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Today was another day in Grover Cleveland Middle School. Students were heading to class, books were being checked out, and Felicity Grace was sprinting to her classroom as fast as her Converse could take her. She had been at the school as a science teacher for around 3 years, and she adored her job and the kids she worked with. Also helped that she could wear whatever stupid punny T-shirts she wanted without looking weird. But today was not her best day. She missed her alarm, almost forgot her lesson plans, and she forgot to brush her bird's nest of curls, leading to a mess held up by a ponytail. So safe to say, she wasn't really paying attention as she made a wrong turn and crashed into the closest thing she found, which turned out to be another woman.
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! Are you okay?” She asked, holding out her hand for the stranger to take. The other took it, rubbing the back of her head while mumbling curses under her breath in a language she couldn't understand. “Fine. Just watch where you're going, alright?” She said, taking Felicity off guard. Her voice was deeper than she'd imagined, and she couldn't help but look at her build, her broad chest, she looked like she worked out a lot. And was that a prosthetic arm? Christmas Eve, she was cool-
“Hey! Are you listening or what?” The other woman asked, snapping Felicity out of her trance. “Yeah, totally. You were saying I needed to watch where I was going?” She nodded, checking the clock as she did so. “Shit, I'm late. On my first day, too. We'll talk later, Cloudhead.” She then left towards the English hallway. Must be the new hire.
Unfortunately, the hot new stranger was all she could think about as she sat in class that day. It was a review for their Natural Disasters test the next day, and she'd put a review game on Classroom for her students to do on their own time, but she'd be there to help them if they needed. Every so often, one would pipe up with a “Ms. Grace?” and she'd go and help them before going back to her desk. But soon enough, it was lunchtime, and the kids ran out as if they had no time left, which always made her laugh.
“Hey, is this Ms. Grace's room?” She perked up at the voice. The stranger from this morning? Why was she coming to see her? “Yeah, c'mon in,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Sorry again, about the whole crashing into you and probably getting you hurt.” “It's no problem, dealt with worse,” the other said, grabbing a sandwich. “Are you the new English teacher they just hired over the summer? I haven't seen you around.” “Mhm,” she said, swallowing her bite before continuing. “I needed a job and already had a minor in education, so here I am, 8th grade English.”
Felicity nodded at that, understanding her predicament. “That's how I got hired too. Well, I was kicked out of my last job and then got shunned from academia forever, so I got the job about 3 years ago,” she explained. “I never got your name by the way,” she quickly added, suddenly remembering. “Sunok. Sirena Sunok.” She said matter-of-factly. “That's a nice last name, haven't heard that one before,” Felicity said. “Thanks. It's my mom's. Used to have my dad's, but I never knew him, so once I turned 18 I took my mom's last name. I'm half Korean.”
Felicity didn't respond, quickly swallowing her bite of ramen before speaking. “Oh cool! My parents named me after the first cat in space, only with more American spelling. Too bad they euthanized her, she could've had a good life, you know?” Sirena only gave her a strange look. “Oh, I'm Grace, by the way. Felicity Grace, though everyone just calls me Grace, unless you're a student, then you call me Ms. Grace,” she added. Sirena huffed a breath from her nose before getting up. “Well, it was nice meeting you Felicity Grace, but I have to go. We're supposed to start The Outsiders today,” she said, turning to leave.
“Wait! One more thing,” Felicity said, Sirena looking at her for the next part. “You called me Cloudhead a while ago. Why's that?” “Cause of your hair, looks like a messy cloud,” Sirena responded dryly, leaving the room.