"Hey babe?" Brittany called from the kitchen. Santana was at the dining table with her laptop with her headphones on. She didn't answer. "Babe?" Brittany called again. Again Santana didn't respond. Wiping her hands on a cloth, Brittany walked into the dining room. She stood behind Santana, placing her hands on her shoulders. Santana jumped slightly, and removed her headphones. "Hey"
"Hey BeeBee"
"I was calling you"
"Oh sorry. I didn't hear."
Brittany shrugged, sitting on the seat beside Santana.
"S'okay. What are you doing?"
"Listening to some of Dani's songs"
"Oh. Are they good?" Santana licked her lips, debating how to answer. "You can say she's good. I won't think you're in love with her" Brittany laughed. Santana chuckled.
"Her voice is good. Really good. The songs themselves though…I don't know. I feel like there's something I'm missing. Dani keeps asking for more reverb, but I don't like to use it too much."
Brittany nodded, pursing her lips. She'd heard Santana talk about reverb before, but the meaning of the word always escaped her. She didn't really want to get into it at the moment either way though so she just nodded.
"So are you enjoying working with her?"
"As her sound engineer. Yeah."
"And collabs?"
"I don't think we'll be doing any. Not for a while I don't think. Her style is really different from mine."
"Hmm…okay."
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the sound of their kids playing in the backyard, and Mateo's kids' show on the tv.
"What did you wanna talk about B?" Santana finally asked, remembering that Brittany had been calling her.
"Oh." She licked her lips, biting on the bottom one gently. "I was thinking about the kids" Santana nodded, turning sideways so she could face her properly and crossed one leg over the other. "They're four. Well Sophia's 3 but…we don't know when her birthday is. She could have already turned four for all we know."
"Okay?" Santana asked, confused.
"Well…kids go to school at like…2 and a half right? Or three? Aren't they late?"
Santana stopped shaking her leg and stared at Brittany, completely taken back. The thought that her kids would need to go to school soon hadn't crossed her mind at all, but now that Brittany brought it up, it seemed obvious. Of course they would need to go to pre-k. Yet the idea didn't sit right with her. She had never left her kids with strangers. Never. Even Jessie had never been alone with them. It felt wrong to suddenly take them to school where there would be more kids than they had ever been around, some of whom were much older than them. They would definitely be bigger than them, since all her kids were in the lower percentile in terms of weight. Then there was the fact that she would be leaving them in the care of someone she knew nothing about. At least with a nanny you could do background checks and interviews. With a teacher, you just had to hope that the school did their due diligence.
"I don't know…" she answered slowly.
"It's just that I was talking to Sylvia, you know from my jazz class."
"Yeah"
"Her daughter is five, and just graduated pre-k. That means Jesus and Kyler should be graduating next year right?"
"Technically" Santana admitted.
"So we are late!"
"I mean. I don't think so. They learn everything they need to at home, with us. The only reason I can think of taking them to Pre-k would be so they could meet other kids and build their social skills, but they already get that in playgroup."
"Playgroup is only twice a week, and we're there with them. Pre-k is different. They learn to be independent and listen to people who aren't us."
Santana sighed, cracking her neck.
"I don't know Britt. Is it really that important? Sophia's still so fragile. She still wakes up crying almost every day, she's barely potty trained and she doesn't eat. I don't think it would be fair to drop her into a whole new environment, especially one as chaotic as school."
"Yeah…you have a point there. But we should at least try. She agreed to go to playgroup with Jesus and Ky….maybe it won't be as bad as you think."
"I think it's a little too soon for her. And What about Jesus. He's having tantrums every other day, and they're getting worse. He can barely sit still to watch a movie, what is he going to do with himself in class? What if something happens and we aren't there?"
Brittany was quiet. She looked away from Santana, drawing a pattern on the table with her pinkie.
"I know that there are a lot of things going on with us right now. I know it won't be easy or simple to make the change, for more reasons than you're telling me" she looked up into Santana's eyes. "But they have to go to school, otherwise they'll be behind, and that will come with its own set of problems down the line."
