Chapter One Part Two
"Bye, Ms. Moss." Carly told her as she turned and bolted out the door as quickly as she could. As she walked down the hallway to her second period class, she took deep breaths to calm herself as non-chalantly as possible. She didn't even notice Principal Bartlet walking down the hall. Carly had also known him almost her entire life.
"Good morning, Carly!" He called as they passed in the hallway. She was in a daze and the greeting didn't register until he'd almost passed.
"Hi, Mr. Bartlet." She said at the last second. Carly didn't need any more people thinking she was an idiot. She hoped he wouldn't turn around to come talk to her.
Jed Bartlet thought to himself that Carly Lyman could be a bit of a flake sometimes, like her father, but smiled as he continued down the hallway. He was off to observe one of his new first-year teachers down in the science wing.
Jed walked into room 125 and took a seat near the back so he wouldn't be in the way of the lesson. A nervous Molly Ziegler saw him enter from her desk on the other side of the room. It had been a rough first few weeks of school for young Molly. She had no idea how she got a job at a school like this – one that she had attended years ago and was known to be top-rate. Plus, she had the added pressure to do well since her father, Toby, also taught speech and English here as well as a slew of family friends she'd known since birth. Molly knew Jed, Sam and Josh would do anything they could to support her, but the pressure was still overwhelming, not to even mention the fact that she was surrounded by all her high school teachers that expected great things from her.
Molly walked up to the front of the room as the bell rang and swept away a piece of hair in front of her face. She could do this. Just calm down, she told herself.
"Good morning, class. Today we're going to continue our discussion of the three and four stage insect life cycles. Please open up your textbooks and be ready to take notes."
Later in the day, Josh Lyman was just beginning his fourth period junior U.S. history class. The bell had rung five minutes before but there was one seat empty; one that troubled him quite a bit. Courtney Seaborn was known to be tardy, but not by an entire five minutes. Still, he needed to continue.
"Last time, as you may remember, we introduced the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. Can any one recall what countries were involved in each?"
Courtney Seaborn then walked into class late. Josh could see the eyes of her classmates assessing the situation. Courtney was a popular, pretty girl with beautiful dark brown hair and brown eyes that sparkled when she smiled. Today, though, her eyes didn't sparkle – he could tell she'd been crying.
Josh paused in his lesson to look at the hall pass that she carried that possessed a signature from her dad. Josh knew that Sam had recently been troubled about his youngest daughter. Courtney was very close to her older sister Alex and now that she was gone at college, Courtney didn't seem to be herself. She seemed to have lost that role model in her life – she cared less about school; about her behavior; and Sam and Ainsley's now constant attention towards her was no doubt suffocating for the sixteen year old. Josh had known Courtney her entire life. She was a good kid, but this was a tough time for her.
Courtney could feel the eyes of her classmates glancing at her as she found her seat near the middle of the room.
"Nate, how about it?" Josh prompted him, since no one had answered his question. During the dead silence that followed, Josh furrowed his eyebrows and took a deep breathe, still elsewhere.
"Uhhh…I don't remember, Mr. Lyman."
Another sigh, this time annoyed that no one seemed to remember what he'd just talked about yesterday.
"Alright then, let's review a little."
Near the end of the class period, Josh gave the class five minutes to begin on their assignment for Monday.
"Courtney." Josh stood at the front of the row she was sitting at, hands in pockets, and motioned with his head to meet him out in the hallway. Courtney sighed, knowing that her Uncle Josh wouldn't let her leave looking so upset. Sometimes it was nice having so many people looking out for you and concerned for you, but it also meant that she many extra sets of eyes and ears keeping tabs on her.
Josh looked over his class and saw that they were all working quietly, so he waited for Courtney to walk to the door before following her out. Closing the door, he shoved his hands in his pockets again and tilted his head to the side. Courtney folded her arms across her chest and looked across the hall at the lockers instead of her Uncle Josh.
