Sofia : Saint/Sinners
There is always order in the chaos
Summary: A very troubled girl and very patient teacher.
When Cedric decided to pursue a career in teaching, he quickly learns that it took a great deal of patience and understanding as well as a firm hand to keep his students in line, slowly over time he gained a reputation of being very popular teacher among his peers and colleges, the students came to respect him grudgingly for his help over the years.
One day he was sitting at his desk grading papers, having dismissed his final class for the day, when he heard the door open, looking up he excepted to see one of his students coming to ask him a question about an assignment, but instead there stood a man clearly of high status, his red hair stood out quite shockingly against his sun kissed skin, his eyes a bright cornflower blue staring at him with such intensity that it took all of Cedric will power to not look away as he said.
"May I help you?" He asked.
The man clears his throat softly, then he starts to speak.
"I am sorry for the intrusion, sir, but I am Birk Balthazar and I come asking for your help."
"My help? You seem pretty old to be a student." He said sarcastically.
"It's my daughters, you see I heard that you are known for helping the most troubled of children learn to behave and take their education seriously."
"Names and ages of your children, if you would be so kind." Cedric states as he grabs a blank piece of paper and his pen.
"Cindy Balthazar, 9, Sofia Balthazar, 8." Birk states watching as the other man writes the information down before looking back up at him again.
"Tell me the reason you seek my help in particular, I am sure that you could have chosen anyone, why me?" He asked.
Birk sighs sadly before he leans against one of the desk his posture once straight with confidence quickly slumped with defeat as he starts to explain.
"My youngest daughter, Sofia was always a sweet and kind child to a fault, but then one day after her 5th birthday she started to act out, at first it was simply just not wanting to go to bed or brush her teeth, it soon started to get worse as she grew, I tried everything to help teach her, but nothing seems to work, even my wife Miranda has tried to get through to her, but failed, Cindy my oldest tried to get her to see reason, but that end up with Sofia giving her a black eye, which in turn had me separating the two for her own safety, she is simply concerned for her little sister, but dares not cross her for fear of getting harmed, when it came to their education Cindy thrived and learned a great deal, but the opposite could be said for Sofia, as she will not listen to her tutors and will play pranks on them until they quit, when I heard about you, I thought that I found the answers to my prayers and decided to come over right away."
Cedric was silent for the whole explanation and once the man was done, he sighs softly before standing up and walking around to the front of his desk.
"If I decide to help Sofia, you will not interfere, I am strict and no nonsense, so if Sofia comes crying to you about my punishments, ignore it, she has to learn that you will not give in to her tears every time, there is a time and place for such things, I am not asking you to push her away or to keep her at a distance, just know that she might be wanting your attention for all the wrong reasons, I promise you that I will not abuse your child, just give her some much needed discipline and rules."
The look of relief on Birk's face was evident as he reaches into his coat's inner pocket and pulls out a small piece of paper.
"Here is the address, and thank you, I promise that you will be paid well for your serves."
Taking the paper, Cedric waves off the suggestion of money saying, "Think nothing of it, I am just, but a humble teacher, who is willing to help every child get an education, I will see you this coming Sunday."
Birk nods, "Sunday it is then, well then see you soon." with that said he leaves the room, with a pensive Cedric behind it's doors, then he groans when the gravity of what he just accepted hit him.
'Merlin's mushrooms! What did I just agree too!'
But then he heard the sounds of his students coming back inside, so he quickly shoves away his troubled thoughts and he got on with the lessons.
For the next few days Cedric was busy preparing his class for his absence for the foreseeable future and making sure that he was packed and ready for his trip to the Balthazar's Estate.
By the time Sunday finally rolled around he was soon was standing at the gates with two bags with all of his clothes and supplies that he would need, when he first spotted what would he his home for a while he was impressed by the large country side manor, a 2 story Victorian style home that was quite beautiful and imposing to outsiders, standing on an impressive amounts of land surrounded by all sides in perfect circle which was made possible by the beautiful stone walls the gate being the only entrance and exit which were surrounded by vast amounts of forest, the path long and has many turns enough to confuse those that didn't know their way around.
After thanking the coachman, he stood by the main gates waiting and he didn't have to wait long as he saw a older man walking down towards him wearing a clothes of high class but he appeared to a servant of kind.
