At age 35, Cassandra Pelts finally thought her life was going somewhere. She was a successful woman and sometimes even felt pretty. Though there was no gentleman caller to speak of, she dated around and enjoyed herself. After all, you’re only young once. And, when you live in a city like Los Angeles, what’s not to love? Clubs and bars are everywhere, doing fabulous shopping and seeing a celebrity on a daily basis actually is quite glamorous. She had many friends, both near and far, whom she hung out with as often as she could (AKA every night). This was the life she had always wanted as a teenager and it was everything she’d expected it to be and more.

Tuesday, July 29th 2008, Cassandra marched confidently into the law offices of Sheimer and Hess, where she was a litigation partner. She wore the hottest Chanel dress on the face of the earth and turquoise Jimmy Choo pumps (which she had shelled out a fortune for, by the way). She took the elevator up to the third floor, where her beautiful office was, reached her desk and started to work at 8:09 am. At 11:27 am, she received an urgent phone call. At first Cassandra assumed it was one of her whiny clients, but that was not the case. It was Dalton Hess himself, the heir to Sheimer and Hess. He requested to meet with her promptly and off she scurried up to the fourth floor.

Dalton Hess was a rather peculiar man. Some might call him overpowering others would call him shy. It really depended who you asked and on his mood. Moods were not Dalton’s strong point whatsoever. And today, was not a good day if you were at the receiving end of Dalton’s wrath, as was the case with Ms. Cassandra Pelts. Ms. Pelts arrived at Dalton’s office at 11:31 am, one minute late. This was the beginning of the end, thought Dalton as the beautiful woman entered his office. She had strawberry blond hair with big blue eyes and freckles. On some, it might have looked rather demure but on her it was sexy. No, Dalton thought, don’t let her beauty get in the way. You have a job to do, he reminded himself. “Hello, Ms. Pelts, please be seated.” Cassandra offered her hand and was refused with a simple “I don’t do handshakes.”
“So, I don’t suspect you know why you’re here. No, please don’t interrupt let me explain. Your work as of late has been adequate at best. We need to make this company an even bigger deal than it already is and quite frankly, Ms. Pelts your work ethic won’t help us get there. Please have your things cleared out by 3pm.” Cassandra was in complete and utter shock, after five years of working here and working her way up the ranks, this was the thanks she got.

For weeks, Cassandra sat at home, drowning her depression in ice cream. Friends slowly stopped visiting, figuring she needed to move on. Finally, on November 1st, Cassandra woke up and smelled the roses. She finally knew what she could do, she could teach social studies! She went to findmeacareer.com, typed in specifications; nice neighborhood, progressive school, small classes. She shuffled through tons of schools, feeling defeated as each looked more dreary than the rest. Finally, one popped out at her, Landry Middle School in Topeka, Kansas.

Three weeks, two interviews and a house search later, Cassandra flew from LAX to Forbes Field Airport, just outside Topeka. The flight had been okay, just not up to Cassandra’s usual first class standards. The car she rented was a small gray Honda, a nothing compared to her gorgeous red 2006 Mercedes, which she had sold just before leaving LA. Approximately 39 minutes later, she pulled up to an apartment building. Pfft, Cassandra thought, I lived in something like this in freshman year of college; I’m not 18 anymore. Although she had visited before, actually arriving as though she were to live there was a daunting, totally different experience. Cassandra was utterly shocked, no more glitz, no more glamour. However could a girl survive in a place like Kansas?