Field trips were the bane of her existence, she loathed them. She had tried numerous times to duck out on them, her principal had seen through her attempts.
Tracy Worthington loved her job with every fiber of her being, she loved each and every child in her class.
All that said, field trips and kindergarteners didn't mix well. She had been dreading this day for weeks now, it had become tradition that kindergarten had a year end trip to the zoo.
She had watched the weather forecast for the last week or so praying for a miracle in the form of rain.
Fat chance.
It was sunny and warm, the temperature was expected to hit 82, which might as well have been 92. Chicago had just wrapped up a long and cold winter and it seemed spring would never arrive.
It had.
It had been a few days of warm weather and it had brought the city back to life. She'd enjoy it helluva lot more if she wasn't currently sweating her boobs off on a bus of screaming children.
Screaming wasn't the complete truth, they were singing.
Though it was not music to her ears, it's sounded more like a cat in heat.
It was awful.
"Oh, lighten up Trace." Samantha Coolidge nudged her with her elbow, "it's gonna be a great day...don't be a grump all day."
Tracey leered at her colleague. "Says the woman with plenty of parent chaperones.." she had originally selected four different parents to accompany her and the class to the zoo, only for two to bail last minute. "I've got twenty five children and only two chaperones..."
"That does suck. I thought they were going to send a paraprofessional?" Samantha had already divided her class into groups, five children per chaperone.
"They were. Seems third grade teachers caught some kind of food poisoning" she motioned with her hand, "I don't know...anyway they pulled the paras to sub for those classes. I will make it work I suppose..."
She had already broken the the class into three groups, she would need to have a group of her own. Usually the teachers worked as a 'floater' of sorts. Bouncing between each group and jumping in when needed.
"Oh..fun." Samantha shrugged, "How many per group?"
Tracey grabbed her notepad, "I've got a group of eleven, then two groups of seven. I've tried to keep all the 'movers and shakers' with me." She chuckled.
She definitely had her fill of 'movers and shakers' she swore it was done on purpose every year. She couldn't complain though, she thoroughly enjoyed the children who kept her own her toes. She knew those kids would one day change the world...it didn't mean she wanted to spend a day at the zoo with them. "I'm gonna need a stiff drink once this day is over.."
Samantha laughed, "I just hope we don't have a Harambe gorilla episode" she shivered as she thought about it, "Could you imagine...if anyone's gonna end up in an enclosure..I've got money on Adam from your class. The kid is a hot mess."
"I can't argue you on that front, he's a sweet kid though. He's also in my group and you can bet he will be holding my hand most of the day. That's one kid I'm not gonna lose..no way in hell."
"You lose him and I'm heading for the border..don't want to be around for that fallout."
"Thanks for that. Here I thought you were my ride or die at work.." Tracey teased.
"I am..but I've got to draw the line somewhere and you losing Adam is it...if that happens? Well, it was nice knowing you." Samantha laughed, "Finally...we are here."
--NOTE--
Consider this a late Christmas gift from me to you...
I was going to elaborate further in this chapter...but I thought it would be fun to just give you a bit of a tease...
Enjoy!
I'm working on updates for both of my other stories but hit a bit of a block where they are concerned and this may be the reason.
One more week until our shows return 🎉🙌🏻🎉🙌🏻
