"You couldn't do it and you know it!" Matt rolled his blue eyes.
"I can, I will and you'll be wishing that I didn't!" Tai gave a smirk back to his best friend.
"Settle down and Tai, sit on a chair not on a desk!" Mrs. Amberson spoke loudly to the class.
Welcome to room 109 or also known as the Home Economics room. I know what you are thinking, HOME ECOMNICS! It is not very bad, it is actually amusing. This room is special, in this class nothing else matters. All your problems are left outside the thick brown door. Room 109 is like stepping into a new world where tomorrow is not coming and yesterday did not happen.
Other classes merge into a dream, other students were only a delusion. This is a class where sophomores, juniors and seniors collided. We owe it all to Mrs. Amberson, a plump middle age woman with salt and pepper hair.
She understands us, she learns from us as much as we learn from her. We are people in this room, we are her children. She understands that we are the future, that we are mothers and fathers in the making and what we do, how we come about doing it, all depends on the cards life has given us, how people have treated us and how we learn to deal with it.
Mrs. Amberson respects us and we respect her. Soft spoken, determine and understanding are the entire characteristic she processes. For all that, we love her. The school loves her!
I watched as she carried herself to the black board and wrote two simple words with white chalk, "Family Value."
"Not this again!" Matt groans laying his forehead on top of his desk.
"It'll be alright," Tai patted his friends head. "I'll be here to pull you through."
"Stop touching me!" Matt smacked his hand away.
"Can anyone tell me what these words mean?" Mrs. Amberson asks the classroom.
"It's the value your parents are worth if they should pass away!" Mimi called out as she raised her hand.
"Stop touching me Tai!" I heard Matt smack Tai again.
"I'm not touching you…" I glanced over to see Tai's finger two inches away from Matt's face.
"No Mimi," Mrs. Amberson patted her arm as she walked through the aisle that our desk made, "Tai leave Matt alone. Can anyone else tell me what those words mean?"
"How much you mean to your family and how much they mean to us?" Davis asked from his desk. His head rested on the desk and mumbled his words. Mrs. Amberson walked passed him, tapping his head as she did so. He drowsily raised his head.
"Stop touching me!" Matt growled.
"I'm not touching you…"Tai still had his finger two inches from Matt's face.
"Tai leave Matt alone or I'll have to move you two again," Mrs. Amberson continued down the aisles.
"I think we know what it means but unsure how to put it into words," Sora fumbled with her pencil.
"OW! MRS.AMBERSON MATT BIT ME!" Tai yelled, sucking on his a finger as he punched Matt on the arm.
"I told you to stop touching me!" Matt hit Tai over the head with a book.
"Matt over there," Mrs. Amberson pointed to an empty desk near me. The classroom watched as Matt gathered his items, his fourth time this month. He use to set behind Jun but she actually turned her desk around to face him! Then they switched place, leaving him in front of her but she kept sniffing his neck and asking him what cologne he wore. I wanted to know myself, I wouldn't mind girls flocking around me. Walking in Matt's shoes would be awesome…but that is for another story, "If I were to ask you how you place your family in a scale of 1, being lowest and 10, being highest, what number would you give me? Be honest….Jun."
"ME!" Jun took her eyes off Matt and glanced around the room. As always, there were snickers.
"Yes, what level do you place your family?"
"Um..well." Jun sat back, "I guess an eight."
"Tai?"
"Easy, a ten!" Tai boosted.
"Then how comes Mom asked you to make it home for dinner tonight, you all the sudden had plans you couldn't break?" Kari asked from somewhere behind me.
"Er…9.5?" Tai sunk down in his chair.
"Tk?"
"Eight."
"Matt?"
"Honestly?" Matt asked.
"Yes."
"Don't know," Matt shrugged, "I guess a two."
"You're a lousy brother!" Tk threw a wade of paper at him.
"This is why you are only a level two!" Matt threw it back.
"Boys," Mrs. Amberson shook her head. "Izzy?"
"I'd like to say a ten, maybe even a nice would be nice. At first, it was a ten but lately, I don't know. Things have been changing and even though I know how much my family means to me, I do tend to put them to the side until I'm finish doing what, at the time, I feel is more important. I have to say an eight. With saying that, I have to regret the times I miss and could had shared with my parents. I already lost one set, I don't want to lose them and regret never being with them." I told the class. Did I mention how easy it was to talk in this room. Things you normally wouldn't speak out about, you just let it slide out of your mouth with out a thought. No one laughs, everyone seems to have an understanding.
"Good point. We do tend to take for granted those who we cherish until something wakes us up." Mrs. Amberson rested a hand on my shoulder, her way of comforting us. Matt had even endured this affection. "We are starting a new program among you. No notes, no test, simple do as you are told and speak your mind."
