I'm late. I seriously can't believe this. I'm never, never late for anything. The most important day of my life and I'm late.

Why is it that when you're in a hurry everything that could possibly go wrong, happens?

Last night, I laid everything out. Clothes, had lunch ready, set the alarm and checked it twice. I had all of my things in the car. I was ready, went to be early and tried to sleep but of course, that wouldn't happen for hours.

Then I finally did fall asleep and... the damn alarm didn't go off. Well, actually it did but I'd forgotten to find a radio station that would actually come in. So the thing went off for a half hour on dead air before something finally came through with a 50 Cent track and jolted me out of my Patrick Dempsey fantasy world.

So I jumped out of bed and showered ridiculously fast and got dressed but I managed to spill coffee all over my clean white pants. Which is ironic because I never drink it, and I don't think I ever. will. again.

Anyway, I finally found a whole new outfit, but now I'm going to be late.

25 minutes later I'm speed-walking down the hallways at school towards the library and my feet are already killing me in these heels. I pause at the door and catch my breath before I plaster a huge smile on my face and take the last few steps into the room and join the faculty meeting that is well underway.

All of the heads turn to look at me. I'm late. I know it and they know it too. Towards the back of the room I see the somewhat familiar face of Justin, offering up a friendly smile and a small wave but every other face is new and completely unreadable.

Sherry Holmes, the principal has stopped mid-sentence and raises an eyebrow. I know she only hired me because someone above her forced her to. It was very clear that I was not her first choice but the superintendent liked my resume and so here I am. I'm sure my tardiness on the first day won't do much to help win her over though.

"Well, Miss Harrington. Welcome to the building this morning."

"Good morning." My smile is uneasy as I try to inch my way towards an empty chair at a nearby table. I wish she'd just stop staring at me and get back to what she was saying before.

"Well everyone, most of you know that Maryanne McCurrey retired at the end of the year. Justin has graciously accepted her position in third grade. This here is Miss Callie Harrington and she will be filling in as our new second grade teacher. Please do your best to welcome her to the building."

"As I was saying before, we'll start making our plans for open house within the next couple weeks. Alright everyone, I'll give you some time to get ready this morning and have a great first day."

And just like that the meeting is over and she is heading right back to her office. I expected maybe some one-on-one conference with her this morning or even a short conversation at some point this morning but she just seems to be leaving me to fight upstream on my own.

I gather my things and at the same time look around and try to catch some ones eye to formally introduce myself but the rest of the staff is already catching up on their summer activities or heading out to begin their day.

I don't even see Justin and I have to say that's somewhat disappointing. I was looking forward to seeing a friendly face. But it's a busy morning for everyone around here and I especially understand the need to make sure everything is in order.

Without trying to draw any more attention to myself I gather up my things again and leave the library heading straight towards my room. If I stopped to think for a second I might have found it strange that my door was already unlocked and propped open and that the light was on, but that was the farthest thing from my mind.

I hurry into the room heading straight for my desk, shrugging off my coat and I'm just moving to set my bag down on the desk when...

"Hey."

and down the bag goes, right on my foot. Dammit!

I hear a deep chuckle and turn my head to see Justin just standing from where he must have been sitting on top of one of the desks.

"This is some habit we have here."

Part of me wants to cry, the other part curse, but instead of doing either I start to laugh. And not just a little bit either, I mean a fill blown belly-buster of a laugh. I'm laughing so hard that I have to pull out the chair and sit down behind my desk.

Justin must think I am insane. I can see him walking towards me, an amused expression on his face. I collect myself and finally focus on him. He just shakes his head.

"Good morning." He smiles and I take a second to look him over. He's dressed in a pair of black slacks and shoes... I'm willing to bet money that his socks are black too but thats irrelevant. He's also wearing a simple dark green polo shirt that fits tighter against his shoulders and chest than at his waistline. His arms are folded across his chest, and some papers in his hands I can see the definition in his strong arms. Well, I'm assuming their strong. I kinda wonder how often he works out. He looks like he hasn't shaved in maybe a day, there's just a little bit of stubble along his jaw.

