Chapter Text
Ever since she could remember, Christen Press loved the first day of school. When she was a kid, it was the draw of everything new: a case of sharpened pencils, a stack of folders and notebooks begging to be filled, new shoes that hadn’t yet been scuffed on the playground. As she got older, it was more about seeing her friends, about being in a new grade with new privileges. When she was at Stanford it was the thrill of new classes where she would grow and explore things she had never before considered.
Even now, standing at the door to her second-grade classroom, Christen found herself full of excitement, smiling widely as her students filed past her bundled up in their coats and hoods, their backpacks dwarfing them. One, a rambunctious little boy named Carson, ran up with his hand in the air, whooping when she gave him a high five. She couldn’t help but laugh; she had missed all of her kids over winter break. She’d started every day by sending out good vibes into the universe that they were all happy and healthy, with enough to eat and a warm place to rest their heads.
Once they were all inside, she followed them in and pulled the door shut behind her. “Good morning everybody! How are we feeling today?”
“Tired,” a little girl in the second row whined, and Christen laughed as they all nodded in fervent agreement.
“Tired?” She asked in mock outrage, placing her hands on her hips, “You guys had three weeks to do nothing but sleep!”
“But it’s early!”
She grinned, pushing up the sleeves on her cardigan. “Well, then did anyone do anything super fun over the break? Raise your hands if you want to share with the class.” A field of hands went up and she went down the rows, letting each child say a few sentences about what they did, mostly getting stories of eating junk food and playing video games, along with reports of presents from the kids in the class that celebrated Christmas. She noticed that one student, Estafany, hadn’t raised her hand, instead keeping her eyes on her desk.
“What about you, Estefany? Did you do anything fun? ¿Hiciste algo divertido?” Estefany had recently come to New York with her family from the Dominican Republic, so she had been placed in Christen’s classroom because she could help bridge the language gap.
The little girl shrugged.
Christen tried again. “Did you eat anything yummy? ¿Comida deliciosa?”
The girl gave her a tiny smile. “Tres leches,” she whispered.
Christen gave her big eyes. “Tres leches cake? Me encanta tres leches!” She lifted her eyes to the other students. “Did anyone else have cake over the break?” Once again, she was met by a sea of hands and she laughed. “Well I hope you guys all brushed your teeth after having so much sugar…” she teased.
“I never brush my teeth!” Carson yelled, and she could do nothing but shake her head with a smile.
“Well what do you guys say we jump into some math, hm? Get the day jumping with some super rad addition problems?”
“Miss Press you’re a weirdo sometimes,” one of the girls giggled, and Christen grinned.
“Y’know what? We’re all a little weird, and that’s okay.”
X
“How’s the first day back?” Christen glanced up to find Ali walking towards her with her lunchbag.
“Hey! It’s going pretty well. I think they’ve all mysteriously forgotten every bit of math we went over last semester, but I’m sure it’ll come back by the end of the week.”
“Oh trust me. I brought up the water cycle with my first period sixth graders and they looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.” Ali rolled her eyes with a laugh. “If only the state was willing to test them over Fortnight instead.”
“I love Fortnight!” They both looked up to find a blonde woman with a wide smile in front of them. “Anyone sitting here?”
Ali gestured to the chair across from her with her fork. “Go ahead.”
“Thanks!” She sat down and placed an old school metal lunch box on the table, flipping it open and pulling out a few pieces of bread loaded with mashed up avocado. She took a huge bite then suddenly brightened. “I’m Emily, by the way! Emily Sonnett. Most people call me Sonny, though. Kindergartners have a hard time with the t,” she said as she chewed.
“Oh, are you covering for Heather while she’s out on maternity leave?” Christen asked.
“Yup! That’s me!” She leaned in conspiratorially. “This is actually my first teaching job. I mean, I did my student teaching, obviously, but yeah, first real post. It’s been great so far!” She took another massive bite.
Ali smiled. “Hey, we all start somewhere.”
“How long have you been teaching?”
“Nine years! Fifth and sixth grade science.”
“Four years, second grade,” Christen answered.
“Nice! Here the whole time?”
