《Shadows Unveiled: Echoes of Memes Past》


 Chapter 1

    Meme woke up feeling excited about her new job at a middle school. She has worked at an elementary school for most of her career and published 2 books. This was going to be an exciting challenge that she could not wait to take on.


    As she sits up on the bed, she stretches. The warmth of the sun picking in from in between the curtains touched her face as she sat up. Her feet swing to the right and drop to the cold hardwood floor. It sent a cold shiver up her body.


    "Damn I keep forgetting to get a rug for this floor," she thought to herself.


    She walks to the bathroom and turns on the shower. Meme reaches up and lets down her long curly hair. As she reaches the shower door, she hears a small knock at the door.


    "Mommy I am hungry," said Lily.


    "Ok give me 5 minutes Lil and I will make you guy''s some breakfast." said Meme


    "Don''t worry about it love I got it," said Meme''s husband Melvin.


    Melvin woke up when he heard the knock on the door. He got out the bed and started walking towards Meme. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt with dark blue, white, and black checkered pajama pants. He is slim, built with a six-pack and a chest full of tattoos underneath the shirt. His chocolate brown arms are covered with tattoos, on one arm the tattoos run from his hand up, and on the other one, the tattoos start from his wrists up. Both stopped at his shoulders. His oval-shaped face had a clean-cut beard, sad beautiful brown eyes, and big lips which she loved kissing. Underneath his durag his hair was cut short, and he had waves.


    "Aww thank you babe. I will make it tomorrow," she said while walking back into their bathroom.


    "Do not worry about it love, just focus on getting ready for your first day at work," he said.


    He leaned forward towards her and kissed her. Then he walks back into the bedroom and goes towards the door. Looks back and tells her that he loves her.


    Meme opens the shower door and gets in. She lets the water hit her back for a minute before letting down her long curly red hair, which she had recently died two days before. The water runs down her body. She grabbed her loaf and slathered it with Dove Shea Butter body wash. As she washed her body, she could not help but think about how she was going to decorate her office and how many students she was going to help. She raises the soap off her body. Turns off the water and steps out of the shower. Feel a cold breeze hit her. She shivers as she grabbed her towel and walks towards the sink. The mirror was fogged with steam. Meme grabs the little microfiber towel that was hanging by the mirror and wipes the mirror. She looks in the mirror and smiles.


    Meme brushed her teeth and washed her face. She does her morning face routine. Then grabs the eyeliner gel and its brush. Dipped the eyeliner brush in the gel and started applying it to her eyelid. Just a little wing at the end of the eyelid. Once she was done with that, she applied eyelash glue to the eyelashes she had. She applied the eyelashes on. Meme grabbed the brown lipliner and put it on her lips. Then she grabbed the nude lipstick and lip oil. Put them on. She was going for a light makeup kind of day. She smiled, her perfect teeth, eyebrows tinted and arched, her Carmel skin. Meme was satisfied with her makeup.


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    Then she grabbed her hair products and blow dryer. She puts in the hair products in her hair, then uses the blow dryer. Meme threw her hair in a messy bun and let two curly strands hang in front of her face. She did her edges to finish off her look. Perfect, she thought to herself.


    Meme walked into the walk-in closet and grabbed the outfit that she had put together the night before. It was a black pencil dress with a gold belt that went around her waist and a black cardigan sweater. She then got her black push-up bra and black lace panties that matched. Got moisturized and dressed. Then grabbed some black and gold high heels. To finish her look, she went with small gold hoops she got from her husband for Christmas, a gold bracelet, a gold ring on two fingers, and her wedding ring. She fixed her nose ring on both sides of her nose. She was ready for her day. Before she walked out the bedroom door, she grabbed her Parfums de Marly Delina Eau de Parfum and sprayed herself.


    The kid were at the table eating blueberry pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Fresh squeezed orange juice sitting on the counter next to the bowl of fruits. The smell of freshly brewed coffee lingered in the kitchen air. Meme walked into the kitchen and lightly smoothed Lilly''s hair down as she kissed her forehead.


    "Good morning," she said.


    Melvin turned around with a cup of coffee that he made her. With a smile on his face, he walked towards her.


    "Damn babe ok I see how we are walking into our first day," he said. Then, he kissed her cheek.


    She smiled and took the cup of coffee with her freshly manicured nails.


    "Thank you, love," she said. "But I am nervous as hell." She took a couple of sips of coffee and sat down on the chair at the kitchen island.


