Chapter Text
"And remember to spend as much time in the parks this summer as you possibly can! And watching History Channel Documentaries! This weekend PBS is airing a fascinating 18 part documentary on-" And then the bell rang, cutting Leslie off mid ramble as her last class all but trampled over each other running for the door.
"Okay, well, have fun! Stay safe! Make good choices!!" Leslie knew none of her students were listening. The few that hadn't left the classroom yet we're just signing yearbooks before leaving.
However, her enthusiasm did not go unnoticed. All through class the teenagers had smiled and laughed at her corny jokes and begrudgingly promised to visit some of Pawnee's parks. After Leslie spent 1 hour of her 90 minute class period talking about Ramsett Park. A few kids had shouted
"Bye, Ms. Knope!" As they left, others told her to have a good summer.
Greg Pikitis told her he looked forward to having her economics class next year. Leslie forced a smile and stifled a scowl. By contract she had to be nice to Pikitis and treat him with fairness.
But there was nothing in her counteract that said she wasn't allowed to hate his guts.
The front runner candidate for next years Senior Class President, Amelia, gave Leslie a small bag of apple shaped cookies. Along with a heartfelt note about how having Leslie as a teacher helped her find her way. Leslie had thanked Amelia and then cried when she left.
That's why she was a high school teacher.
To help students like Amelia.
~~~~~~
Four days after the last day of school Leslie was already bored.
"Aaaaaaannnn, you don't get it! When the school year is over for you, you go back to working full time at the hospital! I have to spend the entire summer with nothing to do. Aimlessly waiting to start making lesson plans, and formatting lecture slides, and designing projects..." Leslie's voice trailed off as she stared at the ceiling of Ann's house.
Ann was still half asleep on the other side of the couch, eating her oatmeal and berries like a zombie.
Leslie didn't fully understand how Ann wasn't awake yet, it was already 7:30 in the morning. By Leslie standards practically half the day was wasted.
But by Ann standards, they were up way too early to have a functioning conversation. For Ann was a lot of things; an amazing full time nurse at the hospital, an extremely caring and patient part time school nurse at Pawnee Central High, an absolutely perfect best friend... Except Ann was definitely not an early riser.
"Leslie, I love you, but you should really maybe try to focus on something other than work." Ann lazily pulled Leslie into a hug. "I'm honesty starting to think you might work yourself to death."
Leslie groaned in protest toward any idea that involved working less especially when she technically wasn't working at all.
"And you can't die on me Leslie! Who else will I watch Friday Night Lights with, or discuss Sandra Bullocks' skirt length with? No one! The answer is no one!" Leslie smiled as Ann gave her another squeeze.
A few hours later, after Leslie returned home to start on her "Lesson Plans Idea Binder: Volume 38," Ann sent Leslie a countdown until the first day of school.
~~~~~~
Sixty some days had come and gone and Leslie was finally back in in her classroom for teacher planning week. A gloriously fun filled week of receiving finalized schedules, decorating classrooms, approving lesson plans, catching up with all her coworkers, and of course scheduling at least 14 meetings with the Principal: Chris Traeger.
"Leslie Knope!" Chris smiled and pointed at her enthusiastically as she entered his office. "You are precisely the exact person that I wanted to see!"
Leslie forced a smile and took a seat across from Chris. Normally her boss's extreme positivity made her smile, but today she was too angry.
No. Angry was a complete downplay of her emotions. She was furious, livid, raging. She'd spent all of last weekend trying to get ahold of Chris so he could fix the error on her schedule; and Chris had spent all of last weekend avoiding Leslie's calls and assuring her that her concern was "literally the most important thing to him" and that it would be discussed the very first day of teacher planning week.
Leslie took a deep breath and cleared her throat, she had to be calm, cool, and collected.
"You took away my Economics class Chris!!! My Economics! I LOVE that class! I'm the only person in this entire school qualified to teach economics and you just took it away?!" Leslie paused when she felt her face get warm from her angry outburst. She didn't remember standing up from her chair, but now she slowly slunk back down. Trying to regain her composure.
Then Leslie pulled out a binder from her strangely large purse. "I'm sorry about that Chris. I'm just very passionate about Economics and Social Studies in general. So I made a binder with my various arguments as to why Pawnee Central should continue to offer Economics." Chris picked up the binder with a furrowed brow and his eyes glossed with uncertainty.
"I made some pretty stellar points in there if I do say so myself-" Leslie was stopped mid gloating by Chris's apologetic and slightly worried voice.
"I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding, Ms. Leslie Knope. Pawnee Central is still offering Economics, it's a state graduation requirement."
Leslie's face lit up like a child on Christmas Day, "Oh! Wonderful! So that will take the place of my planning for 3rd period, I assume?" Chris's frown faltered and was replaced with a look of pity.
"Pawnee Central is still offering Economics, but we are having a different instructor teach the subject this year." Chris froze momentarily when he saw Leslie's eyes narrow and her face scrunch up. "But don't you worry! Mr. Benjamin Wyatt is literally the most capable man I know. Your economics class is in good hands."