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Everyone at Grover Cleveland Middle School, no matter the year or classes you were taking, knew that the tittle of best class decoration was for the 8th grade science class.
Ryland Grace's class for the past 14 years. The teacher loved how enthusiastic the 13 years old kids ran inside his class at the start of every month, excited for the new decoration and a change on the usual layout of the rest of the rooms. The fascinated faces at the plastic pumpkins in Halloween, hidden eggs with beanbags on Easter, the Christmas tree which decorations was different atoms and molecules.
The deadpan stare some students gave him when they found one of his science puns that where usually on his T-shirts.
The kids loved it.
(Except in February, the only month of the school year in which that classroom didn't have any special decorations of his own. Instead, the cardboard at the end of the class was full of the projects and works of the students; re-drawings of the usual informational posters for extra credits; and other student-made decorations)
December first starts like every other month, with the expectation of what Christmas decorations Dr Grace has chosen. (Grace has tried telling the kids they didn't need to call him "Doctor", that they could refer to him as any other teacher. The kids, with his infinite love to his teacher, were completely against dropping it off)
This year's tree was beautiful, everyone agreed. Animal figures (Grace's signature fox, and a bull, a deer and a raccoon) decorating the bottom layer of branches, white and golden paper flowers spotted all the tree, a smiley star at the top, and most importantly - instead of Christmas' balls, the famous molecules and elements models.
And that's how class went. Grace explaining the different atomic models through history, each part of the atom, how different elements linked with each other to form molecules. The "Christmas's balls" were passed between the kids, everyone being able to watch it closely.
"You all have been calmer than I expected, which means we finished everything faster! You all have 10 free minutes, so lets use them to share what everyone is gonna do on winter holidays" Grace announced, kids ecstatic at the mention of free time and an opportunity to share their holidays plans with their favorite teacher.
"My family is going to Canada!"
"I'm gonna visit my Grandma on her town and she's gonna cook new year's delicious dinner!"
"My sister is being born this week and I'm gonna play with her"
Grace smiled and listened to each one of the plans and stories, making a checklist on his mind on what to ask about when the classes started again after winter break.
"What are you gonna do Dr. Grace?" Asked Irina, a very extroverted and kind girl.
"I'm glad you ask Irina, I'm gonna spend it with my family at our house, but we are also going to Phoenix to visit someone" Grace answered, without giving too much detail. This year, the four of them - Ryland, Simon, Nikki and Bryan - were heading to California to visit Simon's mom. His mother in law always insisted on being her the one to travel all the way to San Francisco, no matter what the couple told her. This year, her car had broke a few weeks ago, giving them the perfect excuse to swap places.
"Is it your uncle March?" asked another kid, Grace denying it while he chuckled.
"No, it's not him, he lives in Los Angeles and he comes here every summer. It actually my hu-" The bell that marked the end of class interrupted him. With a clap, he changed the topic, just because Grace decided he wanted to keep his kids on the dark for a while longer "Okay everyone, class is officially over, remember to do your homework and be nice, see you next day and don't be late for your next class"
Some kids started leaving, but others demanded answers. Grace just smiled and walked away, starting his break on his way to get some coffee.
A few days later, two girls that assisted that class were calmly walking through the aisle.
"I'm sure. Dr. Grace was gonna say 'my husband', I told you he is gay, he looks like one." Lucy huffed, rearranging her grip on the papers she was asked to leave on Grace's classroom.
"Pfff… is that what you all call the, huh, gaydar? Aren't you a lesbian?" Charlotte laughed, moving her hand to tell her friend to shut up, as they were approaching their destination.
Grace let them in after a knock on the door, and both girls were surprised at seeing an unfamiliar face next to him.
"Give me a second girls" Grace focused his attention back to the mysterious young woman. "Thanks again Nikki, I don't know how could I forget this at home"
The woman - Nikki - giggled, giving his father a goodby hug before answering. "You're lucky today was my day off and could come." Nikki walked towards the door. "See you for dinner dad!" and walked away form the class.
The two girls looked at her go, before looking back to their teacher. "who was that Dr. Grace?" asked Lucy in a low voice, the typical shyness about speaking to an adult making itself felt.
"My daughter Nikki, she brought me something I needed for my next class that i forgot in my house. I suppose you bring something from Adrian?" Both kids nodded, giving him the papers. Neither of them had the guts to ask more questions, Irina's curiosity and low embarrassment would have been useful now.
After walking away from the classroom, the girls returned to their conversation.
"She has a daughter." Lucy said, brain thinking.
"And she is an adult… so that means… he has a wife?" Charlotte asked, not sure of anything.
"She could… be adopted maybe. But they do look a bit similar"
"I doubt that, I don't know, 10 years ago they would let a gay couple adopt a child. And that's saying if they adopted her when she was around 17… if she has around 26 to 29 years" Charlotte sighted, both girls arriving to a dead end.