    "Mom, you look beautiful," said a child behind her. She turned around to a skinny teenager with waves and a smile to kill for with dimples. Melvin Jr is a sophomore in high school. He played basketball and is a straight-A student. He walked into the kitchen with a white pro club shirt and black Nike joggers, with black and white J''s. He wore a gold chain with the number 36 which was his jersey number. His backpack is on one shoulder. "Start the new job today?" he asked.


    "Oh, thank you son and yes I do start the new job today," Meme stated. "Make sure you grab something if you don''t want to eat the breakfast your dad made," she told him.


    "I am going to grab this apple for now, but Lesli is here, and we are going to stop at the beagle shop," he said as he was grabbing the apple and headed to the front door.


    "Okay love you, be safe, and have a good day at school," said both Melvin and Meme.


    Lily yelled bye to her brother and got up from the kitchen table. All Meme saw was two curly puff balls walking up to the kitchen sink. Lily was only four years old. Her little voice asked her dad for help putting the plate in the sink. She handed the plate to him and ran to the guest bathroom to wash her hands. Once she was done, she ran back into the kitchen.


    "Okay daddy I am ready for day care," she said with her cute little voice.


    "Oh, Lily Mommy is going to take you today because Daddy got called into work for a meeting, but I will pick you up today," Melvin said.


    "Okay daddy," she said with a smile on her face. Lily ran upstairs to grab her bookbag.


    Melvin turns to Meme. "I am sorry they just called me in for this emergency meeting," he said.


    "It''s okay I have enough time to get her to daycare and be at work on time," Meme said. "We''ll let me get my purse and things to get ready to go before she rushes me to the door."


    "Okay love, I am going start getting ready for this meeting." he said.


    Meme and Melvin walked into their room. Meme went into the closet and picked up her black MK purse and wallet. She put everything she was going to need for that day in the purse. Melvin was getting undressed to jump in the shower. Meme gave a hug and a kiss to her half naked husband. And starts walking out of the room.


    "Have a good first day," Melvin said.


    "Thank you, babe, and have a good meeting. See you later," she said as she was walking out the bedroom door.


    Lily was already downstairs. She was wearing a white unicorn shirt, pants, and hot pink Vans. She had a gold necklace on with a gold unicorn pendant and her baby ring on it. A gold bracelet with her initials engraved on it. Lily''s big brown eyes looked up as Meme was coming downstairs.


    "You ready Lil," Meme asked.


    "Yes mommy," she answered.


    Meme got the keys that were hanging by the garage door and opened the door. She opened the back door to her midnight blue Tesla. Put Lily in her car seat and shut the door. She opened the driver''s door and got in. Putting her purse in the passenger seat and pushing the garage door opener button. As the garage door opened, she put on her seat belt and started the car. Today is going to be a good day, Meme thought to herself.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    Meme pulled into the staff parking lot after dropping off Lily at daycare. She looked in the rearview mirror to do one last look at herself before going into the school.


    ¡°You got this,¡± I told myself. ¡°This is not anything you have not done before, just a new school and dealing with middle school children, not elementary school kids anymore. This is what you wanted. This is going to be a good school year.¡±


    I got out of the car and started walking to the entrance of the middle school. In front of the school above the entrance in big bold letters was Maple-Pine Middle School. Classes had already started, so the hallways were cleared of kids. I saw a sign hanging on the right side of the hallway saying OFFICE with an arrow pointing to where the door was. Walked through the heavy metal door. The office was full of school spirit. They had a statue of a knight on the left side of the door. Chairs to the right. Right above the counter going from one wall to the other a banner was hanging saying: HOME OF THE KNIGHTS. A short stubby lady walks around one of the many desks that was behind the counter.


    ¡°Hi, you must be Meme,¡± the stubby lady said with a smile.


    ¡°Yes, I am Meme the new school therapist,¡± I said.


    ¡°I am Mrs. Jacobs, come around to this side of the counter and I will show you to your office,¡± she said. ¡°I will show you around as soon as the assembly is over.¡±


    ¡°Oh, there is an assembly going on?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, to go over a couple of things and to introduce you,¡± she stated.


    We walked towards the back of the office and opened the door. Three doors down the hallway were my office. The closer we got the more nervous I was getting. Finally, we reached my office door. The door had a colorful tapestry on it and a sign that said: TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND LET IT GO. Before walking in the door, Mrs. Jacobs turned to me and apologized for how the office would look.


    ¡°Look Meme I want to apologize for how your office may look. We have had so much going on lately and have not gotten a chance to get it cleaned up.¡± she stated.


    ¡°It is ok Mrs. Jacob,¡± I said.


