DISCLAIMER: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight not me. I just love playing around with the characters we all know and love. :-)
Authors Notes:
***Back to Bella's POV
***I kind of miss Edward already. LOL
***I have gotten so much response to this story. Already past 60 followers, 30 favorites, and 900 views. WOW. Thanks to all the fans.
***Thanks for continuing to read and please review, favorite, and follow.
***All fans of "Elementary Law of Order" owe Prescottdane a big thank-you for bugging me for another update so soon. LOL
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CHAPTER #3: Innocent Encouragement
BPOV
"First Day of School, First Day of School!"
"Are you honestly quoting Finding Nemo right now?" I tried to push Angela off my bed but she was undeterred as she continued to bounce happily. As the 'new nurse' at her hospital she got a lot of the graveyard shifts so she was usual very energetic when I just wanted to sleep.
"Come on Bella. First Day of School!" I looked over at my clock and it read 5am. School started at 8:00am but all the teachers had to be there at 7am. The school wasn't to far and it only took me 20 minutes but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get ready. I smacked at Angela's legs weakly until she jumped off the bed and laughed all the way to her own room to take a shower. She got the master in our two bedroom apartment as she worked the crazy hours, so that way she was less likely to disturb me, and me her. I didn't mind as she paid a little more then half of our rent as a result. The school paid me well but I was saving every penny I could to pay off my student loans as well as work towards my masters.
I had graduated high school with honors, at the ripe age of just 16 with even a couple college courses under my belt. This had aided in me getting a full ride at the University of Washington. An amazing accomplishment that I was very proud of, but that 'full ride' certainly didn't cover living expenses. I of course wanted to get a job to cover at least part of the cost of living, but try getting a job in a college town full of LEGAL aged college students when you were still a minor... Yeah, I was turned down for absolutely everything I applied for.
I had decided to make lemonade out of my lemon situation and took extra classes, since they were free, for my first couple years of college, rather then work since I couldn't anyway. It worked well and I graduated much earlier then my peers, just like I did in high school. Everything in life seemed to have a plus and minus though, so despite my excellent grades and time management with my degree, I had to take out loans for all of my living expenses. My scholarship had covered books and the dorm but not food, transportation, or most other extras. My parents were the greatest people in the world but neither made much money and I refused to take what little savings they had. In order to get around their insistence about giving me all their money I had lied about my scholarship covering everything.
I hated being dishonest with them but truthfully even aside from not wanting to dig into their retirement I wanted to do this all on my own. Maybe that was prideful but I felt it was something I needed to do. Of course my pride had it's drawbacks, and despite my 'Full ride', straight A's in both high school and college, and achieving my bachelors degree in just three years, I had a considerable amount of debt. Not a horrible amount, but still way more then I would have ever planned for myself.
"Seriously B, are you excited?" Angela sat next to me at the counter where I was eating my cereal, lost in thought.
"Excited, terrified, nervous, eager, anxious..."
"Aren't most of those synonyms?" She was clearly mocking me and my 'teacher knowledge', as she put it.
"Technically yes... yet they somehow feel different." I shrugged while continuing to contemplate my food rather then actually eat it.
"What has you the most excited?"
"My students." She smiled and gave me a bump in the shoulder as I hid my pink cheeks.
"Terrified?"
"Forgetting what to teach." She raised her eyebrow at my ridiculous statement but moved on gracefully.
"Nervous?"
"That the other teachers will hate me or think I'm to young to take seriously." This was a fear I'd had since the day I graduated and probably before that. I graduated high school 2 years early and college an additional year early, meaning I had my degree and career a full three years before most of my peers. It showed too as I'd always looked 'quite young', according to my mom, due to my petite size.
It wasn't that I was smarter or better then anyone else that aided in me getting so far so fast, it had been more of a lack of options. I wasn't exactly a social child and the only friend I'd ever really had was Angela. Her family had moved to my town when I was only 5 and she was my opposite in just about every-way. She was a couple years older then me but for some reason took a liking to the 'shy girl' even-though she had the personality to make friends with just about anyone she could have wanted. I would always be thankful to Angela for bringing me out of my shell as much as she had, and I loved her with all my heart. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have pushed myself to graduate when I did which allowed us to go to college together much sooner, giving me my one real friend there as well. I owed her everything I had today, her and my parents.
"Eager?"
I smiled as I thought of helping all my students. "I can't wait to teach all my kids." She smiled at my sappy thought and rolled her eyes playfully.