Santana looked down, breaking eye contact, then she turned to her laptop, picking her headphones.
"Fine"
Brittany didn't push it. She knew that when it came to their kids, Santana didn't do anything without being fully prepared. She also always did what was best for them, even if it was hard. And this would be hard, especially for Santana. She hated passing anything off to anyone else when it involved her kids. She took on Kyler's swimming training, even when it would have been far easier to just get a professional, she took on teaching Jesus the piano, she opted to pick and drop them at all their activities, even though Puck or Quinn were usually the ones to stay with them. Sometimes it bordered on being an obsessive helicopter mum, but that was just how she was. She could not stand the thought of anyone else taking on a responsibility that she deemed a mum's responsibility, because then that would mean she was being like her mother. A bad mother, in other words.
She'd give her a few days, Brittany decided, before bringing it up again.
When she brought it up again, Santana was more prepared. They had just finished putting everyone to sleep, and were sitting on their bed. Santana was reading, while Brittany scrolled through Instagram on her phone.
"So…do you think we should start looking for schools?"
Santana put down her book, and turned to lie on her side.
"I already did"
"When?"
"After you brought it up"
"And?"
"I still don't know. School started in September, so we'd really need to rush. That means we can't take our time to think about what we want in the school, and to talk to the kids about it."
"I really don't think it'll be as big a deal to them as you do. Not the boys anyway. And we can always talk about what we want. We can talk about it now."
"Okay" Santana said, sitting up. "You go first."
Brittany dropped her phone and sat up as well.
"I want them to go to a private school."
Santana nodded, easily accepting this. Though in high school they had promised that their kids would go to public school so they wouldn't become spoilt, that just seemed impractical now. And unfair. They wanted the best for their kids, and private school would give them that.
"For a bunch of reasons" Brittany continued. "First, the public school system wouldn't work for Jesus, I don't think, and I refuse to let him struggle like I did." Santana nodded again, having expected this. "I also think it'll be safer for them to be in private school. We're both really famous, and so are they, like Emma said once, it's not safe to pretend that we're not. I don't want people taking pictures of them or bullying them or trying to kidnap them."
"Yeah. That's smart. I agree it should be private."
"Okay. You go."
"I want it to be bilingual"
"Okay" Brittany nodded. She didn't have a problem with that, she just though it would make their search all the harder.
"I also want it to be a strictly pre-K school. Not a pre-K with kids all the way to junior high."
"That's…I mean I understand why, but that might be hard."
"It's important to me that our kids are not intimidated, or bullied by big kids who think they can push them around. They're already small."
Brittany ran her tongue over her teeth, thinking. Finally she nodded.
"Okay, but if we find one that's really good but has a grade school, do you promise to think about it?"
Santana wanted to be difficult, because she didn't really want them to find a school they liked, but she couldn't. She'd read on the importance of pre-k, and the advantages versus disadvantages of not taking your kids there.
"Yeah, but only if it's really good and we both love it."
"Deal."
"Okay then."
"So can we start looking at schools?"
"Yeah. Okay B, we can start looking at schools."
The process was gruelling and mildly irritating. Most schools that were up to their standards had waiting lists going on for two years. Sometimes longer. Brittany was kicking herself for not thinking about and planning for this earlier.
Nearly a week after their conversation, she was finally able to present Santana with schools that fit both of their requirements.
"I got us an appointment for two on Friday. One said they'd see us on Saturday."
"How nice of them"
"Can you not do that please?"
Santana looked up from her cereal bowl. "What?"
"Be difficult. I know you're not thrilled by the idea, but they have to go to school Santana. They can't just stay home forever."
"I know that" Santana defended.
"Do you?"
"Urgh…" Santana groaned, rolling her eyes. "I agreed to look for schools didn't I?"
"So you'll make sure you're free on Friday and Saturday?"
"The whole day?"
"To be safe"
"Fine. Can I eat my breakfast now please?"
Brittany resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead shaking her head, and walked away.