    She opens the door to the office. As soon as she opened the door the smell of rotten old food filled the room. I looked around the office. To the left, there was a small bookshelf with one book on the second shelf that had a half-bitten chicken leg sitting on top of it. A bunch of dead plants, and a picture frame with no photo in it on the top shelf. On the walls above the bookshelf there was the typical hang-in-there with the kitten, think POSITIVE, and other inspirational posters.


    Then, I looked at the middle of the room, there was a small desk filled with paper thrown all over it with an early 2000s desktop computer, a coffee cup that said: World''s #1 Therapist with various kinds of pens in it, a half-eaten sandwich, and a colorful banner in a front of the desk that said SMILE. Behind the desk was a rainbow tapestry with big yellow letters that said: PEACE. There was a trash can by the desk that was overfilled with paper and food.


    Finally, I looked to the right of the room, there was a big window and a bright yellow lounge chair with red and orange throw pillows, a dark green throw blanket, and what looked like something blue was split on the chair and someone made it into a smiley face. A poster that said BE KIND on the wall in front of the chair. The office was colorful, to say the least, and it smelled.


    When I looked back at Mrs. Jacobs, I must have had an I¡¯M DISGUSED AND WISH I NEVER TOOK THIS JOB look on my face because she quickly started apologizing again. She even offered to move her into a smaller office until they could get it cleaned properly. I declined because I can get it cleaned how I want it to be cleaned and I do not want to move my stuff from one office to another.


    She took me all around the school and showed me where everything was. We went into the teacher¡¯s lounge and met a couple of the teachers. Then the assembly bell rang, and we walked towards the theater. When we reached the theater, I noticed there were chairs lined up across the stage. One by one the chairs started feeling up on stage with teachers. Mrs. Jacob led me to the stage and pointed to the chair in the middle of all the teachers. ¡°That is your seat,¡± she said. I nodded and went to my seat.


    Mrs. Jacob stood in front of the mic on the stage. ¡°Good morning students,¡± she said. ¡°Today is an exciting day. We have a couple of awards to give out, but first I would like you all to give a warm Knights welcome to Dr. Mrs. Meme Bell our new school therapist.¡± She introduced Meme. I stood up and walked towards the microphone.


    ¡°Good morning students and facility my name as she said is Dr. Mrs. Meme Bell, but everyone is welcome to call me Dr. Meme or Mrs. Bell whichever you are more comfortable with,¡± I stated with a smile on my face. ¡°I want to let you know that my door is always open to each one of you. It is a safe space. It is good to be here with you and cannot wait to meet you all individually,¡± I left off with a friendly smile and a wavy, then walked back to my seat.


    The assembly finished after the students who were receiving an award got them. I got up from the seat and started walking off stage. As I reached the bottom of the stairs some of the teachers were lined up to welcome me to the school. I told each one hi and shook hands with them. The last teacher was a short slim English teacher named Jessica who smelled of Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Bean body mist. She was a bubbly native lady with long black hair that she had in a ponytail. ¡°Welcome to the Knight family,¡± she said as she handed me a white Orchard. ¡°Thank you and the flower is beautiful thank you,¡± I said getting the flower. We stood there talking for a little bit. Since it was lunch time, she walked with me back to my office.


    ¡°Oh, they gave you this office,¡± Jessica said once we reached my office. ¡°Did they at least clean it for you?¡± she asked. I shook my head no and opened the door. ¡°Wow I did not think it was going to be this dirty, but the lady that had this office before was not very keen on being clean. She had been an older lady here since the 70s and had just decided to retire and travel. But she has been retired now for four months, they should have had this office cleaned out,¡± she stated. ¡°I am not worried about it; would it have been nice to start my new job in a clean office? Yes, but the principal told me there have been a lot of things going on, so I understand,¡± I said. ¡°I have 35 minutes left of my lunch do you want help cleaning, ¡°Jessica asked. ¡°No, it is ok. Just show me where I can get the cleaning supplies and trash bags,¡± I said. Just as I finished my sentence, we heard a knock on the door.


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    ¡°I was told to come and start cleaning the office,¡± said the janitor. He was an older man in his late 40s or early 50s wearing a dirty janitor button-up shirt and black pants. His left black shoe had a small hole on the top and they were dirty. He had sad blue eyes with salt and pepper hair. On his right hand he had a watch and above his watch was a tattoo. Army or military, I thought to myself.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay I can clean it myself you can just leave all the stuff that I need to clean with and some gloves if you have any,¡± I said with a smile.


