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The new school year soon fell into full motion, and Grace got to know all his new students. He liked them all, of course, but flawed human he was, he did have some favourites. The next thing Grace knew, parent-teacher conferences were coming up.
Grace reminded his students about it. “I'm going to be sending out an email to all of your guardians about parent-teacher conferences. I want to see you all come, alright?”
The kids groaned, but Grace dismissed the class.
Both Grace and Grover Cleveland (the school) strongly encouraged parents/guardians/caretakers/what have you to come to the conferences. It was a great way to express where some extra time, effort, or help might be needed, and where the student was excelling and blossoming. Grace thought it was beneficial if the student was there themselves. He let the students show and explain what they were learning. Grace saw that even preteens still wanted their parents to show interest in them and what they were doing. He always made sure never to embarrass them or put them down. If there were a more serious issue, he would inform the child's respective adult(s) in a different, more private, and formal manner.
Grace sent out the email. Soon the night was upon them, and he got to meet almost all the respective adults of his students. It annoyed him that most showed up without the student in question. The one awkward thing about meeting the adults of his students was that Grace often found himself having to weasel and dodge his way out of unwanted propositions, some of whom were even married! By the end of the night, he was quite ready for bed and the weekend. Despite it being technically his day off, Grace shot an email to the individuals who didn't show up to the conference. He wanted to express the imporance he thought attending the confrence had. He also offered that if they'd like to reschedule, they could arrange it. Never in all of Grace’s years of being a teacher had any of them actually taken him up on the offer, but it hadn't so far stopped him from at least putting it out there.
To Grace’s surprise, around dinner that same day, he received a reply to his email from the point of contact for his student, Rosalie, or simply Rose.
“I'm terribly sorry for having missed the parent-teacher conference. I’m currently having a bad mental health episode (nothing too egregious, but it is keeping me indoors). Rosie’s education is very important to me. I would like to reschedule.”
Grace was a bit taken off guard. “No worries or apologies necessary. Take whatever time you need for your mental health. I could email you a copy of my report regarding Rose. She is quite an amazing young girl and a delight in class.”
Grace cringed at that overused last statement. But it was true; she was a delight.
Grace was getting into bed when he received a reply.
“I'd like to do an in-person meeting with Rosie. Getting out helps with my episodes”
Grace replied with time slots they could have the meeting, and by the next morning Rose's guardian had picked a date.
The day of, Grace stopped by Rose. “So I’ll be seeing you and your adult tonight then?”
Rose snorted at Grace. “He's my dad, and he's determined to do it. He has PTSD and even going outside can be… overwhelming sometimes. But he’s kind of the only adult I have in my life.”
Grace hummed sympathetically.
“Most people also kind of find him… scary-looking. Half his face is scar tissue.”
“Oh… wow. Well, um… tell your dad I look forward to meeting him.”
Rose nodded excitedly.
Later, Grace was siting in his cardroom waiting for Rose and her dad to show up. He drummed awkwardly at his desk, checking his watch and phone for the umpteenth time. It looked like Rose's dad was going to be a no-show. Grace figured maybe coming out that night had proven too much for the man. He couldn't fault him for that, if so.
Grace packed up and was heading out to where he'd parked his bike when he heard a car horn honk at him. He jolted and looked around until he saw a parked car’s lights flashing at him. He walked cautiously over to the passenger’s side in concern, till he saw Rose’s face in the passenger’s seat.
“Rose?” He greeted her in shock.
“Hi, Mr. Grace.” She smiled.
“This is so embarrassing.” The man in the driver's seat grumbled, his face buried in his hand.
“Sorry we didn't come in,” Rose spoke up. “Dad was still working up the courage to get out of the car.”
“Oh… I see.” Grace looked over at the man.
They drew in a breath, moving their hand and face away from each other.
“You must be Rose’s dad.” Grace stretched his arm across Rose to offer. “I'm Grace.”
The man's head turned slightly, revealing a portrait that looked not quite unlike that of Two-Face from Batman. He had one cloudy white eye, the other hazel. He had dark, full, wild hair that fell to his shoulders. It looked so soft. It all made Grace’s breath catch.
“Simon.” The man shifted awkwardly to shake Grace’s hand.
