Chatting About the Upcoming School Year

[Headmistress]

Location: Bench in the southern end of the courtyard
Time and Date: 8pm, September 1st, 2007 (two hours before the students arrive)
Private/Open: Private, Headmistress and Deputy Headmistress

Charlotte Hayes slowly sat down on the bench near the southern end of the courtyard, breathing in the unseasonably warm September air. She was waiting for her best friend, Jayne McLaughlin, whom she hadn't been able to drive with to the school this year. Jayne had two young daughters, and had to make sure that they were settled before she arrived. Charlotte expected her shortly, and glanced at her watch. Yes, it was just about 8pm. Jayne had said she would come within the next five minutes...and Jayne usually was quite punctual.

She looked around at the courtyard, smiling at their old familiar meeting place. They had come here whenever they could ever since their first years here when they were eleven. And now they were 39 and 40, Headmistress and Deputy Headmistress of that very same school, with children and husbands of their own. Charlotte's own daughter attended the school. It was a bizarre sense, because when they sat here and talked about the upcoming school years, the ages faded away, and they were eighteen again. Strange how a place could sometimes do that to you, isn't it?

Slowly, Charlotte ran a hand through her cropped short brown hair, she had highlighted it blonde-ish since she had last seen Jayne in the second week of August. With a brief smile, she wondered what her friend's reaction would be. Probably insist on going get it done to her hair as well.

[Deputy Headmistress]

Walking slowly up the path, Jayne McLaughlin looked down at her watch. She couldn't believe that another school year was starting. It was almost time for the students to arrive, and she wasn't very prepared for them. It had taken her an extra hour than she would have liked to leave her house. Her two year old daughter, Peyton, did not understand why her mother was leaving with all her belongings. So, Jayne had to explain to her that she'd be going to teach, but that they could come up every weekend to come see her. Finally, Peyton was able to get what her mother was saying, and skipped away. But, right when she was about to walk out the door, Jayne's seven year old daughter didn't want to let her leave. After giving Robyn a big hug, and telling her that she'd see would see them all soon, she left.

Because she was so late, she wasn't able to ride up with her best friend, Charlotte Hayes. Charlotte Hayes also happened to be the Headmistress of the school. Jayne was so happy when she found out that they would be working together. Not only was she the Deputy Headmistress, but the DADA teacher. When she went to Phoenixsong School of Spellcrat, she always did amazingly well in DADA. Still walking quickly up the path, she couldn't help but remember when they went to the very school they are teaching at now. Also, how Charlotte's daughter and her own neice attended. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think of when her own two daughter came to this school. Jayne chuckled at thinking about how she'd be teaching them one day.

After what seemed like walking forever, Jayne saw Charlotte, and beamed. "Sorry I'm late!" She yelled. "Robyn and Peyton would not let me leave and then Jimmy started-- Oh my God! Look at your hair! It's beautiful! I want mine to be done like that!" She ran to her, and sat down. She gave her best friend a hug, and touched her hair. "Really, Char! It's fantastic!"

[Headmistress]

She took in a deep breath and her mind began wandering back to when Melinda, her own daughter, was about Peyton's age. A little older, maybe. She thought. Yes, because Melinda was eight and Peyton's eighth birthday isn't for a little bit I don't think. Either way, that was the year that she had began Headmistress-ing at Phoenixsong. She chuckled a little as she thought of her poor husband, Nate, dealing with a free-spirited little eight year old girl who had tried sneaking in her mother's suitcase to see where she was going. Charlotte pushed herself up onto her elbows, so that she was leaning back on them and surveyed the grounds she knew so well once more.

It was then that she heard Jayne begin apologizing about her lateness, and before Charlotte could tell her it was all right and that she didn't mind, or, before Jayne could finish her own sentence for that matter, she started on the new hair. She grinned and hugged Jayne tightly before releasing her and surveying her friend. Despite the fact that they were much older than they had been, there was still such a youthful air about her old friend she could almost see her eighteen year old self smiling excitedly back at her. "Thanks, Melinda, if you'll believe it, persuaded me to do it. Nate nearly had a heart attack when he saw. But I'm glad you like it. I can tell you where I got it done..." she checked herself. "Actually, that's a lie, I absolutely can't tell you because I don't know. Melinda would probably remember." she stopped herself from letting her words run away with her. "Anyways, how have you been?"