    ¡°Are you sure Ma¡¯am,¡± he asked. Puzzled because the office was grossly dirty, and she was dressed nicely. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t just want me to clean up this mess?¡±


    ¡°I am sorry what is your name,¡± I asked.


    ¡°My name is Joe.¡± he stated.


    ¡°Hi, Joe my name is Meme you don¡¯t have to call me Ma¡¯am,¡± I said.


    ¡°Nice to meet you Meme,¡± he said and stuck his hand out. ¡°Are you sure you do not want me to just clean it? It will not be a big deal,¡± he stated.


    I shook his hand. ¡°No, I got it, Joe,¡± I said. ¡°Plus, you have a whole school to make sure it is clean. I only have this office, so I got it but thank you,¡± I replied.


    ¡°That is true, but what about your clothes they will get messed up,¡± Joe replied.


    ¡°Oh, I am not worried about my clothes I have my gym bag in my car with some clean clothes and shoes. I am going to change and tackle this office.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, I will leave all these cleaning supplies, trash bags, and gloves right here on the chair. But Meme, if you need help getting stuff out of here, please call me over the radio to help you. "Oh, and once you are done with all the trash call me and I will get the bags and throw them in the trash can,¡± Joe stated. I shook my head and thanked him. He left the office.


    I looked over at Jessica who was already putting on gloves. ¡°Go ahead and get changed I will start throwing stuff away,¡± Jessica said. ¡°Okay thank you,¡± I said as I started walking towards the door. ¡°I will be right back,¡± I told her.


    I got to my car and opened the trunk. Grabbed the old Nike gym bag and closed the trunk. Luckily, I had put some clean gym clothes in my bag because I was going to go to the gym after school. Not going to the gym today I had changed my mind the minute I first looked at the office. I got to the facility bathroom, went into one of the stalls, and opened the gym bag. In there was a baby pink spaghetti strap shirt, black leggings, pink long tube socks, and black Nike¡¯s with a baby pink Nike symbol. There was also a small jewelry box in there where she would put whatever jewelry she was wearing except for her wedding ring in there. A towel that had her initials embroidered on it. I left the box and towel in the bag. I grabbed the clothes, and shoes and started changing. Put the clothes I was wearing and my high heels in the bag and closed the bag up. I left the bathroom and headed back to my office. The hall was filled with students heading back toward their classes. As I was walking back, I was stopped by a couple of students who wanted to say high and welcome me to the school. I smiled and thanked them. I knew I made the right decision to work here. I reached my office and saw that Jessica had already made a difference on the left side of the room. The small bookshelf was clear of old dead plants, picture-less picture frames, the book, and the half-bitten chicken leg. She had cleaned it and put the Orchard on there. She looked back.


    ¡°You now look ready to clean the office,¡± she said with a smile.


    ¡°Luckily I packed my gym bag last night because I was going to go to the gym after work,¡± I replied.


    Jessica started taking off her gloves and walked towards me. ¡°I did as much as I could, but I must go back to my class and teach. If you are not done by the end of the school, then I will come back and help you some more,¡± she said.


    ¡°Thank you, Jessica, so much for helping,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± she replied. ¡°See you later.¡±


    ¡°See you later,¡± I said as she was walking out the door.


    Meme grabbed some gloves, trash bags, and cleaning supplies and started cleaning my new office. She started where Jessica left off. Then she looked up at the wall above the bookshelf and started taking the posters off the wallexcept for the kitten one. Even though the kitten one was a typical poster to have she still liked it. Once she was done taking the posters off the wall, she moved on to the rest of the office. Picking things up, throwing them away, taking everything off the walls, desk, chairs, and floor. It was almost 2:30 pm when Joe walked into her office.


    ¡°Wow, what a complete difference,¡± he said. ¡°It does not even look like what it did before you cleaned it. He looked over by the window at the five big trash bags. ¡°Can I take them? "He asked.


    I chuckled and replied,¡± I know it doesn¡¯t look like a rainbow threw up in here or that a tornado hit it. Yes, you can take them, Joe, thank you. Oh, I do not want that yellow chair or the computer can you take it out of here please.¡±


    He laughed and replied. ¡°Aww, you did not like the rainbow throw-up? And yes, I will take them both out of here.¡± We both laughed and I told him thank you.


    The school bell rang, and the hallways got loud with students chatter and laughs. Then, I heard a knock on the door, it was Jessica. Jessica came in and put on some gloves.


    ¡°Okay where do you need me,¡± she asked.


    ¡°I am almost done with the center of the room. Can you start on the right side of the room?¡± I asked. ¡°Joe is taking the bags of trash out and the chair.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t want the happy chair,¡± she said with a laugh.


