Moving Forward (Completed)

Chapter Thirty Two

It was the first day back and Katherine had arrived a bit earlier that she had intended... like before anyone else had arrived early. She knew the code to the alarm so she wasn't concerned about getting into the building. This was a problem she seemed to have on the first day of school... she'd wake up excited and always ended up arriving early, just usually not this early. It would take her a bit to figure out what time to leave Rafael's place while dealing with traffic as opposed to walking from her old apartment. She settled into her classroom, making sure everything was set up for the day. It would be the last time her room looked this clean and organized until the first day of school next year so she took it in while she could.

"Ms. Morgan?" MJ's voice came from her door and she smiled.

"Hey MJ, how was your summer?"

MJ returned the smile and entered the room. "It was good. I got to do a lot of touristy things for the first time."

"Did you and your mom do them together?"

"When she could, but I'm old enough now that no one seemed to question if I was by myself so I went alone when she was working."

"Is she still working the same job?" Katherine asked while straightening a few things on her desk.

MJ nodded her reply. "Is it ok if I read in here again in the mornings?"

"You still want to get out of the house early?"

"I wake up earlier than my mom and she doesn't like it if I make too much noise and wake her." MJ shrugged.

"You're always welcome in my room."

It worried her that MJ still didn't feel comfortable to spend her mornings at home, but she also felt it could be a holdover from before. Either way, she decided to not worry too much about it at the moment. It was only the first day back and MJ seemed to be in good spirits about how the summer had gone.

MJ settled in on the pile of pillows just like she had done the previous year, pulling out a book from her backpack.

"Foxfire?" Katherine frowned as she noticed the book MJ had opened.

"Did you not like it?"

"No... I did..." She remembered loving the book when she read it.

"Then why did you frown?"

Katherine chuckled to herself. "I was just concerned about some of the subject matter in the book, but if I'm being honest with myself I wasn't much older than you when I read it."

"How old?" MJ smiled.

"Thirteen I think... It's been a while."

"Don't worry Ms. Morgan," MJ smiled, "I can separate reality from fiction."

Katherine was sure that she could, but she still worried about about some of the sexual situations some of the girls in the book were put in, especially with MJ's mothers history.

"Hey MJ."

"Yeah?"

"Do me a small favor this year..."

"What favor?" MJ's side eyed her, curious as to where she was going with this.

"Treat Mrs. Rydel like you do me."

"You mean behave myself." MJ smiled.

"Yes." Katherine smirked.

"I'll see what I can do."

When the bell rang Katherine moved to the door so she could great her new kids, giving MJ a hug as she left to head for the fifth grade hall. One by one the students piled in, finding the desk with their name tag on it. The group was quieter than last years, but she knew that was deceiving. Once the first day jitters worked off, the class would be just a lively as any.