Grace smiled softly. “How you doing? Okay?”
“Fine.” The man grunted sternly, turning away. “Just got… overwhelmed, that's all.”
“I get that. The school’s foreign territory, right? While your car is familiar.”
Simon gripped the wheel in response, taking another deep breath. “I’ve been in the school before lots. I don’t know why I’m getting so worked up about this. It’s not even like there’ll be an overwhelming amount of people and noise.”
Grace nodded slowly. “If you’re not feeling up to our meeting today, we can reschedule.”
Simon shook his head fiercely. “I can do it. It's important for Rosie.”
“Dad, it's okay,” Rose spoke up.
Simon let out another breath.
“Maybe we could go somewhere else, where you'd feel safer.”
“Grace can come see our house!” Rose said, with more excitement than one would expect from a preteen regarding their teacher. But hey, Grace was a favourite teacher to all.
Simon blushed. Blushed. “No… I don’t…” He tightened his death grip on the steering wheel.
“If you're not comfortable with that, that’s okay. Be a bit awkward anyway, me coming over to your house.” Grace rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, his fingers catching in his hair. God, he needed a haircut; it was getting a bit long. “Intrusion of space and all that.” He supplied awkwardly.
Simon’s eyes flicked over to Grace.
“Look, it’s fine. We can do a video conference instead. You can drive home; I’ll bike to my own separate home.” God, why was he like this, so awkward around other adults?
“Wait, you… bike?”
“Yeah.” Grace laughed awkwardly, feeling embarrassed. It was pretty embarrassing to be his age and not own a car.
“We can drive you home.” Rose sat up excitedly.
“Oh no, that’s not, that’s not necessary.” Grace waved his hand urgently.
“We can see your home!”
“No, no. No!” Grace waved even more urgently. “You really don’t want to see my place; trust me, it’s a mess.”
Simon snorted at that, the tension seeming to have rolled off his body mostly. “Can we at least drop you off at your place? I feel bad.”
“You really don’t have to do that, but I appreciate the offer.” Grace smiled.
“I insist,” Simon said firmly, eyes narrowing.
Grace swallowed at how Simon’s firm expression made it seem like there was no way out for him. “Yeah, okay.” His voice came out tight and a little shaky; and he awkwardly fixed his glasses. “Thank you.”
Rose was giggling.
“Let me just grab my bike.”
Rose helped Grace get his bike in the back of their van before letting him take the passenger seat next to her dad.
“My place really isn’t that far,” Grace assured.
As Simon began driving, Grace couldn’t help but talk, feeling an awkward need to fill any potential silence. “I know it's an overused phrase, but Rose really is a delight to have in class.”
Rose chuckled from over the back seat to Grace. “Mr. Grace, teachers use that to mean they find the kid annoying, secretly.”
“You're not!” Grace flushed with worry over possibly having made her or others think that. “I assure you. Oh, left here.” He prompted Simon. “It’s just the apartment complex by the plaza.”
“Wait, you live near the Frosty Bliss!?” Rose's voice was laced with excitement.
“I do.” Grace chuckled at her.
“Dad, can we go, please?” She leaned over to his back.
“Rose, I don’t know.” Simon grunted.
“We can do the conference there.”
“That’s an idea.” Grace mused, almost excited himself at the prospect of ice cream. “Unless that’d be too overwhelming as well.” He cautiously looked over at Simon beside him.
Simon hummed, easing his grip on the steering wheel. “We can see how busy it is inside.”
When they pulled up outside the shop looked relatively quiet.
“Please, Dad. Please.” Rose begged, bouncing with barely constrained excitement in the back seat.
“Yeah, alright.” Simon caved.
“Yes!” She cheered, hurrying to unbuckle.
Grace just laughed as he unbuckled after her, following the family out of the car. Simon took a long breath once outside as Rose ran through the doors to the shop.
“You good?” Grace checked in.
“Yeah, good.” Simon nodded.
Grace opened the door for him, making a grand gesture for Simon to go in. Simon seemed to blush at that, and Grace cracked a smile before following in after him. They headed to where Rose was already before the counters, briefly studying the menu, humming over it.
Rose and Simon were quick to pick their flavours, Grace last.
“I’ll pay.” Simon offered.