[Deputy Headmistress]

"Thanks. Melinda, if you'll believe it, persuaded me to do it. Nate nearly had a heart attack when he saw. But I'm glad you like it. I can tell you where I got it done. Actually, that's a lie, I absolutely can't tell you because I don't know. Melinda would probably remember." Jayne laughed, and nodded. "That daughter of yours is just so smart! I hope Robyn and Peyton grow to be like her." She paused, "Not that I don't love Hayden...I just don't love how she," she couldn't think of the word. "presents herself sometimes." She shook her head, and looked at Charlotte's hair again. "I will have to ask her one of these days. I do have her in class tomorrow. I swear, those two girls better be on their best behavior this year. I don't want to hear that they were..." she was going to finish, but figured Charlotte could fill in the blank with whatever she wanted to. Of course, Jayne did let them get away with somethings she knew she shouldn't.

"Anyways, how have you been?" She beamed. "I've been great! I can't believe we barely saw each other this Summer! But, you and I both know how hetic our lives are." She stopped talking for a moment, and hoped everything was in her office when she got there. She didn't want to have to go looking for her ink like she did last year. "How have you been?" Jayne also added, "We should have Nate and Jimmy hang out once a week. You know how bored they get without us!"

[Headmistress]

"Well, she's definitely some kind of smart. The little miss often finds it more important to stare out the window than listen to her teachers talk. But what can you do?" Charlotte shrugged and pushed a strand of brown-blonde hair out of her face. "I don't know what you're talking about, I love Hayden. If you'll believe it, I think somehow those two keep each other in line." She nodded when Jayne looked at her hair again and commented about asking Melinda-she assumed-where she had gotten it done.

"Oh? You have them first class?" Her brown eyes danced as she laughed. "What a luck of the draw." Charlotte folded her arms over her legs and drew her knees closer to her stomach. "That's good to hear! I know, we only saw each other like...once a month! Normally it's practically once every two weeks! How could we let ourselves do that?" she ended in mock-seriousness and astonishment at themselves. "Nate and Jimmy? Hang out? Oh goodness, I hope Nate doesn't frighten poor Jimmy again if they do..."

[Deputy Headmistress]

Jayne laughed at Charlotte talking about Melinda. "Both of them love looking out that window. In my class last year I always had to always poke them and remind them that their free block was only somewhat minutes away." She shook her head again. "I don't know what you're talking about, I love Hayden. If you'll believe it, I think somehow those two keep each other in line." She had to nod at this. "Yes, they do. I think that without each other, we would have a real issue on our hands." She blinked, and rubbed her eyes. The thought of that scared her a little.

Jayne laughed along with Charlotte. "Oh yeah. I love having first block classes...no one is awake or paying a bit of attention. It's fantastic, really..." "Oh? You have them first class? What a luck of the draw." She thought about this for a moment, "But I suppose better them than having my first year class first. That's just painfull." She thought about last year, and shuddered at the memory of twenty first years running around and acting crazy first thing in the morning. "That's good to hear! I know, we only saw each other like...once a month! Normally it's practically once every two weeks! How could we let ourselves do that?" Jayne sighed. "I blame Jimmy. He just had to go and get a new job..." Jayne typically always blamed Jimmy. No, it wasn't always his fault but it was just fun to pick on him from time to time. "Nate and Jimmy? Hang out? Oh goodness, I hope Nate doesn't frighten poor Jimmy again if they do..." Jayne thought about the last time that happened. She remembered purple hair..."Yeah....maybe we can have my girls keep an eye on them." She laughed, and her bright blue eyes sparkled.

[Headmistress]

Her brown eyes blinked silently as she thought about what the two girls would be like without each other. Melinda was so free spirited, it worried her what kind of crowds she might get into. But she also is so...guarded, no one would be able to get close. So she would most likely be one of those 'who cares' cold, silent types. Hayden was so warm, she just always brought out the personality Melinda had deep down. "Those two..." she said softly.

She chuckled. "I can't truthfully say I'm glad to be out of teaching...but it is nice knowing that I can just wander the school, or relax in my office...but I do miss having a schedule to stick too. I feel so lost occasionally." Charlotte confessed truthfully. "Jimmy got a job? Oh goodness...as if Peyton and Robyn don't keep him busy enough, he thinks he's gotta work too?" she shook her head. At the suggestion that a seven year old and almost three year old would be able to keep two old men in line, she laughed out loud once more. "Oh Jayne, we'd have to set up secret camera's and send that into America's funniest home videos...Your girls would send them into time outs, make them take naps, and do who knows what else!" she was practically giddy. How un-Headmistress like of her. But, then again, she was one of the youngest Headmistresses at Phoenixsong, so there wasn't exactly a precedent she had to follow.

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