    I shook my head no and said,¡± No I am ok, and I don¡¯t want this computer.¡± Pointing at the computer. We both were laughing when Joe walked in.


    ¡°I think I am going to take the happy chair and put it in my office,¡± Joe said.


    ¡°Be my guest Joe. I was going to have you throw it away, but go ahead and take it,¡± I replied. Joe grabbed the chair and took it to his janitorial office. He came back and removed the computer. Before he left the room he asked if there was anything else I needed help with.


    ¡°Oh, Joe there are some boxes in my car can you help me bring them in please,¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah of course,¡± Joe answered.


    Both Joe and I went to the car to get the boxes out of the trunk while Jessica stayed behind sweeping the floor. Before leaving the building, we stopped at his office, got the dolly, and then headed to the car. In the trunk were four medium-sized boxes. Joe grabbed each box and stacked them on top of each other on the dolly. I closed the trunk and headed back inside. When we got back to the office, Jessica had just finished sweeping. The office looked so different, no more rainbow throw-up, she thought to herself. The office still had a smell to it, but not as bad as when she first walked into the room. Joe moved the boxes one by one off the dolly and put two of them on the bookshelf and the other two on the desk.


    ¡°Not putting them on the floor so the night janitor can clean the floor,¡± he said. ¡°It will help with the smell in here,¡± he added.


    ¡°Thank you, guys, so much for helping,¡± I replied. ¡°And great because I was trying to figure out how I was going to get that smell out of here.¡±


    ¡°Girl do not worry about,¡± said Jessica.


    ¡°Yeah, do not worry about it Meme. It should have been done before you started,¡± Joe replied.


    ¡°Well, thank you anyway,¡± I said as I looked down at my watch. ¡°Damn it is already 4:30 pm, school has been out for two hours already. I will decorate it tomorrow. Let us go home and be with our families.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I did not even notice it was that late,¡± Jessica said. She gave Meme a hug and walked towards the door. ¡°See you tomorrow. What time are you coming tomorrow,¡± she asked.


    ¡°I will be here at six in the morning unless I have to take my daughter to day care then I will be here at seven-thirty,¡± I replied. ¡°I want to try and get the office done before the kids come.¡±


    ¡°Ok when I come in, I will pop in and see if you are here,¡± she said.


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± I replied. She left the office and Joe said his goodbyes, then left right behind Jessica. I walked to the door and took one last look around the office. Yup, this was going to be a good rest of the school year. Turned off the lights and left.

 Chapter 3

    Meme walked into the house at five-thirty pm. The aroma of dinner filled the house. She walked into the kitchen and saw Melvin singing, dancing, and cooking dinner with Lily. Lily turned around and ran to her mom smiling and yelling at her mommy. Meme picked her up and kissed her on the cheek.


    ¡°Mommy how was your first day,¡± Lily asked.


    Melvin walked over as I was putting Lily down. He kissed me before I answered Lily.


    ¡°It was a long, but good day,¡± I replied.


    Melvin walked back over to the stove where the food was still cooking. As I took a seat at the kitchen table, I placed my arms on the table and laid my head down.


    ¡°Looks like cleaning that office kicked your butt,¡± he said jokingly. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go take a shower, I am almost done with the food.¡±


    ¡°Oh, it did, but you know what I cannot wait to go back tomorrow. Everything is cleaned and I got rid of the ¡°Happy¡± sofa,¡± I said.


    ¡°Happy sofa,¡± Lily questioned with her head tilted.


    I pulled out my phone and showed her the picture on the sofa.


    ¡°See happy sofa,¡± I said with a laugh


    She giggled. I looked back at Melvin who was smiling at us.


    ¡°I can now put my office together tomorrow,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Do you have to go to work early tomorrow,¡± I questioned.


    ¡°No, I do not have to go in tomorrow. I am going to be working from home,¡± he stated. ¡°Why what¡¯s up love?¡±


    ¡°Nothing I just want to go to the school early, so I can put my office together before school starts,¡± I replied as I was getting up from the chair.


    ¡°That is fine, I will take her to school tomorrow,¡± he said. ¡°You about to get in the shower?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am,¡± I said walking past. As she reached the end of the kitchen island, he smacked her butt.


    ¡°That¡¯s gross,¡± Jr said as he came strolling in shaking his head. He had been in his room doing homework when she got home.


    I laughed and started walking towards the stairs. I can hear them talking and laughing back in the kitchen. Looked back at the sound of their voices and exhaustedly walked upstairs to take a shower.


