Fiction Friday - Welcome Back!

Tricia looked around her classroom, giving a final once-over before heading home. Tomorrow was the first day of school. Of course, her homeroom wouldn't stay this pristine for long, but she took pride in it all the same.

Desks lined up, supplies in neat order, bulletin boards fun and eye-catching for her middle-schoolers.The anticipation was over, and Tricia was ready. She nodded to the empty room, turned off the lights, and went home.

*****
The next day dawned bright and sunny. It was going to be a hot one. Summer vacation was over, but the summertime heat was not yet ready to say good-bye.

Tricia left home with plenty of time. She always did. It was pleasant to arrive early and have a few minutes of silence before hearing the energy and noise build to a frenetic pace as the school day began.

As she drove the same old route on autopilot, she felt the tempo of the traffic trail-off. Carefully, she tapped into Google Maps on her phone. Red lines all over. Oh no! Zoom out ... more red. There were no good alternate routes. No! No-no! As her car was forced to a stop on the highway, she rested her head on the steering wheel. There went her cushion of time.

She wasn't late, but by the time Tricia reached the school with just a few minutes to spare, kids and staff were all over the grounds. People were exiting when they should have been entering! Tricia found a parking spot at the back of the teachers' lot. Parking was just another reason to arrive early. Walking toward the building, she scanned faces to find someone in authority.

"Mr. Nuñez! What happened?"

"Good morning, Miss Planck. I wondered why I hadn't seen you yet."

"Major pile-up on 85."

"Oh, you were caught in that? Rough. Meanwhile, one of our pranksters couldn't even wait for the start of the school day to pull the fire alarm."

"Oh good grief." Tricia's shoulders slumped involuntarily. "Already? That's a fun start to the year."

It's FICTION FRIDAY!
Every Friday, a new flash fiction story, inspired by reader comments, when possible. Feel free to leave a prompt for future use in the comments below.
Today's story was inspired by the prompt "back to school", given by Liz A. of Laws of Gravity.