She wheeled the car into the apex of the curving road, finding it rather strange that there was no parking lot, before grabbing her black umbrella and portfolio along with her purse and a pamphlet on the school. Opening said umbrella with a slight swooshing sound, she slammed the door shut and hurried from around the driver's side of the car over to the sidewalk. Her heels clicking over the rain, Jen managed to get herself up the slick rainy stairs without falling over. Once inside the protective maw of Honeycombe's alcove, Jen hurried the now-drenched umbrella back into its folded position and turned to the door.
There was no doorbell, as she'd expected there to be, but two large knockers. She grabbed one, cold to the touch, and banged it roughly against the heavy oaken doors and awaited a response.
For a while, there was nothing but the cold pattering of the rain against the building around her. Jen looked around anxiously before deciding that maybe they hadn't heard her knock the first time. As she reached for the knocker once again, the doors opened suddenly and light illuminated the cavity of the alcove.
"Oh you must be Jennifer, we've been expecting you!" said a warm voice as a hand grabbed hers, "Come in out of the cold."
Jennifer smiled warmly at her savior, "Thank you very much." she said with dimpled cheeks as water dripped from her form. She walked inside, courtesy of the room made by the woman before, and the doors shut heavily behind her. Oddly enough, it scared her. A chill went down her spine as she set foot into the academy.
She turned to get a better look at the woman who had "saved her" from the desolate weather outside. A rather well-fed woman dressed in a honeysuckle suit-and-skirt combination with her blonde hair up in a bun, Jennifer could guess that she placed somewhere around thirty-something in age and something rather relaxing in occupation. The woman turned back to the desk, grabbing a butterscotch candy from the ornate glass dish on the counter. "I love these things." she said simply before unwrapping one and popping it between her lips, "Oh, I'm being rude, would you care for one?" she said, kindly picking up the bowl and offering it to Jennifer.
"Oh, thank you." Jen said with some trepidation before plucking one from the pile. She unwrapped it as quietly and as professionally as possible before placing it on her tounge and disposing of the wrapper by placing it in her pocket. "I was, um, I supposed to meet Missus Potluck when I arrived. Is that her name, Missus Potluck?"
The woman smiled, her painted lips stretching slightly, "I think you mean Ms. Polluck, Ms. Walker." she said graciously with a laugh, "And yes, I guess I'm Missus Potluck."
Suddenly Jennifer wished she had never made it to school. That she had died in a horrible accident in the long drive over here instead of bearing the shame of actually making it and accidentally insulting her new boss. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry ma'am." Jennifer gushed as her face became increasingly red, "I just don't have very good connection... or a good network. I'm so sorry!"
"It's not a problem, an honest mistake." the yellow woman cooed her fretting new employee
"Well... I've been calling you that during all of our interviews too." Jennifer said quietly before the two of them burst into polite laughter; Ms. Pollock's rather generous frame wobbling about in her constricting clothing.
"At any rate, welcome aboard Jen. May I call you Jen?" she asked warmly now that the ice had been suitably broken between the two of them. Jen nodded eagerly and she continued, "I just thought that I'd come down here myself and personally welcome you aboard. In case you didn't get the email we sent about the layout of the school (she hadn't- she never checked her email) I put one in your handbook. We're more than happy to have you aboard at Buttercombe Academy." she smiled. Jen offered her hand to her and Ms. Polluck accepted happily.
"This is a little sudden, but you start tomorrow." she warned, "Is there anything you need tonight while we still have staff on duty?"
Jen thought for a moment, still a little swimmy-headed from anxiety. "Well, I've brought all of my clothes in my car... oh, my car! Do you have a garage or a parking lot?"
"I'll have Vivia park it in the Vehicle Storage Facility just a way's away from the school. If you ever need it, just call her. But I don't really think you will." she stressed the word 'really', "After all, why be anywhere else when you could be part of the Buttercombe?"
Jennifer laughed, "Alright, so I'll just go out and get my things from the car and--
"I'll have Vivia send your things up to your room after she gets through parking."
Jennifer's smile faded slightly at having been cut off rather abruptly, "A-Alright then, so where is my room again?" she attempted another joke, "I'd hate for my stuff to be there and for me to... not be... hehe..."
Ms. Pollock pat her newest employee on the shoulder maternally, "I'll get you a cart and drive you up there myself, we've all got one." she smiled, "It's a bit of a walk from here to the teachers' cabins, a lot of us feel that having a mode of transportation that doesn't eat up our budget on gas is rather helpful, wouldn't you agree?" As Ms. Polluck headed towards the doors leading into the school, Jennifer snuck a glance at her plush behind wiggling about beneath her taut yellow skirt and grimmaced.
"I-I guess so, yeah." she managed...
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