Chapter 28: Back To School

With the birth of Trenton and Anna and their arrival home 5 days later the Russo-Torres's had quite the adjustment to make with two new babies in the house. The first night home with the twins was, as to be expected, much more work than Ariana's first night home 6 years earlier. Mitchie and Alex were lucky if they had gotten 2 hours total of sleep that night and after Anna had started crying for the 3rd time Ariana got out of bed and told Alex that she had changed her mind and wanted to bring both Anna and Trenton back to the hospital since they both caused so much noise. Over the remaining weeks of summer Ariana got more used to the noise around the house and soon summer had ended as fast as it had begun and now September 5th had arrived and Ariana was once again beginning school, this time she would be going to school full time in 1st Grade. At 6:30 Alex woke up her eldest daughter and prepared Ariana's breakfast and the twins each a bottle while Mitchie took a quick shower.

"Ari can you bring your bag down so we can check to make sure all your school supplies is in it please?" Alex asked. After finishing her bowl of cheerio's the little girl quickly got changed into her favourite purple double sleeved dress (the dress she had picked out school shopping a few weeks earlier and begged Alex to wear until the night before) and brought her new school bag down from her bedroom and let her mother check everything.

"Okay looks like everything's here." Alex confirmed as she zipped up the bag. While Mitchie Lay Anna down on her play mat and fed Trenton his bottle in the living room, Alex and Ariana got dressed to head out to the bus. The little girl tore through the closet and found the shoes she had been waiting all too patiently to wear: her brand new purple Converse that had been sitting in the closet in a box for nearly 3 weeks.

"Ari, I don't think you can wear converse with your dress." Alex giggled. The little girl merely looked up at her mother with a very Alex Russo style "and why can't I?" look on her face.

"Who said?" the little girl said with her mother's sass as she tied the left shoe tightly, showing her mother she had no desire to wear any other shoes besides her beloved converse. After her other shoe had been tied, Ariana and Alex headed out the door after saying goodbye to Mitchie and made their way over to the bus stop.

"So I'll come pick you up from the bus stop later okay?" Alex said as she gave her daughter a kiss as the bus pulled up to the stop.

"Okay, bye mama!" Ariana said as she ran onto the bus with all the other kids.

"Bye honey, love you, have fun!"

The bus doors closed and the vehicle headed off to the other stops and Alex made her way back home.

"Anna Banana what's wrong honey?" Mitchie asked as she bounced her daughter lightly in her arms trying to calm her down. As Alex closed the front door she turned the corner into the living room and saw Trenton now on the play mat and Anna crying loudly in Mitchie's arms.

"Want some help?" Alex asked her wife.

"Please, she's being crying since a few minutes after you left." Mitchie said as she handed Anna over to Alex and began watching Trenton on the mat.

"Awe, Banana it's okay." Alex cooed as she rubbed Anna's back soothingly, Anna rested comfortably upon her shoulder. After a few minutes the youngest of the Russo children had calmed down.

"There we go, all better." Alex smiled as she placed Anna by her brother on the play mat.

"Well I better get going, Anthony wanted me to come in a little early today so we could start prepping some of the food for a party of 30 that's coming in today." Mitchie said as she gave Alex a kiss before she headed upstairs to get ready. Although Alex was on maternity leave(but still working from home when she had the time while the twins were sleeping or Mitchie was watching them for a bit so Alex could have that time to concentrate) Mitchie was still on call at the restaurant whenever they needed her for special parties or events that the restaurant decided to host.

"Okay, I'll see you later babe." Mitchie said as she gave Alex a kiss and kissed the babies on the head before heading off to the restaurant.

"Guess it's just me and you guys." Alex said as she looked at her youngest children, a sense of Déjà vu from the day Mitchie had started college and she was left alone with a then 4 month old Ariana. The two babies murmured away as they lay on the mat and Alex sat beside them as she turned on the TV for some added noise.

The house was much too quiet with everyone gone, even with the twins murmuring.


"Good morning, class!" Ms. Jessica Nielsen said as all her new students piled into the classroom.

"Could everyone please find their spots at the tables?"

All the students walked around the classroom to find their spots at the 4 tables around the room. After a few minutes everyone had found their spots and Ms. Nielsen spoke again.

"Thank you everyone, and welcome to your first day of 1st grade. I'm Ms. Nielsen and I'm going to be your teacher this year. Now when I call your name for attendance I want you to tell me something fun that you did or that happened this summer." Ms. Nielsen said as she pulled out a paper containing her list of students.

"Grant Avery?"

"I went to a baseball game with my dad and my older brother Joey." The little boy said.

"Wow, that's cool. Rachel Berry?" Ms. Nielsen.

"I went to Disney World with my mommy, daddy and my sister Beth."

The list went on and finally Ariana was called.

"I got a new baby brother and a baby sister named Anna and Trenton." She said proudly.

"They're really cute, but really loud."

Ms. Nielsen giggled at Ariana's comment.

