CHAPTER TEN: BACK TO SCHOOL

"Shane…wake up, Shane! Emily's already eating breakfast."

I groaned. "What time is it?"

"Six thirty, whiner baby. Get up!" Mitchie smacked my leg and I reluctantly got up. I changed and headed downstairs.

"Morning, Emily. Excited for today?"

She smiled a hundred watt smile and hugged me. "Of course! You're gonna be the best dad there!"

"Emily, I hope you know that this isn't a competition."

Emily just quickly said okay. I just shook my head, smiling. "You all packed and ready to go?"

"Yes. Oh, don't forget your guitar. Mommy said that you could play a song for everyone."

Mitchie will never change. Always planning things for me without my permission. But as long as I wasn't dressing up like a circus clown, I would be happy to play guitar for Emily's class.

"You would like me to play, Em?"

"Yeah! I have the bestest guitar player dad ever!!"

I smiled at her use of the word best. "Well, that is only because I have a great daughter."

As I ate, I realized that Mitchie had been right all along. I was really a good dad. Being a father just came natural to me. I laughed quietly. Ten years ago, if I had thought that, I would have probably thrown a fit. But now…it just made my heart flutter with happiness. My heart beat a bit faster when I saw Mitchie and her rounded self slowly coming down the stairs. "Hurry up, you two, you have to leave in five minutes."

I got up, placed my dish in the sink, grabbed my guitar case, and kissed Mitchie tenderly. "You call me if you need anything, alright?"

"Shane, I swear, you're acting like you're going on tour or something, I'll be fine! Have fun with your daughter." She kissed my cheek, then helped Emily put her backpack on. "Have a good day, Emmy! I love you."

Emily hugged Mitchie best she could, then ran out to the car. I pecked Mitch's lips one more time and then Emily and I headed to school.

Once we got there, Emily practically dragged me through the halls and into her classroom. I let her go off with her friends. I found a guy who looked like he was bored, so I went over to talk to him. "You were begged to come, too?"

He looked at me and smiled tiredly. "Yeah. It's stressful. My wife is pregnant with twins and I have a working trip I have to take in a week. But I couldn't say no to my son. He means so much to me."

"I know how you feel. My wife's pregnant too, except we're not having twins, my brother just got married, and I have a lot of people following me around all the time."

He raised his eyebrows at me, then looked at my guitar case, and then looked back at me. "Hey, you're that Shane Gray, from the famous band! I never thought that you'd show up here!"

"Well, I do have a lot of things to do, but my daughter really wanted me to come."

"Aren't you kinda young to have a child in this class?"

"She's my adopted daughter. Her mother was a friend of my wife and I, but she died of cancer, so we took Emily in. And quite frankly, I can't imagine life without her."

The smile reappeared on his face. "That was a wonderful thing for you to do, young man. I used to think lowly of you because of your attitude, but it seems like that was all just rumors."

I shook my head. "No, they weren't rumors. I was a selfish person until I met my wife. She completely changed me."

"Well, she must really be a special person, then."

"She is, she really is."

"Are you excited about your expected child?"

"Overwhelmingly so. I can't wait to hold her in my arms."

"It's a girl?"

"Yes. We're going to name her Shay, short for my name." I chuckled. "Mitchie, my wife, came up with that name before we even started dating."

He laughed too. "Hey, I know your name, but you don't know mine. I'm Rick Anderson."

"Nice to meet you, Rick."

We chatted for a few more minutes until the teacher told everyone to quiet down. A mom went up and talked to the class about her job as a ballerina dancer. She danced to some music, then gave everyone cards to her ballet school.

A dentist went up and explained about his job, then gave the uninterested kids toothbrushes.

Rick was next, he talked about his job, which turned out to be a traveling emergency medic, then he showed a video of what he did while he was away. The kids loved him.

Another mom went up, she was a lawyer. The class liked her as well, because they did a skit about being in court.

Finally, it was my turn. I smiled at everyone before I sat down on the stool. "Hey, everyone, I'm Shane Gray, Emily's dad. Now, who's ever heard of a band called Connect Three?"

A little boy raised his hand. "My sister has their poster in her room and she kisses the youngest guy every night."

I laughed. "I'm sure Nate's wife would love to speak with your sister. Well, everybody, I'm the lead singer of that band. Being famous might seem like it's fun, but sometimes it can be frustrating. Girls screaming at you wherever you go, signing autographs while grabbing a bite to eat at McDonald's, and people starting untrue rumors. But it is fun, thought. Signing on stage once in awhile, meeting other celebrities, selling albums. It's really fun. So, what we're going to do today, is sing a song that my wife, Mitchie, wrote. I'll teach you the lyrics, then we'll all sing along, okay?"

We sang So Far So Great and even the other parents sang along. The day ended rather quickly, and Emily was quiet as we headed home. "Emily, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Then why are you so quiet?"

"I heard you talking to Mr. Anderson."

"Okay…you're still not telling me the problem, sweetie."

"When Shay comes, will you pay more attention to her and forget about me?"

"Well, I will probably be around Shay a lot, but I will still want to be around you, Emily. I love you, why would I forget about you?"

"Because, Shay is your real daughter. I'm just adopted."

"Is that the problem, you feel unimportant because you're adopted? Emily, honey, I can't change your mind, but I can tell you that I love you more than anything and you are special to me. Okay?"

"Okay."

I pulled into the driveway and we entered silently. I could hear Mitchie on the phone in the kitchen. Sneaking silently into the kitchen, I listened.

"Yes, I'm sure." "Healthy as ever." "He keeps going off into space lately…" "Thank you, that's means a lot…" "Will do, bye!"

I decided to make myself known. "Who was that?"

Mitchie's eyes widened as she saw me. "Uh…Shane, I can't lie to you. That was your doctor, Shawn. I called him because I wanted to ask a few questions."

"What questions?" I put my guitar in the corner and sat down.

"Well, you just seem kinda lost and worried too much lately. You aren't acting like your happy, hyper self. I wanted to know if you were entering depression or something."

I smiled. "And what did he say?"

"He said that it's normal for expectant fathers. I'm sorry, Shaney, but I was worried about you."

"It's fine, Mitch, I'm glad to hear that you were worried. How was your day?"

"Fine. Yours?"

"It was fun. I met another dad, his name's Rick, he was okay. But I'd rather have been home alone with you and Emily all day."

"I know. Why don't you go take a nap while I cook?"

"Sounds fine." I kissed her cheek then entered the living room and fell asleep on the couch.

A/N: Oh. My. God. I am a horrible person for making you all wait so long!!! It's just that school started and we got a new dog. And my dad asked me to name the dog and the first thing that popped out of my mouth was Shane. So I have a Shane in my house now. Love you all and I'm so sorry!!!