"Where are you going?" Brittany asked, following Santana around with Sophia on her hip.
"I have to rush to the studio really quick."
"No you can't, you said you'd clear your schedule today."
"I forgot. Look Britt the appointment's for 10, I'll be back by then."
"No Santana…you have to help me get the kids ready."
"What do you want me to do? I have to go, it's not like I have a choice."
"Eve told me she cleared your schedule, so what exactly are you even going to do?"
Santana stopped rushing around, turning to face Brittany with a frown.
"When did she tell you that?"
"When I called her to make sure you were free."
Santana's frown deepened. "Why would you do that?"
Brittany shrugged. "I was just being thorough."
"You mean you didn't trust me to handle it on my own"
Brittany raised her eyebrows, and Santana knew that she was pointing out that Santana hadn't handled it. She clenched her jaw in irritation.
"Mama, are we not going to school anymore?" Sophia asked.
"We are honey. But mami might not"
Santana narrowed her eyes, shaking her head at Brittany as Sophia began to whine, begging Santana to come. Angry, she threw her purse down, taking Sophia from Brittany.
"I'm coming with you mija, don't worry." She soothed, walking out of her room and leaving an equally frustrated Brittany behind.
When she called Eve to tell her she wasn't coming in so she could alert her client, Eve assured her that she had already cancelled with them, since Santana was off today. This only served to further irritate Santana.
"I don't appreciate you going behind my back" she told Brittany, as she started the car. "Especially with my work"
"I didn't go behind your back" Brittany said, shaking her head. "You told me you'd clear your schedule, I just called Eve to make sure you'd told her."
"Please Brittany. We both know what you did"
"Well it was a good thing I did isn't it? Since you were going to go ahead and break your promise."
"I was going to come back" Santana whispered harshly, not wanting their kids to hear. "I wouldn't miss this."
"You don't know what would have happened. You could have gotten caught up in the work, or stuck in traffic."
Santana rolled her eyes.
"I think this whole experience is really revealing"
"Yes, it is" Brittany agreed, turning to look out of her window.
None of the schools they looked at that day or the next were up to either of their standards, nor were they up to the kids'.
At the first school, Kyler wasn't happy to hear that there weren't any activities offered by the school, and Jesus couldn't stand the small classes.
Santana also didn't like that Spanish was optional, and would only be taken once a week.
At the second school, Brittany hated that the security was so lax, since anyone could come and go from the school as they wished. Sophia burst into tears as soon as she met the headmaster of the school, and Santana thought the school looked a bit old and run down. At the playground she could see rust on the swings and slide, and immediately imagined one of her kids cutting themselves and getting tetanus.
The last school was slightly better, but neither Santana nor Brittany liked how strict it seemed. There was a uniform, which had to be worn according to the guidelines of the dress code. One of the things Brittany didn't like was that the girls were not allowed to wear pants. Sophia loved skirts and dresses, but if one day she wanted to wear trousers, Brittany foresaw many fights with the administration.
There was also a heavy emphasis on obedience and order, which Santana didn't like. She felt the kids were too young to be stifled so strongly by so many rules, and she was scared their spirits would be broken.
With their options exhausted, they had to begin their search all over again. The disappointment of the weekend only proved to Santana that as a family, they were not ready for school yet.
She and Brittany had two more fights over the next week, as Santana vetoed all the schools Brittany suggested. The first was more of an argument than a fight, and the second ended with Brittany in tears. After that Santana decided to really try.
Two weeks later, as they reached the end of September, Eve, who Santana had enlisted to help in their search, sent Santana a link to a school.
Looking through the website, Santana couldn't help but like it. It was colourful and fun, with lots of pictures of artwork, or clips of dance recitals or plays that the kids put on.
When she saw a section of the website dedicated to how the school incorporated different languages into the kids' learning, she knew she'd seen enough. She sent the link to Brittany, who was still at work, saying, 'I think I found it.'
