Bayley ran happily around on the playground, chasing after a friend who currently had the soccer ball they were playing with.
"I told you I was faster!" cried the young girl, Bayley giggling at her friend.
"No way! I can catch you!" she cried, chasing after her once more.
The two first graders continued to run, enjoying the chance to get to play in between having to work. Their teacher, Mr. Alexander, watched with great intensity.
"What do you know about the McMahon family?" he asked, looking at his fellow first grade teacher. The two both had their classes out on the playground at the same time, a rarity that allowed them to communicate what was happening in each of their classrooms for a few moments while the kids played.
"You mean the king and queen of the wrestling world?" laughed the other teacher, Ms. Williams.
Justin Alexander laughed at the comment. "Yeah, that one."
"Not much. I had Sasha a few years back when she was in first grade. I also had one of the twins, Becky, many years ago. Why do you ask?" asked Ms. Williams.
Justin shrugged. "No reason, well, that's not true. I have their youngest right now, Bayley. See the brown haired girl in the side ponytail? That's her," pointed out Justin, Ms. Williams nodding.
"So what's the problem? Is she a behavior issue or something?"
"No, not at all. She's as sweet as can be. Just very, reserved, I guess? And slightly immature. We're a third of the way through the school year and she still cries every day when Sasha drops her off. And there are just these random days where she seems so...off," replied Justin.
Ms. Williams watched as Bayley played, continuing the conversation. "Off, how?"
"I don't know. Like today, though, it was one of the twins that dropped her off, and I had to pry her off her sister's leg. Then when the sister left, she just ran into a corner and cried. It took me two hours just to get her to do any work, and everytime I approached her to talk to her about what was going on, she backed away like she didn't trust me or something. The behavior just seems weird to me, especially given her family."
Ms. Williams let out a deep sigh. "Sasha had days like that, though not as bad, I guess. She would come in crying and tell these stories about how her sisters got in trouble the night before. With four girls, I imagine Stephanie and Hunter have their hands full," laughed Ms. Williams.
"You don't think it's odd that she would be upset over her sister's getting in trouble?" asked Justin, Ms. Williams again shrugging.
"I'm sure they're just close. I wouldn't worry too much about it. The McMahon's are a good family, very involved with donating to the school and keeping up with talking to us about the girls. I'm sure it's nothing with Bayley."
Justin nodded, looking at his watch. "Time to go in," he said, blowing his whistle to signal for his class to line up.
As he was rallying up the class, the young girl who had been playing with Bayley came up, a crying Bayley following close behind.
"Mr. Alexander, Bayley had an accident and I think she's scared to tell you" said the girl, the young teacher turning towards them, frowning as he saw Bayley standing there, her pants completely soaked.
"Bayley, it's okay. Just go to the nurse. She has extra clothes there for you," said the teacher, Bayley still crying.
Justin stopped what he was trying to do, kneeling down in front of the crying student.
"Bayley, it's okay," he whispered, offering her a smile. "Accidents happen. That's why we have extra clothes in the nurse's office. Just go there and she can help you, okay?" he said, Bayley nodding.
"Aren't you going to get mad at me?" she cried, Justin frowning at the question.
"Of course not, Bayley. Accidents happen. Why would I be mad at you?" he asked, Bayley shrugging.
"I'm not allowed to have accidents at home," she cried and Justin nodded, sighing.
"Well, you're not at home. You're at school. And at school, if you have an accident or you make a mistake, you won't get in trouble. We come to school so we can learn from those accidents and mistakes, and we can't learn if we're always afraid of getting in trouble, right?" he asked, Bayley smiling slightly.
"Thank you Mr. Alexander," she said, hugging her teacher. He returned the gesture quickly before standing up. "Okay, go to the nurse, alright?"
Bayley nodded, running towards the door, her tears completely abandoned as she realized that her accident was okay.
"Ms. McMahon, can I see you at my desk, please?"
Charlotte looked up from the textbook they had been assigned to read from, frowning as she followed her teachers request and proceeded to her desk.
"I wanted to talk to you about your last test score, Charlotte," explained her teacher, Miss. Liscum, cutting right to the chase.
"What about it?" asked Charlotte, frowning. She was a straight A student. She never once let her grades slip. It was one of the few things in her life that she had control over, and she was very proud of that.