"I can think of a few who should check e-bay for a brain or two…" Matt mumbled as he doodle on a piece of paper what looked to be little musical notes.
"I should try to sell you on e-bay," Tk smiled at his older brother.
"I'm in!" Jun raised her hand.
"Calm down class. " Mrs. Amberson walked towards the tan closets and started to pull out baby dolls. Each one looking similar to the other, all wearing plain white diapers.
"NO, god no!" Tai slammed his head down on the desk, "I heard of this but I thought it was a myth!"
"I believe Tai had figure out what is going on," Mrs. Amberson smiled, "Girls come up and pick a child." The rush, quietly walked to the desk and picked up a doll to carry to their desk. A few held their doll as if it was a child, some, like Sora, grabbed the baby by the arm or foot to take it back to their seats.
"Can we pick the dads!" Jun asked, "I want dibs on Matt!"
"You and everyone else," Mrs. Amberson smiled at Matt. "But I'm afraid I picked the couples and you weren't together. The couples I picked are couples I feel will have conflicts with each other…"
"You want us to fight with our partners?" I asked.
"Me and Tai aren't together are we?" Matt asked with a worried look.
"Yes Izzy and no Matt." Mrs. Amberson gave me her special smile, one for me only. I would like to say that I was her favoirte but I'm not. I'm no more her favourite then any others in this classroom. "I picked couples that will have arguments because you are graded on how you deal with these spats. You work out your problems, you get better grades. The less you cope, the lesser your grade. I have added the children on to cause that extra stress. I want you to feel what it's like to come face to face with your thoughts, emotions and deal with them like adults you will be." She paused looking around the classroom as she leaned against her desk. All the girls had been seated, their dolls on the desk. "These dolls before you are special dolls for more then one reason. You will spend time with these children as if they were alive. You take them almost everywhere with you. Now installed inside their little minds are little cameras which means…"
"PORN!" Tai jumped up to give Matt a high five, but realise his best friend was now clear across the room.
"WHICH means," Mrs. Amberson gave Tai a stern look that made him sit down, "I ask that you do not take the dolls in a private place such as Locker Rooms, Bathrooms, anywhere you may change…"
"Damn there goes porn…" Tai put his head down.
"I'm living in the bathroom from now on," Davis muttered.
"Each camera has a date and time printed as it records." Mrs. Amberson continued, "Which means that I'll know how long the child had been left alone. I will give you each two hours in the bathroom…"
"Only two!" Mimi cried, "How about four!"
"Four and a half!" Matt raised his hand.
"Matt and Mimi will have four and a half hours alone in the bathroom, everyone else two hours. Longer then that, you get a negative point. You can counter out your negative points with three positive points." She looked around to make sure everyone was paying attention.
"Kari you are now an Ishida." Mrs. Amberson handed her what looked like a fake marriage certificate.
"Yes!" Tk stuck out his tongue at Davis.
"But," Kari looked over at Tk, then quickly at Mrs. Amberson, "I…I think this is wrong."
"No, it's right hun." She gave her a smile, "You're Matt's wife."
"WHAT!" Tk and Tai both yelled, looking over at Matt.
"Don't worry, I won't do anything you haven't done little bro!" Matt winked at his brother.
"That's good, I started to think you would try something." Tai sat back down in his chair.
"Hey, I try stuff!" Tk stuck up for himself. The class, including me, burst out in laughter.
"TK!" Kari flushed, Tai's face turned red with anger.
"Yolei, your husband is Tk." I looked over at Tk who was still looking at Kari and Matt.
"Sora, your husband is Izzy," I didn't mind that. Sora was pretty and she was friendly, how hard could it be for our marriage?
"Jun and Tai," One she went.
"Davis and Mimi, you are together." She went on down the list, my friends pairing off with another friend, one after another. Chairs were moved so people could set next to their spouse.
"Now these dolls are nameless so you will have to decide what to name your child. Also, you will have to feed the children this baby food," she held up little bottles of what looked to be food. "This isn't real baby food but does look like. These babies are able to pass this food down their digestive track, shorter then humans."
"The kids are going to shit, aren't they?" Matt wrinkled up his nose.
"More or less, that's correct was well as urinating. Simple water can be used."
"What if we don't feed the kid?" I asked.
"We will, later, rewind tapes and watch them as a group. If you do not feed your child within twelve hours, we consider that child abuse. You will give eight negative points."
"This is going to suck…" Someone from behind me mumbled.
"You will have to name your child however before you do that you might want to check to see if you have a daughter or a son." Student exchanged glances and very slowly, brave souls peeked to see what was hidden under the child's diaper.