"Did something happen with your dad?" Josh started, bringing up the fact that he'd sent her to class late with a pass.
"When has it not in the last month?" She replied sarcastically. Courtney, of course, would never confide in other teachers the way she sometimes did with her Uncles, but she knew Josh all her life and could talk to him like she had.
Josh breathed out, this situation all too familiar in the last school year. He'd been stuck in the middle of this – hearing it from both sides. Sam and Ainsley were frustrated at her sudden turn in personality and justly concerned. She'd changed since Alex had left. They all missed Alex.
"What happened this time?"
"I got my third tardy in Mrs. Russell's class today, so she had to give me an after-school detention. When I was down in the office, my dad came down to check his mail and he was kind of pissed."
It was only the fourth week of school and she already had three tardies?
"You already have three tardies?" Josh's eyebrows jumped up and he gave her that parental look that she hated so much – that she got from all of them when she was in trouble.
"Uncle Josh, I don't need to hear it from you too!"
"So you were late because he was talking to you?"
"Talking? More like yelling."
That was a bit of an exaggeration. Josh knew Sam didn't yell.
"In the main office in front of everyone there?"
"No, he took me to the copy room."
Josh rubbed his face before continuing. "Courtney, you know I don't like to take sides, but you can't keep getting tardies. Think about how that makes your dad feel as a teacher at this school."
Josh immediately regretted saying that. It wasn't fair to hold Courtney and all their kids to a higher standard simply because their parents taught here. But it was embarrassing to have your own kid get in trouble at the school you worked at. How does it make you look to your other students, other teachers, and to the principal?
"Uncle Josh, he could've waited until after school at least! It was so embarrassing!" She was beginning to cry again and Josh felt his heart strings being pulled.
"Alright, Courtney. It's over now." He pulled her into a hug. "You were tardy three times so you got detention. Same as the other kids."
Courtney pulled back and wiped her eyes.
"Here." Josh pulled out a clean tissue from his pocket. "Why don't you go to the bathroom and clean up, okay? And we can talk more tonight if we need to."
Courtney nodded and as she turned Josh gave her a reassuring pat on the back. He'd hear Sam's side later on in the day and maybe that would help him when he talked to Courtney tonight. Anything out of Sam or Ainsley's mouths nowadays seemed to just pass between their daughter's ears like it was elevator music. He knew Sam was at his rope's end with her and just hoped he could help out in some way.
Molly Ziegler walked out of the main office during the last period of the day. She didn't have a class the last period, so Mr. Bartlet had called her down to talk about his observation. She'd done fine, but there were still many improvements to be made. He thought the assignments needed to be more challenging and she needed to use her classroom time more efficiently. Mr. Bartlet had been reassuring to her, but she still felt a little bummed. As a first year teacher, she still had so much to learn; things she hadn't even thought of before. She got back to her room just in time to hear the closing bell ring. TGIF, she thought to herself. Molly was sorting through her piles and piles of papers to grade when her dad knocked on the door, knowing that she had been observed today.
"How'd it go?" He said up front, a pile of things bunched under his right arm with his other hand perched on his hip at the doorway.
Molly sighed and smiled, trying to think again of the good things that had happened at her meeting with Mr. Bartlet.
"It went okay, but I…I just have so much to learn. I don't know if I'm…I don't know."
Toby could see she'd had a rough time so he closed her door and walked over to her desk, pulling up a chair as she rested her head in frustration in her left hand.
"You got through it, Mols. That's the hardest part. The first observation can be scary."
"He said my assignments weren't challenging enough and I wasted a lot of class time."
"Those things are hard to get. You'll get a better understanding after a while."
Molly just felt like bursting in to tears deep down inside. Teaching was harder than she'd ever expected. Her sudden lack of free time and large workload was daunting at the least. Sometimes she wished she hadn't picked a profession where she had to jump in and do what some had been doing for thirty years. There was no beginning bottom-line job that she could start at and work her way up – she was doing a job that her father had done for twenty-five years that he says he still hasn't perfected. Maybe she should have picked a job like her brother Huck, who was going into journalism. He could start out at little jobs and work his way up.
