Chapter Text
The weeks before Christmas break always felt like divine punishment for all of Tyler’s wrongdoings in life.
There was no other explanation for how his ancient car broke down twice in one week on the side of the road, or the hundred-plus essays he still had to grade, or the way each and every one of his students acted like it was the full moon (he checked. It wasn’t. It was a waning gibbous, and he’d really appreciate if they acted accordingly).
He was certain that the past few weeks had aged him tenfold. Instead of turning twenty-six, he must’ve turned two thousand and six. It was the only reasonable explanation, he figured.
It was freezing, too. The English wing had experienced a complete failure of its heating system that hadn’t been realized until Tyler attempted to lecture on Dante’s Inferno to a classroom full of shivering teenagers. He’d been too lost in his monologue to notice his own fingers turning numb until he’d uncapped a dry erase marker and sent it skittering across the whiteboard.
He’d called the lecture off early and allowed his students to spend the remainder of the class period huddling together for warmth.
Despite Mark’s best efforts, he wouldn’t be able to get someone from the district in to fix the heater until the throes of winter break. He and Josh had resorted to purchasing space heaters, which were a marginal improvement on what things had been before. Tyler positioned one by his door, his desk, and the back of his room. It was more than likely a fire hazard, but he’d take his room being set on fire over having to keep his winter coat on in the middle of class.
“It’s not fair,” Tyler had said to Josh with a glare, “You’re a chemistry teacher. You can set fires on purpose and nobody blinks an eye.”
Josh gave him an infuriatingly charming smirk. “Should’ve thought about that when you were choosing your area of study.”
They’d finally reached the last stretch of classes; there were five days of school until winter break and his students were dropping like flies. The common cold was running rampant through the hallways of the school. Every time a student coughed or sneezed without covering their mouth he exiled them to the corner of the classroom. He might’ve gone a bit too far with it, because it wasn’t long before his students started chanting, “Send him to the execution chamber!” every time a new offender emerged. He figured he should probably tell them to reel it in before he got an angry email from a parent asking why their child’s english teacher was threatening to banish students to the stocks.
On the Monday before winter break, as he reviewed practice FRQs with the eighteen students that decided to attend his third period class that day, it became clear that he was rapidly losing their interest. When he told them to take out their papers, he was instead posed a question.
“Mr. Joseph, what are we doing on the last day of class?” one of his students, Lanie, said.
Tyler paused for a moment. “Not much, probably. Our finals’ll be done by then. Maybe just a free day,” he said with a shrug.
To his surprise, the entire class dissolved into a round of booing. Tyler scoffed. “What? You guys are always begging for free time.”
“Yeah, but this is different!” Sammie said, “Most of our teachers are just doing a free day. It’ll be so boring.”
“Except for Mr. Sheridan,” Max said with a roll of their eyes, “He’s making us take the Physics final on the last day of class. Who does that?”
“If a free day is so boring, just stay home,” Tyler said.
To his surprise, the booing got even louder.
“When did you become such a Grinch!” PJ said.
“You’re supposed to be the fun teacher, Mr. Joseph,” Lanie said.
“Did you not hear about the Physics final? We’re forced to be here,” Nati said, “They’re torturing us.”
The tide of the conversation then turned to his students complaining about Mr. Sheridan, and how unfair he was, and how the universe had conspired against all of them to get them grounded for bad grades right before Christmas break. Tyler held up a hand in an attempt to quiet them down. “Okay, okay. Save your complaining for another teacher that cares. Let’s get back on track.”
“Wait!” Lanie said, waving her hand in the air, “I have an idea.”
Tyler frowned. His students having ideas didn’t often lead anywhere good. With hesitation, he said, “...yes?”
“If we’re good, you should throw us a Christmas party.”
Tyler opened his mouth to say absolutely not, but before he could even get a word out, his class exploded in excitement.
“Yeah! Like the kinds we had in elementary school,” Grace said.
“We can watch a movie and drink hot chocolate.”
“Oh my God, it’s perfect.”
Tyler’s eyes darted across his classroom, a vaguely amused expression on his face. If he’d let them, they’d plan the entire thing for him. He crossed his arms and leaned against his desk. “First of all, that'd require for you all to be good.”
His students, insulted, began to protest. He held up his hand again and reigned the conversation in. “Second of all, where do you expect for this movie and hot chocolate to come from? Is Santa going to deliver it?”
Lanie shrugged. “You buy it all for us?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, exactly how much money do you think I make as a teacher? Because whatever it is that you’re thinking, divide it in half. And then divide whatever that number is by half. And then, you’ll be about halfway there.”
The truth was, he’d love to provide something like that for his students if he could, but he had over one hundred of them throughout the course of the day. He could easily spend half his paycheck if he were to commit to something like that.
“Wait, wait,” Skye said, raising a hand, “We could bring the stuff! Like, potluck style.”
“Yeah!” Grace said, “I have Polar Express on DVD.”
Tyler’s lips had turned up into a grin, but he still wasn’t sure if the ambitions of his students were all that realistic. “These computers don’t have DVD players.”
“I have an external one! My mom uses it for my little brother on road trips because she says that iPads are a work of Satan,” Max said.
Tyler paused. “Okay. That’s… helpful.”
“My mom makes CrockPot hot chocolate every year,” Nati said, “I could see if she’ll volunteer to bring it.”
“Ooh! I can use my employee discount at Meijer and bring in some sugar cookies.”
“I can smuggle some paper cups and napkins in from Starbucks for our drinks.”
“I’m pretty sure I have, like, half a bag of Kisses lying around. That’s about all I can contribute.”
Tyler could barely contain his laughter. “You all say you’re going to do this, but are any of you actually going to follow through with it? Because I somehow doubt that.”
Every single face in the classroom locked eyes with him. Somehow, it struck fear into his heart.
“Mr. Joseph. You seriously doubt us?” PJ said.
“We are going to lock in harder than you’ve ever seen anyone lock in before,” Max said.
“Hm,” Tyler said, pretending to deeply contemplate his next words, “Only if you can lock in on that final, first.”
“Hey!” several students said.
Tyler grabbed a whiteboard marker and walked up to the board. “Let’s lay some ground rules for this ‘party’” he said, making quotations with his fingers.
