Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“Doc said Danica’s going to be down for a few days. He says she’s not contagious right now though.”
“Well, that’s good,” I said.
“Yeah. But it means I might need some time off this week, just so I can look after them.”
“I’m sure that will be fine,” I said. “Derek and I know enough about the grapes that we can do maintenance. Plus, we have the volunteers.”
“I know,” he said. “I just hate making other people do my work.”
“Don’t worry about it, man. Just go get them feeling better.”
“Will do,” he said.
“How do you feel about pizza?”
“Huh?”
“I’m going to order you dinner so you don’t have to worry about it. Pizza?” I asked.
“Dude, that sounds awesome,” he said. “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’ll be here in about a half hour. Try to get some rest tonight, alright?”
“Alright, Alex. Thank you again.”
“Good night, Kane,” I said, waving as he took Jonah out of the van.
“Good night, Alex.”
I used my voice assistant to order pizza and sent it to his address.
I still had time to hit the bar with Leo, even if the game was probably over by then, but I decided to just go home anyway. I was tired and wanted to get a good nights’ sleep.
Jesus, maybe I was getting old.
CHAPTER 7
CAMILLA
Maybe it was how busy I found myself now that I was doing both my online courses to finish up my teaching certificate and also student teaching at high school. Or maybe it was because I had forgotten just how much fun it could be to do something I actually enjoyed, even if it was challenging and exhausting at times. Whatever the reason, the week seemed to go by extremely fast, and all of a sudden, it was Friday.
The students had been working hard on their main project for the semester, so Mr. Proctor decided to let Friday be more of a casual day for them. After a bit of work at the beginning of the course block just to make sure we were actually doing something to see to the educational needs of the teenagers, he let them loose to do as they pleased with the computers.
As long as it was permitted by the school and wasn’t going to get him kicked out before his rightful retirement day, he made sure to warn them. That made them all laugh and earned a few chiding refrains of “Oh, Mr. Proctor.” But every single student complied without hesitation. It was just a reminder of how much this man was beloved by his school community and how much he would be missed.
Taking over for him wasn’t going to be easy. I already knew there was going to be a lot of hesitation to accept me once I took over full-time. Everyone had been so kind to me and nothing but welcoming at that point. The students were even friendly and receptive. That was saying a lot considering how cruel teenagers could be.
But that was right now, while Mr. Proctor was still their teacher, and I was just the student teacher. It didn’t escape me that a lot of them probably saw me as a glorified assistant. I wasn’t offended by that. If I was their age and having the same experience, that would likely be my first thought as well.
It was going to be an adjustment, and I knew I had big shoes to fill. My biggest challenge to myself was going to be to not try to be Mr. Proctor. We were going to have different teaching styles, different personalities, and different goals for our students. Rather than pushing against that and trying to be more like him, my plan was to embrace it and hope for the best.
I would still need a lot of guidance and would benefit from every bit of knowledge and insight the older man could offer me. Which was why I was glad to see the screens filling up with games and coding projects that would keep the students occupied. It would give me the opportunity to mine Mr. Proctor’s brain and ask some of the questions from the list in my own mind that seemed to keep getting longer.
The conversation continued on through the first three class periods of the day, and soon the bell rang for lunch. Mr. Proctor and I went to the smaller of two cafeterias in the middle of the school.
Mr. Proctor and I went through the food line, and I picked a salad and a container of chicken to dump on top. I followed Mr. Proctor outside and across the courtyard to one of the picnic tables specifically reserved for teachers. We sat down and continued our chat. Now that we were over lunch, the conversation turned more to our personal lives rather than all work. We were chatting about spring break memories and our favorite hobbies when I noticed Mr. Proctor look up. He seemed to have noticed something, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw it was a tall man coming toward us.