The news of Dr. Grace having a daughter spread through 8th in just two days.
Contrary to popular belief, Grace is not an open book about his personal life. Yes, he will get on a tangent when a topic catches his interest, and fill every silent room with his rambles about everything.
But he is an expert at dodging questions. No one knows how, but Ryland "socially anxious and unaware in conversations with adults " Grace always has his conversations under control; without you knowing he will redirect the talk and change the topic effortlessly.
Sometimes is easy to forget that he has a PhD, that he was in academia, that he has gone to UNESCO conferences.
And these past week, the 8th grade class, group D, are learning that. Their teacher won't "drop his lore" no matter how much they ask, he easily distracts them until they forgot about what they wanted to ask until they leave the classroom. So, to conclude what they have…
They have nothing.
Well, that's half a lie, they half a few things. It's basic knowledge in Cleveland that Grace has an uncle called March that lives in Los Angeles, that he has been friends with Adrian and their partner since college, the "staggering waste of carbon" incident, and the newest information - that he has a daughter.
For such a well loved teacher, that's the only personal information the kids have. Grace doesn't have public social media accounts, so they can't also stalk him there
And Grace seems to have a great time seeing the kids trying to figure everything out. Their own little experiments, he likes to think about it like that.
Only when the rights conditions are met, the class gets new clues.
And today is one of them.
At first, it all seemed normal. Lecture was going perfect, the students as calm as they could be, and their teacher hadn't gone on a tangent in 15 minutes.
Until a phone rang.
Everyone looked around, trying to figure out whose phone it was, the sound was coming from Grace's phone.
The teacher excused himself and left the class, leaving the surprised kids alone for a moment.
"That's weird, Dr. Grace phone never rings! So it has to be important!" Michael explained, trying to see his teachers expression from outside the window.
"Maybe it's his husband! I would also answer if the love of my life called me…" replied Lucy, still thinking about that class from a week ago.
"But he has a daughter remember… I don't know, we still don't know if Dr. Grace is gay" Charlotte tried to bring her friend back to reality, remembering her of what happened days ago with Nikki.
"He's returning! Everyone to their sites!" Someone screamed, and everyone ran to their respective chairs just in time.
Grace opened the door calmly, but before he could say anything or continue his class, Irina asked.
"Who was it? Can we know?"
Their teacher chuckled "It was my son Bryan, he had to find some papers. Something with administration" Grace clapped his hands, not letting his kids continue this tangent, and went right back into the lecture topic.
The students don't know that their teacher's phone is always silent on work hours to every contact - except for three very specific people. They don't need to know that.
The last day of class before winter break, the group D had his last hour with Grace. The enthusiasm of the children, born from the anticipation of holidays, made almost impossible give the lecture.
But Grace was well aware of that, and it's why on this day, he always made his class full of games and trivias with prices. The students always left class with a smile on their face and some cookie or candy in hand.
All the classes gathered at the entrance of school, saying their goodbyes or deciding which shopping mall or park to go.
No one noted the half Korean man at the side of the street, eyes locked in certain blonde teacher, who when he spotted him at the distance smiled brighter than all the stars together.
Grace, being the well known teacher he was, knew there were kids looking to where he was heading, and laughed with anticipation of what was about to happen. He had to give his children some clues, right?
"Should we go now, angel? Or do we wait for Adrian too?"
Simon was standing far enough that no one could hear them talk.
"No, they were lucky and didn't have to work the last hour, Rocky already picked them up"
But close enough to see how their hands intertwined, and Grace's smile infected Simon, causing to smile too.
"You're having so much fun with this, aren't ya?" Grace laughed, because, well, his husband was right. He could hear the children gasping and screaming as they walked away just in time to not get any photos of them. It brought him a lot of joy.
"Of course I am, we do this every few years and they always have the same reaction"
"Let's get home, Nikki and Bryan still have a few hours more of work. We have to finish packing everything up for tomorrow"
They turned the corner, leaving all the screams behind them. Now the couple walking alone through the streets
"We all should go out for dinner tonight" Grace said, leaning closer to his husband and sharing a soft kiss.
"I think that's a wonderful idea sweetheart"
A bunch of kids were in front of Lucy, who was currently smiling from hear to hear. A lot of her classmates owed her 5 dollars.
Charlotte could only sight, and be grateful she didn't bet anything. Her paycheck was already small, and she wouldn't see the end of her friend banter.
"I know you didn't believe in me before Charlotte, but because you're such a great friend, I will invite you to a lemonade with all this money!"
Every kid went their own way, ready to start enjoying the school break.
Maybe, if they were lucky, next year they could ask their teacher to meet his husband.