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Barbara sat in her classroom drinking her third cup of coffee for the day and trying to keep her eyes open while she lesson planned. She had pulled an all nighter with Ava to help get her ready for her exam coming up. Ava wouldn’t rest until she felt confident enough in her knowledge of the material. Barbara, being the supportive partner she is, was there through every reading, rereading, highlighted text, flash card, and quizlet. It made her proud that Ava was committing herself fully to this endeavor, but this morning when she greeted her very young. very energetic, kindergartners, she knew she was unable to give them the attention and enthusiasm that they deserved.
While the kids were still arriving, she had pulled Gregory and the other first grade teacher to the side and suggested a ‘shadow the first grader’s day’. She proposed that she split her class up between the two and the teachers kept the students for the day, so the students could get a preview of what first grade was going to be like, and the teachers could get a preview of the students that they would be getting that following year. Both teachers agreed, and when the first bell rang, Barbara had split her students up between the classes.
The coffee was helping, but without the hustle and bustle of her students, Barbara felt herself lose steam. She picked up her cup of coffee, taking a long sip when Melissa peeked her head into the door way.
“ Hey Barb, you may wanna go check on Ava,” Melissa said as she approached Barbara’s desk. Barbara set her mug down and stood up immediately.
“Why what’s wrong?”
“She’s asleep at her desk with her book open,” Melissa laughed as she pulled up a picture on her phone and showed Barbara. “Poor thing looks exhausted.” Barbara frowned seeing Ava face down in her book, notecards strewn across the desk.
“She is. We were up all last night studying,” Barbara explained. She closed her lesson plans and started for the door. “Let me go check on her. Thank you for telling me.”
“No problem. Just take a few more pictures up close before you wake her,” Melissa joked, making Barbara chuckle.
“I will not.”
Barbara stopped in the teachers lounge on the way picking up a cup of coffee for Ava and the sugar container. When she walked into the office, she sat the items down and gathered as many of Ava’s notecards as she could without disturbing Ava. She put them in a neat order that she knew Ava would appreciate later on and moved to wake the sleeping beauty.
“Ava, honey,” Barbara started, gently rubbing Ava’s shoulders, “time to wake up.”
“5 more minutes,” Ava grumbles. Barbara sighed, gathering Ava’s hair in one hand and lifting Ava’s head from her jaw with the other. Ava sat up along with Barbara’s gentle pull and swiveled in her chair to face her. When Barbara got a full view of Ava’s face, she felt terrible for waking her. Ava wrapped her arms around Barbara’s waist, resting her chin on the soft abdomen in front of her. Usually Barbara and Ava shied away from PDA at school, especially in her office because of the glass walls, but Barbara couldn’t help but bend down and give Ava a kiss to the forehead, landing right on her hairline.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. The school day is almost over. We can go home and sleep before your exam tonight. How about that?” Ava whined and burrowed her face into Barbara’s stomach. Barbara had never seen Ava so tired and stressed. She looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. There was only an hour and a half left until dismissal, she figured could let Ava sleep just this once.
“Ava? I’m going to let you sleep but not in here. Come to my classroom and you can sleep in my rocking chair. I’ll go tell Venus that she can handle things for the rest of the afternoon and you go head down to my room.” Ava nodded and released Barbara from her hold before getting up, grabbing her phone, and making her way to Barbara’s classroom.
Barbara, as promised, made sure to tell Venus that Ava was out of office for the rest of the day and went back to her room with Ava. When she got back Ava was already settled in the chair. Barbara pulled the shades on the windows down, closed her doors and turned off all lights. She sent a quick email to her parents informing them of where to pick up their students and an email to the first grade teachers on which students were on the bus. She was about to open her lesson plans again but Ava mumbled something that she couldn’t understand.
“What was that, honey?”
“Come sleep with me,” Ava said, arms outstretched. As wonderful as the proposal sounded, Barbara knew that she shouldn’t.
“Ava, that would be very unprofessional of me.”
“Please? I won’t tell your boss.”
“You’re my boss.”
“Exactly. Now come over here and get in on this nap. I kept you up all night.” Barbara sighed, giving in and joined Ava in the chair. She positioned herself on her lap and Ava rested her head on her chest.
“Happy now?”
“Mmhm.”
“Good. Get some rest. You’ve got an exam to ace tonight.”
Both of them dozed off easily, staying asleep through the end of the day. The bell had rung and the kids had all gone home, Barbara and Ava, together in the chair, sound asleep through it all.
That’s how Melissa finds them. She figures that she should wake them. After she takes a quick picture.