Tornado Warning ("Disaster Strikes" Series)

Chapter 2: Movie Night

As Sarah stepped out of the office, she realized how much the weather had deteriorated in the ten minutes that she had been inside. The sky was even darker and the wind blew all of her perfectly-styled hair into her face. The rain was falling down so hard that her arms stung wherever the miniature bullets hit her.

Ducking her head, she ran for the second and third grade building. Standing underneath the bit of the roof which covered the sidewalk, she caught her breath and tried to make herself look as professional and presentable as possible.

The three second grade classrooms were connected to each other, with doors that joined them. You could walk in circles from one to the second, to the third, and back again if you wanted to. They formed a square with another small room in the middle, kind of like a square within a square. This other room was where the teachers would hold meetings and conferences.

The third grade classrooms were designed the same way, with their own little conference room too. However, there were no doors that connected the second and third grade rooms. To go from one grade to the other, you would have to walk outside. That way, they were together, but separate at the same time.

Anyway, Sarah shook her head, getting rid of the last couple raindrops that were stuck in her hair. Then, she knocked on Mrs. Miller's door. A heavily pregnant and obviously tired blonde woman stood in front of her.

"Oh thank God you're here! Mrs. De La Cruz called me to say that you were coming."

"Anything to help, Mrs. Miller. Especially given your... current situation." Sarah responded. "Congratulations, by the way! How far along are you, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I don't mind at all, dear. Thirty-eight weeks and counting! I'm finishing up this week, and then I'm out of here!" She chuckled. "I probably shouldn't have even come this week, but then who would watch all my little ducklings!" With this, she turned at smiled at all her students, many of whom began to laugh.

"All right, everyone! If you are in Mr. Greenwell's class, I need you to line up!" Eleven boys and girls promptly jumped up and stood in a neat line. With a nod, Mrs. Miller told them to file into their classroom and have a seat at their own desks. Leading Sarah into the room after them, she then walked into Ms. Gomez's classroom to get the remaining students.

Standing in front of twenty-one little children suddenly made Sarah nervous, but Mrs. Miller was quick to try to calm her fears.

"Now, they just took an exam not long ago, so you won't have to teach them an actual lesson. Besides, there's only two weeks of school left, nothing worthwhile happens anyway. Just find a way to keep them somewhat quiet and busy. Read a story, play a movie, something like that."

Sarah nodded, and the experienced teacher continued. "Well, that's all, I think! If you need anything, don't forget: I'm right next door!"

With a smile at the students, Mrs. Miller left her alone with the class full of curious kids. Sarah pulled up a stool and sat in front of all of them. Then, she did what she does best: talk.

"I thought that we should probably get to know each other! That way, we can become great friends, okay?" A couple kids nodded, so she went on. "How about we all go around and share. We'll each say our name and one fun fact about ourselves. I'll go first! So, my name is Sarah Anne Jackson and..." She put her hand under her chin to think and began to make silly faces. A ripple of giggles cascaded through the kids. This is too easy, she thought.

"Oh, I know! I live on a big ranch, with my Mom, Dad, and sister Alexis! She's a fourth grader here. We have four horses, and one of the mares is gonna have a foal! I also have two dogs." A bunch of the students began to raise their hands to ask questions about her horses and dogs. Laughing, she answered each and every one. Finally though, she put her hands up to stop them.

"All right everyone, let's give all of your classmates a chance to share! So you're next sweetheart," she said, pointing at a young girl.

And so they went around the circle. Just as they finished, Sarah checked the clock behind her. Only an hour and a half to go! She turned back to face the kids, when all of a sudden, she heard a loud siren. Standing up, she opened the door and looked outside. The weather was even worse! The second Sarah let go of the doorknob, the wind slammed the door closed. She was locked outside while a giant crack of lightning filled the sky with white light. A student quickly rushed to open the door and let Sarah in. As soon as the door closed, a deep boom made all of the kids cover their ears as the thunder roared.

"Relax, everyone! It's okay." she called, once again shaking the rain out of her hair. She felt like a dog with the rain plastering her hair to her forehead. "That was just the lightning siren. It means that it's raining a little harder, all right!"

Thinking of a way to calm the nervous children, she felt a light bulb go off. "Who wants to have a movie night?!" That got their attention quickly. She had them push their desks to the sides, creating a big empty area in the middle of the classroom. While they situated themselves, Sarah quickly wrote a note to the teacher, apologizing for moving the desks.

Everyone put their jackets on the ground as blankets and grabbed lunch boxes and backpacks to use as pillows. Once everyone was nice and comfy, Sarah got them some snacks from the conference room (after asking Mrs. Miller for permission, of course). The students sat, quietly talking and eating animal crackers while she prepared the classroom. Closing the blinds to distract them from the storm, she put on a Magic School Bus movie for them.

"I guess I'm Ms. Frizzle now, huh?" She joked, pointing at her frizzy hair while starting the video. They all giggled, but settled down surprisingly quickly once the Magic School Bus "Kicks Up a Storm" intro began. She hoped that the video about weather would be enough to calm down some of the more anxious students.

Seeing that they were content and mostly quiet (except whenever a character made a joke; if that happened, the whole class began to laugh), Sarah started working on her biology homework. Everything was peaceful; it was as if the storm outside didn't exist.

And that was when she got a message on her phone...