Get him out of your head.
Even though I had the day off, I decided to look over my lesson plans anyway. I’d given my students a midterm exam before Christmas break, and we’d returned to school last week. I had barely started in on the new material, and now we were out for a snow day. I bet my students were ecstatic about it.
But me? Not so much.
I was in my home office, writing out possible short story activities that would help the kids with their creative writing, when my phone lit up with a notification. After pushing my glasses back on my nose, I checked it and couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face. It was a direct message from Corbin on Twitter.
My smile was short-lived, though, as I reminded myself that nothing good could come from talking to him.
Corbin_Taylor:Is it snowing there? Just talked to Gramps and he said it’s really coming down.
My inner smartass wanted to point out that he’d pretty much answered his own question by saying Bill said it was snowing, but I realized he was just using it as a way to make conversation.
So much for getting him out of my head.
HunterWalsh:Yeah it is.
My response was short and to the point. I hated being so distant with him, but it’s how it needed to be.
Corbin_Taylor:Is having a snow day just as awesome as a teacher as it was when we were kids?
I wondered why he was trying so hard to keep me talking. The last I heard he was screwing around with some female model from the UK that he’d done some perfume ad with. Why waste his time by talking to someone insignificant from his past?
HunterWalsh:Not really. It means I have less time to get through my lesson plans.
Before the winter break, I had lectured on Shakespeare—no surprise there—and I’d had the class readA Midsummer Night’s Dreamin class. I believed Shakespeare should be read aloud, especially when it came to high school students whose attentions were easily swayed. I had divided the class into three groups—the Royals, the Faeries, and the Mechanicals—and I’d given each of the kids roles to read out loud.
After each section, I’d stopped to discuss the text, ensuring that everyone knew what was happening in the play. The students had a lot of fun with it. I tried to make learning enjoyable, so I was always searching for ways to engage them. A more hands-on approach helped keep them interested in the material.
There was so much more I wanted to get through before summer, and the snow day put me behind. I’d try not to be too much of a sourpuss about it.
Corbin didn’t message me back. Guess he got the hint that I wasn’t in the mood to talk.
That made me feel bad, but what more could I do? We’d been in very minimal contact for three years, so it wasn’t like we were used to talking a lot.
I’d been sure to keep my distance.
Corbin wasn’t the same boy I’d fallen in love with so many years before. High school girls had pictures of him hanging up in their lockers, he was on the cover of several magazines, and he was even on a few billboards. Big companies had hired him to do commercials for them too. The goofy, crazy attractive guy who used to kick my ass at Mario Kart, eat all the chips, and talk about being with me forever was gone.
He was too far out of my league now.
After refilling my coffee, I continued working, putting all thoughts of my former best friend and the love of my life out of my mind.
***
The snow had mostly melted by the next morning. Only a few spots in the shade still had some covering the grass, but there wasn’t any ice covering the roads. Therefore, school was back in session.
I was happy about it, but the same couldn’t be said for my students. They walked into class with disappointment showing all over their faces.
“Come on, guys,” I said, refraining from laughing. “You got one day of freedom. Now it’s time to get back to work.”
“The new expansion pack forDead Smash 2released today,” Daniel said, plopping down in his seat. “Stupid snow should’ve lasted at least one more day.”
Daniel was the high school quarterback, and he played baseball in the spring. He cared a lot about his studies too and was a great kid. Even if he liked to whine.
“Your game will be waiting for you when you get home,” I said to him before grabbing the stack of papers from my desk and walking to the front of the room. The second bell rang, signaling the start of class. “Okay, this semester will focus a lot on writing. We’ll still be reading a few short stories from Edgar Allan Poe and others, but being able to express your views with writing is important. You’ll be writing a lot of papers in college, regardless of what subject it is, and I want to prepare you guys for it.”
I walked down the aisles and started passing out the papers.