Ali shook her head. “No, I did several years in DC, but then my wife got a job working for the Knicks, so we came to New York.”
“The Knicks?!” Sonny’s eyes practically bugged out of her head. “That’s literally so cool! What does she do?”
“She’s the head of their Outreach and Events Coordination.”
“That’s sick. Do you get to go to lots of games and stuff? Do you know the players?”
Ali laughed. “No, unfortunately we’re not exactly on first names basis with any of them yet. But she can get discounted tickets, let me know if you want to see a game.”
“Dude, I totally will!” She turned to Christen. “Alright what about you? Are you married? Can they get me tickets to something?”
Christen smiled. “Not married, no. And my girlfriend’s a lawyer, sorry.”
Sonny gave an exaggerated eye roll then grinned. “Still, pretty cool. “How long have you two been together?”
“Hm… on and off since my senior year at Stanford? So… the past five years.”
Sonny gave a low whistle. “That’s a long time.”
Carli came bustling in. “Hello ladies! Welcome back! Everything going alright?”
Christen nodded at her principal. “As smoothly as possible!”
“That’s what I like to hear. Emily, nice to see you meeting the other teachers.” The bell rang and they all began to gather up their lunches, snapping lids back onto their Tupperware bowls. “Well, time to get back to it!” They all stood up and dutifully filed out behind her, back to their respective classrooms.
X
“Do you guys come out every Friday night?” Sonny asked, shaking the snow from her hat as she followed the two of them into the bar.
“Pretty much,” Ali replied. “Sometimes you need to unwind at the end of the week, with some decidedly PG-13 drinks,” she smirked.
“We always invite the other teachers, but it seems like they already have plans.” Chris stretched up to look at their usual table, only to find a group of tourists complete with massive suitcases. She craned her neck until she saw a familiar face waving at her from the other side of the bar. “There she is.” They weaved through the crowd towards the table.
“Pressi!” Kelley threw her arms around Christen as if she hadn’t seen her in years. “How’ve ya been, buddy?” She smacked an exaggerated kiss to her cheek, making Christen laugh and push her away.
“The exact same as I was when we were texting this morning. Kelley, this is Sonny, she’s a new teacher with Ali and me. Sonny, this is Kelley.”
The two shook hands and Christen wondered briefly if the matching maniacal looks in their eyes meant introducing them was a bad idea.
“Sweet. Are you Christen’s girlfriend?”
Kelley scoffed. “What? Pressi wishes she could land someone as hot as me.”
Christen settled into the booth. “Kelley and I were college roommates, I’ve seen her puke too many times to even consider dating her.”
Kelley pressed a hand to her heart in mock offense. “Chris, I’m hurt. I thought we had something.”
“Oh you had something all right, it’s called way too much Coors Light.”
Kelley flipped her off and turned back to Sonnett. “First round is always on me, what can I get you?”
“I’ll take a beer, a Budweiser.”
“Excellent choice. Ali?”
Ali had finally disentangled herself from her many layers. “I’ll take a tequila soda, thanks.”
“And I’ll have-”
“A glass of chardonnay with a glass of water, honestly Chris, like I don’t know your drink order by now.” Kelley bounded off towards the bar and Sonny joined them in the booth.
“She seems really cool!”
Christen smiled. “She’s the best, but don’t tell her I said so.”
“Is it just the three of you normally?”
Ali shook her head. “Ashlyn will be here eventually. Julie usually stops by if her husband is out of town. Crystal and Pinoe should be here in an hour or so. And Christen’s girlfriend comes every now and then, but she’s normally working.”
Sonny wrinkled her nose. “But isn’t she a lawyer? Can’t she just like, set her own hours?”
Christen smiled. “She’s a junior associate, so that’s really not how it works.”
“Alright bitches! I’m back with drinks!” Kelley managed to get them all onto the table without spilling them. “A toast. To Fridays.”
“To the start of a new semester,” Ali added.
“And to the start of a new job and new friendships,” Christen finished, nodding towards Sonny. The four of them clinked their respective drinks and took the first sips.
Over the next few hours, more friends joined, each one being introduced to Sonnett.
