Title: Naomi and Mateo's Egg-cellent Project
Note: A light sprinkle of some romance. First up is Naomi and Mateo having to take care of an egg for an assignment as parents. Hilarity ensues.
Spanish notes:
Niete = Granddaughter
Senora= Mrs.
"And do you Naomi Turner, take Mateo de Alma as your trusted health class partner?" asked Senora Maria Garcia with the most dignified voice. Underneath she was laughing she loved putting her students through this. The older woman tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder as she looked expectantly at the blond.
"I do," said Naomi as she herself was holding back a laugh. Across from her sat Mateo bright red as Senora Garcia christened them with a piece of paper and an egg, turning to another set of students. Naomi couldn't help it as she started laughing at the situation at hand. She turned and looked at the blond with a surprised look on her face.
"Mrs. De Alma," scolded Senora Garcia as Naomi laughed even harder at being called Mrs. De Alma. Mateo sat there like a deer about to be caught by a bow. Oh no, she was going to be called with his last name. Then she laughed at Mateo's face as he heard this, pointing slightly. "This is a serious class project and counts for 50 percent of your grade. All of you will be required to work with your partner and draw up a budget that would help you take care of an infant one day. You will use your careers and your fake money from your last assignment to finish this project. Do all of you understand?"
At this Naomi quieted down as she heard the seriousness in her teacher's voice, a smile still on her face. She looked down at her paper as she coughed. Mateo was still bright red next to her. She heard Senora Garcia move onto another set of students, Jorge Carson and Lorena Gonzalez. She took a deep breath as she looked at the paper as she looked at Mateo.
"We need to pick out a name for our baby," said Naomi trying hard to keep a straight face. She couldn't say this without wanting to laugh. "Do you want a girl or a boy?" This was just one of the funniest assignments despite being half of her grade. Oh gosh, she had to pass and keep a straight face through it all. It was an egg, at least it wasn't a real child.
"Girl," he said after a minute as Mateo thought. He always wanted a daughter as he thought about it. "I like name-"
"Maite," said Naomi as she finished his sentence. She always wanted to name her child one day. It's pretty and she got a chance to actually use it. "Like it?"
"That's fine," admitted Mateo as he would agree on any name. It was kind of named after him if he thought about it. If this was real Naomi would be doing all of the work. So he agreed as he looked over at the chart they were supposed to fill in. How much money it would take to feed, clothe, provide for said baby. Another chart was what they were supposed to agree on what time feeding and diaper changing. It was only going to be for three days but it was going to be a long three days.
"She was born at 7 pounds even and 22 inches long," announced Naomi as she eyed the paperwork they had to do. "We can support her right?"
Mateo looked down at the balance on his paper. "Comfortably? Yes, we shouldn't have any more than two kids though." That is if they kept their jobs as royal sorcerer and grand council member that is. As if Senora Garcia would pass out more eggs but that was nice to know. Reluctantly both signed their names on the agreement. It had a lot of rules and expectations of taking care of an egg.
"So you're going to take it with you tonight?" asked Mateo.
"This is a now a child senor de Alma, not an it," said Senora Garcia as she stood in the center of the room. Everyone stared at him as he turned even redder. "You are dismissed for the afternoon." Quickly, Naomi gathered her books as did Mateo before leaving the room. As soon as the teacher wasn't looking Naomi burst into her remaining laughter.
"You should have saw your face when she called me Mrs. De Alma." She laughed as Mateo only turned bright red at something that only happened 10 minutes ago. One hand scratched the back of his head.
"Oh come on, how was I supposed to react to that?" he protested holding the egg in his hands. "You're one of my friends. It'd be even stranger if it was princess Elena."
"She's lucky that she doesn't go to public school," said Naomi as she could only picture Elena carrying around an egg for a weekend. That she had to pretend to feed and change a diaper on an egg. Elena couldn't make it just as much as she probably wasn't. "Anyway, I have a council meeting. You're going to have to take care of Maite."
"But, Naomi," he protested as she just gave him a side hug leaving him behind.
With that she skipped back to the castle as she thought of this project. This was slowly going to kill her this weekend. Maybe they could just agree on a schedule and it in the cool room. They could eat it next week. No, no, that would be wrong as her grade depended on it. She could take care of an egg child for a weekend. Mateo would be fine with the baby as she stopped by her house to pick up something.
