senior year

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bwalker and 213 others liked this

raina_h: it's been lit, summer. Til next year ❣️


Bwalker: looking good Ms H!

omgitsjess: you're so gorgeous oml 😍😍

foley_j: oh hey beautiful 🔥

Username1: pretty

theycallmemonty: angelic 👌

Username2: fake

Alex_Standall: Can't wait til we get to spend everyday with u Ms. H.

c_jensen: Ashe probably took this picture

raina_h: @c_jensen u right 😂

raina_h: @Alex_Standall I'm so pumped for this school year!

raina_h: @omgitsjess I need your help text me back

raina_h: @Bwalker @foley_j y'all are so extra. See u in the am! :):)

raina_h: @theycallmemonty ur so sweet. :)

Raina's POV

I dropped Ashe off at the Standall's house as Alex was getting up and ready for school. Ashe was still half asleep, so he decided he was going to curl up on their couch and go back to bed. Mrs. Standall assured me he'd be fine, even though we'd been attached at the hip all summer, he understood I had a job to do, and that I would be back.

I arrived at Liberty an hour before school started, and the parking lot was slowly filling up with teachers and staff, and I couldn't have been more excited. It was finally here. The first day of school. I had tamed my curls into a high ponytail and wore my favorite long sleeved forest green dress, and a pair of tan riding boots. I had on just a tiny bit of makeup, and a hot cup of coffee from Monet's in tow.

I signed in and made my way to room 323, my new room. It was bland, to say the least, which was about to change. I sat my coffee down and returned to my car to see a familiar face: Bryce Walker. He had just left the baseball field from the looks of it, and I was surprised to see him at school so early.

"Morning Ms. H!" I smiled and called back a good morning to him as he jogged to my car. He was in his baseball uniform, warmups I assumed. "Need some help?" He asked, and I did in fact need help. The box in my trunk was super heavy. It came from my last classroom in Oakland and I'd left it there all summer because some former colleagues of mine had put it in my trunk and I didn't have the strength to get it out. "Actually, Bryce, you think you could carry this box to my classroom? I skipped arm day...a few weeks in a row." He chuckled and lifted the box up with ease, following me to my room. "On the desk is fine. Thank you."

"What's in here Ms. H? Dead body?" I laughed at him. "No, silly. It's all the stuff my old room was decorated with. I just brought it from my old school to here. That way I can live this room up a bit. It's too boring, don't ya think?" Bryce looked around then he nodded. "I think you're right, it could use some sprucing up. All right, I'm gonna hit the showers before first bell. I will see you in first period, ma'am." He headed for the door. "See ya soon!" I called out. Time to get this place looking like a real classroom.

By the time the students started piling in the halls, I had successfully placed all of my posters on the wall, along with all my desk decorations and a few pictures of Ashe and I here and there around the classroom. Once first period came in and got settled, I was going to have all the strong baseball players help me move the desks around and such. The first day was going to be a breeze. I was just excited to get to know all the students.

First bell. It was almost time. Shortly after, kids quietened down and came flocking towards my door. Only a few I recognized. Clay, Justin, Bryce, Alex, Monty. The other 5 or 6 were complete strangers. I noticed that the ones I did know had sat together, all of them in a little group near the front row. Weird. Boys usually hated sitting up front. Oh well. I wasn't going to complain. 2nd bell. Show time.

"Hi guys. I didn't realize til now they're experimenting with gender specific classes, so apparently one period out of the day is all boys, and one is all girls. So, I guess we'll see how this goes. I'm Ms. Hadley, or Ms. H, whichever you prefer, I'm fine as long as it has Ms. in front of it. This may be the smallest class I've seen. But, anyway, it's fine. Has anyone looked over the syllabus?"

A few boys raised their hands while the rest looked confused. Syllabus? What the fuck is that?

"Okay, cool. If not, that's fine too. We're gonna skip over most of it and hit some key points off the bat. If you'll look at your class schedule, either 5th or 6th period is probably empty. I have study hall and then a planning period right after. So, the last two classes of my day are free. So if you need help with anything from my class, or other classes, whatever it is you need help with, I'll be here. I don't care what it is, math, chem, whatever, we'll figure it out together, okay? Second of all... I do NOT believe in homework. So, you'll not be receiving any of that from my class. School is hard enough on it's own without adding more stuff to do afterwards, and I refuse to be the reason a kid's mental health is shot to shit, excuse my language. This is your senior year. It's supposed to be awesome. I'm gonna do whatever I can to make sure it's great for you guys. But other than that, I don't really have much for you today. I figured I'd tell y'all the good stuff and then have you help me move desks. Sound good?"

They all agreed to help, throwing out ideas about what would be the best way to rearrange, and Bryce eventually suggested we just group the desks up in small groups of 6. Bryce, Jeff Atkins, Monty, Justin, Clay and Alex grouped their desks together and the rest of my first period did the same. We still had about 20 minutes of class left, so I let the boys talk amongst themselves, while I continued to decorate.

"Need help with anything?" I turned around to be face to chest- literally- he was that much taller than me- with Monty De La Cruz. I had been warned about him. He had a bad home life, an abusive father. So, he dealt with it the only way he knew how. He was a bit of a bully. But the teachers I'd spoken with had also said near the end of his junior year, he started to really straighten up and mature, which made me happy. I loved to see personal character development. When you can look at yourself and point out the toxic traits you have and then have the balls to fix them, to deal with them- that was courage.

"Want to help me hang up these posters? I'm not exactly tall enough." I handed him some putty and my desk chair and pointed him in the general direction of where I wanted the posters, and he happily hung them for me. We got the last of them up about 5 minutes before the bell.

"So if you guys decide you don't want to ditch after 4th, feel free to come hang out here. Like I said, I don't have classes 5th or 6th, so I'll be here til the end of the day. Come chill, do work. Sleep. Whatever. I'll be here."

"Really? We can just come here and hang out for the rest of the day?" Justin asked, and I nodded. His friends all gave each other nods of approval. "Feel free. I'll just be hanging out til the end of the day so we can all be bored together. I'm gonna get a TV and stuff for my classroom so eventually we can spend 5th and 6th watching movies and such, if you guys would be interested." That got everyone talking at once, about which movies we should watch, where we should put the TV. Before I knew it, the bell was ringing and they were off to their next class.

"Bye guys! Make smart choices!" I called out after them. I only got one response. The upbeat voice of Monty De La Cruz. "Have a great day, Ms. H! We'll see you after 4th!"

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