Toby Who? -- A Toby "Tobuscus" Turner Fan Fiction

Chapter 2: Why Should I Worry?

 “Why should I worry?

Why should I care?

I may not have a dime

But I got street savoire faire

Why should I worry?

Why should I care?

It's just bebopulation

And I got street saviore faire.”

My jaw dropped as I held Boone in my arms while staring at the sight of our new first floor apartment. After almost 3 days of driving, Nicole and I had finally arrived in California.

The apartment was very modest and quaint. I guess that’s what two teachers’ salaries would buy you in a big city like LA. When you entered the front door onto the laminate floors, there was a small living room big enough for a sofa, a TV and not much else. On the far side of the entrance was a kitchen with some nice, upgraded appliances and which was separated from the living room area by an island. The bedroom doors were to the left and right of the kitchen, in the back of the apartment unit. The bathroom was nestled next to the bedroom on the right of the kitchen. My bedroom was the one closest to the bathroom, and inside it had one medium-sized window next to a closet that had sliding mirrors for doors. Man, that place was a lot smaller than our place in Texas. But strangely, something about it felt like home to me. 

“What do you think?” I asked Nicole, noticing her face scrunch up like someone just waved a dead fish in front of her face.

“It smells. And it’s small. But it’ll do, I guess.”

I set Boone down the floor so he could explore his new surroundings while Nicole and I unloaded and unpacked our furniture, clothes, and other miscellaneous items from the U-Haul and trunks of our cars. I lit an apple cinnamon scented candle on the kitchen island to help with the stench. Two very gross and uncleanly guys must have lived there before us because that apartment smelled like stale farts. I took my time to make sure that all of our decorations were placed nicely around the space. The apartment may not have smelled like roses, but it definitely looked spectacular (Nicole and I have always shared a creative flare for interior design).

It was now the first week of August, so Nicole and I had to go to the first day of a week-long orientation for our new teaching jobs early tomorrow morning. We uncorked a bottle of red wine to celebrate our new “bachelorette pad,” each pouring a glass for ourselves, and we were both completely asleep by eleven that night. Wine usually had that affect on me.

Boone woke me up the next morning by contentedly licking my face. Immediately I was hit with a wave of nervous excitement about meeting my new coworkers and boss. After quickly showering, I slipped on my black dress pants with a white blouse and a red blazer along with my red 2-inch heels and a red necklace. By the time I ran out of my room to grab some coffee in the kitchen, Nicole was already standing there ready to go with a travel mug in hand.

“How are you always running late?” She asked me, smirking and shaking her head. She was in “mom away from mom” mode for sure.

I stuck out my tongue at her, poured some coffee into a travel mug of my own and grabbed my purse. Nikki and I carpooled to Warner Avenue Elementary School where the week-long teacher’s convention/orientation was being held, arriving 5 minutes before the first presentation was supposed to start.

“See? We’re not late, we’re right on time!” I said triumphantly as I slid out of the driver’s seat of my car. Nicole’s truck wasn’t the best car to use in California because of the bad gas mileage, so she was trying to sell it to get a more fuel efficient vehicle.

As we entered the auditorium side by side, we could see that most of the seats were already filled. Nikki spotted two seats next to some nice looking teachers on the end of an aisle and we sat down, introducing ourselves to the girl who would be our neighbor for the next 2 hours.

“Hi, I’m Nicole Sears and this is Emma Leigh Cameron. We’re new to the school this year.”

“I’m Raleigh Patterson, nice to meet you!” The tanned redhead next to us squealed. She certainly had a lot of energy in the morning. “I really like your accent Emma Leigh, where are you two from?”

“Texas,” Nikki and I responded in unison.

“Oh wow! That’s so exciting! Is this your first time in LA?”

“Yes, we actually just moved here yesterday. This is our first time living anywhere other than Texas.” I answered, feeling like I’d lived a very sheltered live until now.

“Ohmygoodness well you two ladies will just love it here!” Raleigh exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “I teach 2nd grade, what grades will you guys be teaching?”

“I’ll also be with the 2nd graders, and Nikki will be teaching kindergarten.” I already really liked this Raleigh girl. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with pretty red shoulder length hair that flowed around her face just the right way and a golden tan that made me envy her complexion even though I was fairly tan myself.

As we continued to talk to Raleigh throughout the day, I couldn’t help but notice something sparkling on the ring finger of her left hand.

“Raleigh, are you engaged?!” I blurted out, interrupting Nicole.

Raleigh blushed, holding her hand out for Nicole and I to examine. “Yeah, I’m getting married in a few weeks!” Nicole and I “oohed” and “ahhed” over the huge rock on her finger. Her face completely lit up and joy radiated from every fiber of her being.

It was so cute. And so… annoying to me. It’s not that I wasn’t happy for Raleigh, because I was. It’s that I felt jealous because I dated Blake for 5 years, and I should’ve been planning my wedding and showing off my beautiful, expensive diamond ring. But instead I got dumped and settled into a month-long depression before deciding to completely uproot my life. Oh no, here came the waterworks. Don’t let them see you cry, Emma Leigh. I snapped myself out of it, blinking away the tears that stung in my eyes. No more crying, remember? Everything will be okay. I gave myself a small pep-talk to prevent any kind of embarrassment that would come with having a meltdown in front of my new coworkers.

I was still in the process of getting over a tough break up, but I needed the crying phase to be over mainly for my own sanity. I decided to stop worrying about the future, focus on the present, and be just happy with my life.

Over the rest of the week at the orientation, Nicole and I continued to hang out with Raleigh and we three became good friends. We sat next to each other at all the presentations, and worked together in a group for the projects and activities. We made a pretty good team. By the end of the week, I’d prepared all my lesson plans for the first week of school and made a wonderful new friend.

On Friday night, I invited Raleigh over to the apartment for dinner, drinks and to watch chick flicks to unwind from a long week. We all wanted to have one last hurrah of the summer before school started on Monday and new students would enter our classrooms with bright shiny faces, eager and ready to learn.

Or so I had hoped.

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A/N - Sorrry guys, I know this chapter is short and pretty boring! I'm still developing the main characters and everything so please just bear with me :) I promise we will get to see Toby in the story soon!