Yesterday she found something on one of the boats that looked like an egg but it felt a bit like a rock. It was kind of cool to look at, because it had a couple of spots on it. Kissing her father goodbye, she promised that she would be in time for dinner. She got to the castle and knocked at the guard. Julio let her in the castle as she avoided him like the plague. Julio was not a person that she wanted to see right now.
"Hi Naomi!" cried out Isabel as she came in after her school let out. "You look pretty today."
"Oh, thanks Isabel," she said with a smile and a wave. She saw Elena talking with Armando about something or another. He was supposed to be teaching her about some laws about Avalor. Shuriki had done a lot to the kingdom as Elena was learning still and expelling.
The blond caught the attention of her royal friend as Elena raced over to her. They had the meeting today about some kind of project in the middle of town.
"Fortitude maximus!" shouted Mateo as he practicing a small strengthening spell on a dummy. It was supposed to jet out a streak of blue as nothing happened. He looked at his spell book for answers as the door opened.
"Mateo get your homework done and then practice magic," said Rafa as she eyed her son.
"I will mom," he said as he clapped again. This time the blue beam showed a weak sign before he looked over at his open books. Just about all it was done except for the egg project. Maybe he'll just put it in the back of the cool room.
"Where's your egg?" called his mother as she remembered the project.
"I'm watching it and feeding it," he said unsure how to even feed it. His mother came to the door as he pretended to feed it with a fake bottle. Rafa watched her son before it was time to stop feeding it.
"Keep it up and you'll pass," said Rafa. She knew that babies weren't his forte and he wouldn't give her grandchildren right away. She could only hope one day though. Before she died at least. "Go back to your magic."
"Thank you!" he said before getting excited and working on his spell. It was a strengthening spell and it is one of the easiest ones in his grandfather's spell book. He was slowly learning all of them as he went through it. It was going to take years but get started now.
He dropped his tamborita to go to the bathroom as he relieved himself. Okay, so he had a couple more spells to learn tonight before eating did. His mother had pork downstairs as he could smell it. Mateo's hand felt something sticky on it.
In horror he felt his egg. He had crushed his egg. If this was a real child he would have crushed his baby. Not looking by closing his eyes, he repeated his fixing spell, "reficere." He looked and saw that the egg was back to normal.
"Now my next spell, praemium!" he said hitting his tamborita. This time the red beam bounced off his magic device as it shattered his mirror and fell on top of his egg. "Not my egg again. I have to get this to Naomi before I break it again."
Closing his eyes he repaired it before running out the house.
"Mom, I gotta find Naomi," he yelled as his mother only waved.
"Why are you so dressed up?" asked Elena as the meeting let out. She kissed her grandparents as she walked Naomi out to the carriage. She had noticed earlier but said nothing right away. Naomi looked down at one of her best skirts and blouses as she flushed, it was her favorite green skirt and a pressed off white blouse. She had forgotten to change out of her school clothes. Elena didn't even see her in that outfit before.
"Well, I got married this morning to Mateo," she said offhandedly as she thought about what she said. That came out wrong as she looked at her friend trying to cover up what she said.
Elena's eyes grew wide before giggling. "Well congratulations."
"It's for our health class. We were paired off and we have to take care of this egg as our baby for the weekend. We have to learn how to be responsible," she said rolling her eyes. If anything, Naomi was the most responsible in that entire class. Elena was so lucky that she didn't have to go to public school. It was going to feel weird as she came in tomorrow for the meeting with an egg. Maybe she could pass it off to Mateo again.
"You two have to take care of an egg?" asked Elena trying hard not to burst out laughing. The idea sounded ridiculous in itself. The concept behind it sounded okay, but eggs? Won't they smell after a few days? Then she really did start to laugh as Naomi only grew embarrassed at having to carry the egg around. "I'm sorry that I'm laughing. It's pretty easy isn't it?"
Naomi saw this as a challenge. Maybe she wouldn't have to do this alone in the castle with Mateo. "I'd like to see you try," said Naomi as she felt her cheeks get back to normal. This could possibly work at Elena started to get a little fired up.
"I could take care of an egg," she said with a smirk on her face. If she could help take care of Isabel, then she could take care of an egg. What exactly did she have to do for this project?
"Prove it." Naomi had her there as she raised her eyebrows at the crown princess. Naomi saw Elena straighten her back a little straighter. She was probably going to do just as bad as she will.