"Greeting, I am Baileywick, the head Stewart and Butler of this lovely estate, you must be Cedric, yes?" the man, Baileywick asked as he quickly takes a key and opens the gates.
Cedric nods before reaching out to grab his bags, Baileywick was quickly to gather them up and gestures for him to follow which Cedric does.
About half away he hear the the sounds of a children laughing and screaming, he looks around to see where the noises were coming from when he was nearly runover by a purple blur, followed not far behind dark pink blur chasing after it, he quickly turns to where they were heading and saw two girls, one appearing to a disheveled, her curly ginger brown hair matted with knots, her pale face dirty with dirt her eyes bright with playfulness, her dress was grass stained and ripped in various places and appears she wasn't wearing shoes, her feet caked in mud, she was wearing a mischievous smirk on her face as the older girl who a light tan and bright green eyes, who appeared a bit more dignified but she had appeared to have met the unfortunate end of a mud puddle as her once beautiful pink dress was now caked with mud, she was scolding the younger girl.
"Miss Cindy, Miss Sofia! Your parents order you to be ready for our new guest." Baileywick said in scolding manner as he puts down the bags to go over to them, causing the girls to look sheepish, by then the younger girl quickly runs off ignoring Baileywick shouts, before sighing and looking back at the other girl.
"Let me guess a mud puddle prank?" He said knowingly as he picks up the bags once more.
The girl nods grimacing at the state of her dress, but then she quickly notices Cedric and curtsy to him.
"Oh forgive me sir, I am Lady Cynthia, but you may call me Cindy, everyone does, the girl you saw run off was my pain in the butt little sister, Lady Sofia."
Cedric nods, bowing a bit, "Nice to meet you, I am Cedric, your new teacher."
Her greens eyes widen a bit in surprise, but then she quickly composes herself and goes back inside with Baileywick, leaving Cedric outside.
Looking around he decides to go find his wayward student, who didn't run very far as she was sitting on a branch of a rather large oak tree, that sat in center of what appeared to a flower garden of sorts.
"Hello up there, I was wondering if I could find a pretty lady by the name of Sofia around here." Cedric said.
The girl looks down at him, before scoffing, saying, "Save your breath, I am not pretty or a lady in anyway, so shove off."
Cedric frowns at language, but decides to just wait her out, so he sits down at the base of the tree.
"You must be the new teacher my father told us about, I heard you are known for helping troubled kids, well I might as well save you the trouble, you will never be able to help me become a snobby and airheaded lady like my goodie two shoes sister, not now, not ever." She states with defiant.
Cedric nods saying nothing knowing that she will eventually run out of steam, get hungry and come down.
After about an hour, Cedric could hear the sounds of Sofia climbing down the tree, so he quickly moves away as to not make her feel caged in or threaten.
Once she was firmly on the ground she storm right pass him, not caring that she was tracking down into the clean dining room or kitchen, where her family were all gathered.
"Sofia, and Cedric, I was wondering where you gone off too, I see you have met my youngest." Birk said with a smile that masked his displeasure and embarrassment at the messy state of Sofia.
But Cedric could see it and decided to make this Sofia first lesson.
"Lady Sofia, I will advise you to please go get cleaned up." Cedric states, the silence was deafen as they all watch how Sofia would react.
"Shovel off!" She said before sitting down and proceeds to shove food in her mouth, but a hand to her wrist stops her, she looks up at the man her eyes blasting with defiance and anger.
"I ask you to do something, now either you do it willingly or I will make you, which one will it be." He said calmly.
Sofia said nothing for a moment, just when Cedric thought maybe he got through to her, that hope was dashed as she bit down hard on his unprotected finger, causing him to yelp in pain and release his hold, causing the girl to crawl under the table and book for the main entrance way, but Cedric was quicker and soon enough he had a swearing and squirming girl in his arms.
"If you excuse us, sir and madams, we will be back shortly." Cedric said as he quickly leaves the rooms Sofia screams and profanities could be heard only to be silence by the sounds of a door slamming open and shut and brief sounds a struggle followed, but soon enough there was silence.
Miranda waited worryingly along with Birk and a curious Cindy in the dining room.
