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Nobody ever found me interesting. I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, normally I just sat to the side while the other kids all played games together. I was the kid who worked alone in school, the person who had no human contact in an unknown part of space for over 30 years. I was never supposed to come back to Earth. That wasn’t part of my future.
It was weird being appreciated by people now.
The videos I had sent back in the beetles was publicly aired and when I got back I was known as the guy who survived a suicide mission and helped save the planet. I was not known as the middle school science teacher who just wanted a normal life. I didn’t want to be stuck in big crowds of people asking me about my time aboard the Hail Mary.
It’s not like I ever had an interest in parading myself around and showing off to others, even when coming back to Earth meant that I would be a recognized hero. It’s not like Nasa treated me the best anyways, I was no longer allowed to speak with Rocky despite the fact that the radios worked perfectly fine.
They always had some excuse of a bug or a glitch in the systems.
That’s exactly why I gave up. I moved back out to San Francisco, getting myself away from the forcefulness of Nasa and how I was expected to be used for their PR and media. This is how I ended up getting a job as an elementary school teacher, different than what I used to do before but still similar enough for me. Besides, I could still teach what I was passionate about: science.
It was the first day of school today for the kids and I have to teach a second grade class this year. A very big age difference than the middle school kids I taught all those years ago. It was currently 6:00am in the morning and I was about to leave the house, school officially started at 8:30am.
I wheeled myself back into my bedroom, shoving my laptop and other random essentials into my backpack. I zipped the bag closed and hung it on the back of my chair, moving myself closer to the closet where a tall mirror leaned against the wall. I looked at the reflection of my self, I wasn’t dressed professionally at all but who were seven year olds to judge me.
I pulled at the string of my red hoodie, trying to make it even on both sides as I moved the edge of my jeans from where it got tucked into my tattered white converse. I gave myself one final glance before heading out of my bedroom, shutting the lights behind me.
I grabbed my keys off the kitchen table and headed towards the door, for once I was on time when leaving my apartment. I haven’t seemed to get a good grasp on time management since I got back to Earth, mainly because the only clock on the Hail Mary broke when I tried to teach Rocky about time, leaving me with no way to tell how many hours passed.
The front door locked behind me with a click, leaving me to pull my keys out and shove them into the pocket of my hoodie. I turned myself around and headed down the hallway towards the elevator.
I was slower than I wished, that didn’t come in handy when I saw the elevator doors open and people file inside of it, knowing damn well that I wouldn’t make it there in less than 15 seconds. I slowly rolled myself closer to the elevator, an older gentleman smiled at me as he boarded and stuck out his hand to hold the elevator door for me to get on. Some people looked uncomfortable as I rolled in, maybe due to the fact that they had to stand so close together to make room for me. Still, no one said a word.
Everyone let me get off first, even though it took me some time to do so. I felt bad, it wasn’t exactly like I wanted to slow people down. The air outside was crisp as I exited the building, making me cold despite the fact that I put on the warmest sweater I owned. I gripped the rims of my chair harder, making my knuckles turn a pale white. My apartment complex was close enough to the school building that I didn’t have to take the bus, very lucky for me. That just meant I had to survive only 10 minutes outside in the cold, even though summer had just ended.
When I arrived at the school I checked in at the office, grabbing my ID badge and lanyard as I had forgotten to during the past times I came here. The people working at the front office seemed nice enough, always trying to strike up a conversation with me when I saw them.
“Morning, Ryland.” Another teacher, Emilie Chaser said, giving me a wave and a smile from where she was standing near the office. “Good morning.”
I started to roll myself past her, going down the hallway towards where my classroom was. I didn’t expect her to follow me. “Are you totally pumped for your first day of teaching?” She asked, clearly slowing down her walking speed as she strolled along beside me.
“Yeah, very exciting.” I didn’t mean to sound uninterested in having a conversation with her, I just really didn’t feel like talking at that moment. “Yeah, it will be fine, don’t worry. I will come after the early dismissal and see how things went.” Right, I forgot the kids were only here for a few hours today. “See you later, Ryland.”
“Alright, see you.”
We parted ways as she turned back around, heading down the hallway towards where her classroom was. When I reached the door of my own class, I used the key attached to my lanyard to unlock the door, flicking on the lights as I rolled in. The classroom was already fully decorated, I had done that a few days prior to today. I wanted to make sure everything was how I wanted it before I actually had to start teaching. There was only 20 minutes until the kids would start arriving and I would have to go outside and greet them and their parents.
I hung my backpack on a hook near my desk, the school was nice enough to make sure things were low in my class so that I could easily reach stuff when teaching. I didn’t think they would even bother. I don’t like to admit it but part of me was terrified over the thought of how a bunch of seven year olds would react to their teacher being in a wheelchair like mine. I didn’t want them to be scared of me. I’m really not a scary person.
I went around the classroom, making final adjustments to desks and supplies around the room before hearing the laughter of kids outside the school building. I checked my watch and there was exactly one minute until school was starting. I swallowed the lump in my throat and put the lanyard around my neck, letting the ID card hang loose in front of my sweater.
I slowly rolled towards the side door, where students would enter the hallway to come to my classroom. I could see the young kids standing outside with their parents through the small window in the door, buzzing with excitement for the first day of school and already talking with their classmates to make friends. When the school bell rang I pushed the door open, rolling outside to where everyone was.
The kids bounced with happiness as they lined up near the wall, tightly gripping the straps of their backpacks. Some of them looked at me with curious looks.
I could see the looks on parent’s faces and how some whispered to one another when they saw me. I decided to shrug it off and introduce myself to the other parents that had come up to talk to me. The ones who even bothered to acknowledge my existence seemed nice enough, not at all bothered by who I was.
I looked back over to my class, rolling over to them so that they could all see me. I put a smile on my face and began to speak. “Hi everyone, I’m Mr. Grace and I am going to be your teacher this year.” I didn’t know if I sounded way too happy. I got a bunch of loud greetings back from the kids, some just giving shy waves and looking at me.
I motioned for them to all follow me back into the classroom, cringing at how slowly I lead them there. When we got to the classroom, kids looked up at the ceiling in awe, admiring the fake planets hung from it. “The planets are so cool!” One boy said with a smile as he found his desk and took a seat. “Mr. Grace, do you like planets?” Another girl asked, more quiet but there was still a visible smile on her face.
I couldn’t help but find myself smiling back at my students. Maybe I didn’t need to be recognized for who I really was by Nasa, found interesting enough to talk to when I was a kid. Maybe all I needed was to find people who found me interesting for who I was, not for the future Nasa wanted me to have.
“Yeah, I do like planets. Don’t worry, I will teach you guys all about them.”