Miss Jonas was furious. The other junior teacher, Ms. Smith had eloped with the recently widowed Mr. Atkins, taking the five Atkins children to Bridgeport, and the school principal had known about this friday afternoon, and had only told her this morning when she had turned up for work. The remainder of Ms. Smith's class was being merged with hers. If it was some sort of test of her abilities, it was a pretty mean one. Melanie Jonas wracked her brain for a plan that wouldn't put her own teaching schedule to far out of kilter while she merged the classes, but first she had to advise the students.
"All Junior-S students need to report to the Junior-J classroom", Melanie called out in a powerful voice as the bus doors opened, and the students piled out.
When the bell sounded, Melanie left a note on the 'Junior-S' class room door in case of late-comers, and headed for her own classroom, she double checked the two student lists, and crossed the Atkins children's names from it. Only one hour and forty minutes until the next coffee!
"Good morning children!", Melanie boomed in an enthusiastic and friendly tone. "Good morning Miss Jonas!", a chorus of children's voices chimed. "Ms. Smith has moved to Bridgeport..", Melanie was interrupted by a string of questions from Ms. Smith's former students. "Does she teach there?", "Did she get married?", "Is she coming back?". Melanie placed her hand in front of her, palm out, policeman style. "Stop!", She boomed, her powerful voice drawing everyone's attention. "I do like it when students get involved and ask questions, I like it more when students raise their hands first!".
"I don't know why Ms. Smith moved to Bridgeport, only that all juniors are now in 'Junior-J', so we are going to play a game, called 'Hello, my name is.' I will go first, then I will call your name and you will introduce yourself to the class, and tell us about some of the things you like."
Melanie looked at the children, she took a deep breath. "Hello, my name is Miss Jonas, I like to teach, I like to sing, I like coffee, and I like toasted ham, cheese, and tomato sandwiches. I have a dog named 'Snuffles',
and he likes toasted ham, cheese, and tomato sandwiches too. My favorite color is white, and I like to read books on the beach."
Melanie looked at her lists, and called out each of the students alphabetically, by surname, then first.
Eventually she called upon 'Christopher Jettstar'. Chris stood up and addressed the newer students in the group. "Hello, My name is Chris Jettstar and I am a Witch, like my Dad, although I get my hair color from my Mum. I like computers, we have two in our house, a 'Cherry-PC' in Mum and Dad's room with 'Simdows 47' on it, and a special laptop in the basement that runs a custom O.S. to monitor the house. It checks the pool temperature, checks the weather, turns off lights and manages the solar panels and storm shutters, I am not allowed to play on that one."
"I like to play computer games and chess, I'm better at it than any I've ever played, I like to learn from books, and science shows on TV, I like to meet new people and make new friends."
"Thank you Chris, please sit down!", Miss Jonas suggested, concerned that Chris might continue all day.
'He is the most intelligent student I have by far, but suffers from verbal diarrhea', Melanie thought to herself.
Miss Jonas called for Cecilia Jettstar next. Cecilia was so excited that she nearly tripped over Sophia in her haste to move to the front of the class room. "Hello, my name is Cecilia, but I like to be called Ceci.", she chirped enthusiastically. "You've got weird eyes!", one of the former 'Junior-S' kids called out. Cecilia's introduction was briefly interrupted as Miss Jonas gave a short lecture on interrupting and saying mean things.
When the floor was quiet, Ceci started again, this time at a faster pace. "Hi my name is Ceci, and I'm an Alien, not from outer space, but from my Mummies tummy, my Mum says I'm a bit of all breeds and this is why I look this way, I like sports a lot, and I have two big balls I like to kick against the wall!", This comment brought a cascade of giggles from the students. Miss Jonas silenced the class by loudly clearing her throat. "And sometimes I like to slap those balls with my hands and see how I can make them bounce!"
Again the children giggled, and again Miss Jonas silenced them. "Is there something other than sports that you like?", asked Melanie, struggling to keep a straight face herself. Ceci thought hard for a moment, "Well, I like the color orange, but I don't like to eat oranges, I like to eat Key Lime Pie, but I don't like the color lime much.", she announced and moved back to her spot. As she sat down her sister Sophia commented "Awkward much?". Cecilia looked confused, "I thought it went well!" she whispered back to Sophia.
"Hello, my name is Jennifer Jettstar, but my family call me Jen for short.", Jen performed a curtsy to the class. "I like to dress up, and pretend to be a dinosaur, or an astronaut, or a princess, and I like to make up stories when I do. My sisters tell me I tell the best jokes, so when I grow up I want to be an actress or a comedian or a movie maker or write stories like my grandpa.". Jen performed another curtsy and as she sat down she added "I am a Genie, and I like punkin pie best!"
"Hello, my name is Johnathan Jettstar, you can call me that or John for short, I really like to cook, because all the different foods taste amazing, I can't decide if I like mushroom omelettes or blueberry muffins best, but I can cook muffins by myself!". "I like to race my brothers on our rocking horses, but I don't like real horses, they are so big and scary, especially fairy horses."
"I like to build things, and take things apart to see how they work, we have a train set in our room, and I'm not allowed to take the train apart anymore, because last time I need help from Dad to put it back together"
"Hello, my name is Lilly-Rose, not, Lil, or Lilli, because that's my Grandma, I am a Plantsim, and like each of my sisters, I am the only one of my kind living in Elba." When Lilly-Rose first started school, her classmates had bombarded her with questions about her leaves, so she decided to tell the new kids now, rather than have them all ask her over the next few weeks.
