Chapter 3

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Adventures In Education (part 1)


Ms. Anderson was the teacher's helper, a college education major placed at one of the top-notch counties in the state of Georgia, someone who considered herself very lucky with regards to her placement at "Cartin's Care Center," a Pre-K for children 3-years-old and up.

She started last year so she already had a small amount of experience dealing with little monsters and their terrible tantrums, but every year was different and she was pleasantly surprised to find herself finally gifted a class of relatively polite 3-year-olds.

(Of course, it wasn't actually her classroom given that she was only a teaching assistant until she received her degree, but who really cared?)

She was just the teacher's helper, but for some reason she seemed to do more for this group of kids than the actual teacher.

Ms. Anderson knew kids were odd. She'd had a couple last year that claimed aliens had taken them–you know, typical toddler nonsense–but she had never met such a strange child as the Fenton's.

She remembered the introduction vividly–a family driving up in a giant neon green and white van would obviously cause a scene–and recalled the parent's overdramatic tears as they hugged their giggling son. In the end, as surrounding parents and children watched in odd fascination and curiosity, it was the eldest daughter who finally convinced the adults to let their son go. The son, who seemed to be taking the separation a lot better than his parents, allowed himself to be guided towards his classroom by Ms. Anderson.

The little one had beautiful eyes, the kind that made you stare until you realized they had asked you a question while you were lost in the intensity of their color. His hair was messy and he wore a shirt with a little green ghost on it.

As she had done for the rest of the kids she guided this morning, Ms. Anderson asked how he was feeling and if he was excited, trying to make him feel more comfortable.

The child nodded his head quickly. "Mommy says I make frien's. I say I have frien's but Mommys says Sven, and Kitty, and Nee don't count 'cause they Gests."

Remembering the alien's incident, Ms. Anderson laughed. "I'm glad you already have friends, but your mom is right! It'll be nice to meet more that are like you."

The child's nose scrunched up as he looked up at her. "You don't tell no one?" he asked, obviously preparing to tell her what his child-like mind viewed as a secret.

Ms. Anderson swore she wouldn't, but the child stayed silent until she crossed their pinkies and promised for a second time.

He sighed, suddenly looking relieved. "Okay, I like you, but you can't tell no one!" he whispered, tugging her sleeve until she paused and leaned down to listen. Even though the warmth she felt inside at his admission felt wonderful, Ms. Anderson absently noticed that the area around the two of them felt oddly cold for the end of the summer season.

"Sven, and Kitty, and Nee worry 'bout me so they come to school too," he said, a huge smile tacking over his face as the teaching assistant leaned back to smile at him. "They follow 'cause Mommy and Daddy and Azz don' see them."

"They sound like very good friends," Ms. Anderson agreed, looking down at the adorably imaginative child who eagerly jumped up and down.

His head turned somewhere to the left of her and he said, "See! I told you she like you!"

As the child talked to the empty air, Ms. Anderson could already feel herself filling with hope for the new year. Her first experience here was tarnished by the spoiled children last year had given her to deal with, but if the other kids were as sweet as this one then things were looking up!

Suddenly realizing she hadn't asked the child's name, Ms. Anderson did so.

The little one stopped talking to his ghost friends to turn to her again. "My name is Danny this time!" he said, grinning and taking her hand as they continued to walk towards the classroom. His excitement was enticing, but the answer was slightly off.

"This time?" she asked, confused.

Danny nodded, looking thoughtful. "I think I was someone else befo', but I'm Danny now."

"Do you mean you used to have a different name?" the teaching assistant prompted, remembering the gossip about a certain family only being accepted to such an expensive school due to government protection.

Danny shrugged. "Look diff'ent and tall," he explained reaching up and pointing past Ms. Anderson's head. "Reeeeeeally tall!"

The child stopped suddenly, squinting again and poking himself in the head. Before she could ask if he was alright, he suddenly reached backwards and touched his shoulders. His eyes widened and he twirled around quickly. "Hair gone too!" he said, acting as if he had just remembered something.

Danny stopped patting his back to look back up at the teacher. "I think I was girl last time," he stated very matter of factly, frowning.

Being careful to remind herself that kids often talked about nonsense things such as this, Ms. Anderson nodded along, hoping the child would share more. Perhaps it was a transgender thing? If so it was her duty as a teacher to offer support–

"Boy befo' too," Danny continued, humming. "Then not both? No, that one was stupid 'cause there were booms a lot and made wear yucky blankets. While 'go there ships and nice tea get in sea."

Danny paused to point to his arm and ask, "Can pe'ple be not white?"

The subject of race had come up quickly, and Ms. Anderson floundered for a moment. Of course, this was a neighborhood full of some extremely… rigid people who would sometimes bribe the relators into making sure no one of "that sort" found their way into–okay, who was she kidding? This was a town of racism and snobby old folks.

