Loud

Chapter Four

Believe it or not, I like work more than I like school. Because my parents want me to work for what I want, I got a job as a substitute teacher at Lafayette Elementary School where the streets are bad but the kids are good. I've been substitute teaching there for about three years now and I absolutely love it. I've been thinking about applying to be a full time teacher but Malik wants to take our rap experiment all the way and having a full time job might jeopardize that.

I put on some school appropriate clothing and make my way to the school. Well, I get coffee and then go to the school.

When I walk in I see Nicolette Perry, the first grade teacher. She smiles and puts her arms out for a hug but stops herself.

"I know your name," she says, closing her eyes. "Da...Da..."

"Davee..." I begin.

"Daveed! Daveed Diggs!" She gives me a hug. "I'm so sorry. I should know your name. You basically live here."

"It's fine. How've you been Nicolette Perry? Is it Miss or Mrs.?"

"Miss," she laughs. "I get that a lot."

"You're not married yet?"

"No and I'm totally okay with that. I'm not in a rush," she says, leading me down the hallway. "I'm assuming you're filling in for Mrs. Burgess?"

"That's what I was told, yes."

"You might be here for a couple days. She's got the flu really bad," Nicolette explains. "Like really bad."

"I'll see how that goes because I have school."

"Oh...when? What time?"

"On Wednesday's and Thursday's I have class at three and Monday I have class at seven and it ends at three," I explain.

"Well lucky for you the school's doing some thing to save money so we don't have class on Monday's," Nicolette says with a rather sad tone.

"Oh. Is everything okay?"

"We're not getting as much government funding because we're sort of forgotten, you know?"

"Meaning the school isn't getting money because it's in the ghetto part of town?"

Nicolette grins and nods slightly. "Basically. But the kids love it."

"I'm sure they do."

Nicolette smiles again and hands me the keys to my temporary classroom. I still have a couple minutes to look over the lesson plan and get a refill on my coffee.

The bell rings at 8:30 and I open the door for the 30 kids that would come rushing into the classroom. About five minutes later, a stampede of second graders come skipping into class. I do my best to greet every one of them at the door but they come in so fast it's  nearly impossible.

"Good morning everyone!" I announce, when all the kids settle into their seats. "I'm-"

"You're not Mrs. Burgess!" one kid interjects.

"Yeah, I know! I'm Mr. Diggs and I'm your substitute until Mrs. Burgess comes back. She's just a little sick and needed to stay home," I explain, knowing this class was going to be something else.

"So, we're going to do a little activity before we do actual work because it's a little early to start adding double digit numbers, right?" I ask, grabbing the stack of blank printer paper off the desk nearby.

Some of the kids start getting their art supplies out of their pencil boxes as I give them a piece of paper. Kids seem to always have crayons in their back pockets. Whenever you even reference coloring, they've got art supplies at hand.

"So what you're gonna do is fold the piece of paper so you make a name tag and then color it and make it all cool and stuff. Make sure you write your name though," I say showing the kids how to fold their paper.

"Are you gonna make one?" a little girl with beads on her cornrows asks.

"Sure." I fold my own piece of paper and sit down at one of the table groups with an extra seat. "How are you girls this morning?"

"Tired," the cornrow girl sighs.

"Same here," I laugh.

"Can we do nothing today? I'm really sick of school," another little girl with two Afro puffs requests. The name on her name tag reads Jordan.

"I don't think Mrs. Burgess would be very happy with me if we did nothing," I say. "We have to do something. I'm sorry."

"Well she doesn't have to know," Jordan scoffs. "Just say we were having too much fun."

"We'll see how how that goes," I chuckle. "Y'all don't understand how much I need this job!"

"It don't pay that much anyway so you ain't losin' nothin'," Jordan remarks.

She knows what's up.

The kids finish their name tags by recess and when that bell rings, they're lined up at the door in no time. I lead them out to the playground and take a seat on the bench next to Nicolette.

"How's everything going?" she asks, mixing up her yogurt and granola.

"They're funny."

"You have Jordan, right? Miss My-Way-Or-Get-The-Hell-Outta-My-Car."

"Yeah," I laugh, watching Jordan and her little friends skip rope. "She's a handful."

"I had her last year. She's been through way too much at seven years old."

I nod and scan the playground to make sure no one's getting themselves in trouble. A group of kids are assembled by the bathrooms and they're all in a giant circle with someone in the middle. It kinda looks like a cult.

"What's going on over there?" I ask Nicolette pointing to the swarm of kids.

"A dance-off," she laughs. "Wanna go watch? Some kids are really good."

"Sure."

We get up and make our way to the "dance off" and sure enough there's a little boy with a star shaved into his head breakdancing. He's better than most adults I've seen.

Nicolette stays behind from the crowd to talk to a boy standing a good distance away from everyone else.

"I guess AJ isn't dancing today...as usual," a little kid mumbles to his friend.

"He know he a good dancer. I don't know why he don't dance," his friend replies.

I decide that I'll talk to AJ but then the bell rings and all the kids rush to their lines to go back to class. Including AJ.

A/N: I feel like that wasn't good but oh well. If anyone likes Rafael Casal or just really good stories, you should read my book called Calligraphy. Daveed's in it as well so check it out!