Page 48 of Impossible

Chapter Twenty

Riley

“Okay, kids. You’ve done a fantastic job telling us about your family. It’s time for lunch. Miss Jackson here is going to take you to the cafeteria. Everyone who has a packed lunch may now go to their cubby to grab it.”

Once all of the students are out of my classroom and on their way to the cafeteria, I grab my purse and head down the hall to the teacher’s lounge. The room is just as it was on the last day of school. Same four round tables in the center of the room, blue couch in the corner by the window, and kitchen set with all the amenities us teachers arespoiledwith. Old school coffee maker, refrigerator that looks like it was pulled out of a nineteen seventies catalog, and mismatched stainless steel microwave.

I head to the fridge to get out my packed lunch that’s held in my lunch box that Becca got me. It readskeep calm, it’s lunch time. Finding a seat at one of the tables, I open my lunch box. Tiffany and Faye walk into the lounge just as I'm digging into my chicken salad.

“What’s going on? How’s your day going?” Faye says as she sits down next to me.

“Typical first day. Kids are generally well behaved and quiet. Ask me that again next week when they get comfortable with me.”

“Oh, please. Your classroom is always a well oiled machine,” Tiffany says, joining us at the table.

“It’s because she doesn’t take any shit. I swear, you show them one ounce of leniency and they think they can do whatever they want the rest of the year,” Faye mumbles over her bite of her sandwich.

“You’re being dramatic,” I tell her as I roll my eyes.

“Well, it’s Faye. Queen of drama,” Tiffany says while winking at her to soften the blow.

“Here’s to another year,” Faye raises her sparkling water.

“Here, here!” Tiffany raises her water.

The summers are always a nice break from the chaotic year filled with constant things on the agenda. There’s always lesson plans, school hours, parent teacher conferences, meeting with the staff. But once I’m back in the school, I remember what I miss about these days. The camaraderie the staff forms is unlike anything I have ever experienced. We are truly all in this together, trying to make a difference in the lives of these children. We support one another, trust each other, and challenge each other.

“Happy hour tonight to celebrate the start of another year?” Faye suggests.

“Oh, shoot. I can’t! I’m going over to Liam's tonight.”

The girls look at each other and smirk. I know that look, they just exchanged some sort of dialogue between one another.

“What?” I ask.

“I don’t know. You tell us. It’s literally your first week back to school, firstday, and you’re already going back over there. Is there something we should know?” Tiffany asks with a look of delight.

I try to contain the smile that spreads across my face, but it’s hopeless. Just thinking about Liam will do that to me. Just getting his texts last night about a surprise for me and that he wants me to spend the night again, it makes my heart flutter. I give up on trying to be subtle about what’s going and just go for honesty with the girls.

“We’re seeing each other now. It happened on a random night at his house. He asked me to spend the night tonight.”

“Wow! Already doing sleepovers. Way to go! It totally shows, I’ve never seen you this happy before,” Faye tells me.

“I agree. You look really happy, Riley. You deserve it too!” Tiffany says.

“Thanks! Iamreally happy. Things have progressed pretty quickly, but it feels good. It feels right.”

“What does everyone else think about it?” Faye asks.

That’s a good question. One I don’t have an answer to yet because we haven’t told anyone. What will they think about it? Faye and Tiffany are so cool about it, and Jackson doesn’t seem to think it would be an issue. I’m starting to think that maybe all of my concerns were an overreaction. Maybe everybody just wants to see us happy.

“We haven’t told anyone yet. Well, I guess besides his brother Jackson, who doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.”

“Are you going to tell people soon?” Tiff asks.

“I don’t know, honestly. We haven’t talked about it. Right now, we’re just trying to see if we want to take it to that level before we worry about what everyone else thinks.”

PullingintoLiam’sdrivewayat six, wanting to give him time to get home and situated, I grab my bag and walk to his front door with a bounce in my step. It was a great first day of school, and now I’m looking forward to spending the evening with my two favorite people.

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