For what felt like an eternity, the sounds of footsteps could be heard and calm Cedric appeared followed by a shocking sight.
Sofia was cleaner, her hair was still messy, but tamed, her face was cleaned and she was wearing simple, but clean purple dress and slippers, she appeared to bit more subdued, she eyed Cedric warily as she sat down next to her sister, while Cedric took the seat across from her, watching her every move like a hawk, clearing his throat in warning a few times when Sofia did something that wasn't good, but for the first time the meal was calmer and less stressful.
After dessert was served and consumed, Sofia and Cindy wandered off somewhere to play or hang out until bedtime, while the adults went to the parlor.
Birk pours himself a drink of red wine, after offering some to the others, he was quick to ask. "How did you do that?"
Cedric smiles in a knowingly kind of way as he said, "I washed her mouth out with some fish oil that I keep on hand just for this type of thing, since there had been times were I have had to correct my students languages many times and a good scolding about how she should behave better in future for face the consequences, then I had one of the maids come help me wash her hair and face quickly before getting her changed into some clean clothes."
"Interesting. How do you plan to get her to learn, I am not sure that will work every time." Miranda said.
"I know that she will test me, I will simply not give her the reaction that she wants, she will be punished for disturbing the lesson, hopefully over time she will simply start to see that I am not going to give up and she will give in, it will be hard at first, but I do not want you two to interfere, she needs to learn that when I am teaching that it's on my time, not hers, not her sisters or yours."
Miranda sighs sadly, "We know, but we just hate to see her unhappy or sad." Birk nods in agreement.
Cedric looks at her with sympathy, "No one does, but sometimes a child has to learn that any choice has consequences both good and bad."
With that said, they agreed and after saying good night they went to bed with lots to think about and wondering the outcome of tomorrow first lesson.
When Cedric woke up that morning he almost wished he hadn't as he was drenched in a bucket of mud that was dumped on him by a laughing Sofia, he watches as she runs off out of his room, sighing heavily and counting to 200 he gets out of bed and jumps into the shower, once he was cleaned and dress he makes his way down to dinning room for breakfast, where Sofia was sitting shoving food in her mouth, her eyes showing defiance towards him daring him to do something.
Cedric sighs as he goes over to were Sofia was sitting, "Lady Sofia, do stop eating like a common barn animal, sit up and use your fork and knife." he orders calmly.
Sofia just looks up him bored, but letting out a loud and obnoxious burp right in Cedric's face.
Shouts of "SOFIA" were heard by everyone at the table, but Cedric ignores them as he simply pulls Sofia's chair back and calmly, but firmly pulls her out of her chair and much to the girl's horror he soon had her standing in the corner, but she wasn't having that, not one bit.
"You will stand for 8 minutes in the corner to give you time to think about your behavior and how you can improve." Cedric said.
"LIKE HELL I WILL!" Sofia screams as she took off running, she was quickly caught by Birk who gave her back to Cedric, who returns her back to the corner, she tries escape outside the back door but was blocked, by Baileywick, she screamed, bit, hit and even kicked Cedric who took all without even flinching and soon enough Sofia was crying in frustration as she sat on the floor in the corner, Cedric let it go since this was the first time.
After 8 minutes were finally up, Cedric goes over to the now quite girl, and gently puts his hand on her shoulders, saying, "You can come out now, are you going to behave at the table and eat proper?"
Sofia nods, saying in whisper, "Sorry." before quickly going over to the table and waiting, leaving a slightly stunned Cedric behind, but he quickly shakes his head, smiling internally as the small step of progress he had made, before going over to where Sofia was sitting and whispers something in her ear, which had her slump a little in relief, before she resume eating at a more respectable pace and using her utensils.
After breakfast Cindy shows Cedric classroom, which was two desks sitting side by side each other with a simple black board and teacher's desk and shelves filled with books and supplies.
Sofia had went ahead of them and was busy making a pretty picture at one of the desk peacefully calm, but she was soon interrupted by Cedric.
"Sofia it's time to start your lessons, put away your drawing please, you may work on it more later."
Sofia pouts and choses to ignore the man, but then the man puts a hand in front of the paper getting her to look up at him annoyed.