They were all excited about the idea now, but he knew that they’d all forget about it once the day actually came. Still, it was fun to see if it might actually evolve into something. He paused in front of his board and glanced back at his students. “Not all of you celebrate Christmas.”
“I don’t care that I don’t celebrate,” Jessenia said, “I want hot chocolate.”
Maya shrugged. “I’m Muslim, but my mom’s been doing Halal Christmas for the past, like, five years.”
“See, Mr. Joseph? It can be a beautiful, diverse experience of culture,” Lanie said with an enthusiastic nod.
He rolled his eyes. “Still. I don’t want anyone to feel left out.”
He decided to write WINTER PARTY RULES on the board. This was deemed acceptable by his class.
“First and foremost,” Tyler said, hastily scribbling.
75% CLASS AVERAGE ON FINAL
Cries of protest immediately began.
“What! That’s not cool! How am I supposed to understand anything about Heart of Darkness?” Skye said.
“If there’s any questions about poetry, I’m screwed,” Sammie said, “What the hell is a stanza?”
Lanie winced. “Oh. You are screwed, dude.”
Tyler pursed his lips, then amended the statement.
75% CLASS AVERAGE ON FINAL—CURVED*
This was reluctantly accepted by his students, and so he moved on.
“Secondly,” he said as he began to write his next condition down.
NO BANISHMENTS.
“Cover your dang noses!”
Although his students agreed with that one, also, he remained suspicious.
“What else?” Lanie said, antsy.
Tyler looked at his short list. “That’s it.”
“That’s it? That’ll be so easy!” Sammie said.
“We’ve got that party in the bag,” Nati said.
“I’m sure you do,” Tyler said, rolling his eyes, though a hint of a smile still lingered on his face, “Can we get back to the FRQ now?”
His students grumbled, but remembering a party was at stake, relented and grabbed their pens. Just when he thought he finally had them, another hand shot up in the air. He sighed. “Yes, Kate?”
“Can we have a pajama day and bring stuffed animals?”
Somehow, the class erupted even louder than before.
“What? I’m not even charge of that kind of thing. That’s school policy,” Tyler said.
“Aren’t you friends with Mr. Eschleman? Ask him to make an exception!”
Just the idea of telling Mark his students’ plans made him giggle. He knew Mark would say yes, but the fact that it was even an option was completely ridiculous. He wasn’t sure when this had become his life: negotiating the components of a high school Christmas party with a bunch of teenagers.
He narrowed his eyes and pointed the whiteboard marker in his hands towards his students. “Get. To. Work.”
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
That afternoon, Josh had to physically force him out of his classroom and into Josh’s car. He didn’t have much choice in the matter, considering his own was still out of commission and Josh was his only ride to-and-from school.
“Grading,” Tyler grumbled as he was led outside into the frigid winter air.
It was only 4:30, but the sun hung dangerously low in the sky. Just the sight of it made him stop in his tracks and frown.
“Sunshine,” Josh countered, and Tyler groaned.
He slammed the passenger side door behind him and cranked the heat up as high as it could go the minute Josh started the car.
“How was your day?” Josh asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“What are you doing on the last day before break?” Tyler asked, turning the tide of the conversation.
“Nothing much. Maybe we’ll do this experiment where we make fake snow.”
Tyler narrowed his eyes as he looked at their surroundings. “Why would you do that when there’s real snow everywhere? For the next few months, in fact.”
Josh scoffed. “Where’s your sense of joy and holiday spirit?”
Tyler rolled his eyes. “Probably sandwiched somewhere between my hundredth and hundredth-and-first essay I need to grade.”
“Why don’t you just give ‘em all A’s at that point?” Josh said.
Tyler’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? That completely goes against the merits of the College Board. That’s basically treason.”
“Do you have a student named College Board in any of your classes? Because otherwise, if it’s just one assignment, does it really matter?”
Tyler bit his lip. He knew lots of teachers that decided to just hand out completion grades on assignments when they got too busy to give real feedback. But this was an AP class. Sure, a grade on one single assignment wouldn’t matter much when it came to affecting their overall GPA, but it could very well be the difference between a passing and a failing score on the exam in May. He turned the idea over in his head. He sighed. “Fine. I’ll grade on completion.”
Josh beamed beside him. “Great.”
“And then I’ll go over and actually give feedback over break.”
Josh’s face immediately fell. “You’re insane.”
“I want my students to succeed!”
“You’re still insane.”
Tyler stuck out his tongue, though he knew it likely wasn’t helping his point. “My kids want me to throw them a party.”
Josh laughed and glanced over at Tyler. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. And—and get this. They're trying to convince me that they’ll set up everything themselves.”
Josh scoffed. “Wow. That’s some serious ambition.”
“I know!”
“You think they’ve got what it takes?”
“Scarily enough, I do.”
He had a fairly ambitious bunch this year, much like he did every year. His fourth, fifth, and sixth periods had seen the list of rules on the board and gotten curious about the initiative themselves and begged to join in. He was certain his morning classes would follow suit the next day. The one thing he wasn’t sure of was whether any of them would actually bring what they said they’d bring.
“It’s up to them to make it happen,” Tyler said, “Not me. I’m keeping my hands free from this.”
Josh pulled into the parking lot and gave Tyler a severe side-eye. “Hm. Right. I’m sure you will.”
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
“Merry Christmas, Mr. Joseph!”
Tuesday brought suspicious smiles on several of his students’ faces and strange gifts brought to his desk.
It was 7:30 in the morning, and Belle stood in front of his desk with a small drawstring bag held before him. “...Thank you?”
She glared at him. “You don’t sound very excited.”
“I am excited,” Tyler said, his eyes flitting between the bag and her, “But I’m more so confused as to why you’re here. Considering you’re not in my class.”
“But I’m in Drumline, and you and Mr. Dun are right next to each other, so I could see you both in one go,” Belle said, nodding enthusiastically.
Tyler pursed his lips. “You could also see us in one go today after school. At Drumline.”
Belle remained silent. The school bell rang immediately afterwards.
“Thank you for the gift, Belle. Go to your class.”
“I have to say hi to Fefe first!”
“You can say hi to her at Drumline this afternoon, also.”
“It’ll only take five seconds!”
As Belle scurried off to do anything other than go to her proper class, Tyler unraveled the drawstring ties of the bag and peeked inside. He frowned, then turned it over and spilled its contents onto his desk.
