AUSTIN:
In the van, I was hearing the conversation between the inmates. Enrique was whispering to Gaby,
"Eres muy hermosa, Gaby. Me gustan tus tetas."
"Muchas Gracias. Eres un muchacho muy sexy. Tienes una novia?"
"No, pero yo quiero a ser mi novia. Y después de la visita de campo, hay que ir a mi casa y que debe tener relaciones sexuales."
I could hear Sammi asking,
"I don't understand what you guys are saying to each other, because I don't speak spanish, but why the hell are you guys talking about sex to each other?"
Enrique laughed.
"Because she's crazy hot as fuck. Like you're in juvy for prostitution like her, so you should know all about this."
I asked,
"Hey, hey, kids, keep the blue conversations to a minimum."
Sammi said,
"I caught him feeling up Gaby last night in the bathroom."
Enrique said,
"You're a fucking tattletale, Sammi."
Jamie was rapping "Fuck the police" with Brenda. We got to the homeless shelter and I had the inmates hand Doug their electronic devices. Doug was saying,
"Now, you guys know what we're going to do?"
Maria was saying,
"No, but I bet you're going to tell us."
He said,
"You bet your ass I am! You kids are going to spend the next three hours cooking and serving meals to these people. Because they don't have a roof over their head or food on the table."
Jamie said,
"Sucks for them."
Doug said,
"Yup. You guys will get some of it, too. I'm going to turn this conversation over to Austin, now."
I said,
"Thanks, Doug. I'm going to set some ground rules- no horseplay in the kitchen, it's not only inappropriate, but it's also dangerous, no inappropriate language- that means no swearing, that's not even just swearing, that also means no inappropriate conversations and also speaking kindly to each other. If you guys behave inappropriately, Doug or I will put you on timeout. You kids are old enough to know how to act. OK, I think you guys understand the rules. Any questions?"
Brenda asked me,
"Are we going to get paid for this? We should get paid if we're handling uncooked food and risking salmomella. Disgusting."
I said,
"No, Brenda. You guys are not going to get paid, you are doing this to fulfill your hours of community service for your parole officers. And you won't have to worry about Salmonella just as long as you wash your hands and wear gloves."
I opened the door and went in with Doug and the inmates and I met the person who ran the shelter. She was a very friendly african american woman and she had a name tag that read Jessica on it and I said,
"Hi, you must be the manager. It's nice to meet you. I'm Austin Moon, this is my supervisior Doug, we work at the Miami Dade Juvenile Services Department. The inmates are here to fulfill their community service hours. Don't worry, they're all stable."
The manager smiled and said in a thick african american accent,
"I'm Jessica Lewis. It's nice to meet you, too."
She also shook hands with Doug and told him,
"I'm very glad you're here. We've been expecting you."
Doug smiled at her.
"I'm glad we're here, too. The inmates can not only fulfill their community service requirements, but they can also feel a sense of gratification."
Jessica smiled.
"That's amazing. These must be the inmates."
I said,
"Yeah. Every one of you say your name and age."
They all said their name and age and Jessica told them,
"It's very nice to meet all of you. All of you go wash your hands and then get a hairnet and apron and gloves."
ALLY:
I discovered a small blue Tiffany box on my desk. I opened it and discovered a necklace that said my name on the clasp. My student Sarah Dayton fluffed her strawberry blonde Taylor Swift curly hair and said,
"Some guy left that for you, Ms. Dawson. He's super hot."
I asked her,
"Do you know who dropped off this necklace for me, Sarah?"
Sarah picked up a red hair tie from her wrist and tied her hair into a bun.
"Yes. This hot blonde guy with one of the best haircuts I've ever seen on a guy, and he was in a hot outfit. Whoever cuts his hair deserves a solid gold medal."
Cat whispered to me,
"It was Austin, Ms. Dawson. He's the guy you're meant for."
Cat was right. Cat Altman was only in seventh grade, but she was sure as hell wise beyond her years. She was the smartest rich girl I'd ever met. For my lunch break, I had lunch with Kira in her office. She smiled at me.
"Someone's in a good mood today."
I said,
"I am. And take a guess why?"
Kira laughed.
"This involves your new neighbor, doesn't it?"
I said,
"Wow, Kira, you're as sharp as a tack. I had an amazing two day date with Austin. I had a sweet reunion with Cadence Moon, Dr. and Mr. Moon, and his brother and sister-in-law. His family are some of the nicest people I've ever met. And the next day, we went out for breakfast at Subway together."
She smiled.
"It sounds like you had an amazing weekend."
"And according to Sarah and Cat, he dropped off this necklace for me today. He must have come in while I was moving my car."
"He sounds like a sweetie."
I giggled.
"He is. He in fact encapsulates the word sweetie."
"Oh, Ally. That reminds me, the grading period ends on friday. You need to turn in your students' grades."
"Thanks, Kira."
When I got home from Starbucks, I discovered Austin talking on his phone.
"Hey, how is she?"
"She's fine? Phew! Yeah, we were on a field trip to the homeless shelter and she cut her hand really badly with the knife. Just drop her off to the Miami Dade Juvenile Justice Center, my supervisior Doug Stevens will tell you where her cell is."
"Just have her sit out of activities that put pressure on her hands? OK. Thanks, goodbye."
He hung up his phone.
"Hey, beautiful,"
He giggled.
I said,
"Hey, Austin."
He looked at my necklace.
"Ooh, you're wearing the necklace I got you. I dropped it off in your classroom today."
"Oh, I'm sorry I missed you. I had to go move my car and then I had to use the bathroom."
Austin chortled.
"No, it's cool. I met some more of your students. They're really colorful and some of them are a little cheeky."
I said,
"Welcome to my world, cowboy. I deal with it on a daily basis."
I giggled.
"So, what happened at the Juvenile dentention center, today?"
Austin said,
"We took them on a field trip to the Miami Rescue Mission homeless shelter to serve a meal to homeless people so they could fulfill some of their community service hours for their probation officers. It was fun, but we had to go home early because one of my inmates, her name is Sammi, cut her hand really badly with a knife and my supervisior and I had to call the emergency room."
I cringed.
"Ooh, that's not good. Is she OK?"
I said,
"Yeah, she's fine. She has to sit out of activities that require hand work, but she'll be fine."
I sighed in relief.
"Poor thing, though."
He said,
"Yeah."