"I saw her!" -- JL, a Simmons student I never taught

I was taking attendance during morning announcements first period, the usual lunch menu, clubs meeting during break, scholarships for seniors, etc etc, when the principal announces that the girl's basketball team will play Holl Simmons tonight to advance in the North 2A. "We ARE?!?" Apparently, my face lit up like stadium lights.

It was a Monday. Holl was three and a half hours away. I didn't have the next day planned. More than anything, though, I didn't think I could make the drive back late at night without falling asleep at the wheel. It would be irresponsible if I went, but ooh, did I want to!

And then fourth period shuffles in and AB asks if I'm going. Because if I was, she knows two girls who would want to go with me: herself and ML. "Done!" I say. Later on, CK joins us, and offers to take her car because it rides better and has a full tank of gas, plus she's packed sandwiches, and what kind would I like? They also got their parents to write permission notes so I could have the documentation. I was speechless, because usually I've got to, well, do everything. But here, these girls have it all taken care of, and all I've got to do is come along! They made it out like Ms. Chang was taking her students to a ball game, but it was really the students taking Ms. Chang.

The three girls I had with me were our valedictorian, saludatorian, and number three, beauty pageant winners, homecoming court. They came from solid, church-going families. They were white, and well-dressed. They were some of my favorite chemistry students, and I found myself thinking what a contrast they would be walking into the Simmons gym. My girls had never really seen the Delta, and I wished it hadn't gotten dark yet, so I could show them the poverty of the Delta. Yes, they've seen "trailer trash", but I haven't found anything close to Jonestown around Potts.

It's hard to watch a game when you want both sides to win, when you care about the players on both teams. And then it was a close game - never more than a five point difference - so I spent most of the game on edge because I didn't know what to do. Potts lost, but barely, and I felt like such a traitor when our girls came out of the locker-room crying, and I was grinning inside to be around my Simmons kids again.

Jess says EW told her the next day at school that Ms. Chien might teach at Potts, but her heart was really still with Simmons. DW tells me every time I see him that "you might as well come back to Holl." (It seems like I always bump into him every time I visit, too, hahaha.) Sometimes, I do wonder. Will I feel the same attachment to my Potts students as I do about my Holl ones?

And when I thought I would overflow with excitement, I hear a "Ms. Chien" behind me, and there was Tuck. He was carrying his sister's little boy - the one she was pregnant with when I taught her! - and had ventured clear across the gym from the Holl students who were celebrating to find me at the little Potts circle of sad teachers and students. I was touched: Tuck barely stammers out your name usually, but he came to find me tonight, and not the other way around. But once he got here, he had no idea what to say. There was a moment where we just looked at each other -- he tugging the little boy back to keep him from running off, and me, restraining an impulse to hug him. "He's a special one," Jess says. If there's anyone that I hope climbs out of the hell-hole that is Holl, it's him. He's got so much going for him - football ability, a work ethic, maturity - and he's got so many people rooting for him - including all the Teacher Corps teachers - but you know how it goes down here, there's no guarentee. The environment is that powerful.

I asked Tuck if he knew where he was going next year. He shrugged his shoulders, but later he volunteers, "Maybe Tennessee State." He's leaving! I hold my breath, not daring to blow the idea away. I don't remember if we talked about anything else, and it doesn't matter. I am so proud of that boy.

In the past week, I both received a letter from SC and also a voice message from NS, my girls from Holl. I hadn't had time to respond to either, so I was glad for a chance to surprise them that night. And Jess, too.