"Such a softy... Okay how about anxious?" I immediately blushed and prayed she didn't notice. Of course she did though. The woman seemed to have a sixth sense for my blush.
"What's with the face, baby red?" I shot her a dirty look. I HATED that nickname that SHE had started when we were kids. She loved to make fun of my blush and how tiny I'd been when we were younger and I hated that she did. It's not like I could help it.
"Nothing." I grumbled the word while getting up to rinse my bowl. I took advantage of the other dishes in the sink and began washing them to avoid looking at her. She followed me to the sink and hopped up onto the counter as I washed and ignored her. I could feel her eyes on me but I did my best to pretend she wasn't there.
"Something at the school has already made you anxious?" I continued to ignore her but I felt the heat fill my face and I knew I was getting redder. I made the mistake of glancing at her just as a wide smile spread. Crap, I knew that face.
"Could this thing be... a boy?"
"Definitely not a boy." That was 100% true. Mr. Cullen... Edward was certainly not a boy. I had no clue how old he was but he had to be at least 30, much older than me.
"You aren't going to throw me off with nuances, Ms. Swan." She spoke my name in a firm teasing manner but all it made me think about was when Edward had called me that. Of course thinking of his voice wrapping like a caress around my name just turned me redder for her curious eyes.
"Jesus, you look like a cherry." She was both awed and amused by my color changing ability at the moment. "What the Hell happened?" I glanced up at her again from the dishes and the mocking look was replaced by true curiosity.
"Nothing."
"Come on Bella, tell me." I could tell by her tone that she was done teasing me. She knew I had an awful past with guys and probably didn't want to make me feel bad. Honestly I felt stupid over the whole thing. I knew he was just being charming with me and didn't actual mean anything serious from his comments. I appreciated how alluring he had been since it was nice to feel special, even if it was just a friendly way. He was a very attractive man... to put things VERY mildly, and it was nice to feel noticed by someone like him. I felt stupid that I was still thinking about his attentions. He was just being nice, I should let it go, but I couldn't seem to.
"It's nothing, Ang."
"Sweety, you can tell me." She looked concerned now and I was wondering what she saw in my face. If it matched my emotions I was sure I looked disappointed.
"I met this guy... at the meet the teacher night."
"Okay. Another teacher or...?" She trailed off for me to fill in the blanks.
"He's the dad to one of my students."
"Okay. Was he cute?" She smiled softly, trying to will the info from me, without pushing me to the point of shutting down. I was such a basket case when it came to the opposite sex. This was why I was perpetually single. I had no clue how to act around men and it was only becoming more embarrassing as the years went by. I blamed my over achieving ways as a teenager. I had spent my short junior/high school life with my nose in the books and as a result I lost out on any normal level of experience with the male gender. Then when I went to college, obviously no 18+ year old's were going to date a 16 year old. After that, by the time I actually was the legal 18, I was into my bachelor program and I realized I'd somehow been left behind when it came to socially understanding how to date.
I tried to picture 'cute' with Edward and blushed at how unfitting the word was. He was many things but something as basic as cute was beneath him. "He was so incredibly beyond cute." She smiled at that and I blushed from my own brazenness. Why did I say that? Yes it was true but I didn't have to say it.
"So did this 'so incredibly beyond cute' dad have a name?"
"Mr. Cullen... Edward." I smiled despite trying not to. I LOVED his name. It was so old-world and sophisticated.
"His name alone is Hot." She laughed as I nodded gently in agreement.
"Did he like you too?"
"I don't think so, but he was so charming... It was... nice... to talk to him." I really didn't want to dwell on this further. Here I was almost two weeks after we had spoken for the first and only time, and I couldn't get him out of my head. I felt a little bit pathetic over it all. Again I blamed my involuntary stunting. How would I ever be able to handle actual dating? I couldn't even handle a... so VERY MUCH more then cute... guy smiling at me.
"If he was so charming, how do you know he wasn't interested?"
I shrugged uncomfortably. "Well for one thing, I'm pretty sure I came off as a little innocent." Angela was silent for about one solid second before she burst out laughing, quite loudly... and hard. So hard she almost fell off the counter. She hoped down to avoid an injury, then proceeded to laugh even louder. She glanced at my face through her guffaws and something there made her laugh harder.
