A Fresh Start

The Conferences and Concerts

Author's Note: I own nothing. I just like to play with the characters that were created by Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.

Also, thank you for those of who have commented and offered well-wishes in my difficult time. It means a lot to me. Writing these stories has been my strength (as silly as that sounds) and has grounded me.

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. It means so much to me. More than you can imagine. These stories (this one in particular) are my babies and I adore the reviews and comments I receive. Much, much love to ALL of you!

Chapter 26: The Conferences and Concerts

"Bella, I'm heading to the hospital. I'm working a double, filling for Dr. Gerandy," Edward called from the kitchen.

"Okay, baby. Don't forget, I have parent teacher conferences tonight. I should be home by ten or so," I yelled from the bedroom. I heard Edward's footsteps climb the stairs and he entered the bedroom.

"Make sure that you have someone walk out with you to the car, okay?" Edward said with an adorable grimace. "I don't like you being out so late."

"Edward, I'll be fine," I sighed, putting my hands on his strong shoulders. "But, I'll make sure that Jake or Emmett walk out with me. Does that make you happy?"

"Yes," he said, kissing my lips sweetly. "I love you, so much my beautiful girl."

"I know, Dr. Masen," I said returning his kiss. "I absolutely adore you."

"We are so fucking nauseating," he chuckled. "I love it. Have a good day and text me if you need anything."

"Will do, handsome. Go save some lives with soup spoon," I replied, squeezing his ass in his delicious scrubs.

"Bella, you are too funny with the utensils," he said as he kissed my lips roughly. "See you when I get home, around eleven."

"Bye, baby," I said as I extricated myself from his embrace. Edward winked and danced out of the bedroom. I finished getting ready, putting on the black suit from Taylor's funeral and a blue blouse. I put on a strand of pearls along with the matching earrings, my ring that Edward gave me for my birthday and a pair of black heels. I took a furtive glance at the clock and I needed to get going. I hopped into my car and drove to school, going through the motions of school for the half day. The kids were mentally checked out, not that I cared. I didn't introduce new things today. I just reviewed and had the students watch a video related to the field trip that we were going on in two weeks. Mrs. Cope gave me the go ahead to take my team to the backstage tour of the opera and then to the student matinee later on in the year. I was going to do a unit on the 'librettos' and the stories of operas. Then with my accelerated students, we were going to put on an opera in class, with Alice's help. Hopefully, before she goes on maternity leave.

After the half day with the students, I went out to lunch with Emmett, Jake, Alice and Angela. We spent some time talking about the impending parent teacher conferences. I felt for Alice and Angela. They had very few conferences. I think Angela told me she had four conferences the last time. Our team had conferences jam packed the entire day, with only an hour for dinner around five. Thankfully, when we had a ton of conferences, the night went by quickly.

We returned from lunch and settled in for our conferences. Before we knew it, dinner time rolled around and we ate in the staff lounge. I took the time to contact Edward. I called him and left a message on his voicemail. He probably was busy and couldn't pick up the phone. After dinner, we headed back to our rooms and sat through the rest of the conferences. We only had one troublesome conference. The parents were upset with the grade that their daughter was getting in language arts. Unfortunately, she was not one of my students. She was one of Rose's. But I remember us discussing her as a team when Mr. Drum was a part of the team. He didn't like this child and apparently took it out on her with her grades. We had to call in administration. Mrs. Cope gave the family a reasonable compromise. Ironically, it was the exact same thing I recommended, but dismissed because I was just a teacher. The family finally left and I told Mrs. Cope about my suggestion and she just smiled knowingly. She said that everything will change when I'm the boss. I arched a brow and she just snorted.