance, boys," she said, standing as well, to face the flag. She placed her hand over her heart. They followed her lead as they recited.
"Very good boys!" she said, as if they too were still in first grade. Giddy with the contagious excitement, James burst into a verse of The Star Spangled Banner. The other boys laughed, but Miss Irene looked shocked. She stared at James. He blushed and sat down.
"Uh...sorry Miss Irene," he mumbled.
"No, stand up James," she said quietly. He stood at his desk, his cheeks still pink. "You are not to break into song. Now go to the corner and face the flag until I say otherwise," she ordered in her sing-song voice. He looked at her in hopes that she was just teasing, but her little mouth was pursed tightly into a bow. He reddened even more as he walked over to the flag corner, and stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.
"Face the corner James," she said sweetly without even looking over. James looked pitifully at the others, who were now staring back in shock, before turning to the flag and practically wrapping himself up in its folds, in hopes of disappearing all together.
She continued to write the lesson plans on the chalkboard as they tried not to look over at James, but Carlos was nervous now, and when he was nervous he began to play with things. He tapped his fingers on his desktop. He looked up to see Kendall shake his head at him. Then, he remembered the really cool rubber band in his pocket. He stretched it around his hands, trying to see if it would...when it sprung off like a sling- shot, ricocheting off of his desk before pinging off of another and landing on the floor.
Miss Irene looked down at the rubber band and up at Carlos' guilty expression. "Carlos?" she asked.
"Yes?" he asked back.
"Where did you get that?" she asked, as she bent down and picked it up.
He swallowed. "Uh...I..." he tried to find the right words.
"I'm waiting," she said quietly.
"The...uh...er...supply closet?" he said with a grimace. She walked to her desk and placed the rubber band in a drawer.
"Carlos. Go stand inside the supply closet until I say you can come out. Do not touch anything in there," she said cheerfully. Logan and Kendall's eyes bulged as they looked at one another. That was going to be just short of torture for poor Carlos.
Carlos looked nervously at the closet door. "Go on," she urged. He opened the door and found it to be really dark in there without the light. He reached for the switch.
"No light, Carlos," she said stopping him. He pouted and closed the door...except for a small crack. "All the way, Carlos," she said. It closed.
"Now," she said, cheerful once more, "let's get on with our first lesson! Open your history books to page one," she said to Kendall and Logan. They opened their books quickly. Kendall fidgeted with his book trying to calm his nerves while Logan began to chew loudly on a wad of gum in his mouth.
Kendall's eyes were huge when he saw the gum. He couldn't believe that Logan still had that piece of gum in his mouth since the morning. How had he forgotten to get rid of it like the others had? And how had he hidden it up until this point?
"Logan?" she said. They already knew that tone. His head shot up and he stopped chewing. "Is that gum in your mouth?" He shook his head innocently. He planned on swallowing it, but she was staring intently at him as she approached. He closed his mouth and the gum snapped. He turned red. She cupped her hand under his chin. He looked up at her with big pleading brown eyes, not wanting to spit it out in her hand.
"Logan," she repeated. "The gum...now." He closed his eyes and spit it into her hand. She took the gum from her palm and stuck it on the end of his nose. He pouted in humiliation. "Now go stand with it in the trash bin, where the gum, should have gone," she ordered.
"W-What?" he stammered in confusion.
"Right here Logan," she said, pulling the small trash bin to the front of the class. He walked slowly over to her. "In," she said, pointing to the bin. He had a difficult time fitting his feet into the bin and balancing himself, without tipping over.
"Kendall,",she continued as if nothing at all was unusual about the scene, "Can you read me the first two pages?"
Kendall, already struggling with hysteria, seeing James wrapped in the flag in a corner, knowing that Carlos was in a dark supply closet, and now seeing Logan before him in a trash bin, with a wad of gum on his nose, was just too much. He slumped low in his seat and covered his eyes as he began to read.
"Kendall?" she said when he had finished. He froze. "Are you slouching in your seat young man?"
Kendall sat up straight, but it did not do any good. "No Kendall. Come up to the front." He walked past Logan as they exchanged pained glances. She pushed Kendall's nose up against the chalkboard, his back painfully rigid. "Now that is straight. Okay then class, I will read the lesson today."
They were left in their respective positions for the remainder of the class. They listened carefully to the history material, for fear that they would miss something and anger her further. Finally, she rang a small brass bell on her desk.
"That's all for today," she said. "We will have our first full day on Wednesday boys. Don't forget to write down the homework assignments. I will see you in the morning."
They warily returned to their desks, and collected their things. They jotted down the assignments from the board and scampered out the door. "Goodbye Miss Irene!" they called from the hallway.
"Goodbye boys!" she called back sweetly.
When they were a good distance away from the schoolroom, Kendall snapped at Logan. "Will you please get that ridiculous wad of gum off of the end of your nose!"
Logan yanked it off. "Well you were slouching!"
"Because I didn't want to look at you! What were you thinking? Chewing gum in class?" Kendall scolded.
"Guys!" James interrupted. "Let's face it! We are all upset because we have another CRAZY person to deal with now!" he shouted, making a loop around his head.
"That closet was really scary!" chimed in Carlos, with a shudder of his small shoulders.
"And why did you think playing with that rubber band was a good idea?" yelled James.
"The same reason you thought it was a good idea to sing in the middle of class!" Carlos retorted.
"It was not class yet, and I did not think that she was crazy at that point!" James threw back.
"I think that we are all just really embarrassed about this whole day...and we are taking it out on each other," said Logan, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well I certainly am not looking forward to tomorrow," said Kendall shaking his head.
"Yeah," said Carlos.
"yeah," said Logan. "She's really pretty though," he added with a twist of his mouth as he pictured her.
"Yeahhhhh..." they all chorused as they stared off dreamily.