Toby knew how hard Molly could be on herself. She'd been this way all her life and knew that she'd have a hard time all of a sudden not being the best at something. Molly had always been at the top of her classes, praised by her teachers and supervisors, but she was finding this really difficult. Having gone through the same thing many years ago, all he could do was tell her to hang in there. It would get better, but it was still hard.
"Molly, you will be a great teacher. Everyone's first year can be rough, but I can tell you that you're doing a better job than you think you're doing. You're working your tail off and doing the best you can, and that's all you can do."
Though she knew her dad was just trying to help, it was also just a reminder of how much work she had to do and how much she had to learn.
"Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? I'm not gonna cook, but we can order a pizza."
"Actually, I was going to go out with some friends."
"Okay. Call me or come see me if you need to. And you know you can go bug Uncle Josh and Uncle Sam if you need to" Even though she was twenty two years old, Toby still leaned over and kissed her on the head. Sometimes a woman needed her father still too. "I love you."
"I love you too, dad."
Carly made her way through the halls of Washington High, thankful it was finally the end of the week. Schoolwork took her forever to do and as a member of the girls' varsity soccer team, she had a lot on her plate and hardly any time just to hang out with her friends. That's why she was so much looking forward to tonight. She'd also decided to sidestep Ms. Moss's request to come talk to her after school. Ms. Moss was nice enough but she didn't want her to think she couldn't do the work required. Sometimes she found that when teachers knew about her dyslexia, they could get annoyed at having to adjust the assignments and at her slow pace. So finally, this year, she decided not to tell her teachers about her disorder. She could get the work done and didn't want anyone thinking she was uncapable. Why did Ms. Moss have to pry into her life?
"How's Tuesday after school for you?" Josh looked up at a student as he leaned over his desk at the end of the day. Peter Foswell had acted us for the last time, so he was given detention.
Peter made a face as he looked at the slip. Mr. Lyman looked up after waiting for an answer. Carly walked in the door with her stuff all ready to go. Josh looked over at her. "Hey, sweetheart."
"Hey, dad." She sat down at one of the front row desks and rested her head in her right hand.
Josh looked back at Peter. "I'll take the silence as a yes." He signed the paper, ripped off his copy and handed the pink to Peter. "Room 102, Tuesday afternoon." Peter snatched up the paper and walked out the room.
Josh stood up straight and tapped his knuckled on the desk as he looked at Carly. "I guess my evil dad look doesn't work on everybody." He said calmly with that ever-present hint of humor.
Josh was thankful that his oldest was the type of kid you only had to give a look at to tell her she'd done something wrong, which hardly ever happened. Carly was mature and responsible for her age and almost felt like an adult herself. She was a mother figure to her little sister and went to great lengths to look out for her and talk to her when her dad couldn't get through. Carly and Brandon were also very close as siblings, and he talked to her about a lot of his problems. She'd been faced with a tough situation with her mother dying at such a young age and had taken on a lot of responsibility. Her dad often forgot that she was still just a kid and was perhaps guilty of expecting too much of her. She could handle so much, and unfortunately a lot got dumped on her. Josh didn't realize how much pressure he put on her and sometimes neither did Carly.
Josh jokingly gave Carly the evil dad look with one hand on his hip. Carly snapped her head to the side to look away, covering her eyes, and let out an annoyed moan.
"Daaaaad!" She complained. Josh laughed out loud at her.
"So, how many awful things did you do today?"
"I beat up a freshman and stole his lunch money. I'm on my way to world domination."
"Just make sure your homework gets done. I just need to finish a few things. I'll only be about fifteen more minutes."
"Can I watch TV?" She asked, giving him a sweet smile and flashing her blue eyes at him.