Elena felt her stomach drop as she kept that smile. How could she take care of an egg child and rule the kingdom? "I would but that's a little unfair that you get a partner and I don't." She saw that Naomi was serious and tried to get out of this. Best outright tell her friend. Naomi thought for a moment before seeing the blue guards uniform. Gabe was standing there talking with Luisa not paying attention to their conversation. No partner, huh?
"Alright, Gabe can be your partner. That'll make it even," said Naomi as she thought of someone quickly. At hearing his name Gabe turned around and Luisa looked at her curiously. He would listen to Elena if she told him something. "Unless you don't think you can do it."
Now that was a challenge and there was no way Elena would back away from one. "I accept your challenge," said Elena as she pulled Gabe's arm who looked a bit startled as Elena pulled him close. "We can take care of an egg and treat it like a baby." Elena as she thought about it for a moment. This would not be hard. Luisa's eyebrows traveled up her face
"What's going on?" she asked as she looked at Elena pulling on Gabe's arm.
"Today, Mateo and I got married in our health class. We have to take care of an egg and treat it as our baby for the weekend. I challenged Elena to try it. She said she would do it with a partner like I have, so it's Gabe." She looked at Gabe to go with it.
He only rolled his eyes. "Not that project again, you have senora Garcia don't you?"
"You had her?" asked Naomi as she thought for a minute. "What did you get on the egg project?"
Gabe thought for a minute, what did he get on that project? All he remembered from it was Isadora Cruz skimping out on him for the project and made him do it all. He hated that girl as he thought about it. "I honestly don't remember the grade, but I had to do all the work, it might have been a 9."
Naomi looked a bit caught off guard. He did that well on this project?! She found her palm sized egg with the spots as she thought. She held up a finger as she raced to get a piece of paper. Naomi had to do this before Elena changed her mind. Quickly, Naomi filled out her paper with lines so that it looked like her 'birth certificate.'
"Here," she said handing it to Elena as she gave her with something to write with. "Just fill out the spaces with a name and how big it was, that kind of thing."
Easy, thought Elena as she thought for a moment. Next to her all three of them looked at one another. Then Luisa nudged at her nieta on the arm. "Elena, I think you should probably decide with Gabe."
Naomi only hid back a smile for a minute. This was going to be a long weekend for all of them. She only watched as Elena turned to Gabe with a smile on her face. That was not that same reaction as everyone in the class had. Most of it was disgust and annoyance.
"Here's your egg," said Naomi a little dumbfound, handing her the speckled egg that she had found. She was going to show it to Isabel but this could work just as well. Elena took the egg from her hand and cupped it in her own. While her initial reaction was humor and doubt, Elena seemed genuinely excited to have an egg child for the weekend. Maybe all of those years in that amulet seemed to have made her a little crazy.
"What do you want? A girl? A boy? Twins?" asked Elena as she blinked up at him. Twins!? Luisa stared at her nieta with a shocked expression. Naomi looked at Gabe who only looked at Elena as if she was crazy. His head turned a little, eyebrows raised, and mouth slightly a gaped. He scratched the back of his head.
"What? I'm excited," admitted Elena as she thought about it for a moment. If her parents could raise her and Isabel, real children, she could take care of an egg for the weekend. Besides this was a challenge, she couldn't resist a challenge. They were even now since they both had a partner. Plus, it sounded like a fun project.
"Er," he thought for a moment. Isadora picked out the gender and the name before handing it off to him for the weekend. "Well, I had a girl egg the first time around. A boy then."
Naomi only stared her face scrunched up. Really? Was this really happening? Elena only smirked as she started to fill out the rest of the paper. Luisa looked at Naomi with an amused look on her face.
"You both are going to need the luck."
"What about naming it after your dad? Egg Raul," he said after a minute. It was the first name he thought of as he held back a laugh. Egg Raul, he cracked himself up as Naomi looked at them as if they were nuts.
"Oh my gosh, Gabe that's perfect!" She couldn't have picked out a better name. This project was going to be fun. Please no, they were supposed to roll their eyes in disgust and agree that this is a horrible project and should not be subjected to such torture. This was not the case as she touched her forehead.
"It's an egg, might as well make the best of it," said Gabe as Naomi made a note to thank him later. At least he admits it's an egg. "Do you think 6 or 7 would make a better bedtime?"
"6. That way he'll let his stomach settle and makes it easy to rock him to sleep."
"What is this?! It's an egg not a real child," protested Naomi throwing up her arms as Luisa giggled as she watched all three of them highly amused. Wait until they actually had children. Sometimes they actually slept through the night and all of the problems of raising a baby.