"I said now Sofia." he said sternly.
She said nothing, but without warning takes the crayon she had in her hand and throws it had Cedric, nearly hitting him in the eye, if he hadn't dodged it.
He quickly picks up the squirming and wincing girl and puts her in the corner, she tries to leave but a whispered warning had her stop and stay, with that, Cedric proceeds with the lesson for Cindy, only to stop long enough to let Sofia out of time out, for most of the time the lesson was running smoothly until he felt something hit his back, he quickly turns around seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he turns back only to have it happen again he starts to getting annoyed, but quickly calms down, saying firmly.
"Sofia come up to the board please and solve this math problem."
Sofia looks like she might protest, but then quickly thinks better of it as she goes up to the board and looks at the board trying to make sense of the numbers and lines on it.
"Well?" Cedric asked.
Sofia scoffs, "This is stupid, why do we even to know math anyway?" She asked.
"To know how much money one might have, how tall something or someone is, how far away something is and so on, quit stalling and answer the question on the board."
"I can't the lines and numbers get all jumbled!" Sofia said her eyes filling with frustrated tears.
Cedric stops quick at hearing that and then ask, "Do words and letters get all mixed up as well for you?"
Sofia nods crying which caused Cindy to come to her aid, comforting her, as she explains.
"Sofia has always had trouble with writing and reading since she was little, all of our previous teachers would get frustrated with her and punish her harshly for it, she tried to tell our parents but they didn't always listen, which caused her to lash out and ever since then she had been running wild, well it's true." Cindy said as Sofia wince at that, but the girl quickly calms down and snuggles into her big sister.
Cedric sighs heavily, "I see, you my child need to have a different type of lesson then the standard classroom can give you, lessons are done for today, Sofia meet me outside tomorrow, wear your oldest set of clothes and shoes, if you want to join us, Cindy you may."
Both girls nod confused, but curious at the same time by what Cedric has in store for them.
Cedric waits until the girls off to somewhere in the manor, he then proceeds to head to study where both Birk and Miranda were working. "Lord and Lady, I apologize for bursting in like this, but I am afraid I am have something to tell you about Sofia."
Birk nods, "Have a seat and explain."
Cedric sits down and states, "Sofia has dyslexia."
Birk and Miranda both blinked in surprise and confusion.
"Dyslexia? What in heaven's name is that?" Birk said.
"Dyslexia is a learning disorder which makes the person or persons that have it, have more difficulty learning how to read or write and in other times she will have trouble know left from right or right from left, she will always struggle with it, since it was something she was born with, but she can learn to manage it with the proper tools and support." Cedric explains.
Both parents were silent for a while, before Miranda breaks the silent by saying. "What can we do to help?"
Cedric smiles and proceeds to tell them many of the ways to help Sofia learn how to overcome her learning disorder.
The next few years were of many challenges and change as Sofia with the support of her family and teacher finally learned how live with her dyslexia and with the proper tools in place she was soon reading at her grade level, while she still struggled with writing she was getting better.
One day a 12 year old Sofia was slowly reading her newest book while sitting in her favorite tree, she reminisces on her early days of playing and learning outside with her now favorite teacher and friend, Cedric and repairing her relationships with her sister, Cindy and their parents, who was just glad to see her happy once more.
While it was fun to play outside, Cedric always made sure that she was learning as well, even if it was unknowing at times, sometime he would have her look for letters in the branches of the trees and if she got them all correct she got rewarded with star stickers.
Other times he would try to teach her math or writing and sometimes she got frustrated, which almost always had her in a corner or given a warning.
"Remembering something pleasant?" Sofia opens her eyes and looks down to see Cedric standing at the base of the tree smiling.
"Yes and I must say these last few years were chaotic, but amazing as well, thank you Cedric for everything." Sofia said she climbs down the tree carefully, before wrapping her arm around his offered arm.
"Yes, well sometimes even the most chaotic problems have some kind of means of achieving order and you are most welcome Sofia, now lets see if Baileywick has anymore of those mini pies left, care to play sneak and grab?" He asked with a mischievous wick causing Sofia to giggle before they proceeded to kitchens where Baileywick was happily give them each a mini pie without them having to sneak around, which they happily munched away, talking and laughing.
The End