Teaching A Thing Or Two

Chapter 4 The Transfer

Finley's POV

I hear a knock at my classroom door, gaining my attention. "Hey Finley, I didn't know if you wanted the note from the roses or not." Joey says hesitantly, coming over to my desk, setting the note right by my hands. He puts his hand on top of mine before saying. "He didn't deserve you, and maybe this is your chance to find something new.. Something you never thought of.. but either way, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

I nod, looking up at him as I reply, "Thanks, Joey, that's sweet of you, I'm ok, just sad, honestly. I know I will eventually be good. Things like this just take time.. Thank you for your kind words, too."

He steps closer, looking as if he wants to ask something, and I think I know where this is going, especially since he hasn't let go of my hand.

"Well, Finley, I was hoping if you feel up for it, that maybe we could go out for lunch.. or dinner.. or both for tomorrow? I don't care either way. It's just up to you." He asks me as I swallow the lump in my throat.

"Um.. I don't know.. we work together, Joey." I try to explain as he quickly replies. "But I promise you would have a fun time, and I'm a great distraction to help keep your mind off of things, making you feel better.. and that is what you want right now, is it not?"

He is right because that's what everyone keeps telling me I need, and maybe that's true, but I won't know until I try.

"Ok. I will go this time, but just a warning to you I'm not going to be my normal self since the wound is still so fresh for me.. But I also need you to know I'm not looking for anything serious right now, I'm just trying to get through this in one piece since this just happened to me today." I say, making sure he knows what I want since that's all that matters to me right now.

"I'll wait as long as you need to get past this.. I do completely understand this date will just be for a fun, distracting time, and I swear I'm up for the challenge." I groan at his reply, knowing he has won me over with his kindness. I'm a sucker for that.

"Ok, let's go to lunch tomorrow, and we will see how that goes before we decide anything else." I retort to him as he smirks over at me. "Perfect, I'll make sure to pick you up by noon.. try to have a good rest of your day, and I'll see you tomorrow beautiful." I send a small smile his way before waving him out as I hear the first bell of the day ring.

Here we go to the long day ahead. I watch the students make their way into the room, smiling at me as I send small smiles back. They sit down one by one, filling up the seats. I realize I left my purse out, so I take my purse putting it into my bottom drawer of my desk, grabbing some painkillers to help me get through the day since I already have a headache and it's only just started. I sit up straight to take the medicine.

I get some medicine in hand, then take my water chugging it with the painkillers, and hopefully, that will kick in soon enough. I looked at my class as I saw a red paper set on the corner of my desk at some point when I was leaning down.. It's in the shape of a heart. My eyebrows scrunch up as I take it into my hands, opening it up.

Roses are red, and man, the most beautiful violets are blue,

Someone has been thinking about you a lot, but all I can do is just give you a clue,

You make me smile every single day no matter what the weather outside,

That I just wish I could spend every day with you right by my side.

But for now, I'll just have to settle with admiring you from afar because our love would be looked down upon until I can figure something else for us.

It's just signed with a couple of hearts, and that's it. I stand up as I ask curiously. "Who wrote this?" Everyone in the room doesn't answer or shrugs their shoulders.

I sit back down, holding onto that note. I was just given along with the one that Maverick wrote me that I honestly don't have the guts to open right now. So I put both of them into my pocket, just trying not to think about it right now as I wait for the rest of the students to join before we start.

The morning passes by pretty quickly, suprisingly enough. There are no issues with students, I think they might be able to tell something is wrong with me today, even though I haven't broken down crying yet. I'm doing good at keeping my cool, but you can sense something in the air between the students and myself.. whatever it is, I appreciate it because this day could have been completely awful, but it's actually a pretty good one.. so far. The lunch bell echoes throughout the whole school as the kids pile out of the rooms. We head out for lunch as I meet up with my friends.

I walk over, sitting down and not grabbing anything to eat because honestly, I'm not hungry.. at least not right now. When I get stressed, I lose my appetite. It's an issue I have been dealing with for a while now.

"How was your morning, ladies?" I ask just trying to distract myself as much as I can. Well, I keep having to deal with the twins ganging up once again." Kacee replies to my inquiry. "Who was their latest victim?" I ask curiously. "It's Sunny again. They just won't leave her alone, and I can't figure out why.. but other than that, normal."