Inside was a folded up sticky note, three peppermint candies, and a one-dollar coin.
As Belle separated from her hug with Fefe, she shot him a thumbs up. Tyler rolled his eyes and laughed. “Thank you, Belle.”
“Bye, Mr. Joseph!” Belle said as she raced to the door. She stopped abruptly against the doorframe and turned back around, “Can you email Ms. Ryan and excuse me for the first ten minutes of first period?”
“Ten minutes?”
“I have to go see Ms. Black too,” Belle said.
Before Tyler could think of a response to that, she shot out into the hallway with another, “Thanks, bye!”
Tyler scoffed and moved his small haul to the corner of his desk. He knew his kids, and their families, for that matter, didn’t have much money to spare, so he appreciated even when they gave him ridiculous, random gifts like some pocket change. He unfolded the sticky note. It read:
THANK YOU FOR MAKING DRUMLINE FUN :) WATCH OUT FOR NEXT YEAR! >:)
He wasn’t particularly sure what the last part was supposed to mean, but he was taking it as a threat.
All of his first period students had settled in their seats, and he had instructions on the board for them to read silently as he took attendance.
His room was full of constant chatter. About three kids had books out in front of them, but none were reading. He glanced up. “Do any of you know what silent reading is?”
“What’s this about a Winter Party?” Ro asked.
Tyler lowered his head against his desk. It was going to be a long week.
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
A student in his second period class gave him a bright red envelope. “Merry Christmas!” Emily said.
Tyler raised his eyebrows and took the envelope. “Thanks, Emily.”
He tore open the envelope with little grace. Some of his students took notice and began to chastise him. “Woah! Where are your manners?” Victoria said.
Just to spite them, he tore the envelope in half. “They left somewhere around Thanksgiving break,” Tyler said.
He took out the card and read it with furrowed brows.
It was clearly designed for a little girl’s birthday, complete with illustrations of princesses and castles. It originally read TO A VERY SPECIAL GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER ON HER 2ND BIRTHDAY, but Emily had evidently crossed parts of it out to instead read:
TO A VERY SPECIAL GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER mr. joseph ON HER 2ND BIRTHDAY christmas
He looked up at his excited student. “Thank you?”
“There’s more inside.”
He opened up the card, and sure enough, inside was a Starbucks gift card for $15.
The text inside had similarly been changed, and now read:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY christmas TO AN AWESOME GIRL mr. joseph WHO’S JUST TWO idk like thirty SWEET, FUN, AND FABULOUS FOR WORDS!
“I am not thirty,” Tyler said, “But thank you.”
“You’re welcome!” Emily said, then snapped her fingers, “Oh! By the way. There’s more like $8.75 on there, give or take.”
He gave her a strange look and placed the gift card in his pocket. “Okay.”
Another student approached his desk next and gave him an illustration of Ned in a Santa hat that he stuck up on the board underneath the WINTER PARTY RULES.
He stood in front of his desk and crossed his arms. “Alright, does anyone have any questions before we get started?”
A hand immediately shot in the air.
“Yes, Eren?”
“I bought your album on iTunes. Merry Christmas,” Eren said proudly.
“...Thank you?”
“Why do you always sound so confused when you thank us?” Victoria said.
He paused for a moment to think. “Because you all deeply confuse me.”
Then, he said, “Any actual questions?”
Five more hands shot in the air.
He had a feeling none of them were going to be fruitful.
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
He fell asleep that night on the couch with his head in Josh’s lap and a stack of papers crumpling onto the floor beneath him.
Gentle hands shook him awake and whispered in his ear. “Psst. Tyler.”
“Mmmmshut up,” Tyler said, “‘m sleeping.”
“Let’s go to bed,” Josh said, brushing a hand through his hair.
Tyler shut his eyes tighter. “I am in bed.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I wanna stay here.”
He heard Josh laugh softly above him. “I’d be happy to help with that, except for the fact that my back hurts. And also I have to pee.”
Tyler swatted a weak hand against Josh’s leg. “‘s not my fault you’re old.”
“C’mon. Let’s get some real sleep,” Josh said.
“No.”
In his exhausted state, he couldn’t even find it in himself to be ashamed of how childish he sounded. He kept his eyes shut and frowned as he felt the loss of Josh and his head flopped against the couch. Fine. He’d just sleep like this. His hand felt the sharp corners of a piece of paper and he pulled it towards himself.
“Are you using that paper as a blanket?” Josh asked.
“‘s cold.”
“You know what isn’t cold? Our bed. Under a blanket.”
Tyler hummed, then yelped in surprise as he felt Josh’s hands wrap around his body, then lift him up into the air.
That caused his eyes to fly open. “What are you doing?”
“Taking you to bed,” Josh grunted as he pushed open the bedroom door with his foot, “Since you refuse to do so yourself.”
Tyler couldn’t help but laugh, even if it was broken up between dramatic yawns. “Put me down!”
“Okay,” Josh said as he unceremoniously deposited Tyler onto the bed.
Tyler flopped down on top of the sheets and immediately shoved his face into his pillow. “Gah,” he said, pulling the blanket out from underneath him and wrapping it over his shoulders, “Goodnight.”
He heard the sounds of shuffling as Josh went to use the bathroom, then the soft click of the lightswitch. The weight of the bed dipped a moment later as Josh joined his side. Tyler rolled over to face him, his bleary eyes attempting to focus on Josh’s distinct features in the dark. “Night, Josh,” he whispered.
“Night, Tyler,” Josh said.
He hated to admit it, but it was much better to sleep in his bed than on the couch. As he drifted off, he mumbled, “Ugh. Those assignments are—”
“Still going to be there tomorrow,” Josh said.
Tyler didn’t have it in himself to argue. He flopped his head to the side and allowed his mind to wander until he fell asleep.
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
By Wednesday afternoon, it was clear that his students weren’t letting up on their ambitions for a party. A student in his fourth period had deposited a shrink-wrapped pack of paper plates on the back counter, then slipped an envelope on his desk. Tyler raised an eyebrow.
“Merry Christmas!” Kim said before scurrying off to her desk.
Tyler scoffed and opened up the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten note—no princesses involved—that said MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. JOSEPH! Sorry about that time I accidentally clogged the classroom sink with scrambled eggs :(
His head whipped up. “That was you?”
“Blame culinary class!”
