Mrs. Sunflower's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Mrs. Sunflower unlocked room 4B before the first bell rang. She wanted to be nice in the small, specific ways kids could feel. A tall pot of sunflowers stood by her door, bright yellow against the brick hallway. Every child who passed would know her room without reading the number. Inside, she walked the rows with a stack of name tags. Each card was edged in gold swirls and lettered by hand. She set one at every desk, whispering the names as she placed them. Shaula. Antares. More star names than she had ever seen on one roster. Her seating chart, drawn in careful calligraphy, grouped them near the window where morning light spilled in. The bell rang. Children filed past the sunflowers and found their tags. One boy kept his hood up and his head down, sliding into his seat without looking at the card. Mrs. Sunflower smiled anyway and began roll call. When she read his name, he went blank, like she had spoken a foreign language. The other star students answered clearly. He did not. She closed the roster and understood her real work had just begun.