"Man, I don't understand why they are always so mean to her.. I have a piece of mind to kick both of those girls asses just to put them in their places.. but I would lose my job automatically.. I can't have that, but I have for sure thought about it more than once." I state as they both nod completely, agreeing with me because all the teachers have wanted to do that with the twins at some point.

"I wanted to talk with you about that, actually.. I was hoping maybe I could transfer Sunny to your classroom to get her away from them for most of the day, for the rest of the year, of course.. especially since she just adores you, so I figured that might make you both feel better." Kacee suggests to me as I nod, "Yea, I have some spaces in my class, so I will take her willingly.. she is so sweet and deserves better than being around these bullies."

"Ok, good. I just wanted to make sure it was OK with you before I got the parent approval. I have to get that next before anything can be official.. I'll make sure to call her father because her mother never answers, but her father always does. He seems very dedicated to Sunny's schooling it's the mom that always acts like this is the biggest inconvenience. She is a b***h-a-roonie-doonie if you ask me. That man is so sweet. I don't know how he is with her. But that's none of my business, I guess." Kacee states as my eyebrows scrunch up.

"I thought Sunny's mother died.. that's how she always talked about her. It was in the past tense, so I always just assumed.." I reply to her as she shrugs her shoulders before responding. "I know she is alive, but maybe they just have a horrible relationship."

I nod, not knowing what to think about that as Kacee gets up, leaving us for a moment with her cell phone in hand. I bet she is making a call.

"So, are you excited for tonight?" Kimmy asks as I shrug my shoulders again. "I don't know, I'm not in the mood for pleasantries or faking a smile, but I do need a distraction. That's the only reason why I haven't canceled it." I answer probably way too, honestly.

"Well, let's just get through the rest of the day, and we can relax, joking around and getting you ready.. that will help you relax. I'm sure of it." She replies as I smile and nod, knowing she is right once again.

Kacee joins us in no time at all as she states, "Ok Finn, I got her father's approval for transfer, so maybe you should call him and set up to do a home visit to make sure everything is ok at the home." She states to me as I nod. "Ok, I'll call right now, too. Thanks." I inform her as I grab my phone, leaving the lunch area to the quiet hallways.

I take my phone approving of the transfer so I can see her personal information to call.. I decided to call her father instead of the mother because of what we had just discussed before. I hear the phone ring once as I hear a deep baritone of a voice answer.. "Hello?" It sounds so familure but I'm not sure from where.

"Hello Mr.Payan, my name is Finley Price.. I have been familure with your daughter's situation at school. So I of course, gladly accepted her transfer into my classroom. I will do my best to be the proper support she needs in school to help her succeed. I would love to be able to get together with you just to come up with a plan of action when it comes to Sunny and her academics for the rest of the year.. such as goals for her and yourself." I say to him as he humms in response, then letting out a deep breath.

"Yes, of course I would appreciate that as well. I want to meet the teacher who had my daughter excited for school now that she heard she transferred to your class.. She only had good things to say about you just in case you were wondering, Mrs. Price. So how about you can come over on Sunday night? I can make us dinner and we can discuss as much as you would like." He says as I smile to myself.

"It's Ms. Price, but I'm very happy to hear she was just as excited as I was for her, too. She is a ray of sunshine to my day, and that's not meant as a pun, I swear.. So for dinner, Sunday night is 6 or 7, ok?" I ask him as he chuckles at my comment before replying.

"6 is perfect.. Thank you for calling, and I can't wait to meet you.. see you soon enough, MS.Price." He emphasizes in my name as I smile again, hearing him hang up the call as I put my phone into my pocket, heading back to the lunchroom.

"Well, he seems nice enough." I state to Kacee as she agrees with me, "He is SO nice and ALWAYS polite, which is such a nice change of pace when it comes to her mother. I had the pleasure of meeting her at one parent teacher conference, and she acted as if she didn't give a s**t and that it was a complete waste of time being there.. I honestly don't know how an amazing man like that would ever want a woman like her.. ever.. just shocking to me, really."

We hear the bell ding above us so loudly calling all the kids back into the classroom for the next set of classes. Let's just hope the rest of the classes go as well as the beginning ones did.