"Because I am a Plantsim I have leaves from the neck down except for my feet, I have normal skin under my leaves, and my leaves feel just like skin, and no you can't touch them. I breath air, and have lungs the same as everyone else, but my leaves provide
Photosynthesis, which means they absorb carbon di-roxide and turn it into oxygen so I have more energy.", she glanced at Chris to make sure she had remembered it correctly, as it was her brother Chris who had explained to her what her leaves were for.
"I like to play with dolls, and I like to dress up in costumes and makeup with Jen, but too many clothes or too much make up makes it hard for me to breath properly.", Lilly-Rose told her classmates. "I also like to use the rocking chair, but I don't like it when my feet don't touch the ground, I love the outdoors, and I love to spend time in Grandma Lil's garden, but I don't like the cold, and like Grandma's plants I get very tired and it's harder to breathe when I am cold."
"I also like to swim and sit in the spa!", Lilly-Rose added before she sat down. "She didn't mention that she takes all her clothes off to get in the spa, and that we aren't allowed to play outside when she does that!", John whispered to Nick. Nick whispered back, "They don't need to know every-thing about us!"
Nathanial was called up next. He jumped up enthusiastically and made his way to the front."Hi I'm Nathan, and I am a werewolf, just like my Mum and her sisters, and my Mum's Mum, and her sisters!", Nathan gushed excitedly. "I like playing games with my brothers, especially playing tag, or rocking horse races!"
"I like to explore, and find rocks and insects and stuff. I prefer Horror movies over cartoons, and I watch them with my brother Nick.", Nathan told the class. "I um used to be scared of monsters under the bed when I was little, but now I'm not, because I found out the glowing eyes under the bed was Nick, who doesn't like bright light!", Nathan explained.
When it was Nicks turn, he slowly extracted himself from where he had been sitting surrounded by his siblings.
'Every Vampire I know is either extremely introverted or extroverted, this one definitely needs more self confidence!' Melanie thought, as Nick carefully worked his way around the sitting children and moved towards the front of the room.
Nick stared at his feet, only occasionally looking up, and not making eye contact with any one that wasn't a sibling. "Hello, my name is Nick Jettstar, and I am a Vampire, my favorite foods are Blood Fruit and Spaghetti.". Nick began shuffling away from the blackboard.
"Spaghetti is my second favorite food!", announced Miss Jonas, "Why is Spaghetti your favorite Nick?"
The teacher asked for two reasons, firstly she needed to stretch time out a little, so that the last child introduced themselves shortly before the bell. The second reason was she felt something unusual about Nick, it was like charisma, only different, she just wanted to hug him and encourage him and protect him like he was her only child. Nick interrupted her thoughts when he answered.
"Our Mum gave us all sorts of different foods when we where babies to see what we liked, my Dad liked Spaghetti, and Grandpa Marcus loved Spaghetti a lot", Nick offered, his usual mumbled voice a little bit louder than normal.
'He has such a beautiful speaking voice!", Melanie thought, 'Why weren't there any boys like him when she went to school?', the voice in her head asked. "And what things do you like Nicky?", asked one of the newly added girls from 'Junior-S'. Miss Jonas was so caught up in her own thoughts, that she didn't even notice the girl hadn't even put her hand up.
"Well..", said Nick, briefly glancing at the girl, "I like playing games with my brothers and sisters, and I like watching Horror movies with my brother, although he likes new ones, and I prefer the old black and white ones with Sim Chaney, Jnr and Sima Lugosi, but I have to stay up really late to watch those", said Nick, who stole another glance at the girl who had asked the question, before inspecting his foot wear again.
Nick added "We have lots of musical instruments in our house, I can play the xylophone!". He realized he had just dobbed himself in for staying up way past bedtime, and had added that to hopefully cover it up.
Melanie Jonas sighed quietly as Nick went and sat back down among his siblings.
"Hello everyone, My name is Sophia and I am a Mermaid, as my sister Lilly-Rose said, I am the only Mermaid in Elba. Like the leaves on Lilly-Rose, I have scales, but the don't help me breathe, I have gills behind my ears for that"
Sophia made sure she made eye contact with all of her class mates as she spoke, especially the boys. Sophia occasionally batted her eyelids, and smiled at the cutest ones, except Nick and her other brothers, because that was just gross.
"You cant see my gills unless I am swimming, which I am very good at. I think my scales make me a fast swimmer. My scales are pink, which is fantastic, because that is my favorite color.", Sophia continued.
"Grandma Casey took me fishing when I was very little, and my favorite food is Sushi, which is made from fish.". Sophia smiled sweetly at all the boys again before sitting back on the carpet.
Ceci elbowed Jen and whispered "Why didn't she mention she likes kissing, she likes to kiss Mum and Dad and Grandma Lil, she likes to kiss us all goodnight at bedtime, she likes to kiss Skitty, and all of the teddy bears, I even saw her practicing kissing the mirror in the bathroom this morning!". Jen just rolled her eyes.
The recess bell sounded just as the last student on the lists had introduced themselves. Melanie Jonas had fifteen minutes to grab a coffee and plan the rest of the school day for her classroom, which wasn't going to be easy to concentrate on, as she had yard duty, and had to watch the entire junior area on her own. maybe she should swap the coffee for vodka.
Authors Note:
This is the third time in the story I have used this one photo of Melanie Jonas, who didn't even have a name until ten minutes into writing this chapter. Miss Jonas is one of my much beloved Sims from the family I was playing just before starting the RLC. I tend to generally avoid 'weighty' sims because of the clipping issues with 90% of CC. The poses and the teacher, principal, and the school where set up on a small island called Builders World. After I had the two shots that I had in mind I exited without saving . For story telling purposes the school is awesome and has a multitude of detail. It is available as a complete lot, or in pieces, if you only need a certain room.
I recommend you check it out here!
Jameessims 'school-for-story-telling'
