Page 92 of Returning to Everton

What a piece of work. I should have known that bitch had something to do with my schedule being so up in the air. Oh well, no time to worry about her now. More parents are walking in with their kids. At least everyone seems to have missed Britney’s little fit.

I spend the next twenty minutes greeting parents and meeting the kids that I’m going to be teaching this year. It looks like I’ve got a great group of kids, but only time will tell. The bell finally rings and the last parent leaves the room.

“Hello everyone! Welcome to kindergarten!” I greet the group of ten students. Some of them cheer back, those are going to be the outgoing ones, a few just smile really big, but there’s one child I notice that shrinks in on herself when I got a little loud. I sigh internally. Looks like I’m goin’ to have to keep an eye out for poor little Emma. It can’t be easy being Britney’s daughter.

“For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Mr. McCalmont, but you can call me Mr. Declan if you’d like. This is my helper, Mrs. Washington,” I introduce my sweet sixty-year-old aide.

She’s about Rowen’s height, five-three with curly white hair and dark ebony skin. I met Mrs. Washington when I first started teaching here. She’s been a life-saver many times over the past five years. I’m so glad I get to work with her this year. She mostly works with the little kids, so I don’t get to work with her often.

“Good morning class. I know Mrs. Washington is a lot to say, so you can just call me Mrs. W.,” she smiles at all of the little faces around the room.

“Alright, we’re going to play a little game to get to know each other. It’s calledIn The Middle. Everyone stand up and make a circle right here,” I tell them, indicating the only open area in the class.

Once everyone is in position, I tell them how the game is played. “Okay, I’m going to call out something, and if it fits you, step in the middle of the circle. When I nod my head at you, you step back out. So, for example, if I say I have on a red shirt, if you have on a red shirt you step in the middle. Sound easy?” I make sure everyone understands how to play before we get started.

“Let’s see... I’m five years old.” Everyone steps into the middle. “Good! Now step back. Hmm, I have brown hair.” Half the kids step in, then back when I nod my head at them. “I have a brother.” Two kids step in, a boy and a girl. I look at the little girl and ask her, “is your brother older than you or younger than you?”

She giggles, “He’s younger than me. He’s just a baby.”

I smile and nod at her and she steps back. “What about you?” I ask the little boy, Danny I think is his name.

“I have two older brothers. They’re mean to me,” he admits with a frown.

“Awww, I’m sorry Danny. It's hard being the little brother sometimes,” I smile at him and he smiles back.

“Are you a little brother, Mr. D?”

I smirk at the nickname. Apparently, Declan is too hard for these kids too. “Mr. D, is it?” I tease him. “Yes Danny, I have three older brothers. It wasn’t always fun growing up with them, so I understand how you’re feeling,” I assure him. He smiles and steps back when I nod at him.

“I have a sister.” Three more step in. They each tell us about their sisters and we keep playing.

“I have a pet.” We learn about a lot of pets. A few kids have cats, more have dogs, one has a pet mouse. Then I have one kid tell me they have a dragon for a pet. The rest of the class loves that. Come to find out it’s just a bearded dragon... not arealone... which is actually not as uncommon as you may think.

“Okay, our last question is going to lead into our next activity. Ready?” I ask the kids surrounding me. When they say yes, I say my last prompt. “I know how to use my magic.”

I’m happy to see Violet step forward at that. There are a few kids that step proudly forward, like Violet, then there are a few that kinda hesitate and look like they aren’t sure. Emma is one of those, she’s ashamed of herself for not jumping forward like Violet, but Violet just smiles at her real big and pulls her to the center. It looks like Violet made a friend. Whether anyone likes it or not. This should be interesting.

As the day goes on, I can tell the kids are getting more comfortable and making friends. Violet has taken Emma under her wing, trying to get her to come out of her shell a little more. Violet was pretty excited when she found out her friend Chloe was in my class too. She has Chloe and Emma sitting on either side of her at her table.

I’m pleasantly surprised to find Emma is nothing like her mother. I never really knew her until now, so I always just assumed she’d be a mean girl like Britney. Turns out Britney is constantly yelling at her and just overall treating her like shit. She’s scared to death of her, and that just pisses me off.

I don’t normally read my students’ minds, but I can’t seem to help it with Emma. It doesn’t help that she’s so scared all the time, she’s constantly projecting. It’s worse than when Rowen gets flustered and I hear all her thoughts. From what I’ve caught from Emma today, I’m glad Violet has befriended her. She needs a good friend; I just hope Britney doesn’t try to put a stop to it when she finds out.

36

Hudson

Normally I look forward to Rowen coming to work, but not today. This is supposed to be a happy kind of sad day for her. Her little girl starts school today. She’s growing up, and while that’s good, it’s still sad for a parent and hard to accept. I don’t want to have to ruin her day by telling her the tea canister was a dead-end.

As soon as we got home last night, I went straight to my room to check the tin for any magic. When my initial evaluation revealed no magic, I had to dig a little deeper. I cast spell after spell on that tin andnothingworked. I don’t know where he kept the potion, or if he was just out of it, but it wasn’t in this tin.

That isn’t my only option though. I’ll just have to keep trying and researching. Iwillfind the answers I’m looking for, and whoever had a hand in Rowen’s suffering will suffer tenfold. Before I can do any more searching for this bastard, I’ve gotta get Rowe in to see the doc.

The sound of the back door opening pulls me out of my spiraling thoughts. I look up and see Rowe striding towards me. She looks radiant. I thought she’d be an emotional mess today, but maybe I was wrong. When she gets in front of me, she throws her arms around my neck and pulls me down for a kiss. Obviously, I kiss her back, because I’m not an idiot.

I finally pull away from her intoxicating kiss and smirk at her. “What was that for?”

She sighs dramatically. “Just glad to be away from BB,” she tells me.

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