The next Monday, they all went to see the school. When they got to the gate, Santana's positivity that this was the right place for their kids grew. There were two cameras outside the gate, which was so high Santana couldn't see the school. A security guard came out with a tablet, took a picture of the car's licence plate, and then approached Santana's window. She lowered it.
"Morning ma'am"
"Morning"
"Can I ask what you've come to do?"
"We have a meeting with the principal."
He typed something into the tablet, and then went back through the gate. A few minutes later, he returned with two visitor's badges.
"She's waiting for you at the front of the school. Can I please have your IDs"
Santana raised her eyebrows, turning to look at Brittany.
"It's for security reasons ma'am. You will get them back when you hand these back in" he lifted the visitor's badges.
"Okay then"
Brittany fished both their IDs from their bags and handed them to her. She passed them on to the guard. He looked them over, making sure they were who they said they were, then nodded, handed them the badges and waved at one of the camera. A second later, the gate slid open.
"Just proceed straight and take a left at the end of the road."
"Thank you" Brittany and Santana said at the same time.
"Well…that was intense" Brittany said, fixing the lanyard round her neck.
"I guess security isn't an issue" Santana agreed, taking the left turn.
The school wasn't big, but Santana liked the design. It was basic brick, but looked like it had been painted by the children themselves. There was paint splatters and hand prints all over one of the buildings, while the other had cartoon characters and animals on it. Sophia and Jesus ran up to it, pointing out all the characters they knew and giggling. Kyler stayed with Santana, who had lifted him out of the car, but there was a light of amusement in his eyes.
The principal walked out of the first building. A short black woman with a curly afro. She was in jeans and a t-shirt, which Santana had not been expecting at all, given the seriousness of the security.
"Good morning, Mrs Lopes-Pierce" she greeted both Brittany and Santana.
"Good morning Serena" Brittany said, smiling.
"Good morning."
"And who's this?" she asked, smiling at Kyler, who was in Santana's arms. He tightened his grip around Santana's neck and blushed.
"Say hi papi" Santana told him.
"Hi" Kyler said in a small voice.
"Hi! What's your name?"
"Kyler Santiago Lopez-Pierce" he said, slightly more confidently.
"That's a really nice name" Serena complemented, making Kyler blush more and act even more shy. Santana and Brittany laughed. "Is this your baby?" she asked him, pointing at Mateo, who Brittany was putting in his stroller. He laughed, shaking his head.
"No silly, I don't have a baby. I'm 4" he held up 4 fingers.
"Oh! Silly me. You look much older than 4" Kyler giggled.
"He's my new brother. He's zero"
"Zero…oh my goodness. I bet you take good care of him don't you?"
Kyler nodded proudly. "Sometimes I help him bath"
"Wow! Are you sure you're only 4?"
"Yes. Our birthday's in June. And we're in Sept…Sepet…ember."
"You're very right." Serena nodded, shooting an impressed look at Santana. "Who else has a birthday in June?"
"Jesus. He's my brother. We're twins." Kyler pointed at Jesus, who was jumping on huge rocks as Sophia cheered him on.
"Twins huh? That's very cool. Do you think you could go get him so I could say hi?" Kyler nodded, squirming slightly before turning to Santana.
"Abajo porfavor mami"
"Bien papi"
As he ran off towards Jesus and Sophia, Santana walked to stand next to Brittany.
"Sorry about that." Serena said. "I just find that engaging with the kids rather than talking about them like they're not there helps them feel more confident with me. If I you had introduced them, they would feel like they can't or shouldn't talk with me directly."
Brittany nodded, looking impressed.
"Don't worry about it. We don't mind at all."
"He is very intelligent" Serena pointed out.
Before Santana or Brittany could respond, the three kids were running up to them.
"Hi" Jesus said. "My name is Jesus Sawyer Lopez-Pierce, I'm 4." He also held up four fingers. "And this is my new sister Sophia." Sophia was standing slightly behind him, holding his hand. She didn't wave.
"Hi Jesus. It's very nice to meet you. My name is Serena"
"That's a pretty name. There's a Serena in my playgroup right Kyler?" Kyler nodded. "She's 2 years old, Tia told me."