    Turned the water off and reached for the shower door when I heard a little knock on the door.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I yelled at the door.


    A little voice yelled back, ¡°Daddy said it is time for dinner, mommy.¡±


    ¡°Okay I will be there in a minute,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay,¡± she yelled and ran off.


    I put lotion on and walked over to my closet and got in the dresser. I pulled out my black silk pajama shorts, and lacey royal blue spaghetti striped shirt, with the matching silk black button-up shirt to go over. Grabbed the royal blue teddy bear slippers. As I headed downstairs, I could still hear talking and laughing.


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    Everyone was sitting at the table waiting for her to come and sit down, so they could say grace and eat. I sat down and Melvin said grace. After grace, we started putting food on our plates. While I was helping Lily with her plate, I asked Jr how his day was.


    ¡°It was alright,¡± he answered.¡± I got an A on my Geometry quiz. Also, I have a game next Friday.¡±


    ¡°We will be there,¡± I said with a smile.


    We finished dinner and all went into the family room.


    ¡°So what movie are we going to watch,¡± Melvin asked.


    ¡°Moana,¡± Lily yelled with a giggle.


    ¡°No, we watched that last family movie night Lil,¡± said Jr.


    ¡°Fine,¡± she said and folded her arms.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that Lil,¡± Melvin said. ¡°Why don¡¯t we watch Slumberland? It came out last year and it is on our list.¡±


    ¡°I say yes,¡± I replied.


    The kids agreed and Melvin turned on the movie then paused it. I walked into the kitchen and Melvin followed behind.


    ¡°Oh, I got dessert love,¡± he said behind me.


    ¡°Ok babe,¡± I said. ¡°I am going to go get the blankets.¡±


    ¡°No mommy we are grabbing them,¡± yelled Lily.


    ¡°Ok, so do you want me to help you with dessert,¡± I asked Melvin.


    He came over to me and pulled me back into the family room. Then he went behind me, grabbed my waist and walked me to the couch.


    ¡°You can help by sitting right here and relaxe,¡± he said. He turned me around and gave me a kiss.


    I sat down on the couch, and he disappeared back into the kitchen. Lily came running into the room with her Moana blanket and flopped on the couch. Jr came walking in with two blankets.


    ¡°Here mom,¡± he said. Handing me a soft fuzzy big black blanket.


    ¡°Thank you, Jr,¡± I said grabbing the blanket.


    ¡°Jr get the dinner trays and then come help me,¡± Melvin yelled


    ¡°Okay,¡± he yelled back to his dad and then looked down at me. ¡°You are welcome mom,¡± he said and then walked away.


    Jr grabbed them, put them out in front of where we were sitting, and went into the kitchen. A few minutes later the boy came in with dessert. In their hands, they each have two cups with root beer floats in them. They sat them on the tables and went back into the kitchen. They then came back with two medium-sized bowls of popcorn with cheddar cheese seasoning, kettle corn seasoning, and small containers of small candies for Lily and Jr. Lily smiled big.


    ¡°Thank you, daddy and Jr,¡± she said


    ¡°You''re welcome,¡± both said.


    ¡°Thank you, Jr,¡± I said with a smile.


    Melvin came over and sat down next to me. He grabbed some of the blanket and scooted next to me.


    ¡°Thank you too,¡± I said and gave him a kiss.


    ¡°Ewwww,¡± Lily said with a gross look on her face.


    We both laughed and Melvin pushed play on the movie. When the movie ended, we all helped put everything up and I put the dishes in the dishwasher. After everything was cleaned up Melvin put Lily in her bed and read her a story.


    After putting the last bit of dishes in the dishwasher I went into Jr¡¯s room. He was at his desk with the desk light on. Books in front of him and papers. I walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°You''re not going to bed yet,¡± I asked him.


    ¡°No, I am going to study a little bit longer I have a test in English tomorrow,¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay, but don¡¯t stay up late,¡± I said. Kissed him on the head and then started walking towards the door. I paused and said, ¡°Oh, and tell Leslie I said hi and you can¡¯t be up all night.¡±


    He smiled and nodded. I turned back around and headed toward the door.


    ¡°Goodnight,¡± I said shutting the door behind me.


    ¡°Goodnight,¡± he shouted.


    I headed upstairs to Lily¡¯s room where Melvin was just finishing the bedtime story. I walked over and sat at the edge of the bed until he was done. Walked over to the head of the bed and kissed her cheek.


    ¡°Good night beautiful,¡± I said.


    ¡°Good night baby girl,¡± Melvin said.


