The next day started off a lot like the previous day had, only this time when he dropped the kids off, he didn't need to go in. The kids willingly left the car, cheerfully calling their goodbyes over their shoulder in Sam and Daniel's case as they ran into the school, and more solemnly in Teal'c's case, who followed the younger two at a more sedate pace. Jack watched them go with a now familiar feeling of emptiness, as he turned the vehicle towards work. He hoped they would settle in ok, and start to meet other kids. Little did he know, his wish would come true in unexpected ways.
AsLongAsWeGotEachOther,WeCanTakeAnythingThatComesOurWayDaniel dropped his trash into the trashcan, and followed the rest of the fourth graders out of the cafeteria to the playground, his eyes searching the space until he spotted what he was looking for. He walked over, and joined Teal'c, who was standing on the edge of the playground, watching a group of younger children kick a ball. Some of Daniel's classmates eyed him curiously, but Daniel ignored them. Let them wonder what he was doing with the older boy.
"I do not see Samantha," Teal'c said by way of greeting. Daniel frowned. He'd learned the first day that the little kids started eating first and came out to play first, so Sam should be outside already. He scanned the playground looking for their younger foster sister, trying to spot the familiar swatch of blonde hair. He even searched the playground equipment, in case she'd decided to climb on something even with her broken arm. But he didn't see her, and said so.
"I don't see her either Teal'c. She must be here somewhere." Just then there was the sound of a commotion over in the distant corner of the playground, where there was a group of kids just starting to gather around something. None of the teachers had seemed to notice anything amiss yet, because they were busy clustered in a group around a small child that had just fallen off the jungle gym. Daniel's heart sank, and suddenly he realized that Sam would be over there, probably in the center of the new disturbance. He looked at Teal'c, and knew the older boy was thinking the same thing. Together, they took off running.
AsLongAsWeGotEachOther,WeCanTakeAnythingThatComesOurWaySam was bored. It was only her second day at the new school, and she knew it took time to make friends, but she still hated being the new kid. And recess was even more boring, because she couldn't do anything with the stupid cast on her arm. At least at other schools she could usually play on the swings or monkey bars if there was no one else she could play with. But she couldn't, so she was just standing by herself, under the trees, kicking rocks. And the younger kids went out first, so she didn't even have Teal'c and Daniel to talk to. She kicked another rock. The rock flew, and Sam grinned at the distance she achieved, she couldn't even see where it had landed! She was just about to kick another one, when she was startled by the sound of crying. Guilt struck her. She hadn't meant to hit anyone! But a moment later, a second voice, also a child, was speaking, it sounded like an older boy, and Sam crept closer to hear.
"Stupid crybaby, why don't you go run home to your mommy? Awww, did I make you cry harder?" There was a sound like someone shoving another person, and the crying grew louder. Sam peeked around her tree and scowled when she saw a much older boy standing over a boy that was a little bit younger than her. The younger boy was the one doing the crying. She grew angrier as the older boy kicked dirt towards the little boy, making him cry even more. Before she knew what she was doing, she was marching out from behind her tree.
"Leave him alone you big bully!" she demanded, chest puffed out and chin jutting defiantly.
The older boy turned away from the cowering shape on the ground and turned to face her, his eyes lighting up in glee. "And who's going to stop me pipsqueak, you?" He laughed.
Sam faltered slightly, looking up into the boy's face. He looked a LOT taller closer up. And bigger. And stronger. More so than Teal'c even. But she couldn't back down now. "If I have to!" she replied defiantly, hoping the big boy wouldn't notice the slight tremor in her voice.
But the boy just laughed and before she knew it, he had a double fistful of her T-shirt and was hauling her up so that her feet almost left the ground. Sam tried to swing her fist and belatedly remembered her broken arm. Her struggles made the boy laugh harder. Sam realized she was in trouble. "Oops," she said, and the boy laughed again.
"You're nothing but a baby too," he sneered. With that, he gave her a shove that sent her tumbling backwards, landing painfully on her backside.
The boy towered threateningly over her, and she sent a glance over at the younger boy who she'd come to rescue. He was curled in a ball and sobbing. Sam decided he had the right idea, and did the only thing she could think of when outmaneuvered and out powered. She opened up her mouth and let out a wail, not too proud to call for help.
Suddenly, there was another shape in between her and the bully, a familiar shape. "You will leave Samantha and this other child alone!" Teal'c demanded in a steady voice. At the same time, she felt small arms wrapping comfortingly around her, and tried to stifle her sobs, but it was hard to stop the boulder once it was rolling.
"You stay out of this," the bully said angrily trying to step around Teal'c, but Teal'c neatly sidestepped the boy, blocking his path.
"There is no honor in causing harm to those smaller and weaker to you," Teal'c said calmly.
"Yeah, well would you rather I take on you instead?" The boy bristled at having been deprived of his easy pickings.
"If you must. I will stop you however." Teal'c's voice held a note of warning, mixed with pride and confidence.
The boy just laughed, and lunged at Teal'c. It was over in seconds. Teal'c barely moved, and the boy was laying flat on the ground staring up at the sky and wondering how he'd gotten there. He hadn't even tried to gain his feet before the teachers finally arrived, pushing into the center of the crowd that had formed around them.
Mr. Lee was the first on the scene, and took in the sight of his new student Teal'c standing over the prone form of James Ferrel, who had been in trouble several times before for bullying. He also quickly noted the two crying younger children, a boy and a girl, the girl being held by another boy. "What is going on here?" he demanded, a suspicion of events already forming in his mind.
His question had been directed at Teal'c, but it was James that answered. "He pushed me!" the boy yelled, pointing at Teal'c, hoping to get the other boy in trouble.
