September 19th, 2022
Salem Black
I emailed Halo's mom last week on Thursday. Today is Monday and I'm just now getting a response.
I will admit I'm a little upset but I shouldn't be. She is the mother of my student so I shouldn't be worried about how quickly she replies to my email.
I truly shouldn't be worried about her at all. Though she said she's not in a relationship with the father of her child, they seem...closer than coparents usually are.
But even if she is telling the truth I, again, shouldn't care. Attempting to pursue anything would be incredibly inappropriate, irresponsible, and unprofessional.
I'm not inappropriate, irresponsible, or unprofessional. Well I'm irresponsible on occasion but that's not the point!
I sat at my desk (unhappily) cutting out fake money. Our next math unit is place value and money. Raven and I shared a good majority of our plans so whatever she was doing, I was doing. Whatever I was doing, she was doing. This helped us make sure no class was left behind.
There was a knock at my door and I already knew it was Raven because she's the only person that knocks a beat.
"Hello, parent lover." She smiled.
Telling Raven about Harlow was definitely not a good idea but she's my best friend and I tell her and Ashley everything. We're so close we have each other's social security numbers. Nobody shares that information!
"Get out. Now." I glared.
She swears she's a comedian.
"I came in here to get my money. And to tell you Ash is bringing us food."
"Okay well your money isn't ready so you are more than welcome to help cut it out. As for Ashy I will send her a text declaring my love for her."
Raven grabbed a pair of scissors from my desk and began cutting out the rest of the laminated paper. Her kids were at music and mine were at art. We only had like ten minutes left to we needed to get all of the money ready before we ran out of time.
"So..." she trialed off, "Any updates about your girlfriend?"
"She isn't my girlfriend you idiot. The only update I can give you is that she just replied to my email."
"Are you gonna open it?" The woman asked.
"I will," I said, "After you leave."
"How rude." She pouted.
"No, I'm just tired of your bullshit. Now take your money and get out. I need to go get my kids from art."
Raven snatched a rubber band from my desk to put around her money and almost stormed out of my room. I know I'm childish at times but she's a different breed.
_+_+_+_
"Esmeralda, what's the first thing you think of when you hear the word 'money'?"
"Umm...the color green." The girl shrugged.
"Cool. Melody, what's the first thing you think of when you hear the word 'money'?" I asked again.
"A tree."
"I've never heard that answer before. That's good though. Xavier, what's the first thing you think of when you hear the word 'money'?" I asked for the final time.
"How dirty it is! People should wash their money before it goes to anyone else."
"I agree," I chuckled, "That's why I only carry around my card."
"Miss Black, can I have some money?" Rhodes asked.
"I'm broke."
"How? You're a teacher!" Rhodes questioned.
They must not know...
"That's a conversation for another time, my boy. Anyways. We all think of something different when we hear 'money'. It could be a negative thought or it could be a positive thought. Either way it's valuable," I snickered. "Get it? Cause money is valuable-"
"Miss Black, that wasn't funny." Ivory stared.
"Yes it was!" Halo giggled.
"Alrighty let's be serious. On your tables is a bowl of pennies. Inside that bowl, along with the pennies, is are dice. You will roll said dice and whatever number is how many pennies you will take from the bowl. After you collect five pennies you will come to me 'the bank' and exchange that for a....who can tell me what is a little more valuable than a penny?"
Atticus' hand shot up and I happily called on him.
"Go ahead Atticus."
"A nickel."
"Good job! It's a nickel. After you exchange your pennies for a nickel you will go back to your seat and continue until you have another set of five. Then you'll exchange your pennies for another nickel and then exchange those two nickels for... what comes after a nickel?"
This time Elliot's hand went up.
"A dime."
"My goodness I don't even know why I'm teaching this you guys are already so smart!" I gasped, "The goal is to get up to a dollar. The dollars I have aren't real because I'm broke. You may keep it as part of your paychecks which you will receive on Friday. Go ahead it begin."
The sounds of plastic clashing with wood filled the room. The kids were smiling happily as they tried to get up to five pennies. The first person to get five was Noah.
Noah didn't talk unless he needed to. He was extremely introverted and only talked to me or Atticus. I could tell his silence caused a struggle for everyone else because they would try and talk to him or play with him but all he did was look at them.
That's a sign of a special little thing called 'somethings going on at home'. I learned that my first week of college. Silence, anger, and anxiety were all "symptoms" for it. Now I'm not saying Noah is being abused at home; I'm saying there's something going on at home.
I could be overthinking it but these are my students and while their time is being occupied by me, it is my duty to protect and care for them.
"Alrighty. Noah, here's your nickel." I smiled.
"Thank you, Miss Black." He whispered.
Esmeralda and Xavier came up to me next. Both of them were holding exactly five pennies and both of them were wearing big, bright smiles.
"I need a nickel, please." Esme said, smiling so brightly that you could see the missing teeth she had lost last weekend.
She told me her dad started calling her "gums"and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Well here's a nickel for you, gums." I laughed.
"Miss Black!" Esmeralda gasped, "you're supposed to be on my side!"
"It's funny." Xavier agreed.
"Wow. Ok I'm going back to my seat."
I gave Xavier his nickel and waited until everyone else needed theirs. It took thirty minutes for everyone to get a dollar. Some of them (Noah, Halo, Atticus, Rylee, and Esme) got up to three dollars.
"Ok I should have all of my coins back and everyone should have at least a dollar on their desks," I spoke, "I want everyone to put their money in their wallets and then I need numbers one to eleven to grab their things. Once they return twelve to twenty-two will grab theirs. After everyone has their things we're gonna sit quietly and wait for announcements."
Little Salem would be so proud of me. I'm making her dreams come true one day at a time.
1213 words
A/n: HSIT HAS 26k READS HOLY FUCK!!! Thank you all for reading that and reading this too! We're almost to five hundred reads on here!! Don't be ghost readers either make sure you vote and comment!
-Mj