Christmas Daisy Read Online Free Page B

flouncing.
    “Well, I believe we’re fine. I can find my way through a jungle, Dr. Ben.  I’m pretty sure I could find the cafeteria on my own.” She gave him a wide smile. “And my trustworthy students have explained a lot of the drill to me this morning.   I’ll meet you in your office in a minute for two.”
    “And you don’t need to have no worry about us, Dr. Ben. ” At the front of the line, Tyrone puffed out his chest.  “We’re going to be good.  That’s because we are doing the trustworthy thing.  You’ll see.”
    The class marched past him on the steps, no pushing, no mocking, no loud voices, following 110 pound Miss Daisy like she was the Pied Piper.
    Daisy glanced over her shoulder as she rounded the corner of the steps, and saw him shaking his head in wonder.  She grinned.  He was in for more surprises than finding a teacher sitting atop her desk.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    How did she do it?  Ben followed the uncharacteristically quiet group down to the cafeteria, watched them grab their lunches; sit at their usual table, but with unusual grace.  They were actually quiet.  Daisy waved at them as they settled, and they actually waved back.  Then he watched her pick up a sandwich from the lunch cart, and head back toward the stairway, where he was standing. 
    “You sure get established with speed,” he said, out of one side of his mouth.
    Daisy grinned, her face lighting up with humor.  “One of my many talents, I guess. I’m a fast establisher?”
    He smiled back, all of a sudden not trusting his voice.
    Did someone turn the temperature up? Why was there an indescribable warmth racing through his veins?  Did a smile do that? Man, he was a goner.
    “ Your office?” she said matter of factly, already taking a bite of her sandwich, standing in the hallway.  “Sorry,” she said after a big mouthful.  “Hungry.  Another of my many attributes. I eat like a rhinoceros.”
    His voice came back, and he laughed out loud.   “No problem.  Eat away. And yes, we’ll head to the office.”
    And so it went.  Within hours, it was as if Daisy had been present at New Horizons forever.   Within days, Ben had the illogical fear they could never function without her.
    Every student in the building responded to her, and she had time and interest in them all.  She truly operated from a “family” perspective , crossing all the lines, even breaking all the rules.  And it just didn’t matter.
    The first day he had found her si tting on the desk. That was strange enough.   The next day, when stopping by her room, he found the teenagers sprawled all over the floor, sitting on the window sills, or sitting on the carpet, back against the wall.  He almost panicked.  But what were they doing?  They were all READING.  With large text books propped at every angle, they were taking turns reading a biology lesson out loud.
    “Got to be comfortable to think,” she’d told the usually combative teens.  So they got comfortable, and they began to think.  And read. And learn.
    The second week, they each selected a “tiny buddy” in the primary class, and a “junior buddy” in the middle school class, who was their special friend.  The teens would visit occasionally to tutor, to read together, and would sent motivating notes.    They did science projects with their junior buddies, and the resulting posters and displays sat in the corner of each hall. Art work began cropping up all over the building.
    Discipline problems had virtually disappeared. Only “trustworthy” kids could be trusted to do their extra projects. It made sense to even the most challenging kids. One morning, Ben had found the teens scattered along the first floor hallway, surrounded by paint cans, brushes, and their primary buddies.  They were painting a twelve foot mural on the bare wall.  HIS freshly painted bare wall.
    “Hi, Doctor Ben,”  Maria had called out.  “We’re painting a picture