“Oh, you don’t need to do that, honestly.” Grace tried to rush out, but Simon was already blocking him out from the counter to pay. Now it was Grace’s turn to blush.
The next second they were sitting down in the quiet shop with their ice creams at a table. Simon and Rose were across from Grace.
“So, I guess we'll just get right to it then.” Grace moved to open his side satchel, pulling out his folder he’d packed away to place on the table. “First of all, I want to say that Rose is doing wonderfully. She's bright and very curious. She has a very bubbly, lively personality and engages respectfully in the classroom. Although she can get a bit silly and cause distractions with her friends sometimes.”
Rose chuckled quietly, sinking into her chair. Grace offered her a playful smile to show her he was just teasing lightly. Simon himself smiled over at his daughter, brown eye sparkling fondly.
“You should be proud of her.”
“I am.” Simon brushed Rose’s hair back.
Rose batted him away, grumbling, “Dad.”
Grace chuckled at the all too familiar interaction.
“So here’s her report card so far.” Grace moved the sheet out to show Simon.
As their conference continued, Grace let Rose take more of the lead. She enthusiastically told Simon all about what she was learning, what subjects she liked best, and which ones she felt she was struggling with. Like most kids her age, Grace felt she was underselling herself a little. He tried to help her boost her confidence as much as he could.
Simon asked a few questions, ensuring she was understanding the material well and excelling. Grace could sense his concern for his daughter, but honestly, it wasn’t needed. Rose was doing really well.
An ease fell around them, and soon they were joking and laughing over their ice cream. Grace felt warm at Simon’s clear love for his daughter.
“I’m just going to wash up in the bathroom before we head out.” Rose jumped up.
“Okay.” Simon let her go.
Once Rose was gone, Grace spoke up. “You two are really sweet. As is your concern for Rose. But honestly, you shouldn’t worry so much. She's a pretty smart kid and doing really well.”
“That’s good to hear.” Simon breathed out. “I was homeschooled throughout my childhood, not that there was much schooling actually going on.” He fiddled with his napkin nervously on the table, looking down, not meeting Grace’s eyes. “And I really struggled afterward.” He admitted shyly. “I just want the world to be opened to her in ways it wasn’t for me.”
Grace nodded, feeling his heart ache a bit. “You’re doing right by her.”
Simon smiled softly up at him. “You’re her favourite, you know that?”
Grace smiled shyly at that and rubbed at the back of his neck, catching the hairs there. “Yeah, I hear that from a lot of my students actually, even years down the line.”
“She never stops talking about you and how cool you are. But she does say your jokes are pretty lame.”
Grace chuckled at that, ducking his head to hide a growing blush.
“She says you're really great at making stuff understandable.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.” Grace tipped his head back up with a smile.
“Makes it seem like you really care about the kids, making sure no one gets made fun of or left behind.”
“I like to think all of us teachers do, but… I know we are all overworked and underpaid.” He huffed tiredly.
Simon hummed with a nod. “Thanks for doing this. I’m sorry I couldn’t… come out.”
“No, it's fine. You made it out here, and that’s plenty enough.”
Simon smiled softly.
Rose came back then.
“Hey, kid. Ready to go?” Simon asked.
She shrugged. “I guess.”
“You’ll be good to walk back from here?” Simon turned to ask Grace. “I’ll help get your bike out.”
“Thanks, man.”
At the car, Simon pulled Grace’s bike out with ease as Rose sat in the car. Grace thanked him again, righting his glasses on his face. “Um… If you ever need to talk about Rose, you can email me.” Grace offered.
Simon nodded. “Thanks, I’ll be sure to.”
“Even if you ever need extra help because of mental health issues. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed.”
Simon flushed a little. “Thanks.” He shifted a bit where he stood. “Well, goodnight, I guess.”
“Night, Rose,” Grace called into the car through the open back door.
“Bye, Mr. Grace,” Rose called back, and he could see her hand waving from the passenger’s seat.
Grace just chuckled softly before putting his helmet on, looking up at Simon. “Well, have a good night, Simon. See you around, maybe?”
“Yeah, that’d be… nice.” He flushed.
Grace smiled back and jumped on his bike. He gave one last wave as he pedalled towards his apartment complex.