Dating : Even so, I began to feel restless and twirled a yellow #2 Dixon Ticonderoga pencil between my…

The year was 2002, and the runny noses and never ending sneezes of my classmates made the spring weather all the more real. To top it off, the emergence of bees caused quite the ruckus. After a lengthy round of chasing and tormenting the bees, the boys in my class endured the ultimate payback, courteously of the bees themselves. Boys, meet your match, a bee stinger! That’s just how it is though. Boys chase bees. Girls chase butterflies. And sometimes bees decided they had had enough and chased. us all inside. There were lots of tears and even more regret. This was the case with my second grade class. We had just come in from outside recess and I was relieved to finally be free of the bee chaos.

Even so, I began to feel restless and twirled a yellow #2 Dixon Ticonderoga pencil between my fingers. We still had half a day of school left and my 8 year old self wasn’t having it. I began to inadvertently tap my pencil, unaware of it’s annoying disturbance. I slouched back in my seat and my brain got lost in an episode of “Lindsay’s Amazing Daydreams.” It wasn’t long until the lunch bell rang. My stomach growled in celebration.

I entered the cafeteria and sat down at my usual spot at the lunch table. My friends sat beside me, finally finishing conversations they had with each other while the teacher was taking. They seemed awfully proud of themselves for a successful group discussion during a lecture, despite being reprimanded. My friend Ruby was the receiver of nearly all of our chats. Today wasn’t any different.

. “You’ll never guess what I heard!” I declared triumphantly. I smiled sheepishly, indicating that there was news to tell. “Oh no, Lindsay. . What now?” She sighed. “I heard a rumor about Miss Adams! And honestly I think it applies to all the teachers here.” I stated, looking thoroughly amused. “Ok, ok, spill the beans already!” Ruby exclaimed, growing more and more curious by the second. I took a bite out of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and swished it down with some chocolate milk. I sighed. “Miss Adams lives here at our school! This is her home! I’ve seen her with stuff that looks like they are meant to be in a house. Honestly, I actually think that all of our teachers live here.” With that Ruby spit out her drink, coughed, shook my head and laughed. “What the heck are you talking about? Miss Adams is just our teacher, she has a home.” I handed me a napkin. “Say it, don’t spray it!” I said and looked at her. “Have you ever seen Miss Adams leave the school building?” I asked. “Well no, but that doesn’t mean she lives here. That doesn’t make any sense. Where does she sleep or shower? How does she cook her food? Where does she keep her belongings?” She responded genuinely confused. “I think she lives in a secret room hidden somewhere in this building. Her and all the other teachers.” I stated, grinning ear to ear. “How do you know for sure?” She asked, seriously considering the possibility of our teacher living. at school. “I don’t know for sure. No one does. But there’s only one way to find out!” I claimed, smiling and wiggling my ginger colored eyebrows at her. “Lindsay…..you’re not seriously thinking what I think you’re thinking, right?” She inquired, eyes wide open in surprise. “I sure am! It’s time we settle this matter once and for all. Better get your magnifying glass out, cause we’re about to solve this mystery.” She opened her mouth to respond, but the bell spoke for her. We parted ways and. soon enough, I was back to fidgeting with my trusty Ticonderoga pencil

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime of math, the high pitched dismissal bell sounded as the clock stuck 3:00 p.m. I don’t know exactly how Cinderella felt when the clock struck midnight, but. I would assume it was along the lines of fear and relief. For me, it was just sheer excitement. As soon as the bell rang, we all headed to our cubbies. Everyone seemed to have such a graceful way of packing their backpack and then there’s me, stuffing everything in it and wondering why it won’t all fit. Thankfully, Ruby came to my rescue. “Here, let me help you.” She stated, jumping into action. “Thanks Ruby.” I exclaimed, glad to have the day behind me. “Are you ready?” I asked, nearly jumping up and down. “For what?” She questioned, slowly beginning to realize what I meant. Her clear blue eyes grew wide. “Lindsay! No. We’ll get in huge trouble!” Ruby stated, face full of apparent worry. “Come on Ruby! It’ll be fun. Besides, we’ll be fine. As long as we’re quick and quiet about it, no one will ever know!” I said, squealing in delight. Ruby, however, looked down at her purple sparkly sandals, contemplating her decision. After a moment of silence, she spoke. “Ok. I’m in. But we better not get in trouble. My mom will kill me!” She exclaimed, slowly bearing an excitable grin. “Woohoo! Let’s do this thing!” I proclaimed excitedly, grabbing and pulling. Ruby in a bear hug embrace. I was ready to experience the truth! “How and what are we going to do to see if teachers actually live at the school?” Ruby asked, lost in confusion. “Well tomorrow’s Wednesday, which means Miss Adams gets a break from lunch duty.” I stated, eager to continue explaining my master plan. Ruby looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to finish. “I was thinking that we could ask to use the bathroom during lunch and if the lunch monitors say yes, we could sneak into Miss Adam’s room. We could use those 30 minutes to search for clues and make a final conclusion before she comes back.” I stated, hopeful that Ruby would still be on board. “Ok….if you say all.” She hesitatingly responded. “Great! So it’s settled then. Tomorrow during lunch we’ll finally have an answer!” I declared, proud of my ingenious plan. With that, we made way for the yellow school bus.