"Rough morning." I reply, and even though the light isn't all that great in here, I can still see his blue eyes lighting up as he starts to laugh. I know that this is work, not a singles bar but damn there is something about him. I have to say that it kind of sucks that it could never happen. The school 'frowns upon' employee fraternization.

Actually, that in itself is kind of funny. When I accepted the job here and had a brief orientation meeting with Sherry she made sure to make that point multiple times. As far as I know Justin and I are the only two unmarried, unattached teachers in the building.

"So I've sensed. Sorry about scaring you... again." He unfolds his arms and steps forward towards the desk, handing me the papers in his hand.

"What this?" I take it and ask before looking it over.

"It's your mail, I had this feeling you were a little distracted this morning so on my way back down here when I left the library I stopped and grabbed it. I would have waited for you but I thought Sherry might want to talk to you."

Oh dear, he's too sweet for his own good.

"Thanks. But, she pretty much wanted nothing to do with me. She hadn't really been all that welcoming in general so I didn't really expect much. Is she... is she..." I lower my voice and he leans closer and I smell his cologne and lose my train of thought for just a second. "Is she like this with all new teachers?"

I expect him to nod, or shake his head and leave it at that but he doesn't move, except to turn his head a little and look me right in the eye. "Sherry is a bitch." He says simply and then leans back.

My jaw drops. That was the last thing I expected him to say. "It's not you." He adds and the look on his face lets me know that the subject is dropped. Strange.

"I'm almost afraid to ask how the rest of your morning has been." He pulls one of the tiny chairs away from a student desk and I hold back a laugh as he settles his 6 foot plus frame on a seat that is barely a foot off the ground.

"Just all the random things that could possibly go wrong. Alarm clock not going off, deciding to drink coffee for the first time ever in my 24 years and then spilling it all over my white pants"

He shakes his head, "Trust me, white pants and second grade don't mix well anyway."

"Thanks. And then getting here late, when I am never late for anything... it really makes me wonder how the rest of the day is going to go you know? I'm freaking out enough already." Maybe I shouldn't be revealing so much being that I barely know this guy but he's really easy to talk to and let's face it at this point he's really the only one I have to talk to besides my cat, Duncan.

He glances at the clock. "Well Miss Harrington." He forces his voice to take on the tone of Sherry as best as he can with a look to accompany it... and I smile. I guess his mission was accomplished, because he continues to talk then in his normal voice. "I'm sure you'll be fine. I have faith in you." He stands up and my stomach turns when I look at the clock too and realize I only have about a half hour before the day really starts. I'm terrified of 21 7 year olds. How pathetic am I? "But I think I am going to head out and give you a chance to get ready for the day. You're going to be fine, the great thing about today is you can pretty much spend all morning screwing around and playing games and not have to worry about getting in trouble for it. I'll check in with you sometime this afternoon."

He smiles that gorgeous grin and heads for the door. I just said gorgeous didn't I? Oh Lord, save me now.

"Hopefully I'll find you here instead of a you-shaped hole in the wall. Have a good morning Callie."

"You too." I watch him leave, before I stand up and start unpacking my bag. I check my roster and make sure that every name has a desk. I glance over my intinerary for the week, trying to commit to memory when they have art, and gym. I do everything possible to keep myself from looking at the clock.

Then a bell rings, and I walk to my door. I step out into the hall and see Justin doing the same, one door down. I look across the hall and smile at the older woman, one I haven't been introduced to but I can read the tag on her door that says 'Mrs. Andrews.' I can see up the hall, other teachers are waiting and ready to welcome the students that are now walking towards them into their rooms. I glance back at Justin again and he winks and gives me a thumbs up sign. If it were any other person, I'd probably feel like I was being such a baby, freaking out like I am... but for some reason he doesn't seem phased at all and is doing all the right things to make me feel better about it.

I hear a little voice right in front of me and I turn my head and look right down to see a little boy, with brown hair and green eyes looking up at me wondering if he's at the right room.

It's go time.