"No MTV." He told her. Carly rolled her eyes and grabbed the remote control. Propping her feet up on the seat next to her, she began to flip through the channels.
About ten minutes later, a concerned Donna Moss knocked on Josh's classroom door. Carly hadn't shown up after school to talk to her and so she decided to go ask her dad about what had happened. She didn't understand why she wasn't told about her disorder.
"Mr. Lyman?" Josh h eard a female voice call from the doorway. He'd just taken a sip of his coffee and when he turned to see Donna, he almost spit it out, but quickly choked it back, coughing a little afterwards. Carly's heart dropped. Crap! Was she mad at her? She never thought about her coming to talk to her dad. Idiot!
"Donna!" He said, trying to compose himself as he stood up. Oh, God, she was so beautiful. Ever since Donnatella Moss had started teaching at Washington High, Josh felt like he was back in high school and had a crush on the cheerleading captain and he was the dorky kid in the chess club. He said the most idiotic things when talking to her. "What are you doing here?"
Donna chuckled a little. "Actually I needed to talk to Carly, but I think I need to have a word with you too."
Josh looked over at his daughter, who looked like she was a deer in headlights. Josh rarely saw that look plastered on his daughter's face, so he knew something was going on, and he figured it wasn't good news. Ever since he found out Carly was in her class, he'd asked Carly endless questions about her, trying not to sound like a drooling idiot. Josh hadn't felt this excited about seeing any female since…well, his wife. That beautiful long blonde hair; her dazzling smile; her great sense of humor, not to mention those beautiful, long legs. Concentrate. Concentrate, Josh.
Carly stood up before Josh could say anything.
"Ms. Moss, I'm sorry. I forgot. I mean, I was about to come down, but…"
"It's okay, Carly. I'm not mad, I'm just concerned. I don't understand why you didn't tell me before."
"Tell you what?" Josh jumped in, walking around his desk and perching himself on the edge. He looked back and forth between his daughter and Donna. Carly didn't want to answer. She hadn't told her dad that she wasn't telling her teachers about her disorder. He just assumed that Carly would take care of that. She was always responsible about things like that.
"About her dyslexia." Donna told him, looking at Carly. Josh looked back at his daughter, confused.
"Carly? She didn't know about your dyslexia?" Josh crossed his arms and Carly felt like she was suddenly back in third grade and she was in trouble for not cleaning her room. When Carly didn't say anything and just stared at the ground, Josh kept going. "Why didn't you tell her the first day?"
"I just didn't want her to know." Carly's voice was soft and defeated. Puzzled, Josh took the seat next to Carly. Following suit, Donna took the seat on the other side of the young student.
"Carly, your teachers need to know because it affects your learning."
"I know."
"But what?" Josh asked her.
"I don't want them to think I can't do the work."
"Them?" Josh was listening to her pronouns carefully. "You haven't told your other teachers either?" Carly let out an annoyed sigh.
Donna could sense that perhaps Carly's previous teachers had made her feel like a burden. "Carly, it's not a problem for me to change your assignments a little to make it a little easier. There's no shame in that and I don't think any less of you for asking. And you don't have to read out loud to the class if it makes you so nervous."
Bingo, Josh thought to himself. Carly hated reading aloud with a passion. It made her disorder so out in the open and visible to others and she felt humiliated and ashamed. She hated to be thought of as weak in any way, especially when she needed to be strong for her dad and her siblings. For years in elementary school, she would come home crying if the teacher asked her to read in class. She would stutter and stumble over the words so badly and some of the kids made fun of her, not understanding what dyslexia did to her reading skills. Donna had no way of knowing about this, but she felt really bad for Carly. She hoped she didn't embarrass her.
"Did you read out loud, Carly?" Josh asked her gently. He saw a tear escape her eye and she quickly wiped it away. Josh couldn't tell if it was because she thought she was in trouble, or embarrassed at how it had been discovered, or some of the painful memories that went along with it. "Sweetheart, we're not mad. We both just want to help you."