    ¡°Good night mommy,¡± she replied to the both of us.


    We walked out of her room and down the long hallway to our room. As we reached the room, I started taking off the button-up shirt and placed it on the ottoman in front of the bed. Then we both walked into the bathroom to brush our teeth and clean our faces. Melvin walked out of the bathroom first and lay in bed. After I was done with my nightly face routine I walked over to my side of the bed. Melvin held the blanket up for me to get under. As soon as I got under the cover, he scooted close to me and kissed my neck.


    ¡°Goodnight love,¡± he said as he held me.


    ¡°Goodnight, babe,¡± I said.

 Chapter 4

    It was 6:15 am when I reached the school. I started opening the boxes that I had Joe bring in yesterday before we left. The first box that I went through had my at-work laptop in it. I took it out and placed it on the desk. I grabbed all my pens that were scattered in the box and placed them in a pink, gold, and white marble pen holder that was in the box too and placed it on the desk. Then grabbed my name plaque, a small Stich figurine that Lily gave me, paper clips, a whiteout, highlighters, a stapler, and a clear pink candy bowl with a lid. I set up my desk.


    ¡°Hey Siri text Melvin,¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you want to say to Melvin,¡± said Siri


    ¡°Hey babe before you bring the lounge chair can you stop by the store and get a bag of candy for the candy bowl on my desk here at work, please,¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay sending now,¡± Siri replied.


    Ten minutes later he texted back with an ok love.


    As I was unboxing the second box Joe came in.


    ¡°Well, it smells ten times better in here and it is starting to look nice in here,¡± he said in the doorway. ¡°Is there anything you need Meme,¡± he asked.


    I smiled and nodded. ¡°It does smell way better in here because I stopped at Bath and Body Works for some candles before going home last night,¡± I replied. ¡°But hey are there two chairs that no one is using? I want to put them in front of the desk. I have a lounge chair coming, but I want to have regular chairs just in case they are not comfortable with sitting on that.¡±


    ¡°I am quite sure we have some chairs around here that aren¡¯t being used,¡± he replied. ¡°I will go and get them.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Joe,¡± I said.


    Joe walked out of the office to get them. As he was walking out Jessica came walking in with a big smile.


    ¡°Starting to look nice in here,¡± she said. ¡°Do you need help? I have thirty minutes before school starts¡±


    ¡°Umm yes can you start unboxing the box on the bookshelf,¡± I asked.


    She nodded, smiled, walked over to the box, and started unpacking it. She first took the white and pink Orchid out of the box.


    ¡°These are beautiful, luckily the box was open,¡± Jessica said.


    ¡°Thank you I got them from the last school I was working at as a goodbye gift,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, they are really pretty,¡± she replied.


    We continued to put the office together when Joe walked back in with the two chairs.


    ¡°You want them just in front of the desk,¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes, thank you Joe,¡± I replied.


    Joe put the chairs in their place and walked back out of the office to finish his morning routine around the school. As Jessica and I finished putting the last bit of touches on the office, she turned to me with a serious face.


    ¡°Meme, I know you just started, but I need to ask you for a favor,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, what is it,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, there is a student in my third period who I believe needs to talk to someone,¡± she said. ¡°She is having trouble turning her work in on time and she gets teased a lot because of her clothes and she has a smell to her. She always looks tired and falls asleep in class sometimes. Then, there is the bruises on her arms.¡±


    ¡°Have you spoken to anyone else about this,¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes of course, but with all the new changes and everything I was told just to keep an eye on her,¡± she replied.


    ¡°Of course, just send her in and I would gladly speak to her,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, one more thing,¡± she said. ¡°Calling Child Protective Services is not an option around here since we were in hot water the last time they were called.¡±


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    ¡°What happened,¡± I asked.


    ¡°Long story short there was a kid a teacher called CPS three years ago. There was no real reason she kept calling them other than she was upset that the student¡¯s parents found out that she was sleeping with their child. The parents thought they handled the situation quietly and with the school. They moved his classes around and suspended the teacher for a week. Then, CPS started going to their house every other week for crazy accusations. The kid was taken from his parents twice and during the second time they figured out who was making the anonymous calls. They eventually fired that teacher two months after she was suspended. When they found out who was doing all that, calling the CPS, she was arrested for that and for sleeping with a minor. That lady put that student and his parents through a lot before they found out it was her. The parents sued the school, and it was a big deal around here for a while. So, now we must be careful on calling them and it must go through the principal,¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh, I heard about that, our realtor told a little bit about it. All she said was that a teacher had an affair with a student and the teacher was arrested months later,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, well now our school is trying to save face and whenever something happens they try and sweep it under the rug or they try to resolve it quickly and quietly,¡± she said. ¡°I just thought you should know before you start talking to the students.¡±


    ¡°I understand, but I am here to do what is best for the students,¡± I replied. ¡°The board hired me to do my job and that is what I am doing. I will follow the steps and rules that the school has laid out, but if I feel like the concerns, I have is not being heard I have no issue going forward to doing what I am mandated to do.¡±


    Jessica smiled and said, ¡°I knew there was something about you that I liked.¡±


    We both laughed and she checked at the time.