"Wow, that's so exciting Ariana." Ms. Nielsen said as she continued on with attendance. With everyone present and accounted for Ms. Nielsen started going over what the goals were for the school year and after she was done speaking, the children emptied their school supplies into their respective cubbies.

"Now who would like to go and take a quick visit to the library?" Ms. Nielsen asked after all the students had finished putting their things away. Almost every student shouted "me!" or "I do!" and Ms. Nielsen smiled.

"Okay, now were going to go line up in partners okay? The partners will be: Rachel and Grant, Raven and Brittany, Demetria and Selena, Christopher and Kyle, Ariana and Sarah, Michael and Zachary, Everlie and Chelsie, Layla and Jack, Alexis and Hannah, and Matthew and Ryan" Ms. Nielsen read out.

"Now everyone please form a line at the door and stand beside your partner"

All the kids lined up as they were told and stood beside their partner. Making their way through the halls of Tribeca Elementary the class of 1st graders headed over to the library and each group chose a book.

"How about One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish?" Ariana asked as she pulled the book off the shelf and placing her marker in the books place so she would remember where to put it back.

"Okay! My daddy read that to me last night, I like the yink who only drinks pink ink." The little girl said with a smile. As the two girls took turns reading the famous book by Dr. Seuss, Ariana had something on her mind. Why was it that most, if not all, of the kids in her class had a daddy, when she had a mama and mommy? Jaiden had a mommy and daddy, Sarah had a daddy, so did Rachel, why didn't she? Did anyone else have a mama and mommy like her? The little girl was confused for a while until Sarah had told her it was her turn to read a couple pages of their book and all her previous thoughts were pushed aside as the girls continued to read until Ms. Nielsen told them it was time to head back to class. A few minutes after they had returned from the library Recess began and of course Ariana rushed to find Jaiden on the playground.

"Jai!" Ariana squealed as she rushed up to the older boy.

"Race you to the swings!" Jaiden said as he and Ariana began running.

"I'm gunna win! I'm gunna win!" Ariana exclaimed as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her over to the swing set. Finally she landed stomach first onto the swing, launching herself slightly into the air on the swing and spreading her arms like a bird.

"I won!" she giggled triumphantly as Jaiden slowed down once he realized he had been defeated (although in all truth he had slowed down just after he and Ariana had begun racing to ensure her the victory, like he always did).

"I'll win the next one." the 3rd grader said as he began swinging. Ariana just giggled.

"That's what you said the last time." Ariana said. For the next fifteen minutes the two children caught up, they hadn't seen each other in a while since Alex and Mitchie took Ariana, Anna and Trenton to Texas for the last bit of summer vacation, and the end of recess had come.

" Do over race at lunch? This time I know I'll win." Jaiden said.

"Okay, But you know I'm gunna win." Were the last words said by Ariana as the two children parted ways to head to their separate classrooms. For the rest of the first day back at Tribeca Elementary Ms. Nielsen's first grade class just simply did some review of the things they had learned the year before, a few games that required remembering the order of the alphabet and a few counting games that all the children seemed to love, just to take the first day back a little slow, and finally the first day was over. Ariana hopped off the bus where Alex was waiting for her with Anna and Trenton in their stroller.

"Hey honey, how was your first day back at school?" Alex asked as they made the trip back to the house.

"It was fun. Ms. Nielsen's so cool and I read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish with Sarah in the library today." The little girl said. As they made their way through the door, Ariana continued to tell her mother about how she had beaten Jaiden both at Recess and at lunch at their races to the school swing set (which again, he had let her win). At around 4:30 Mitchie made her way through the door and Ariana greeted her with a hug and once Mitchie had asked her daughter how her day back at school went, she went on once again about beating Jaiden twice even though he claimed that he would win. Later that night after dinner had been finished and Ariana had had her bath Mitchie was putting Ariana to bed while Alex checked on the twins in the room across from Ariana's.

"Mommy, how come Jaiden, Rachel and Sarah have a mommy and daddy and I have a mama and mommy?" Ariana asked once they had finished Ariana's bedtime story. Mitchie bit her lip, how exactly do you explain something like that to a 6, almost 6 and a half year old? After thinking for a moment Mitchie came up with an answer.

"Well honey, the best way I can put it now is that there are some kids who have a mommy and daddy, some of them have a mommy and mama, and some have 2 daddies. And you, Anna and Trenton are kids who just happen to have a mama and mommy" Mitchie explained.

"You'll understand a bit better when you're a little older." Mitchie assured her as she kissed her goodnight.

"Night, honey." Mitchie said as she turned off Ariana's bedroom light.

"Night, mommy." Ariana murmured as she slowly fell asleep.

Hey y'all! So I am so not ready to start school again tomorrow haha, I like the winter, spring and summer breaks way too much to be excited to go back to prison lol. So I know Ariana asking about not having a dad is a little over due for some of you readers but I was waiting until she was a little older when it was easier to explain.

R&R!