"SERIOUSLY... innocent! And you think that's what?... A turn OFF?" She struggled to speak through her laughter as she tried to breath through her amusement. I frowned at her in confusion. What did that mean? She calmed herself down after a moment and admittedly I was a little hurt by her reaction. It's not like I enjoyed being so naive, it just happened.
She seemed to notice my hurt expression as she quickly walked up to me and grabbed my hands reassuringly. "B, men love the innocent type, particularly the genuinely innocent type, not the fake stuff." She leaned down until my eyes met hers. "Trust me, you have that in spades." She grabbed my chin and made me look at her as I tried to get past how stupid I felt. "Bella, I'm sure he found you sweet. How could he not?"
"He was also a lot older then me."
"B, everyone is older then you. Price you pay for being a prodigy." She shrugged like it was nothing. Honestly his age was my biggest insecurity. I knew I didn't care how old he was but I doubted he felt the same way about MY age. I probably seemed like just a kid to him. "How old was he?"
"I don't know for sure but he had to be at least 30." She seemed to put some thought into that for a moment before shrugging it off easily.
"Age is just a number right?" She winked at me then gave me a kiss on the cheek and headed towards her room. "Good luck at school, B. Play nice with the other kids... and the parents... especially certain 'so incredibly beyond cute' dad's." I rolled my eyes but surprisingly she'd made me feel better in her own weird way. I really didn't know what I would do without her in my life.
I finished getting ready quickly, opting for another simple sundress. I was grateful that the school didn't have uniforms for the teachers, just a dress code, and it was nothing unreasonable. I chose a yellow dress this time with sunflowers all over it. My mom LOVED sundresses and bought them for me all the time. She'd been doing it since I was a kid and despite having hated them when I was young, I loved them now. I think a big part of it was that they reminded me of her. She was such a bright, fun, and easy going person and sundresses fit her to a T. I finished off my simple look with my favorite brown sandals. I kept my hair down as I hated putting it up in just about anything. I always thought my hair looked better down and natural so I pretty much always wore it the same way. Not very creative but I was a simple girl.
I got to the school in plenty of time and opted to stick to my classroom after getting any necessary info from the office. No sick calls so my whole class would be here today. I was excited as I had a fun get to know each-other exercise for the class. I had already laid out the worksheets for today and was just trying to figure out what to do for my last 45 minutes when there was a knock on my door. I turned and was greeted by the principal.
"Good Morning." He greeted me warmly and I smiled back , meeting him at the door.
"Hi." He handed me a cup of coffee and I took it happily though I had omitted coffee today as I felt hyped up enough on nerves. "Thank-you."
"How are you doing? Nervous?" Despite having come off a little brutally honest with me during my interview, I really liked him. He was smart, patient, and actually had a very interesting background. He had majored in history in college and had wanted to be a history professor. He did a two part internship/student teaching program in which he worked at an elementary school and a high school. Apparently it was a requirement to do what he wanted for college notoriety but he found himself missing primary education after he completed his workload and went into elementary school instead. Due to his extensive education he made principal at a pretty young age and now here he was.
"Maybe a little." He laughed and gave my shoulder a reassuring pat.
"You'll do fine, Bella." He shrugged then gave me a playful smirk. "Besides even if you mess up, they're five, bright eyed and eager to learn..." He trailed off while his smirk grew. "...and in school for the first time. I'm sure it wont set the tone for their e-n-t-i-r-e education."
"I used to think you were cool." I narrowed my eyes at him and he laughed. He handed me a small folder and I noticed it had my name and art class on it.
"Lots of kids signed up. I hope you can handle it."
"How many?" I don't know why I asked as I opened the page and it was on the first page.
"29. Almost thirty. That's more then any other individual class except sports." He smiled proudly and my stupid blush kicked in.
"Do you think we'll have any late sign ups?" He shrugged.
"It's always hard to tell. It feels like some years we have all the overprotective parents that want their kids home constantly then other years we have the parents with the mentality of 'Lets sign them up for everything so they have early admission into Ivy League'." He laughed and I frowned.
"I don't know how many colleges care about K level art."
"Maybe Julliard?" I rolled my eyes and playfully pushed him to my door. He laughed but left me to my own devices. I sat down at my desk and went over the roster for my art class excitedly. I hadn't taught an art class yet, except through my student teaching, so I was extra excited about it. I loved art and I couldn't wait to help kids who loved it too. I was a little disappointed that most of the students were from my own class and there were 4 other K level classes. That meant the teachers weren't promoting all the extra-curricular options... or at least they weren't promoting mine.
