A mid-April prank.

You know, one of the things I enjoy about my job is that it's always surprising. Whatever else it is, it's always surprising.

When I was in the office at one point today, another staff member stopped me. She pulled me into an empty room and closed the door. I had no idea why, but her daughter is a student of mine, so I was starting wonder if she was upset about something.

She looked at me for a moment. "Okay. Athleta has been bugging me to ask you this. She says you've had this glow, and you've been really happy, and --"

And I knew exactly where she was going with this. "Nope. Not pregnant."

She smiled. "Okay, just wondering. She's been bugging me to ask you for days so I thought I would. She just keeps saying that you're glowing and so happy and you've been wearing skirts."

Really? Because I'm happy and wearing seasonally-appropriate clothing, I'm knocked up? "I'm happy because I like my job and I'm wearing skirts because of the weather! That's so funny she asked that." I told the mom my story from Friday and we both chuckled. "So now you know," I finished. "Wait - don't tell Athleta, okay? I'm going to mess with her now." Hey, she didn't ask me herself, she made her mom do it - she deserves a little prank.

Her mom agreed not to tell and I started plotting. Athleta usually comes into my room to hang out before school. Assuming she does that tomorrow, at some point while we're chatting, I'll suddenly sit down with my hand on my face. After a brief pause, I'll say something like, "Sorry. I just haven't been feeling too well in the mornings some days."

Then I'm going to start talking about a name that someone mentions. I'll muse aloud, "XXXXX....that's a really pretty name. I like that." And then I'll go write it down on a piece of paper at my desk.

I even got another teacher to help. She's going to come in and say that she just heard and congrats! And I'll thank her, and then if a kid asks, I'll say that I won this thing, being purposely vague.

I think it's gonna be hilarious. We'll see how long it takes before Athleta says something or gets someone else to.....

(Image credit to Daquella manera)