The next day arrived and I sat in my school desk, anxiously awaiting the lunch bell. Lunchtime couldn’t come soon enough! I looked at the clock, signed, and turned my attention on Miss Adams and her extremely boring science lecture. I held back a yawn and got lost inadvertently in another episode of “Lindsay’s Daydreams.” In efforts to redirect my attention back to the lesson, I averted my gaze in different directions, hoping this would give the illusion that I was deep in thought. I glanced at Miss Adam’s large wooden desk and noticed a coat hanger standing right beside it. “A clue!” I thought to myself. “She has coats here in her classroom on a standing coat hanger. That could only mean one thing….her regular clothes have to be stored somewhere in here!” I thought and smiled to myself. I was on a roll. The lunch bell rang and it was time for the big event. “It’s showtime!” I uttered silently under my breath, and walked into the cafeteria.

I met Ruby at our usual spot at the rectangular lunch table. We exchanged glances and remained silent. Ruby. looked like a bundle of nerves, distressed to say the least. I, on the other hand, could hardly contain my excitement. Just then, a lunch monitor began heading our way. Ruby and I exchanged glances once again and we both concluded it was time to start the mission. “Excuse me, sir, can my friend and I use the bathroom real quick? She’s having a panic attack and she wants me there to support her through it.” The lunch monitor looked at us intently, probably trying to figure out if we were telling the truth. He sighed. “Okay girls. You can go. Just don’t spend all day in there!” He chuckled. “Thank you, sir!” I replied cheerfully.

I got up from the table and Ruby followed suit. We walked quickly and strutted rebelliously past the bathrooms. I took the lead and walked straight into Miss Adam’s classroom. Ruby hesitantly followed. The room was black and no other lights were on. It was just our luck too, that the door was ajar. Looks like Miss Adams was in a hurry to eat. Lucky us! I proceeded to open the door and fumbled in the dark looking for any possible light-switch. Once found, our investigation took off.

“What exactly are we looking for here, Lindsay?” asked Ruby. “I guess anything non school related. Things that any regular person would have in their house.” I blurted out. Then the image of the standing coat rack revisited my brain. “Ruby! Come this way. I found something!” I stated, inching toward the rack and smiling from ear to ear. “Why is that so important?” Ruby asked, clearly confused and ultimately unamused. “Well, I’d like to think this is where Miss Adams stores her coats and jackets. Something tells me that she doesn’t have room for them in whatever section of this school she lives in.” I stated as a matter of factly. “Maybe.” Responded Amber. “Got any idea of where her bedroom might be? Whatever it is, it’s very well hidden. Let’s check the walls, maybe? Might be a trapped door we have to look for.” I asked uncertain of where to look next. Ruby took the lead and patted the walls, with the hopes of discovering that sought out trapped door, yet. only to no avail. “Maybe trap doors are just a movie thing.” I stated, giving a loud chuckle.

We scouted out the remainder of the area with what little time we had left before Miss Adam’s return. Ruby went straight towards Miss Adam’s desk, thoroughly investigating every square inch. “Come over here, Lindsay! There’s so much regular people stuff here. I think you’re right! She DOES live here!” She squealed in delight.

Suddenly a person appeared and stood in behind us. A familiar high pitched voice sounded and responded to our conversion. “I do?” The voice stated. We turned around and saw Miss Adams standing there in front of us. She held her arms in a cross cross position, raised her brows at us, and chuckled. “Well girls, that’s news to me! Did you find what you were looking for?” She questioned sarcastic in tone. Ruby and I looked at each other while stammering successfully and failing even more successfully as spiting it out. “Did you ever think to as me where I live? Instead of breaking into my classroom without permission and rummaging through my personal belongings?” She declared, annoyance in her voice. “I’m…we’re sorry Miss Adams! We didn’t mean any harm, honest.” Ruby replied desperate for grace. “Yeah, I’m sorry too.” I replied, looking down at the white tiled classroom floor. “Consider yourself forgiven. On one condition, that you never again break into a classroom without permission. There will be consequences next time. Are we clear?” Miss Adams stated switching to the usual authoritative yet kind and gentle. voice we all knew and loved. Ruby looked regretful den stated, “Were so sorry Miss Adams! We didn’t mean any harm, honest!” “What she said. I’m sorry too. We just wanted to find the truth about a guess we about something.” I stated, hoping she’d respond more kindly to our obvious misdemeanor.

“And what might that guess be, ladies?” She asked, chuckling and shaking her head. I spoke up for the two of us. “We…Er.. More like. just me. I think. that teachers live at school. I mean, I never see them outside, or anywhere else for that matter. Just in the school building.“ “interesting. A guess, huh? Sounds to me it’s more like an assumption. And you know what they say about assumptions!” And winked at us and laughed. Ruby and I looked at each other completely clueless as to what she was intending by that comment. “Anyway, you assumed that teachers all live in a school building. I can see your point as to why you’d think that, but it’s unfair to assume every teacher does, especially when you haven’t even asked them. Does that make sense!” Miss Adams declared, giving us a bright smile. “I think so. I said, scratching my head. “So then….where do you live Miss Adams?” I asked, expecting the typical suburban neighborhood with a ranch style home. Miss Adams grinned from ear to ear. “I live in a bus.” Ruby and I looked at one another with utter surprise. “What do you mean, a bus?” Asked Ruby. “I live in an old school bus that was turned into a motor home some time ago. So, in a way you were right, Lindsay. I carry a little bit of school with me.” “That’s quite possibly the coolest living area that I’ve ever hear of!” Exclaimed Ruby. I nodded in agreement. At that, the lunch dismissal bell and students came flooding in the classroom. Miss Adams looked both Ruby and I in the eye and flashed a beautiful warm smile. “Don’t ever assume, ladies. Because more often than not, people will take you by surprise.” She gave a thumbs up to us and walked back to her teaching desk, full of the items marked by our wrongful assumption.