    ¡°It is almost time for my first period to start,¡± she said. ¡°Oh, when I see her, I will have her come see you.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± I replied back as she was heading out the door.


    An hour later Meme got a text message from Melvin saying: LEAVING HOME NOW LOVE. DO YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE BEFORE I HEAD THAT WAY? She looked around to make sure she had everything she needed for her office. She texts back: CAN YOU BRING ME CORE WATER PLEASE? A few minutes later a text back with: OF COURSE SEE YOU WHEN I GET THERE with a smile emoji.


    Forty-five minutes later she hears a knock on the door. She looks up from her computer. It was Melvin with two bags in one arm and pulling in a black lounge chair on a dolly. She smiled and got up from her desk.


    ¡°Melvin, why didn¡¯t you let me know you were here so I could have helped you,¡± I said.


    ¡°I didn''t need help,¡± he said. ¡°When I pulled in, I seen the janitor and asked if he could help or have a dolly. He got the dolly and helped me get the chair out the truck.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that is Joe,¡± I replied.


    Joe came walking in a minute later.


    ¡°Melvin this is Joe, Joe this is my husband Melvin,¡± I introduced them formally to each other.


    They both shook hands and said hi. Then they moved the lounge chair where the Happy Chair used to be. I thanked them both, and Joe left. Melvin had to go back home for a conference call, so I walked him to his truck.


    ¡°Love you and see you when you get home later,¡± Melvin said as he kissed me on the cheek.


    ¡°Love you too,¡± I replied.


    I watched as he drove off and then waved. I waved back and walked back into the school. When I got back to my office, I seen two boys and the vice- principal sitting outside of it. They had gotten in trouble for fighting. I spoke to both the boys individually with the vice- principal. Both boys got after-school detention for a week and must speak with me for at least thirty minutes each week for the next month. Once they left the day was quiet unless Jessica came in for her break and lunch.


    It was 1:45 when I heard a faint knock on the door. I looked up from getting the bag with candy in it out of the bottom desk drawer, so I can put them in the candy jar. There stood a skinny, light skinned, short girl with long black tightly curled hair that was pulled back in a low messy ponytail, she had bags under her eyes like as if she had not slept in a couple of days, and on her lower lip there was a cut that looked like it happened a couple of days ago. Her pants were baggy with holes at the knees, a stretched out oversized t-shirt with a sweater that was three different colors on it, one of her shoes had a big hole on the top and the other the bottom back looked like she tried to glue it back together and it started to come undone, and on her right shoulder she carried her backpack that was barely holding together.


    ¡°I was told to come and talk to you, but I can¡¯t stay long I have to start walking home exactly at 2:15,¡± she said, her voice was little, and you could barely hear her.


    ¡°Come in and no problem,¡± I replied. ¡°How about we set an appointment for tomorrow, so we could have more time to talk and get to know each other. How does that sound?¡±


    She looked at me for a minute and made a face. ¡°Am I in trouble or something because I promise I am trying to get my homework done for every class,¡± she said.


    ¡°No, you''re not in trouble or anything like that,¡± I said. ¡°Everything is ok. I just want to meet with everyone here.¡±


    She looked at me for a minute. Then she looked around and looked back at me. ¡°Ok that''s fine,¡± she said.


    ¡°Okay, do you want to come in when you first get here,¡± I asked.


    ¡°Umm, I can¡¯t my first period I have a test,¡± she replied. ¡°But we are not doing anything for the next period after that. I finished all my work for her class.¡±


    ¡°Okay just see me before going to your second period and I will make sure you have a note excusing you from that class,¡± I told her.


    ¡°I will,¡± she said getting up from the chair.


    ¡°I will see you tomorrow and my name is Meme,¡± I said as I stuck out my hand to shake hers.


    ¡°See you tomorrow and my name is Unique Beastly,¡± she said.


    She walked over to the door and waved back at me with a forced half smile. I smiled and waved back at her. Unique Beastly I said to myself as I wrote her name down.