"Yes, Danny," she said gently, "people can be a darker color than you or I, but they are most certainty good people and you should not listen if someone tells you otherwise–"

"-I know," the child nodded, looking angry and rubbing his wrists. "Was too. Bad chains and boats. I mad so broke chain and help go others."

Ms. Anderson had dealt with a lot of weird stories from kids, but someone claiming they were not only a girl, but a different race before being who they were now was definitely a new one.

Danny was only three, and honestly if someone knew she was having this conversation about gender and race with a child in this type of snobby neighborhood, she could be blacklisted from working in education. And this beautiful child who seemed so different from the others, who was loud and creative and accepting of several things he shouldn't even know about yet, did not deserve the angry stares of other adults.

Ms. Anderson gently placed her hands on Danny's shoulders and knelt down until they were eyelevel. The classroom was right down the hall so she felt like this needed to be addressed now.

"Danny, you sound like a wonderful and imaginative child, but I need you to do something for me, okay?" she explained, thankful when he nodded. "If you ever want to talk about your amazing adventures and your ghost friends, please come to me and I will listen for hours, I pinky promise."

She had to pause to clasp pinkies with the child whose eyes sparkled as he watched their entwined fingers. "But try not to tell other adults, the people who are tall and older like me, okay? It's a secret, like you said, and secrets are super important and only supposed to be shared with a couple of people."

Danny's head tilted slightly and his eyes found the empty space beside her. After a moment, he nodded again. "Nee says trust you."

Ms. Anderson released a breath. "I'm very glad they trust me, and I promise I'll explain when you're older, but talking like this in a place like this isn't good, you understand?"

"No," Danny said, with all the bluntness of a child. "But Nee like you and I like you."

The teaching assistant smiled, feeling a rush of affection for the kid who was quickly becoming her favorite. She brushed a strand of hair behind his ears when he blew on it. "Here," she laughed, pulling out a handful of bobby pins. "These will help keep your hair out of your eyes. Wouldn't want you to be blind on your first day of school!"

Danny gasped, smiling as he quickly picked out a butterfly clip with stars on it. "This one," he breathed.

Ms. Anderson clipped it in, a bit shocked at how vivid his eyes looked without his hair hiding parts of them. "Looks like we've got a little astronaut here," she teased, standing up and taking his hand again.

Danny sighed and looked at the sky. "Miss stars," he said with such a longing that Ms. Anderson almost believed he knew what it felt like to be among them.

The classroom door was closed when they approached, but it swung open suddenly. Expecting to see the teacher in charge holding it on the other side, Ms. Anderson was surprised to find no one standing there.

"Thanks, Kitty!" Danny cheered, waving at an empty space beside the door. He quickly let go of the teaching assistant's hand and raced inside the classroom, finding his nametag easily.

Ms. Anderson could have done a lot of things in response to the door opening by itself, instead she calmly stepped through and stared as the door slowly shut behind her. She stared at the door for quite a long time, ignoring the children talking amongst themselves in the background.

Finally, she breathed in deeply and said, quite unsure of herself, "Thank you."

The air next to her dropped ten degrees and rose just as quickly a second later.


o.O.o.O.o.O.o.

A/N: Part one of little Danny's school time adventure! My favorite way of telling a story is through the POV of other characters (sometimes minor ones as they are the easiest to mold) as the main character grows and does things that continue to scare and surprise them. The "Adventures in Education" arc will have a lot of Danny's classmates', Ms. Anderson's, teacher's, and parent's POV of the Fenton kid.

R & R please and thank you! :D

Q and A:

Ages?

Danny is 3 and Jazz is finally starting Kindergarten at 6.

Okay... wtf is going on?

As explained in the prologue, Guardians are sort of reincarnations without actually having their souls reincarnated. They have the memories of their previous versions of themselves, but they are technically a new soul every singe rebirth. Danny is young and he is having trouble distinguishing between his past memories and his new ones. He was several different gender identities, races, and sexual identities in the past as he has been several different people before. The biggest thing to remember is that with Guardians, even if they have memories of their past lives, their thoughts, feelings, and actions are only dependent upon who they become now. That's why I say they are a new person each time.

Are things really still going to follow canon?

My story will meet up with canon eventually (a bit of an adjusted canon) and then branch off before the disaster that is Phantom Planet. Not sure if I want Danielle in this version... what do you guys think? Should Danielle be Vlad's attempt to make a Guardian like them, but obviously it doesn't work as nature itself fights back and keeps trying to melt her?

Pairings?

As seen in pretty much all of my stories, I suck at romance and tend to prefer strong platonic relationships. There's too much plot here for me to allow romance to get in the way. This boy is saving the earth and trying to figure himself out, not looking for love in a time of war. Danny's romantic relationships with other people are almost as bad as his relationship with sleep.