First Days

No one has fond memories of their first day of school. No, not even if you had on your favorite new outfit or happen to be the president's daughter. First days suck.

The anxiety. The fear. The overall 'I don't want to be here'.

Well, I've got a mix of all three.

I walked into the classroom, holding my brand new textbooks against my chest. The room felt suffocating, even though the windows were open. All eyes were on me as I headed towards the front of the classroom. I could feel my fingers growing numb, gripping the hardcover even tighter.

I took a deep breath and introduced myself. They all nodded but I'm sure no one truly cared. I laid the books on the table with an awkward thud and began writing on the board. I could feel it. This wasn't going to be a great year at all.

And to top that, I hadn't done the summer reading.

Normally, that would have been fine. There was just one problem.

I was the teacher.