New Feelings

A Very Long Day

Jill heaved a heavy sigh. Today just was not her day. The clock on the wall had ticked well past three, when she meant to leave, then five, and was swiftly moving past seven, yet there she was still sitting at her desk.

The moment the final bell rang, Jill decided that she needed to work on grading the papers she had been trying to get to all day. She had tried to work on the week-old tests earlier, but her usually behaved class had been practically bouncing off the walls. It was as if the very air of the old building had suddenly been infused with sugar and created hyperactive little monsters. Most days she didn't mind as she was a teacher and loved children, but all she wanted to do was catch up on her work. Alas, it was not meant to be

Jill sat at her desk, head propped up on one hand with the other tap, tap, tapping her pen against the wooden top as she thought about her day. It had started almost immediately as she had been running late. She had spilled her meticulously made iced coffee all over herself at home and was forced to head to a local café to buy a replacement. Unfortunately for her she seemed to have found herself stuck behind an old couple who needed to ask questions about the entire menu.

After what felt like ages, Jill was finally able to order and take her vanilla chai latte to go and rush to her classroom after swiping in. She had barely enough time to gather loose ends in the room and put up that morning's assignment on the board before her students arrived. Though she wasn't entirely caffeinated just yet, Jill put on a beaming smile and started her day.

She wished it had moved faster than it did.

It felt like her days were three times as long when her students decided to act out. Little Robert found himself in a squabble with Vanessa who was screaming at Jack for who knows what reason. One of her other students had an accident in the corner of the room and somehow managed to slink off without her noticing. It wasn't until one of the other little girls let out a shriek that Jill was alerted that there had been a problem. Exhausted by everything, Jill popped into the room next door to ask her colleague Mike if he would be interested in letting their two classes mingle for a while so she could clean. To her relief, Mike obliged and took over her class as well as his own for a bit.

All Jill could think of as she cleaned the offending puddle from the floor that if she wanted to deal with that, she would have worked in kindergarten. As the day progressed, she figured in the end it didn't matter as her kids had eventually worn themselves out. She made it through another day, she supposed.

Her musings were interrupted by a sharp rap at the edge of her classrooms door and Jill looked up to see Mike giving her a knowing grin.

"Jill, it's time to pack up. It's late. Go home. Just take the papers with you," Mike said, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

Jill dropped her pen on her desk and leaned back in her chair with a groan, pressing the palms of her hands into her eye sockets.

"I suppose you're right," Jill replied with a moan. "It's been such a long day."

"Tell me about it," Mike said, shaking his head. "I swear it's like a storm blew through my classroom. Were your kids any better? They were great with me."

"Of course they were great with you! They weren't trying to torture me anymore!"

"Oh, please. They love you. They would never torture you. Mine certainly don't."

Jill pulled her hands away from her face and looked Mike up and down. "Well, you certainly don't look any better than me. What was that about your kids not torturing you?"

"Touché," Mike chuckled. "Seriously though, get out of here. I'm heading out myself."

"Maybe that's not a bad idea," Jill replied after a pause. "Think I just want to get home. Maybe I'll somehow get the rest of these done."