He spluttered. “We don’t have a culinary class!”
The sink had been completely unusable for three weeks—the time it took to find a plumber willing to venture into their school.
“Do you like your gift or not?”
He rolled his eyes and peeked into the envelope. “There’s nothing in here.”
Kim beamed. “I know. The gift is my presence. And that’s the most valuable thing of all.”
Several of her peers burst out laughing.
Tyler placed a dramatic hand over his heart. “I’m honored. Truly.”
Another student side-eyed her. “That’s my gift, too.”
“Same here,” a third said.
Tyler crossed his arms. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you all that you don’t need to give me gifts. That’s not why I’m here.”
“But you’re a good teacher,” Rhys said, “We want to appreciate you.”
Tyler couldn’t help but crack a grin. “For the record, I feel extremely appreciated. Especially when you all turn in your FRQs on time.”
As expected, he received groans and jeers in response. One wheeled around in his seat and glared at the wall of Neds. “Ned. Do my FRQ for me.”
“Ned doesn’t believe in manual labor,” Tyler said.
“Well, I don’t believe in it either,” Jen said, “So what now?”
Tyler raised an eyebrow.
“It’s just not fair!” another student said, “There’s all these TikToks of crazy rich moms buying their kids teachers’ like $100 worth of gift cards. For every teacher! They're making us look bad.”
“Trust me,” Tyler said, “I’d rather have you guys than $100 worth of gift cards.”
“I saw one account where a mom bought all the teachers their own iPad,” Kim said.
Tyler paused. “Okay. That is kind of insane.”
“When I get rich, I’m gonna buy all my teachers iPads,” Josyln said with a confident nod, “Except for Mr. Sheridan.”
“Okay, now—”
“Seriously, who gives a final on the last day of class?” Rhys said.
Tyler couldn’t help but roll his eyes as his students began to bicker over their Physics final once again. He turned around and uncapped his whiteboard marker, then flinched as he heard a collective gasp echo throughout the room.
Tyler whipped back around in time to see Clemmie sneeze.
Into the collar of their shirt.
“Clemmie!” Kim said, jumping up from her desk, “Oh my God, you just broke the No Banishments rule!”
“It was an emergency,” Clemmie said, already jumping up and rushing to wash her hands at the sink, “I didn’t have time to react!”
“Mr. Joseph, please. This shouldn’t count,” Rhys said, desperate.
“We’ve been so good,” Joslyn said.
“Or we can still have a party and banish Clemmie from it!”
Several students nodded in agreement, while Clemmie yelled out, “Hey!” from the back of the room.
Tyler held up his hand. He was genuinely surprised with how passionate they all were about the party. “Guys. Guys. It’s okay. Clemmie sneezed into their shirt. Not an elbow, but it’s not the worst. The party’s still on.”
His students breathed out a collective sigh of relief, but it was too soon. Tyler shot them all a wicked look.
“What!” Jen said.
“We’re not individually banishing anyone,” Tyler said.
“But what if they really deserve it?”
Tyler wished that he could banish himself.
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
That afternoon, a student lugged in a giant gift bag at the start of fifth period.
Tyler raised an eyebrow as she set it on the floor by his desk. “Merry Christmas!” Saige said with a wide grin.
He stared at it in suspicion. “What is this?”
“Um, you’re supposed to open it to find out,” Jasmyn chimed in from behind, clutching onto the straps of her backpack, “That’s kinda the whole point.”
“Right,” Tyler said as he grabbed onto the handles.
To his surprise, the bag was fairly heavy. “Saige, you’ve been carrying this around all day?”
Saige nodded eagerly.
Tyler rested the bag on his desk with a grunt and stood up to rummage around inside. His fingers came in contact with something soft and round. He gasped. “No way.”
He pulled a large, crocheted plush Ned out of the bag. He was made with a fuzzy off-white yarn and had blue tufts of fur coming out of his ears. “Saige, this is incredible!” he said, showcasing the Ned on his desk.
Ned was large. He was at least a foot tall, and took up a good chunk of space on his desk. He’d have to find a better place to showcase him.
“Thank you,” Saige said, “I’ve been working on him, like, all semester. If you didn’t like him I probably would’ve cried.”
“Are you kidding? I love him. He’s amazing.”
More students continued to trickle into the classroom. He could tell the exact second everyone first locked eyes with Ned, because brief bursts of noise would sound throughout the room.
“Oh my God, he’s real!”
“Can you make me one, Saige? I’d pay you, like, a billion dollars.”
“I have three dollars. Take it or leave it.”
“He’s so cute!”
“He’s staring into my soul.”
Tyler decided to haul the Ned off to the back of the classroom, where he rested against the back wall beneath a sea of illustrations.
“Awe,” Jasmyn said, “It’s like he’s ruling over his constituents.”
One student grabbed a beanie from their backpack and walked over to Ned, where she draped the beanie over his ears. “In case he gets cold,” she said.
Tyler grinned. “Ned says thank you.”
By the end of the afternoon, several more offerings had been made for Ned. One student wrapped a scarf over his neck. Another gave him a half-empty fun-sized bag of Cheetos. Another left their notebook on Ned’s lap and reminded him to study up for the final tomorrow.
Once the bell rang and everyone left with Tyler’s well wishes in their ears, Ned was fully decked out. He looked absolutely ridiculous, and Tyler loved it.
Josh popped into his classroom soon after, his laptop in hand. “Hey, Tyler—woah.”
“I know.”
Josh set his laptop down on a desk and wandered to the back of the classroom. He rubbed Ned’s fuzzy ears between his fingers. “Did someone make this?”
“Saige from my fifth period did. Isn’t that crazy?”
Josh grinned. “That’s seriously cool. He’s perfect. Did she dress him up, too?”
Tyler snorted. “No, actually. My students gave these to him as offerings. They think it’ll help them do better on their exam tomorrow.”
Josh raised his eyebrows. “Do you think it’ll work?”
Tyler did. He honest-to-God did. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Josh settled down behind the desk and opened his laptop. “The kids get so creative here. Someone made me a ceramic mug and hand-painted it with drawings of Jim.”
“What! I’ve gotta see that,” Tyler said.
“I’ll show it to you when we leave,” Josh said, “I love it.”
“A lot of them were upset that they couldn’t get me a ‘real gift’” Tyler said, emphasizing the statement with dramatic finger quotes, “I think this stuff’s way cooler.”