"No, I didn't." She sniffled. "I told her I didn't want to." Josh could tell she was really upset.
"Okay." Josh rubbed his face. "Sweetheart, I need to speak with Ms. Moss for a few minutes, so why don't you head on down to the teacher lounge and get yourself a coke." He stood up and pulled out his wallet and handed a still sniffling Carly a dollar and a tissue. Donna gave her student a reassuring smile as she left. As he watched his daughter leave, Josh ran a hand through his hair, still facing away from Donna.
"I'm sorry, she's never done this before." He told her, turning around to face Donna.
"No, don't be sorry. I'm just glad that I know now. I feel so bad that she was struggling and not telling anyone."
"There was no way you could have known. She's always told her teachers right up front about her disorder. She's been getting a lot more homework than last year, so now I know why. Nobody knows. So, you found out when she refused to read?"
"I talked to her after class and she finally opened up and told me. I asked her to come talk to me after school, but I guess she didn't want to."
"This is so not like her." Josh shook his head and looked at the floor. "She's always been so responsible. There was no need for her to be struggling like this."
"Well I'm glad I know so I can help her now. But I have to be honest, I don't know much about dyslexia." Donna hoped that he would volunteer to tell her about it. There was something about this man that intrigued her. He seemed cocky and sure of himself but had a real sensitive side, like she was seeing right now. She'd heard he had a soft spot for his kids, though he had a very collected, unruffled composure.
Josh didn't know if he should take the chance or not. He had to admit it: he had a crush on Donnatella Moss. Who wouldn't? But he didn't know much about her personal life. Was she married?
"Well, uh…" He stuttered. "I could teach you about it…um…maybe Sunday evening? I mean, if your husband doesn't mind." He tried, finally making eye contact at the end.
Donna saw how flustered the cool, collected Josh Lyman was and smiled to herself at the question.
"I'm divorced."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if…"
"Don't worry. I'd love to learn more about Carly. Sunday would be great."
Josh's heart increased rapidly. Hee! She said yes! And she was
available!
"Great!" He said, not knowing what else to do, a big goofy grin on his face. Donna waited a few moments, waiting for him to tell her where to meet.
"Um, should we meet…"
Josh, you idiot!
"Oh, right!" He cursed himself. "Let me give you my address and my phone number. Do you know the city very well yet?"
"I can get around."
Josh felt a nervous excitement all throughout his body that surfaced in his slightly shaking fingers as he scribbled his address and number down quickly.
"Here you go. Is seven o'clock alright with you?"
"That sounds great!" Donna got up and Josh handed her the piece of paper. "I'll see you then. Tell Carly to have a great weekend."
Who? Oh, right. Carly.
"I will." At the last moment, Josh gave her a thumbs up and a huge smile. When she left, he started hitting himself on the head. "You're such an idiot!" He yelled.
"I know." Brandon's voice told him from the doorway.
"Ha ha."
"Are you ready to leave? I'm sure Maddy's getting all bent out of shape."
Josh turned and looked at the huge pile on his desk he was supposed to be sorting through.
"Almost. Will you go get Carly from the teacher's lounge for me?"
"Yeah. Why's she in there?"
"Long story. But she may be a little upset."
"What did she do?" Brandon asked, fascinated whenever his older sister was in trouble. She never got in trouble.
"She's not in trouble!" Josh cleared up.
"I never get to hear about the good stuff."
Brandon left the room to go get his sister and Josh quickly started piling the papers into his messenger bag and he started to sing to himself.
"Donna Moss is coming to my house…I hope she wears that low-cut blouse…I want to kiss her on the mouth…"
Carly had started to walk back from the teacher lounge already and had met her brother in the hallway. Together, they headed back to their dad's room when they'd heard singing from outside.
"Dad! You're disgusting!"
Josh just smiled and slung his messenger bag onto his shoulder.
"Not a word, kids, not a word."
