Thalia's gonna be a cute, trusting little girl for the next few chaps. I just wanted to let you know in case you thought she was OOC.
Thalia rode in the car to school. But today was different. Her dad was visiting and he was the one driving. They'd talked for a while, then there'd been some silence, but he'd broken it by asking, "Thalia, what do you think about having a little brother."
Thalia pondered the question for a while then replied, "I don't know. It would be nice, I guess. I never really thought about it before. Why?"
"Because yesterday your mom came home from work and told me that you're going to have a baby brother."
"Wow. What's he going to be named?" Thalia was suddenly really excited.
"I haven't thought about it. What do you think?"
"What about a hero's name? I know he'll be a hero when he grows up. Someone who'll make history."
"Jason? He went on a quest for the Golden Fleece. Very heroic, he was."
"Yeah! Jason. I like that. Jason Grace. It sounds nice together."
"Then Jason it is. Get on out. You don't want to be late for your last day of school."
"Okay, everyone. We're going to do an activity first. You'll each get a piece of paper. On that paper, you're going to draw a picture and write one word about it underneath. This picture and word has to be something that you're looking forward to for next year. Here's an example."
Miss Soleil drew a picture on the chalkboard. It was a classroom with stick figures sitting in the seats and a stick figure woman with a dress was at the chalkboard. Underneath, she wrote something that was hard for Thalia to read. Her dad had said that was because of something called dyslexia.
"Can everyone say the word out loud?"
"Sec-ond," the class read out together in unison.
"Exactly. Can any of you guess what that means?"
A white-blonde girl with purple-rimmed glasses raised her hand. Her name was Sophia. Once called on, she guessed, "You're going to teach second grade next year?"
Miss Soleil beamed. "Yes, I am. And some of you will be lucky enough to get me as your teacher." The small part of Thalia that was depressed about leaving her teacher behind perked up. She hoped so badly she would get Miss Soleil.
The papers were passed out. One fluttered down and rested in front of her. James, Alex, Hailey, and Jade were all immediately engrossed in their drawings. Thalia had to think about it for a while. Then she smiled and began.
The class took turns telling the class what their pictures meant. It almost melted Katherine's heart (though not in sadness) to learn that so many of the kids wanted her as their teacher again next year. Some were getting a new pet. Others were looking forward to dance classes. Sophia was looking forward to learning to read harder books next year. James couldn't wait until his birthday in September, when he'd be getting a pranking kit that he'd wanted or a long time.
And then there was Thalia. Like so many of the others, she wanted Katherine as her teacher again. But the way she displayed it was quite unique. The word was "Solyay", but she probably had meant "Soleil". It would naturally be hard for her. A dyslexic English-speaking kid who'd just learned to spell her whole family's names a year ago could barely be expected to suddenly have perfect French spelling.
"I want Miss Soleil as my teacher next year. That's why I wrote her last name. My dad can speak Latin, and he said that French was based off of Latin. Then I told him that Miss Soleil's last name is French, and he told me that it means sun. Plus, I think she's beautiful and bright, like the sun." Katherine smiled. Little Thalia didn't even know the half of it.
"My mommy drinks a drink that makes her mean, but my daddy has tried to stop her from drinking it, and if she does stop, then she will always be nice, which is exactly what I want and what I drew and wrote. No drink, and nice.
"Then I have a baby boy and the word Jason. My mommy's going to have a baby boy, and my dad and I thought it should be named Jason, like the Greek hero." Katherine smiled. That was wonderful. Maybe if Thalia's mother had a baby, there would be something else that would have to keep her sober.
No one knew how much closer Jason would bring teacher and student together.