"Well he pushed me!" came from the little girl, who was pointing at James. Sam was determined that Teal'c wouldn't get in trouble because of something she'd done. Teal'c had only been trying to protect her, and the big boy was the real bully!
"And he pushed me too!" chimed in the other little boy also pointing at James. The little first grader had stopped sobbing enough to speak, now that his teacher had claimed him.
Ms. Janissima appeared out of the crowd, and swooped on the little girl. "Sam, are you ok? What's going on?"
"That boy is a big meanie! He was picking on that little boy, and when I told him to stop, he pushed me down too. Then Teal'c came, and pushed him down instead! But my butt hurts, I don't like recess, there's nothing to do, and I wanna go home!" Sam started to cry again, knowing the benefit of waterworks in a tight situation, and not too old to be ashamed to use them. With a frown, Ms. Janissima put her arm around Sam.
"I wanna go home too!" wailed the other little boy, his tears starting up anew.
It took several minutes on the various teachers' part to get all the children sorted out. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Sam was only defending the little boy, and Teal'c claimed to have been defending the smaller children from the known bully, fighting was frowned on, so all of the children would have to go to the Principal's office. Although with all the fuss Sam and the little boy were making, they ended up getting a trip to the nurse's office too. They joined the boys waiting outside the office, clutching makeshift ice packs to their sore bottoms like badges of honor. Everything was better with an ice pack when you were six and seven after all. Surprisingly, Daniel was also waiting outside the office, having refused to return to class, despite the teachers' assurance that he'd done nothing wrong. But Daniel had insisted on accompanying his "brother and sister" stating that he was a "witness" and had made such a fuss, that they'd eventually thrown up their hands in defeat and let him go too.
After several more minutes of waiting, in which James squirmed uncomfortably under the combined glares of the four other children (he'd never had anyone fight back before), Mrs. Parker finally called them all in.
It took some more time to sort all the stories out, and they kept interrupting each other, but Mrs. Parker was a patient woman. She asked the right questions, and admonished them gently when necessary. In the end, she looked at all of them for a short time before speaking.
"I'm disappointed in all of you, fighting isn't right for any reason, it doesn't solve anything, and all of you are lucky no one got hurt. As for you James, I know you started this. You have been warned to leave the younger children alone. Since I can't trust you to do that, you won't be allowed on the playground for one week. I want you to think about what you've done, when you see everyone else outside and I will be calling your parents again." James looked down a moment at her words, only slightly repentant. He didn't like having his recess privileges revoked! "Now, go back to class James." James looked up and narrowed his eyes at the others. He'd wanted to hear what would happen to the rest! But Mrs. Parker only met his gaze coolly, and seething, James slunk out, knowing when he was defeated.
"As for the rest of you, I'll be calling the rest of your parents as well. I'm hoping this will be the last time I see any of you in here for fighting, do I make myself clear?" She looked at each child, receiving nods all around. "Ok, back to class, all of you." She smiled as the kids eagerly rushed out of her office, never once looking back. She loved her job, even though sometimes, she had to be the mean one and dole out the discipline. She turned in her desk chair, pulling open the file drawer. She had some phone calls to make.
A/N: Hmm. Nancy, I don't know about real animal pelt. I know my sweet little beasties are really vicious killers, and if I'd let them outside, they'd kill everything in sight. (Spiders are already an endangered species round her, and flies don't stand a chance if one gets in.) But even though I eat animals, and wear them on my feet, there's just something squeamish in me about something that actually resembles the deceased animal. I just prefer it to look like something else. Like a pair of sneakers or a hamburger lol. They do have other toys, like little fur mousies, that I suspect are rabbit fur, but play ignorant, and little foam balls they love to sink their teeth into. It's just I hate spending all this money on a toy, and they destroy it in a week or less. I swear they do it on purpose. As for the other suggestions, string is out, Sam eats it, as evidenced by the string I found last week in the litter box. Crumpled anything is out, because Dragon eats foil and paper when he's killing it. The little plastic thingies on the milk jugs they could care less about, the same for caps. I just own picky, destructive little beasts.
Anne. You signed anonymously, so I couldn't contact you, but I don't think it's a good idea to let dogs (or cats) play with pantyhose, even rolled up. A friend of mine had to put her dog down after it swallowed some hose while they were away overnight. By the time they came back, the dog was listless, and unable to eat. X-rays at the vet revealed the dog's intestines to be twisted inside around the hose. The same restriction should be placed on string, which kills a lot of pets every year, you aren't supposed to let them play unattended with string.
Oh yeah, new math. Have to thank Ms. J for that one. Somewhere in the drafting/beta stage, me, SG1-Fanfic, and Ms. J were all talking about how there's this 25-30 year gap when the kids were last in school, which they don't recall at all. I forget how it came out, but I basically wanted one of the kids (Sam or Daniel) to be struggling with something that should come naturally to them. Janissima suggested New Math, which she explained to me (for those like me that have never encountered such a thing) is simply a different way of setting up the problems. Instead of adding up the first column on the right, carrying it over, adding that, carrying it over etc. New Math has the kids add all the tens up, then the rest, then put the two answers together. More steps, but supposedly easier since little kids are good at adding tens. Personally, my sentiment is with Jack. It's all a plot to make the kids look smarter than the parents. And obviously, I jumped on "New Math" as a little problem for Sam to have. We haven't heard the last of New Math either, it's going to be a little guest character in a few new chapters from now on!
And yes, I will resolve the SG-1 as kids issue… eventually. There are few more things I have planned, but I don't intend to be working on this story forever. Sorry there's been so much space in between chapters, but as always, a lot going on in my life.