Josh shrugged. “I had a lot of parents buy me nice stuff back at Roosevelt. You know my watch?” Josh gestured to the Apple watch on his wrist.
Tyler’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”
Josh laughed. “A parent bought it for me for Teacher Appreciation Week one year.”
“No they didn’t. That’s insane.”
“They had the money to spare. A lot more money than that, truthfully.”
“How come I never knew that?”
Josh shrugged again. “I dunno, I guess I just don’t really think about it? I appreciate it a lot. I’m not gonna sit here and act like I’m above expensive gifts, or anything. But you can tell when a gift comes from a place of showing off status versus a genuine desire to show their support.”
Tyler hummed, processing what Josh had said.
“Plus, those parents hated me. I think they only did it because their kid was failing and instead of coming to tutoring, he snapped all my SmartBoard markers in half so I couldn’t teach.”
Tyler couldn’t help but laugh. “What?”
Josh laughed, too. “It didn’t help. I can tell you that much. He ended the year with, like, a 57%. Pretty sure he had to retake Chemistry after that. But it wasn’t like they were going to make me hand the watch back over. That's be awkward.”
“Oh my God, could you imagine?”
Josh giggled. “They just snatch it off my wrist in the middle of class.”
“But they forget to unclasp it. They end up taking your whole arm off.”
“My whole arm?”
“Yeah. Just carrying around the bone and everything.”
“Okay, that’s unwarranted.”
Tyler shrugged dramatically. “Shouldn’t have failed their kid, then!”
Tyler’s laughter turned into a grimace as his hands met his pile of papers. “Ugh. Kill me.”
“I’m not going to do that. I need someone to come to Christmas with me.”
Tyler’s heart fluttered, both from anxiety and anticipation. Josh had managed to convince him to stay at the Dun’s house for Christmas. Or, according to Josh, his mother had insisted they stay at their house for Christmas. Tyler had wormed his way out of Thanksgiving by pretending to be sick—though he was fairly certain Josh knew he was merely playing pretend. He knew he couldn’t get out of this. Josh’s family had been wanting to meet him for ages for reasons Tyler couldn’t place. He wasn’t all that of an exciting person to get to know. Still, he’d put it off too long. He and Josh lived together. Meeting his parents was a de-escalation, if anything.
“Yeah,” Tyler said, swallowing thickly and darting his head in the direction of his papers.
“Tyler. They're going to love you. You know that, right?”
“Right,” Tyler said, picking up his pen as his eyes scanned the essay before him.
If Josh’s parents were anything like the way he talked about them, then it would be great. He was lucky to have anyone to spend the holidays with, really. He hadn’t told Josh, but his mind still reeled from the phone call he’d had with his own mother a few weeks back that had ended with her saying, I just feel it’s best that, for this year at least, we keep things easy. It’s not about you, honey.
Sure. It wasn’t about him. He definitely believed that. Tyler was difficult, things would be easier without him there, but it wasn’t about him at all. A part of him was relieved that it wasn’t even an option. But a small, tiny part of him wished that it was. He just wanted the ability to be the one to make the decision. He wanted to be the one to say no.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, Ty,” Josh said softly, “Jordan’s pumped to get the chance to talk Pokémon with you, and Ashley wants to hear about your writing—”
“You’ve been talking to them about me?” he said with a raised eyebrow.
Josh shrugged. “Of course I have. You’re kinda the most important thing in my life. I talk about you every chance I get.”
Tyler ducked his head so Josh wouldn’t be able to see just how much those words went straight to his heart. “Oh.”
“They love you already.”
He scratched his head and sniffled as he tried to make sense of the words on the page before him. He wasn’t sure those words would hold true past the second he stepped into that house. “Okay. That’s—okay.”
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
On Thursday, the day of the AP Literature & Composition fall semester final, Tyler received an email from Mark.
There was no formal greeting, nor capitalization. All Mark had written was:
you’re killing me.
Mark C. Eschleman, Principal
Dema High School
Home of the Vultures!
Tyler couldn’t help but smirk at his computer screen. He knew that meant that Mark had approved the concept of a pajama day.
He shot back a quick thank you :) over text, not even bothering to reply to the email.
He scribbled Pajama Day Tomorrow! on the whiteboard and double-checked to make sure he had enough scantrons for everyone to use.
The nice thing about scantrons was that they graded everything for him. The terrible part was that he still had to be the one to feed them through the machine. He knew it’d be much easier to rent out the Chromebook carts for the day than to have them do it on paper, but Tyler couldn’t help but despise them. He was somewhat convinced that if the Devil was real, he was the inventor of the Chromebook.
He took out his half-graded stack of FRQs and sighed. Testing days were always mind-numbingly boring. All he did was sit there in silence for hours on end, standing up from his desk on occasion to peruse the room and make sure there were no eyes wandering across the papers of others. The circumstances were almost perfect for the day, though. He’d have plenty of time to get through a good chunk of essays and even give thorough feedback.
He greeted his students by the door and grinned as he heard the excited gasps inside.
“No way,” Ro said, “We can wear pajamas tomorrow?”
“The big guy himself gave me the okay,” Tyler said.
It was almost absurd how much easier things were when the school was run by someone without a personal vendetta against his very existence.
“What about stuffed animals?” Fefe said.
“Yes. That’s okay, too,” he said, though he found their excitement about the whole thing to be quite bizarre. The longer he taught, the more he realized just how much Seniors wanted another chance to feel like little kids again sometimes.
It almost made him feel cruel to slap the scantrons and test booklets down on their desks.
Almost.
“May Ned have mercy on your souls,” Tyler said with a curt nod.
Throughout the day, more students continued to bring in items for the party. As promised, Max brought in the external DVD player. During lunch, after an unnecessary amount of swearing and an app store download for a media player he wasn’t convinced wouldn’t give him a virus, he managed to get the device to work and tested it out using a Stranger Danger DVD from 2005 he’d found in the school library.
“Well, if we can’t get our Christmas movie,” Tyler said to Josh as they watched the film on the projector screen, “At least they can learn not to go to a random man’s car just because he says he has a puppy.”
“I really could’ve used that knowledge,” Josh said as he took a bite of his sandwich, “Happened to me all the time as a kid.”
