A/N: Midori is a Japanese Girl's name, but I decided to use to for Miroku's last name :D
Someone Out There
Chapter Twenty: First Day There
Miroku stretched his long legs for a moment, then continued looking for the elementary school. He had driven across a bridge to another city. The area, unlike the high school, was quite peaceful and not full of traffic. The houses were all neatly aligned with their nicely cut grass. There was an area fenced of with low wooden fences. There were a few green hills and a playground not too far ahead. "That must be it," he said, relieved.
He felt quite jittery about teaching elementary. Kindergarten at that. He had no idea how well he was with kids. He didn't mind them, but what if one of them cried? What if one of the little girls cried? Color drained from his face. He prayed nothing with go wrong and no one will cry. The only thing he could do was say reassuring words and give them a hug, which of course hopefully their parents won't accuse him of being a pedophile. Har har, his mind laughed dryly.
He entered the elementary school building and took in his new work area for the upcoming week. The school had a low ceiling (that his head almost touched when he walked) and not so long hallways. Each classroom was colorfully decorated with the children's artwork or colorful posters depicting new words suitable for each grade. The hallways proudly show quotes from artists and inspiring authors, as well as school photos through out the year. The front entrance had a large display case not for trophies, but for prized artwork from different students in different class. It didn't matter if the drawing was ugly or not, it was equal with all the other drawings in the class. Miroku smiled at one girl's picture where she drew her holding hands with her mom and dad, all stickmen plastered a sunny smile.
"Can I help you?" asked a secretary from the desk. Miroku looked up and quickly realized that she was addressing to him. Fixing a polite smile he walked up to him and leaned on the counter, "Yes, my name is Miroku Midori, and I'm the substitute teacher for a kindergarten class." The secretary looked at him dubiously, thinking, Him? A kindergarten teacher? The look must've shown through because Miroku was reliving the same doubt. "Well I'll need you to sign these wavers and I'll show you where to go." The secretary left to go photocopy something, leaving Miroku to read over the papers silently.
He really wondered if this was a good idea. "Well a job is better than no job," he murmured signing on the dotted line. "Mr. Midori, will you follow me this way," she said shortly. She took off her reading glasses and left them dangling on a string around her neck. Those beady glasses made her look like a cat. Miroku wondered if all teachers looked freaky and old like that. I must be the youngest teacher here, he thought.
He came to a room which was full of bumbling children. Some were hanging fearfully to their mother, some were already playing toys with other students and some were climbing onto the teacher that was there. When the teacher caught Miroku's eye, she instantly rose up, pried the kids off her and walked out of the room, only stopping briefly in front of him to say "Good luck."
Miroku gulped and walked in. The secretary called out to everyone in the room, clapping her hands in a familiar rhythmic rhythm. Clap, clap, clapclapcap. "Kids?" she called out in a nasally sickly sweet voice. Most adults tend to do that: sugar-coating their voice in front of children to try to hide their nasty non-naïve grown up self. The children paused for a rare moment to look at the old lady in ugly plaid coat and beady eyes talking to them. "This is Mr. Midori, and he will be your teacher for the week!" she said delightedly. Miroku gave a little wave and an unsure smile. Parents look sympathetically at the young man and his nervousness. It was rather cute.
The kids start swarming around him with big round eyes and lots of questions. "What are we going to do now?" "Are you going to read us a story? Because Ms. Brown always reads us a story!" "Who are you? Are you a girl? No? Then why is your name Midori?" "Are you Ms. Brown's boyfriend?" "Are you married?" Miroku laughed at all the questions, especially the last three. "No, Midori is my last name," he said warmly, "My first name is…" He paused, then said playfully, "I'm not going to tell you."
"Tell us! Tell us!" they cried gleefully. "If you're all good today, I'll give you a hint." winked Miroku. They were satisfied with that answer. It was like a little game to them. Everything was a game when you were young. The parents eased up seeing how their children warmed up to this new substitute and started kissing their kids good bye and leaving. Miroku felt slightly proud for doing good so far.
"Would you like me to read a story?" asked Miroku. "Yes Mr. Midori!" chorused the children. Miroku sat down on the big lady bug rug and the children gathered around him. He picked up a book and began flipping open the pages. He held it up for everyone to see, as if he'd been doing this all his life. The children listened mesmerizing to the story. All but one.
There was a little boy staring out at the window. "Would you like to join us?" asked Miroku kindly. The boy said nothing. He was the same height as the other kindergartners in the class. He had brown hair in a spunky cut. He wore jeans and a sweatshirt unlike the other kids with their matching jump suits. Miroku tapped the boy on the shoulder motioning for him to sit beside him on the lady bug carpet. "No thanks Midori," the boy sneered.
The children gasped at the rudeness of their classmate. They turned to see what "Mr. Midori" would do. Some were fearful while some were positively happy that their classmate was finally going to get punished. Miroku broke into an amused grin, applauding inside for the spunk this kid had. "You may call me Midori if you like, but not if you don't come and sit down." The children protested, "No fair! We want to call you Midori!" Miroku laughed and held both his hands up. "Be my guest!"
Recess rolled in smoothly after silent reading and singing time. Singing time was a bit tricky since he wasn't much of a singer, so he made sure the classroom door was tightly shut before he started singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider." He was quite proud by the time they were dismissed for recess. The children don't hate him, and some even adored him. The spunky boy Thomas, or as most people call him, Tommy hadn't been much nicer but was willing to go along with the activities that his classmates did.
Miroku sat in the classroom munching on an apple. He began reading the daily routine of what the children were suppose to do. Crafts, games, snack time, story time again, then nap time before going home time. "Easy peasy," he boasted to no one in particular.
The children filed back into their classroom, chattering from playground gossip. "Midori, Tommy pulled on my pony tails!" whined a little girl in two braids. "Yeah, and he said a bad word." chimed in Andrea, the braid-girl's best friend. Miroku decided not to ask what the bad word was. He pulled the girl to the side and asked softly, "Does your hair hurt?" She shook her head. "Okay, would an apology make things better?" She nodded. Miroku called Tommy over. When he didn't come, Miroku went over and picked him up. "Hey! Midori! Lemme down!" Tommy protested.
"No way little man, not until you apologize!" reprimanded Miroku.
Tommy stopped wrestling for a moment, "What's a-polo-gize?"
"It means you're going to say 'Sorry' to her!" he pointed at the tearful girl in two braids.
"Feh, why should I? She started it!" Tommy stuck his tongue out. Miroku just looked at him. Tommy huffed and crossed his arms, "Fine! I knew you'd take his side. Sorry. There I said it." Miroku nodded approvingly and ruffled the boy's head. Tommy stomped off, making sure he'd tell his mommy about this "Midori" character.