Moving Forward (Completed)

Chapter Forty

Life had rather unceremoniously returned to normal. Rafael working long hours, making up for the time off. Katherine staying late at school, trying to get ahead on the never ending todo list that she started toward the end of each year... the one that always seemed to sneak up her.

She glance around her classroom, taking in the students that would only be with her for two more months. They were working diligently on a science project, her room far from quiet, but still on task. The project itself reinforcing general concepts she'd taught them over the year, without feeling like a review. Her math slot had incorporated a more focused review since the state test was a month out.

She couldn't wait for this time of year to be over. While her students worked independently, she busied herself removing student work from her walls, enlisting MJ's help in the morning to cover anything that would remain on her walls over the summer with butcher paper. The ELAR test would be administered the next week, and while it wasn't a subject she taught she would be monitoring her home room while they took it. Her walls would remain covered until the last few days of school seeing as the Math test would be given early May and Science closer to the end of May.

In an effort to minimize the amount of work for herself at the end of the year, she used this time stripped her walls to what she'd leave up over the summer. She wouldn't see them until a few days before school let out anyway, so it would be one less thing she had to do at the end of the year.

"Should we clean up?" Hannah was looking up at her as she stood on the counter in the back of the classroom, removing vocabulary words from her math word wall.

Katherine glanced at the clock, surprised to see it was almost time for dismissal. "How on earth did the day slip by so quickly?" She smiled at her student and then addressed the class. "Let's start cleaning up, once your area is finished you can get ready to go home."

The students quickly began moving about her room, putting things were they went and gathering their backpacks. Katherine lowered herself from the counter, making her way to her desk to check her phone for a text from Rafael. It was Friday and she was determined to leave by five, hopeful that he would be able to get out at a decent hour as well. When the screen was void of any missed calls or text, she decided to text him instead.

"Leaving by five. Dinner out, want me to cook, or will you be late?"

There wasn't an immediate response, so she shoved the phone in her pocket and took her place at the front of the room quietly scanning her student tables. This was their unspoken signal to quiet down. She would pick the quietest table grouping to line up first, and for whatever reason each group always wanted to be picked first... as though they weren't all going to the same place.

The phone vibrated in her pocket just as the last group stood to get in line. "I'm exhausted, but wont be late. Eat at home?" Katherine smiled as she read it, sending a quick text back asking him to text her when he left so she'd know when to start dinner.

"Is that your husband?" Hannah smiled at her from the middle of the line.

Katherine nodded as she chuckled. "It is."

"My mom doesn't look that happy when my dad text her." This was from Hannah again and the rest of the line chuckled.

"Maybe not all the time, but I'm sure she does every now and then." Katherine said.

"Nope. She rolls her eyes when he text, and then complains to me about him being lazy."

To Katherine's relief the bell rang and she didn't actually have figure out how to respond to Hannah's statement. She often knew way more about her student's home life than she cared to, though sometimes those tidbits were turned into amusing anecdotes to share later.