Chapter One

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Gianna's Point Of View

Teaching at The Saint Patrick private elementary school definitely had its perks-charity events, long breaks, better pay, and my great friends I met through the job.

However, it had its downs. Mainly a down. Mine was Lilith, she was the definition of destructive.

She was the only kid in my 3rd-grade class that was like that. She went to great lengths to make sure that my lessons never got finished, she was just so distracting and interruptive.

This went on for months, and now that we are entering December about to go into Christmas break I was reaching my breaking point.

"LILITH SIT DOWN PLEASE!"My voice echoed through the classroom.

My focus was on the nine-year-old in front of me as she decided she wanted to show our entire class her new dance moves.

But instead of listening, she continued. I let out a forceful sigh before picking up my work phone.

I went through my records to find a parent contact for her since I've truly had enough.
I dialed the number anticipating the voice on the other end of the call.

"Hello?" A delicate voice came through the phone.

"Hi is this Avanna Winslow?"My voice sternly going through the phone.

My mention to Lilith's mother seemed to halt her actions. Her stare now on me and her mother verified her identity.

"Hi this is Lilith's teacher Miss. Graves, is there any way we could meet for a parent-teacher conference to discuss your daughter and her actions"I spoke noticing the long sigh the woman seemed to take.

"Sure what time?"Her voice sounding troubled.

"5:30 perhaps? Your daughter is currently interrupting my lesson by showing the class her dance moves" I said.

"I'm very sorry. Could I speak to her?"She said causing me to extend the phone for Lilith to take.

The dark-haired girl slowly walked towards the phone taking it out of my hand and putting it up to her ear.

From the expression now shown on her face it wasn't hard to tell that her mom was about to rip her a new one.

I suddenly looked down taking back my extended phone. She went and sat down quietly allowing me to continue my lesson.

I continued my lesson transitioning to the different ones planned for the day. Sooner than later the school day was over and the children were packed up heading out for dismissal.

But my day was far from done. I had a bunch of grading and lesson planning to do, and don't forget the conference with Lilith's mom.

-

The golden rays of the now setting sun shined over my desk as I finished grading Lilith's recent test noticing how she got a perfect score.

Which stressed me further, she was the smartest kid in my class but just chose to distract everyone else.

Three powerful knocks sounded on my door making my head shoot up. I suddenly put my papers away and rise to my feet.

My tan heels clicked against the floor as I approached the door, opening the door I was met with a dark pair of eyes.

"Hi I'm Gianna Graves, You must be Ms. Winslow," I said extending my hand out to shake the woman's hand.

"Indeed" She didn't hesitate to shake my hand.

I couldn't help but notice the way her touch lingered, the way her eyes trailed over my appearance.

"So I called you here to discuss your daughter's actions," I said taking my hand out of hers.

But as I watched her eyebrows furrow I could only draw one conclusion-

"She's not my daughter, my sister couldn't make it she's working, "The woman said.

"Oh I didn't realize, "I said.

I had never met Lily's family, they didn't bother to show up for 'Meet the Teacher Night' let alone show up to the assemblies or parades we had at the school.

"Eden" she spoke, her voice firm. The energy around her was different. She was different.

I stood to the side allowing her to walk into my classroom. Her dark hair flowed down her back, the sound of her heels clicking against the ground echoing in my ears.

"So what exactly is my niece doing?"She asked over her shoulder as she walked to my desk.

"Well for starters she won't let me finish my lessons, she alwa-" I found myself cutting off my sentence as I noticed her examining my classroom.

"Are you looking for something?" I asked furrowing my eyebrows.

She continued examining my classroom, viewing the posters I had up. The way the desks were organized, my bookshelves that line the back walls.

I watched her movements, and suddenly her dark eyes met mine. Her glance sent waves through my body.

"Just seeing where my investment went"She simply said walking back towards my desk.

"Your investment?" I said still confused.

"Miss.Graves I came here to talk about Lily, are you gonna talk about her or not?"

It wasn't hard to pick up on her sudden irritated tone. I brushed her comment off and sat at my desk picking up the bright pink sticky note that I wrote the actions of Lily on.

"She won't let me finish my lessons, she doesn't do the homework that I assign. She interrupts everything-"

"Just like every other child" She cut me off crossing her arms over her chest, shifting her weight to her other leg.

"No actually, she's the only one who does this. But I will say that she is very smart"My tone growing firmer.

"Miss.Graves-" She started but was interrupted by her phone ringing.

She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket scanning over the caller ID.

"Give me a second," She said before walking out the door.

I sat down in my desk chair contemplating how her actions were oddly similar to her niece's. Finally seeing where she gets it from.

A bit of time went past before she came back. Enough time to where I finished my grading and even started my lesson plan for tomorrow.

"That was work, we're going to have to try this again another day," She said coming back in.

"I just wanted to get her behavior resolved"I sighed.

"We can talk about it another time," She said reaching into her black channel purse for something.

"If there are more problems with her after tonight feel free to call me," She said extending out an Olive green card.

I blinked twice, taking the card into my hand.

"You have a good night Miss. Graves," she said and her presence quickly disappeared.

Leaving me in the silence of my classroom feeling like the issue with Lilith would never be resolved.

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