"Is Tia a friend of yours?"
Jesus shook his head. "No, Tia is familia."
"Ah" Serena nodded.
"I never knew how old she was because when I asked, Diana said she was 25 months. But Tia told me that 25 months is the same as 2 years old, because months is less than years."
"Months are less than years, your right. Do you know how many months are in a year?"
"12"
"That's right!" Santana and Brittany beamed at each other as they heard the surprise in Serena's voice.
"Niki is my new brother" Jesus pointed.
"Yes, I have met him. Kyler told me he is zero"
"No" he shot a hesitant look at Brittany, who nodded.
"It's okay"
"He's not zero. He's 4 months old. His birthday is in May."
"Oh. Well thank you for telling me"
Jesus smiled.
"Hi Sophia" Serena said.
"Hi" Sophia whispered. All the grown-ups noticed Jesus pulling her closer to him slightly.
"Are you good?" Sophia nodded. "Excellent!" Serena grinned so widely even Sophia smiled. "Shall we proceed?"
"Yes we can" Brittany said, pushing the stroller. They walked into the first building with paint splattered all over it.
"This is the section with kids from 15 months to 3 years old. We can have a look if you'd like, but from our conversation on the phone, you want Sophia in the same class as Jesus and Kyler correct?"
"Yes."
"Alright, then we'll just head this way"
Walking past all of the classes, which were only three in number, Santana took the opportunity to look inside. The rooms were big, at least double the size of the other places they had seen. The floors were carpeted, and covered mostly in play mats. She wanted to go in and look at the rooms properly, but Serena was still walking, so she didn't get the chance to.
They walked through another hallway, which was circular and painted so that Santana felt like she was beneath the ocean. For a few minutes the grown-ups watched the kids ran up and down the hallways, laughing and trying to touch fish as high up as they could reach.
On the other side of the hallway, was a set-up much like the previous building, but it wasn't as bright. There wasn't so much colour on the walls, though there was still plenty to look at. The theme of cartoon characters and animals continued, just like on the outside, but this time they had the names of the animals underneath. There was the alphabet in both small and capital letters, and there were numbers from 1 to 100.
They stopped outside one of the classrooms.
"Should you choose to enrol here, this is the classroom your kids would be in."
"Can we go in?" Santana asked. Serena nodded, and produced a card from her pocket. She swiped the card over the door and it clicked open.
"Wow" Brittany mused, unable to contain herself.
"We take safety very seriously here. Only I and the security have cards that can access all the rooms. Teachers have access to their classrooms, the lunch hall and the bathrooms, and parents have access to only the front doors."
"Wow" Brittany repeated.
"You must have some pretty important kids here." Santana joked. Serena laughed, cocking a brow as if to say, like yours aren't important, and then walked into the room.
"I don't really discuss the other children or their families."
"So that's a yes" Santana laughed. Serena laughed as well, but didn't reply.
"So this classroom is called Tigre this year"
"This year?" Brittany asked.
"Yes. It changes every year, so each graduating class has its own unique name."
"That's cool."
"How many kids are in the class?" Santana asked.
"Five right now. So there are five vacancies. We don't take any more than ten kids a class."
"So what would their curriculum look like?"
"Well, this class is the Spanish class, so the first portion of their day would be conducted in English, the second in Spanish. From day to day the activities change, but for the first part of the day they'd be inside the classroom. Colouring, drawing, singing, and free play. With reading and writing, which again alternates day to day between Spanish, and English."
"You said this is the Spanish class, so what do the others do?"
"There is an Italian class, a German class and a French class."
"Wow" Santana said this time. Very impressed.
"The second part of the day is spent outside. There's tennis, soccer, swimming and hockey"
"Ky, did you hear that?" Brittany called. Kyler was on one of the mats wresting with Jesus. He looked up.
"What?"
"They have soccer, tennis, swimming and hockey."
"Yay!" Kyler shouted, bouncing up and running to hug Serena. She stumbled slightly as he squeezed her legs. Then he ran off again.