"Well, I'm concerned about it. You are an excellent student, Charlotte. You are dedicated, hardworking, responsible…. But, this test that you just took, you wouldn't know any of that by looking at the score."
Charlotte's frown deepened, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. "I don't understand….I, I know I studied for it. I know I knew the material," she whispered, trying to keep her breathing from escalating as she stood at the front of the room.
"I do know that, Charlotte, but this score...honey, you got one question out of forty, correct. What happened?" she asked, handing the test to Charlotte.
Charlotte's eyes welled up with tears the second she saw it, her stomach feeling like she was going to be sick. "I don't understand…" she muttered, shaking her head, panic rising through her quickly.
"Charlotte, honey, take a breath. It's okay. I'll let you do a retake, okay? We all have bad days. We all make mistakes. I just wanted to talk to you and see if you maybe wanted to talk to me about what might have happened that caused this," she said, Charlotte shaking her head once more.
"I...nothing. I- I don't know. I really don't know," she whispered, her teacher nodding in understanding.
"Okay. Don't worry about it. You can do a retake. But the policy at school is that any score below a 70 means I have to call home and tell your parents about it, okay?"
Charlotte nodded, trying desperately to hold back a sob. She was dead. Her parents despised poor grades. Laziness, as they called it. When they found about this, they would not be as understanding as her teacher was. There would be no empathy, no compassion, none of what her teacher had just shown her. There would only be punishment. A painful, painful, punishment.
Sasha sighed as her teacher lectured the class on, her body on autopilot. She didn't really care about school today. She couldn't bring herself to care. She couldn't even manage to pretend to care today. All she could think about was Becca, and how Becca had still been in the punishment room when they left for school this morning.
All she could think about was Charlotte and the conversation they had had this morning.
All she could think about was what would happen when she got home. Would she finish her chores? Would she get to eat dinner? Would she get punished for something? Would her sister's?
"Sasha? Sasha?"
Sasha snapped out of her thoughts, refocusing her eyes back on her teacher. "Sorry," she muttered, sighing as she tried to catch up to where the teacher was before she had zoned out.
"Sasha, go stand by my desk for a moment. I'll come speak to you in just a second," stated her teacher, Sasha groaning as she got up from her seat and walked over to her teacher's desk.
Sasha's eyes wandered as she waited for her teacher, wondering how it was she could get out of this. She hoped it was just a talk, a get your act together chat, really, but something told her it was more than that. If only her teacher knew the truth, thought Sasha.
If only she knew what Sasha was really focused on. If only she knew why she struggled to stay awake or stay focused. If only she knew how her perfect, wonderful, family, really was. If only.
"Sasha, we need to talk," said Miss. Wilson, meeting Sasha at her desk.
"I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention," muttered Sasha, looking up at her teacher.
"Sasha, I'm not worried about whether or not you were paying attention. I'm worried about you," said her teacher, Sasha shrugging at the gesture. She was used to her sister's caring about her. She wasn't used to adults caring about her.
"Sweetheart, you have bags under your eyes. You are struggling to stay focused in class. You're not talking much with your classmates. You rarely want to play outside…"
Sasha shrugged once more, not quite sure the response her teacher was looking for.
"Sasha," her teacher said, leaning forward and grasping the girls hands in her own, "I think it's time we have a meeting with mom and dad, and see if maybe with the three of us, we can figure out what's going on," said Miss. Wilson, Sasha shaking her head at the thought.
"No, no, no! I'll be okay, I promise. I'll get more sleep, I'll focus more, I'll play and talk more...whatever you want me to do. Please, please, don't involve my parents!" begged Sasha, her teacher surprised by the sudden outburst.
"Sasha, sweetheart, talk to me, then. Tell me what is going on…."
Sasha couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Humiliated, she ducked her head, soft sobs escaping her lips as she began to cry.
"Sasha, do you want to go speak to the counselor? Maybe tell her what's bothering you?" asked Miss. Wilson, Sasha again shaking her head, trying to wipe away her tears.
"No. I'm okay," she muttered, taking a deep breath as she attempted to calm herself. Her teacher was not convinced.
"Okay. Why don't you go put your head down at your desk? Take a quick nap, if you need one, or just rest your eyes, okay?"
Sasha nodded, avoiding her teacher's gaze as she headed back to her desk, taking her teacher up on the offer and putting her head down.
Within five minutes, she was fast asleep.