"Hey I took this project very seriously must you know," said Gabe. Yea, he had to go home and help at the bakery on top of an egg. This was just review of high school. Naomi put her hand on her hip as she gave him her best evil glare.
"And if this a challenge I'm doing it right," said Elena looking at the egg in her cupped hands.
"Whatever. I'm going home for dinner," she said as she heard them talking more about it behind her. Gabe was telling her the proper way to burp a baby. It is an egg and the stupidest assignment she had to do yet.
Looking at her bag, Naomi pulled out her homework. At least Mateo was taking care of the egg so she didn't have to worry about it. First algebra, then literature, then whatever came next. She didn't want to be thinking of eggs for the rest of the weekend but that was an understatement. By the time she reached her house, homework was done, and she could go to the harbor for the night.
That is until she heard shouting. Naomi turned as she thought she was hearing her name.
"Naomi!"
"Naomi!"
That was when she recognized the voice of her "husband." Mateo was around here somewhere as he tried to find her. She saw him running toward her with the egg in his hands. Naomi only closed her eyes and prayed for it to be Monday. Why couldn't it have been Monday?
"Naomi I did something really bad. I broke the egg and you have to take care of it."
Naomi only rolled her eyes as Mateo put the egg on the box next to him. He panted taking deep breaths muttering something about a transportation spell. "Me? This is just as bad as Gabe and Elena going parental on an egg."
'What do you mean that Gabe and Elena have an egg?" Mateo scratched his head. Why would they be taking care of an egg? Then again, he could easily picture it. Maybe Gabe would accidentally sit on it. He shook that image out of his head as he looked at her looking for an answer.
"As in I roped Elena into doing the project too with Gabe," she said rolling her eyes only picturing what was going on at the castle. Maybe she just stuck in a cool room too and is getting everyone to lie for her. Okay, that was uncalled for. Naomi was just upset that she had to do this project to begin with. This teaches nothing useful. "Where is the egg?"
The crate that was next to them that Mateo had put the egg on was gone. Gone. Mateo felt himself panic as Naomi looked even more annoyed. They both scanned the harbor looking for where it might have gone. Mateo saw it boarding on a boat as he pulled out his tamborita.
Naomi put her hand out and lowered it down for him to stop before something exploded. She trusted him and everything. This wasn't a real child though.
"We have to get the egg! It's Maite and it's our child." Mateo found himself in full panic mode as he looked around at the boat it was boarding on. This wasn't happening, there went his good grade as he put his hands on his head, breathing becoming heavy.
"It. Is. An. Egg. Mateo, let it is go. We can always get another." Naomi went over to a booth at the local market not too far from this end of the harbor.
The man behind the table arched his eyebrow at her. Merle was just protective of his products. She sent him a fake smile as he rolled his eyes. "Hey that's merchandise."
"We'll pay for it. See a new baby, problem solved."
Merle looked even more confused at the term baby. He knew Naomi as he faced her. "On your tab Naomi?" She had a habit of taking an apple every other day. She just wordlessly agreed. Naomi twirled around to face him as the egg swung out of her hands.
Merle and Mateo watched was the egg rolled into the street. Both Naomi and Mateo let out a sigh of relief as it just rolled and only cracked a little. Then they simultaneously winced as a carriage rolled over the egg in the middle of the street. Naomi could hear the crunch of the shell from where she stood despite all of the noise.
Around them everything went on the same though. They had lost two egg babies already within a day of getting it. Merle only shook his head at the lost merchandise. What a waste of good merchandise.
"I'll pay for that one and another."
"You might need more than two at the rate you're going little lady."
Naomi took the egg before stalking off to get herself some dinner. Mateo looked at the yolk in the street before following her.
"Naomi, we can't just keep replacing the eggs. We need a schedule and talk about the rest of the assignment." He was lucky to double back and grab the paperwork.
"Alright Mateo fine," she said as they talked about a feeding schedule, diaper changes, and what kind of expenses they needed for the eg- er- Maitas. Needless to say it wasn't painful and Naomi had talked him out of actually waking up at 2 am.
The next morning was relatively easy. Her mother had made a joke about cooking Maitas for breakfast after the project was over but she wasn't having it. She had just went straight to the grand council meeting. Today they were talking to Dona about some trade agreements that she had made recently.
She was also thankful that her mother took pity on her. Now the egg, Maitas, rested in a basket in a bundle of extra cloth that couldn't really make anything.