"So he likes sports?"
"Swimming and football the most, but yeah. He loves sports."
"He's really good too" Santana added. "That was one of the issues we were having with the other schools we looked at. They didn't really have any sports."
"We have sports, music and art." Serena said, reassuring them.
"Jesus likes music"
"Like his mama huh?"
"Mami" Brittany corrected.
"Oh, I'm sorry"
"It's fine" Santana said, brushing her off.
After a short awkward pause, Serena moved towards the back of the class, where there was artwork displayed, and pictures of the kids in the class. There were no last names, which Santana liked. It let the kids be themselves, instead of constantly associated with their parents.
"We also have regular field trips" Serena pointed at a large calendar with some dates filled in in red. "The zoo, the park, the aquarium, the stadium…we try and make sure the kids get as much exposure as possible."
"How do you ensure the safety of the kids when you go out?" Brittany asked.
"We take two guards with us, and usually one or two parents will send the kid along with their body guard."
"Oh" Santana said, shocked. "We can do that?"
"We don't encourage that the kids be accompanied by their body guard while in school, so as to allow the kid to discover who they are without their usual comforts, and establish the school as a safe space in the kids' minds, but when we leave school grounds, the safety of the kids is paramount. It also seems a bit confusing to say that we want the kids to travel without their body guards when they have to at all other times."
"That makes sense" Brittany said.
For a few minutes Serena played with the kids, talking to them and asking them questions. Thirty minutes later, she, Brittany and Santana sat in her office as the kids played outside. They could see them through the massive glass that was the back wall of Serena's office.
"So now we talk about the fee structure" she started. "It is a bit steep, I know, but I hope from what you've seen today you see that it is worth it. Ultimately our goal is to give your kids the best all-rounded experience that we can."
"Yes. We definitely see that." Brittany nodded, smiling.
"What about your concerns?" Santana asked. "When we spoke you said you weren't sure that they should go straight into this year of pre-K."
"Yes" Serena put her hands on the table, lacing her fingers. "I was concerned that they would not be able to keep up, or else be overwhelmed by the abrupt switch from playgroup, which is so lax and unstructured. However, after spending time with them, I don't think that will be much of an issue. Jesus is exceedingly smart, and in my opinion may even be ready for kindergarten. He picks thing up faster than I have seen any other kid do, and he understands how to apply that knowledge."
"Yeah, we always say he has an amazing mind."
"Now I have heard your concerns about his behaviour, but I assure you, we are more than capable of handling it. Our teachers all have degrees in child education and behaviour. He will be appropriately stimulated and challenged as much as we can, so as to reduce that boredom that leads to acting out."
"Okay" Brittany said, looking relieved.
"Kyler is equally as intelligent, though if I may, I have a few notes on that."
"Sure" Santana shrugged, intrigued.
"I think he is smart, no doubt about it, but I think a large part of his knowledge comes from having to keep up with his brother. Jesus pushes him, unknowingly, to think faster and remember things way beyond his level. I don't think that this is a bad thing for now, as I don't think he feels pressured, but I think it is definitely something that if you were to enrol them here, we would keep an eye on."
Neither Brittany nor Santana knew what to say.
"With Sophia, I would have put her in the younger class, for a variety of reasons, chief among them her anxiety. Being the oldest in her class may help her be more confident and sure of herself. However, I think it's best she stay with her brothers. If she struggles, or any huge concerns arise, we can discuss again what the best course of action would be. Right now though, I think that attempting to separate her from her brothers, who provide a sense of security and allow her to cope with new experiences would only make her anxiety worse. So all of them being in Tigre is for the best."
"Okay then!" Santana said, crossing one leg over the other and swinging it gently. "Well…we'll have to talk it over," she looked at Brittany, who nodded, "but I think you'll definitely be seeing us again."
Serena smiled widely.
"This is definitely a great school, and I think we're lucky to have found it" Brittany said.
"You have some great kids" Serena said. "We'll be lucky to have them."