He had run into a slight problem along the way: a student in his fifth period was a Jehovah’s Witness and therefore didn’t celebrate any holidays.
“I can’t just kick her out,” Tyler said, “That’s not fair.”
“Does it count if it’s not a Christmas Party, though? You did write Winter Party on the board,” Josh said.
Tyler turned around in his chair and glanced up. “I guess? But the kids were pretty set on watching The Polar Express, which is very much a Christmas movie.”
Josh frowned. “Why The Polar Express? The animation used to creep me out as a kid.”
Tyler laughed. “Really?”
“Yes! Don’t judge me. The marionette scene used to give me nightmares.”
Tyler considered it for a moment. “Okay. I can see that, actually.”
“Are Jehovah’s Witnesses not allowed to watch any media related to holidays?”
“I don’t know.”
“That seems like a worthwhile question to ask,” Josh said.
Tyler groaned. “Ugh. I’m the worst. I should’ve gotten this all sorted out days ago, but I’ve been so distracted,” he said, gesturing to the stack of remaining papers on his desk. He’d managed to get through quite a few so far as the kids took their exam, but he knew he wouldn’t finish them all by the end of the day.
“It’ll be okay, Tyler. Ask her during fifth period, and if she says she can’t, then you can send her over to me. We’ll be making fake snow.”
“Again. I struggle to see the purpose behind making fake snow when we have a mountain of it outside.” He gave Josh a slight smirk. “But thanks.”
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
By the end of the day on Thursday, Tyler felt as though he could fall asleep standing up and his head pounded with a vengeance. Something about testing days always seemed to give him a headache.
When the bell rang and all of his students left with excited chatter about the party tomorrow—something he still couldn’t quite believe was really happening—he groaned and rested his head against his desk.
The back counter of his classroom was already full of offerings from his students. There were bags of chips, pre-packaged brownie bites and cookies, paper plates, paper towels, and plastic cutlery. A few students had left disappointed that they weren’t able to bring in homemade goods—something that was strictly against school policy.
“Oh. In case someone tries to poison everyone,” Jasmyn had said solemnly.
“I think the reasoning is more along the lines of undisclosed allergens,” Tyler said, “But sure. That too.”
Ned was fully bundled up with mittens secured over his paws and a balaclava secured over his head. Tyler felt guilty leaving him alone in the classroom over winter break.
He considered bringing Ned home for a moment, then had to lock the thought away due to how absurd it was.
A knock on his door caused him to startle.
“Who’sit,” Tyler said, his voice muffled against his desk.
“Your carriage awaits, Mr. Joseph,” Josh said.
Tyler made a face and turned his head to the side. “What did you just say?”
Josh shrugged. “I was trying to be cute.”
“It didn’t work.”
“Hey.” Josh’s voice lacked any real venom.
Tyler scoffed and sat up, wincing when he felt a stab of pain through his skull. “Ugh. Thank God there’s no more finals.”
“You got that test day headache?”
“Always.” Tyler paused. “How did you know that’s a thing?”
“Because I know you.”
Tyler couldn’t help but grimace. It was disgustingly cute.
“Come on. Let’s go,” Josh said, stepping up to him.
“It’s not even the end of contract hours,” Tyler said, slumping back in his chair, “And I still have, like, fifteen more essays to grade.”
“They’ll be there tomorrow.”
“And Scantrons to process.”
“Which will also be there tomorrow. You can do them during The Polar Express.” Josh snapped his fingers. “Oh, how’d it go with the Jehovah’s Witness kid?”
Tyler shrugged. “She said she’s allowed to watch whatever as long as it doesn’t go against God’s standards.”
“Does Santa Claus go against God’s standards?”
Tyler blinked. “I don’t know. She said she’s seen it before. So I guess that’s enough? I just didn’t want her to feel left out. Or singled out, for that matter.”
Josh leaned against Tyler’s desk and gazed at the back of his room. “I think you’re doing a pretty good job of making everyone feel included.”
Tyler bit at the skin of his lips. “I don’t know. I could probably do more.”
“You could always do more. That’s just the way things are.”
He couldn’t help but sigh. “I hate when you’re like this.”
“Like what?”
“Right.”
Josh laughed.
“I’m serious! You’re like a walking inspirational Facebook post sometimes.”
Josh leaned close to him. “And you love it.”
Tyler glared. “Shut up.”
Josh closed the gap and pressed his lips to Tyler’s. “You do.”
Tyler, with his eyes still narrowed, kissed back. “Sure.”
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
He woke up on Friday morning freezing and miserable but strangely elated with the knowledge of two things:
- It was the very last day of the semester.
- He didn’t even have to change his clothes.
“Pajama day is the best invention ever, I think,” Tyler said as he brushed his teeth, speaking through a mouthful of toothpaste.
“Please tell me you changed your underwear, at the very least,” Josh said beside him.
“Of course I did,” Tyler said.
He made a mental note to change his underwear before leaving.
He put on deodorant and spritzed on some of Josh’s cologne (he couldn’t help it. If he couldn’t have Josh beside him all the time, at the very least he could always smell him), then combed his hair into something presentable. He shoved his feet into a pair of Christmas themed socks he’d owned for years with tiny reindeer printed on them and stepped into a worn pair of slides.
Josh raised his eyebrows. “Slides?”
“It’s pajama day.”
“It’s snowing outside. You’re going to hate your life when you have to walk through slush in that.”
“Ugh.”
“You’re welcome,” Josh said.
Tyler decided on throwing his slides in his bag for when he got to school and lacing up a pair of boots in the meantime.
The drive to school felt long and dark. Snow fell and melted against the windshield, turning Tyler’s vision into a blurry haze. He always hated this time of year. He felt like he never saw the sun anymore. It was just a bit easier with Josh by his side. It was like Josh produced his own goddamn Vitamin D. Even as they drove through the pitch dark 6:30AM skies, Josh smacked his hands against the steering wheel and hummed along to Last Christmas on the radio.
It made Tyler smile. Just a little.
He begrudgingly accepted that Josh was once again right about wearing the boots to school. The small distance from the parking lot to the school building involved mounds of slush and ice. The fresh falling snow stuck to his lashes and burned his face. He wrapped his arms to his chest and trundled along beside Josh until they made it to the door.
Unfortunately for every individual at Dema High School, the inside of the building wasn’t much warmer. “I swear, they're not going to fix the heater until it’s June,” Tyler said, pulling off his gloves and stomping his feet against the doormat.