"Dad!" cried out the blond as she saw her father. She took the egg out of the basket and sat it down. With the egg still in her hand she raised her hand and waved it. "I still have my egg; no one didn't accidentally cook it." Her feet wobbled on the cobblestones for a moment before the egg fell from her hand.
Captain Turner only winced as Naomi turned to the market man.
"Merle, give me an egg."
"Your boyfriend is not going to be very happy," he said handing her the shell. Not even correcting him about the term she rolled her eyes. She caught up with Mateo just outside of the harbor as Mateo looked at the egg.
"What happened to the egg? This is not the one I marked!" he said holding the egg in his hand. He had put a small pencil marking on the egg so that they could know it was their egg. Apparently he forgot to tell Naomi last night.
"I dropped it in the harbor this morning heading over. I didn't know you marked it," she said sighing. This was going to be a long day. Mateo would be working in his magic lair and Naomi at her meeting.
"Naomi!"
"It doesn't matter, I got an egg."
"I'll hold it," said Mateo as he cupped it. All of a sudden he knew that this would be a bad idea. The way he held it made all of the difference as a squirrel from a nearby tree made a grab for it. Mateo only watched shocked as the squirrel made off with it.
Naomi only sighed as she should have saw that coming with their luck. At least the written part was done. All they had to do was convinced Senora Garcia that it was their original egg.
"How….?"
"We'll get another in the kitchens." Both of them managed to sneak into the cool room to get another eggs as Naomi went into the grand council room with her basket. Inside she could see Francisco, Luisa, and for some reason Gabe in there. She snuck a peek at the basket sitting on the table.
"Hello! What is that?" Esteban looked annoyed as rolled his eyes.
Naomi got a look at it as she saw a lavishly decorated basket. A blue ribbon criss crossed the along the handle. The inside housed extra fabric like her own except in different shades of blue. In the middle of it lay the egg that she had given Elena yesterday. A fuzzy piece of fabric keeping it warm.
She looked up and over at the others with an incredulous look on her face. Besides Esteban's annoyed look the others were into this. Luisa was smiling at the egg and then at her granddaughter. Francisco chortled a little as he rubbed the top of the egg. Then Elena and Gabe were in a heated debate about how to properly feed it.
"No, this is an egg," she found herself saying before she could finish her sentence.
"NO! It's Raul," protested Elena as the others backed quickly out of the conversation. That is until Esteban decided to put his two cents in.
Esteban sighed putting a hand on his head. "Listen Elena it was cute yesterday. Now this is annoying." Oh gosh, she could just imagine what Elena would have done. She should have not challenged her.
"Imagine if this was a real baby Esteban," said Francisco as he looked at the egg and then at Elena and Gabe. "It shows her responsibility and how well she will be able to care for a real child. It's only a weekend."
Naomi couldn't help but agree at the weekend part. She didn't know what to think about the rest of that little speech. Esteban seemed to have an opinion though. "We'd have nursemaids and a nanny. Isabel could watch it. We have a meeting with an actual person today."
"We'll let it sit through our meeting or Gabe can take care of it while we're at the meeting," said Elena as she saw Esteban twitch at the thought.
This seemed to set off Esteban as soon as he heard this. A guard for an egg? This wasn't a real child, weekend or not. Sure Elena proved herself to more responsible and able to take care of one. That didn't matter. The fact that she wanted to take it with her said something else entirely.
Esteban turned to Naomi at this point. "Miss Turner. You did this! You're the one that gave Elena this fantastical idea. This is all your fault."
Luisa looked at her granddaughter before Elena could even stand up for herself. "Esteban, it's just a game for the weekend. It's not like Elena is actually having a child. Lighten up."
"Elena I think you got a little too much into this," said Naomi as she took in what happened. In just a few details she could tell that Elena went a bit overboard. It. Is. An. Egg. Why didn't anyone understand that? She put both hands on her head as she put her basket on the floor next to the door. That is until the door opened and it squashed her egg against the door. Figures. Isabel had entered into the room as she went straight for Elena's basket.
"Go to your meeting," she said looking at the egg. "Hi baby Raul, I'm your aunt Isabel. I'm going play doctor with you while your parents are busy."
Oh for the love of. That's it, Naomi was so done with today. Might as well go home and get back to sleep. Even Isabel was in on this. Was this some kind of joke?
