Ocean Breeze

1-Keegan

The sun shone through the window as the alarm clock pierced my ears and jolted me out of my sleep. John cut the alarm off as he walked out of the bathroom. He leaned over the bed placing a kiss on my forehead. "Have a good first day Keegy," and just like that he was gone. I rolled over burying my head in the pillow. I hated when John called me that.

John and I had moved to Georgia three weeks ago and I still hadn't settled in. John's promotion came with a move from Texas and a fresh start. Don't get me wrong I was on board. I was proud of John and there wasn't much holding me to Texas. I wanted, needed, a fresh start but I was uneasy. Maybe even unhappy but I would never tell John that. Something was missing and I couldn't put my finger on it, but I had to try for him. His constant working put a strain on our marriage, mostly our sex life, but I still tried to be supportive of him and his accomplishments.

After two days of unpacking and getting the house partially livable I had started my job search. I had gotten my degree at the University of Texas where John and I had met five years ago. In Texas I worked at a large gallery but unfortunately Georgia's art scene so far didn't appear to be quite as advanced as other places. I had applied for a couple of jobs in marketing and some as an art instructor at various schools around the area. I had accepted the first offer which came from a local high school to teach art. I had taught middle school art for a year prior to getting the job at the gallery. I was still nervous though. High schoolers could be more challenging than the younger kids.

I stared into my closet trying to decide on my outfit for the day. Principal Sanders had sent an email including the school handbook. The handbook stated that elective teachers could wear jeans and/or athletic clothing depending on the demands of the course. It was vague but I decided to go with wine colored slacks and a white blouse. I would dress down once we got into projects and I could cover up with an apron.
—-
I took a deep breath and wiped my hands down my slacks once more making sure they were wrinkle free and I ran my fingers through my hair once more before stepping inside the office. I realized my pants were fitted too tight to my legs to hold wrinkles and suddenly got nervous that I may not have made the best choice of outfits. I could feel eyes on me as a few students entered and exited the office, mostly males. Before I could stress myself out further I approached the desk where an older woman was sitting. I recognized her from the day of my interview as Principal Sanders'
assistant. As her eyes met mine it was evident she remembered me as well.

"Hey dear I'm Lizzie! Bern..I mean Mr. Sanders wanted to be here to greet you and show you to your room on your first day but he is already having to put out fires around campus this morning if you know what I mean." She winked.

She handed me two sheets of paper. One appeared to be my class schedule as well as a master schedule for the semester including all holidays and in service work days. The second was a map of the campus. The campus was larger than I realized but nothing compared to others I had been on before.

An explanation of the map wasn't needed but she continued anyway. "The blue square there is the office where we are now and this chunky red line shows you the way to your classroom which is here," she pointed to a block filled in with a red X. I thanked her and made my way to the classroom.

The room was rather large and was filled with wooden tables surrounded by stools. Against a back wall were two doors and sitting against a wall to the side was a desk. I made my way to the desk and sat my bag down pulling out a syllabus for each class. Mr. Sanders had emailed me my schedule so I'd had time to prepare for each. I started rummaging through the desk drawers that were mostly empty aside from some office supplies. The bottom drawer stuck as I tried opening it. When it finally budged I found that there was only a small white envelope inside. As I lifted the fold of the envelope the bell rang which meant the room would soon fill with young faces that were either eager to learn or looking for an easy A, mostly the latter. I made a mental note to check out the envelope later as I dropped it back into the drawer and closed the drawer with a little force.