I knew the art program was brand new this year but that didn't mean the teachers should ignore it. I frowned and made a note in my calendar to have a sit down at the first PTA meeting. I didn't want to come off pushy but every family should at least know about the program. I had gotten almost all of my students to sign up for at least one of the extra classes. If I could do it I imagine all the classes could. I wondered if they only pushed their favorites or if they just ignored the whole thing. My frown deepened as I made more notes about what I would say. Maybe I should send home a note for all parents. If it was happening at my level it was probably happening at the other grade levels too, and they had even more options for their kids to choose from. Extra programs needed support or they went away and the students that really want and need them, lose them.
Part of me thought I shouldn't worry so much because 30 was the absolute max size for any class but I could start a second one, maybe on Thursdays or just a second session on Tuesday. I didn't mind as I loved teaching art, and I wanted to help the kids. I took all the notes I could then finished going over the roster so I could design a fun activity involving decorating their names. When I got to Elizabeth Cullen on the list I did my best NOT to think of her 'so incredibly beyond cute' father. I rolled my eyes at my own inner nickname for him. I knew her favorite color was green so I tentatively laid out a plan with a lot of amphibians, reptiles, and plants. I wished I knew the favorite colors for all my students but maybe I could learn a few today.
I was just starting to add some color coded behavior charts to our exercises today, when the bell rang. I actually jumped in my seat at the sound and looked at my cell phone in shock. Had I really lost track of time? I jumped up and almost ran to the playground, where all the parents dropped off their kids before school. All the Kindergarten students were on one of the fields, separate from the rest and I recognized my kids immediately. Henry ran to me first and I laughed when he proceeded to tell me how pretty I was, while hugging me of course. What a cutey. It was no surprise his father had gotten such a kind and pretty wife, assuming Henry inherited his charm from his dad. When I thought of the word 'charming' my mind went to another not so 'little' boy and I had to try to reign in my stupid blush.
"Ms. Swan." I turned surprised when I heard my name. It was Lizzie and she was holding up a picture with pink trees. She had a big smile and I couldn't help but stare at her beautiful green eyes for a moment before I took her picture happily. I saw that she had signed her name, still a bit messy but better then she had when I met her.
I leaned down and stroked her hair as I praised her amazingly detailed trees. "I thought the pink forest was for your dad?"
"He said you would love it more. I drew him a puppy instead."
"Awww." I laughed at his underhandedness but I happily took the fairy forest drawing just the same. It would be a great display piece for the art class next week. "Well I think he's missing out. Your forest is beautiful." She beamed at the compliment as I rallied all my students to take to our classroom. As soon as I got the class in I hung the pink forest next to the green one. Amazingly they didn't look the same. Most young kids drew things the same every-time; trees, buildings, etc... but she didn't. The green forest trees looked like evergreens, the picture actually reminding me of Christmas. The Pink forest however looked like a cross between cotton candy, Dr. Seuss, and bubblegum. I loved them both.
I turned to my class and felt both overwhelmed and and so very excited. I couldn't believe I was finally here...
END NOTES:
-PLEASE REVIEW
-Yes. Bella IS REALLY this innocent in my story. Lol. That doesn't mean she is stupid though. She is a very bright, devoted, and a truly kind character. When I came up with this story originally I planned to do it entirely from Edward's point of view. That's how I came up with the perfect girl for someone with so much negative in their life. He needs someone as gentle as her. Someone tender and soft to couple with his strength and ferocity.
-I did much of what Bella did in college with regards to cost of living loans. My scholarship covered 100% of college but little else. I lived at home so that saved rent but there was still little things like... food, etc... LOL. The good thing about college loans is they have some of the lowest interest out there and you don't have to start paying until after you finish school. It was difficult for me to find a job simply because there were tons of other college students looking as well and I needed flexibility. I can only imagine how hard it would be for early graduates.
-It is very possible to graduate high school at 16 and to get a bachelors degree in just three years. It's especially possible by doing what Bella did with taking as many classes as possible. I know a lot of people that achieved bachelors in just 2-3 years taking extra classes. Typically they didn't have to have jobs like the rest of us though. LOL. I worked 40 hours plus had a full course load. Not fun, and I do NOT miss it.
-Any guesses on Bella's age?
-Again lots of reviews results in faster updates where possible. :-) *Hint, Hint, Wink, Wink*