“Wait, so did you all go to college together?”
“No, just Kelley and I. Everyone else is kinda hodgepodged together. Pinoe works with Kelley. Julie and Ali are in the same book club. Julie and Crystal have been friends since they were kids. Becky teaches at a school on the Upper East Side.”
“That’s really cool.”
“Christen!”
She turned over her shoulder, smiling when she recognized her girlfriend’s voice. “Hey, you made it!” She stood up and kissed her softly on the cheek. “How was work?”
She received a groan in response. “Honestly, I don’t even want to talk about it.”
Christen turned to Sonnett. “Sonny, this is my girlfriend, Paige. Paige, this is Sonny, she just started working with Ali and me.”
Paige gave her a smile. “Cool. Nice to meet you.” She turned back to Christen. “I’m gonna grab a drink, can I get you anything, baby?”
“Another glass of chardonnay?”
“I honestly don’t know how you drink that shit, but sure.” She gave her another kiss, this time on the lips. “Be right back.” Christen sat back down next to Emily.
“So you said you were in college together?”
She nodded. “Yeah, at Stanford. We met in the library, actually. She was in her final year of law school and I was finishing up my English degree.”
“So she’s older than you?”
“Yeah, she’s thirty and I’m twenty-seven.”
“Nice.”
“What’s nice?” A glass of wine was slid in front of Christen.
“Emily was asking about our age difference.”
“Three years really isn’t much,” Paige quipped. There was no room to sit next to the side of the booth Christen was on, so she sat across from her, next to Julie.
“Yeah, I was just asking,” Emily replied.
“So Chrissy said you’re new to the school?”
“Yeah! Brand spanking new… everyone’s been super nice, though! Especially Christen over here. She brough these chocolate chip cookies to the teacher’s lounge yesterday, oh my god I literally think I had ten by myself.” She threw a playful arm around Christen’s shoulders, not noticing the way it made her tense up. “You better keep an eye on her or I might just have to steal her away from you so I have a personal pastry chef!”
Paige’s jaw tensed, her eyes flitting back and forth between Christen and Sonny, then quickly drained her drink. “I’ve had a long day, I think I’m just gonna go.”
She stood up and Christen did the same. “Paige wait, you just got here.”
“And it already feels like I’ve overstayed my welcome,” she sighed. She grabbed her bag from where it had just been placed on the ground and began to shoulder her way through the crowd.
“Paige… Paige, wait!” Christen deliberated for just a second about what to do, but then turned back to the table. Everyone was staring down or to the side with the exception of Emily, who was looking around in confusion, and Pinoe, who was looking at her straight on with her eyebrows raised. Kelley held out her coat without a word, and Christen grabbed it along with her bag, struggling through the crowd to follow her angry girlfriend into the street.
“Paige! Page, stop!” Paige whirled around to face her, nearly slipping on the snowy sidewalk.
“What, Chrissy?”
“Why are you leaving?”
She scoffed. “Why am I leaving? You pretty obviously don’t need me here if you’ve already got some baby dyke running her hands all over you.”
“Don’t say… she was just making a joke!”
“Well I don’t think it’s fucking funny, okay? How would you feel if I made those kind of jokes, huh? Want me to ‘joke’ about bending one of my clients over my desk and fucking her from behind? Is that funny to you?”
“That’s not… even kind of the same thing-”
“What? Does that upset you? It’s just a joke, baby, ha ha.” She turned and began to walk away, her broad shoulders hunched against the winter wind.
“Paige, where are you going?”
“None of your business.” She stepped out into the street, raising a hand and hailing a cab, climbing into it without a backwards glance.
Christen stayed stock still in the middle of the sidewalk, unsure as always how something shouldn’t have been a big deal had somehow escalated into something huge. She slowly turned back to the bar, but through the window she could see Ali laying a comforting hand on Emily’s shoulder, the rest of her friends leaning forward to talk to each other, their faces serious.
She wasn’t an idiot. She knew they were talking about her.
You’ve managed to embarrass yourself, once again.
She let out a shaky breath and turned the other way, pulling on her coat as she slowly trudged down the street to the subway.