"Isabel is doing great with it too," said Luisa. Great, even the 10-year-old was going to be a better parent than her. She was going to wake up soon she hoped. Then every stopped and started at Isabel as she took the egg out of its basket.
"Huh, this egg is heavier than a normal egg," said Isabel. Everyone turned and looked at Isabel as she put it back on the table. It moved slightly by itself. Even Naomi stepped back at seeing that. Oh, crap she gave Elena the egg of a real animal. There was something in there. There is an actual baby something in this egg. What if it was something poisonous? Elena probably had it next to her bed last night? Gabe stepped forward as did Elena.
"Umm, Gabe, Elena, your egg is hatching," said Isabel as it cracked. Hatching? It was just supposed to be a basic egg. Nothing special about it except for the spots. The cracking continued as the top broke off. Then the sides came down with it.
Awwwww, cooed Elena as she looked at it closer. "It's a bujito and they're so cute." Everyone, even Esteban looked at it as the baby bujito saw Gabe and Elena closest to it.
"Awww."
"How did the egg get all the way here from Cordoba?" asked Gabe as he remembered what King Juan Ramon said. Then again he could only theorize at what happened. Hmm...it could have accidentally found itself in a shipment that came in from Cordoba to the royal castle. That was his guess as he only shrugged.
"I don't know but can we keep it?" asked Isabel. Naomi found herself grow a little misty eyed. The little owl like creature is adorable just as Elena had described. She could hear the others talk around the creature.
"Oh my gosh, it's like I really had a child."
"It thinks you two are its parents," said Luisa as it pecked on Gabe's finger. Naomi watched as it jumped into Elena's outstretched hands. They were going to have to back to Cordoba but she found herself wishing that it would stay. With that, the rest of the day went along breezily as she didn't tell Mateo what happened to her egg. She resolved to get a new one from the kitchen later tonight. Then on Sunday she decided to leave it at home under the care of her mother as she went to her meeting without any interruptions.
"I am never going to have children," announced Mateo as they dropped off the egg in Senora Garcia's classroom. She said that she wanted all of the eggs turned in before classes started. Even though they had this first period.
"Me either," she agreed as they put the egg in the carton on her desk. "Want to grab some breakfast? It'll be on me."
"Just as long as it's not eggs." They walked off to the cafeteria area as she found a vendor selling breakfast for students. The school is lucky to be near the market.
Mateo only listened as Naomi filled in the story about Gabe and Elena's egg hatching. They were going to have to plan a trip to Cordoba but they had grown rather attached to the bujito. It responded to the name Raul. Never the less it had to learn how to fly and be with it's own kind. They had agreed to bring the bujito to the border so that they could visit.
The school bell rang as they were being consulted by Senora Garcia pair by pair. Just in front of them was Lorena Gonzalez and Jorge. Then they stepped forward to talk to their teacher. Senora Garcia handed them a paper about all of their paperwork that they had agreed on.
"Mateo and Naomi, D," she said as saw the assignment as she saw fit. It was kind of disappointing since they were both bright students.
"An D?!" exclaimed Naomi.
"I've never gotten a D before," panicked Mateo as he thought of all of the eggs they had broken. Maybe if he kept using that repair spell.
"Senora Garcia, please explain. We brought our egg back in one piece."
"That is not your egg," said Senora Garcia as she picked up Jorge and Lorena's egg and crack it to find it hard boiled. She then cracks Naomi and Mateo's to find it gooey. Both of them looked at one another. Why didn't they know that!?
"The first egg was hard boiled," said Mateo. He should have known that as he broke it twice. Then again he did close his eyes as he grew red. He took home the egg first. After that, well, it was gooey the entire time.
"That is how I know. Listen I know that it's hard being parents and being responsible," she said as she paused looking at the two. They were going to do great things, but it was not going to be easy. This was her chance to let them be the first to know. "To be honest, you're not the only student I failed. The only people that have passed this is the students that have taken care of young children before or the parents got involved. To be even more frank the only person who got a perfect score was a student I had three years ago named Gabriel Nunez."
"Gabe had a perfect score?" whispered Naomi as Mateo only smiled. Figures Gabe would have done well in this class of all classes.
"It's the fact that you were not honest with me that gives you a failing grade. Your paper was excellent however, which saved you from an F. I will have extra credit and good luck in the rest of my class."
Both of them looked at one another before smiling. They wouldn't be the greatest parents together but they were still friends.
"Oh and Naomi, Mateo, don't have children with each other."
They only smiled at each other. The first useful advice from this class.