“And then they’ll leave it on the entire summer and we’ll come back to an oven,” Josh said.
They both unlocked their classroom doors and went their separate ways. Tyler quickly turned on each of his space heaters and plugged in his lights and lamps. He took off his coat and rubbed his hands together to try and generate some warmth.
It was the last day of classes.
It was the last day, and then he’d get two weeks at home. With Josh.
And Josh’s family. But he’d worry about that at a later time.
Thirty minutes before the bell rang, students started popping in to drop things off. Grace brought in not just The Polar Express, but a handful of other DVDs too. “I realized that you would have to watch it, like, seven times, and if I had to do that my brain might explode. So I wanted to give you options,” they said.
Tyler glanced through the small collection. There was Frozen, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Elf, too. “Thanks, Grace. I will definitely take you up on that.”
“But third period gets The Polar Express!” she said, pointing a finger as she walked out of the classroom.
“Noted.”
Nati arrived moments later, dragging her mother behind her. Her mother had a visitor’s badge pinned to her sweater and a CrockPot in hand. Nati carried her own CrockPot, which she promptly set down on the counter. “Hi, Mr. Joseph!”
“Hey, Nati.” He greeted her mother with a small wave and an acknowledgment of thanks. He was never quite sure what to do with parents.
“We always make a crap ton, so there should be enough for everyone,” Nati said.
“But if you need anything else, feel free to give me a call,” her mother said with a smile.
He’d rather walk in his slides all the way to the nearest Kroger and buy ten boxes of Swiss Miss before he willingly called a parent, even one as courteous as Nati’s. “Thank you.”
Several more students dropped by to add their own offerings. The back counter was completely full. He didn’t think they’d be able to get through even half the food that had been brought.
He feared for the structural integrity of his classroom garbage bins.
When the first period bell rang and his students trickled into the classroom, it was clear that Tyler would be in for a long, long day. His students arrived with pajamas on and mindless chatter swapped between them about break, the holidays, and the latest episode of some show he’d never heard of. Several of them had stuffed animals clutched in their hands—Squishmallows and Jellycats and a frighteningly large plushie of Freddy Fazbear that was the size of a young child. Two kids had matching stuffed animals of the Minions that they paired together on a desk.
“Mr. Joseph, where’s your stuffie?” Ro asked.
Tyler raised his eyebrows. He walked to the back of the room and picked up Ned, whose student-gifted sunglasses tumbled off his face. “Right here.”
It was difficult to take attendance amidst the ceaseless chatter and excited murmurings, but he somehow tallied twenty-one students present. He was pretty sure that was a semester-end record.
When he put the movie on, he expected the kids to continue on with their conversations and to treat The Polar Express like nothing more than background noise. To his surprise, as soon as the animation began, a hush fell over the room. Some students huddled together, others rested their heads on top of their stuffed animals and glanced up at the projector screen.
Once the movie had entered into full-swing, with the sounds of the Polar Express train filling the room through his low-quality speakers, he sent small groups of students at a time to ladle themselves cups of hot chocolate and to get plates of snacks. “Make sure you ration!” he called to the four students in the back of the room, “Save stuff for everyone!”
Based on the sheer amount of food on his back counter, he assumed that wouldn’t be a problem. He had enough to feed all of his students and probably Josh’s, too. He should’ve learned a long time ago not to doubt the dedication of his students, but he still couldn’t believe the level of commitment they’d made.
He also could not believe that several of his students were drinking hot chocolate and eating hot Cheetos at 7:30 in the morning.
His internal thoughts must’ve translated to external horror, because one student turned to look at him. “What?”
“Your digestive systems terrify me.”
Once everything had fully settled and all the kids were content with their snacks, Tyler took out his few remaining essays to grade. He soon found himself distracted by the movie. He hadn’t watched it since he was a kid, himself. He kept his eyes focused on his computer monitor as the unnamed main character pulled the break line on the train so Billy would have a chance to board.
“Mr. Joseph.”
A student’s voice startled him. He glanced up to see two kids standing at his desk. “What’s up, guys?”
A card was thrust in his direction. “Merry Christmas,” Lyla said.
“Oh.” He accepted the card with clumsy hands. “Thank you.”
He opened it up to discover a handmade card written by the two of them. Inside were two $10 bills. “Cash?”
“So you can do whatever,” Shel said with a shrug, “We know it’s not much, but we wanted to say thank you.”
He didn’t think he’d ever grow used to that. Especially not students spending their own money on him. “Thank you, guys.”
He read the inside of the card.
Thank you for making English class FUN :) —Lyla
I only took AP Lit so I could be in your class. Can’t wait for next semester. —Shel
“Thank you,” he said again. He could say it over and over again for the rest of his life.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The students cheered as the waiters on the projector screen sang about having HOT, HOT, HOT CHOCOLATE!
“Do you do anything fun with your family for the holidays, Mr. Joseph?” Lyla asked.
He couldn’t help the way his heart twisted at the comment. It was such a simple, innocent question that his student had asked. It pained him that he didn’t have a simple answer.
He tightened his smile and sat back in his chair. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. My mom makes matching t-shirts and everything.”
He wondered if she’d be doing it this year for the in-tact portion of the family, or if it was yet another thing he’d destroyed. He hugged the Ned plush in his lap to his chest.
“Awe,” Lyla said at the same time as Shel said, “That’s the whitest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Despite himself, the comment made him laugh. “Go back to your seats, guys. Enjoy the movie.”
They left not long after, joining in as the rest of their classmates sang.
“Mr. Joseph,” Em called from their seat, “You should dance for us like the waiters do.”
He grimaced. “I think I’ll pass.”
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
His second period class chose Elf, but third period was back to The Polar Express as promised.
He was insanely impressed by his students’ abilities to clean up after themselves. His room still looked like something of a warzone, but the garbage was in the (albeit already overflowing) trashcans and no semi-full cups of hot chocolate had been left to leak through the cheap plastic.
He really did feel like an elementary school teacher with the way he directed everything: having students move in groups, reminding them to throw away their trash, making sure everyone left with their stuffed animals at the end of the period. He was insanely grateful for the fact that this was a one-day thing. He never imagined that a class party would make him feel so exhausted, especially when it was barely 11AM.
At the end of third period, two students offered to take the class garbage to the dumpsters in exchange for hall passes, which he eagerly accepted. Sammie and PJ hauled the bags over their shoulders like it was Santa’s knapsack and nearly tumbled over in the process.
“Oh my God,” Sammie said, “What the hell is in here?”
“Maybe double the time on those hall passes?” PJ said with a wince.
The dumpsters were on the opposite side of the campus.
“My heroes,” Tyler said.
“I’m never volunteering to do anything ever again,” Sammie said on her way out the door.
Tyler glanced around at the carnage of his room. There was definitely some litter lingering around the floor, and a dark spot on the carpet where Lanie’s hot chocolate had tumbled off her desk. He pursed his lips and made a mental note to get the custodian a late-Christmas gift.
Fourth period opted for How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Tyler got absolutely no work done. He kept his eyes glued to the screen. Kim brought him a cup of hot chocolate, and he couldn’t help but lean into the absurdness of the day. He understood where the kids were coming from. It reminded him of being little and eagerly anticipating the last day of school before break, back when he had nothing more to worry about than beating his brother to the Nintendo.
He sipped his hot chocolate and leaned back in his chair, careful not to spill anything on Ned (although he was more than protected from the elements in his student-provided gear).
Fifth period chose Frozen, and he breathed a sigh of relief, even if his Jehovah’s Witness student had told him she could watch Christmas movies. Still, he managed to overthink it. Frozen was a winter movie, not a Christmas movie, but it had magic. Could she watch movies with magic? His own parents hadn’t allowed him to read books like Harry Potter as a kid because it dealt with witchcraft. He fumbled with his phone under his desk and shot a message to Josh just to be safe.
TYLER: frozen. is that allowed?????
It took Josh a few minutes to respond. He jolted at the vibration of his phone.
JOSH: what
He huffed, then glanced up at his class. They all seemed to be enjoying the movie perfectly well. When the first song began, he winced as they broke out into an off-tune rendition of Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?
There was a reason most of them did Drumline instead of Choir.
He shut his phone and sighed. It would be okay either way, he reasoned. He’d survived a lot worse in his teaching career than an upset parent email. Even if those still deeply terrified him this far into his career.
By the end of the day, Tyler somehow felt more exhausted than he had in ages. It was like his testing day headaches amplified by a thousand. Even still, the sight of joy on his students faces made it feel just the slightest bit easier.
Two more students offered to take out the trash for him again, and everyone spent the last five minutes of the day scurrying around the room to make it look presentable again. They stacked their chairs, picked up any lingering garbage around the room, and reclaimed any of the remaining offerings they’d brought for the day.
The back table was completely decimated. He should’ve known better than to underestimate the appetites of teenagers.
When the final bell rang, he received a barrage of “Merry Christmas, Mr. Joseph!”, a few “and a Happy New Year!” and “see you next year's" The flurry of chaos lasted long after the final student left his classroom, his ears buzzing from the sudden lack of noise.
Of course, it still wasn’t over.
Grace returned to pick up their stack of DVDs. Max took back the external DVD player with a quick message of, “If I forgot this before we drove to Cincy for Christmas, my mom would kill me.” Nati came back with her mother about thirty minutes after the day had ended to collect the CrockPots.
“They do well for you?” she asked, dumping the small amounts of liquid remaining into the sink.
“The hot chocolate? It was perfect. Thank you,” Tyler said.
Nati’s mom smiled. “The kids.”
He blinked. “Oh. Yes, they did. They were wonderful.”
Nati grinned. “Bye, Mr. Joseph! See you next year!”
Tyler waved them goodbye, and soon enough it was just him left in the classroom.
For all his longing for the semester to finally be over, he was always struck by just how empty the last days of school made him feel. He’d be back in two weeks, grumbling and freezing to the bone, but he’d miss it for now.
He’d managed to finish grading the essays by some miracle from above. Now, he just had his massive stack of Scantrons to feed through the machine in the library.
Josh startled him with a knock on the door as he gathered the sheets into his arms. “How’d it go?”
“It went great, actually. Look, my classroom is still standing.”
Josh glanced around the room and nodded. “I’m impressed. Mine looks like a winter-themed bomb went off.”
Tyler snorted. “I told you snow was a dumb idea.”
Josh shrugged. “It was pretty cool! But now I’m going to have to spend the rest of contract time cleaning. And probably write an apology letter to the custodian.”
“Good luck with that,” Tyler said, already planning his escape before Josh could ask him to help, “I’m going to the library.”
“Oh, you didn’t see Michelle’s email?”
Tyler froze. He clutched onto his papers tightly. “What email.”
“The scanner’s down.”
Tyler’s heart plummeted. “You’re kidding me.”
Josh gave him a sympathetic face.
“Oh my God, you’re lying.”
He dropped the papers on his desk and rushed to log back in to his computer. In his frenzy, he typed his password incorrectly and got an error message. He grumbled under his breath and tried again.
“You better be joking, Josh. I swear,” Tyler said as he opened his email.
Right at the top of his inbox was a school-wide email sent from Michelle.
Subject: Scantron Scanner Down
Hey guys,
Unfortunately our poor old scanner has gone to Scanner Heaven. She’s served DHS well for the past twelve years, but she graded her last Scantron today for Mr. Sheridan.
“Fucking Sheridan, dude,” Tyler said. He knew perfectly well why his students were so incensed about the Physics final now.
Kathy has graciously already put in an order for a new scanner, but it won’t arrive until after Winter Intersession is over.
So sorry for any issues this might cause with EOT grading!
Michelle Shirai
Tyler looked back up at Josh with a heavy expression of dread on his face.
“Don’t even worry about it, Tyler. Send an email to parents explaining the situation and say that the grade’ll apply for next semester instead.”
He buried his head in his hands. “Ughhhh. Can’t one thing go right? Ever?”
“A lot of things have gone right this week. You got your FRQs turned in. You had a successful party. You got some awesome gifts from your kids. Don’t let this bring you down.”
He tilted his head back towards the ceiling and shut his eyes. He sighed. The mere idea of grading the Scantrons by hand brought tears to his eyes. “Fine.”
He could physically sense Josh’s entire body perk up at his response. “Awesome. Sounds like you’ve got time to help me clean up, then.”
Tyler glared with so much force that he hoped it sent fear down Josh’s spine.
⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