I'm probably putting this up a little later than usual, cause I got home late last night with dinner, meaning I was eating three chicken tenders at one in the morning. Not smart, but last night was crazier than most Saturdays. Anyway, with this chapter we're gonna rewind a bit.
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Chapter Thirteen Summary: Five-year-old Cheryl is getting ready for her first day of kindergarten, as well as Justina and Corrie. Will the three go through it together in the same class or will they each have their own issues? And what is up with one of the kindergarten teachers?
Chapter Thirteen: Let the Torture Begin
"Come on Cheryl, you have to pick out an outfit." Taylor sighed. She held up a nice pair of blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt. "How about these?"
"No!" Cheryl insisted. "I don't wanna go to school. It's boring." She sat down on her bed and folded her arms.
"You can't assume that after the first day, even before the first day." Taylor replied. "Come on, Justina and Corrie are gonna be there."
"Justina's boring, too." Cheryl rolled her eyes.
Taylor sighed heavily and threw the current outfit in her hands back into the drawer, figuring they could straighten it up again later. "Cheryl, work with me here. This is kindergarten, your first day of elementary school. You have to go and you know it. Don't put up a fight."
"I don't wanna go." she repeated.
"Well sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to do." Taylor told her. "So pick out an outfit, do your hair and teeth, and we'll take you out to the bus."
"Buses are smelly." Cheryl said.
Taylor folded her arms. "Cheryl Dominique, you are not getting out of this. You are going to school and taking the bus whether you like it or not. Understand?"
"NO!" Cheryl yelled. "I'm not going!"
Taylor groaned and stormed out of the room. She made her way downstairs and walked up to the kitchen counter, where in the kitchen she saw Chad working on making some lunch. "Your daughter is more stubborn that the two of us put together!"
Chad raised an eyebrow and looked up. "Something wrong?" he wondered. "And what do you mean 'my daughter'?"
"She takes after you." she rolled her eyes. "And the bus comes in less than an hour and she's refusing to put on anything for school, let alone get ready for it."
"Well, maybe she needs more persuasion..." Chad suggested.
"Then you go persuade her." Taylor said. "I'm sorry, but I can't deal with it anymore."
"Someone's impatient." Chad sang.
"Someone is going to be in trouble." Taylor replied.
Chad nodded, "I'd better go get her ready then." He saw Taylor nod in response, then he headed upstairs. Hopefully Cheryl wouldn't give him or her teacher a hard time.
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"I wanna go home." Corrie moaned as soon as she and Cheryl sat down in their seats in the classroom. "I miss my mom and dad. And why isn't Justy in our room?"
"Sorry to break it to you, but I like that she's in another room. She's boring." Cheryl replied.
"Nuh-uh." Corrie shook her head. "But it's not fair. Why can't our mos and dads come with us?"
"I don't want em here. They forced me to come here." Cheryl moaned, folding her arms. "What's so great bout school anyway?"
"We're spossed to learn and play games." Corrie shrugged.
"Still sounds boring to me." Cheryl said.
"Ok class, looks like everyone is here." the teacher greeted happily as she walked into the room. "Settle down everyone and face front, please." She waited for all of the students to face the white board in the front of the room, where she was standing. "My name is Ms. Flowski and I will be your teacher for the year. Welcome to your first official day of public education. Enjoy the days while they last, because it's only going to get worse year by year."
"Wow, how enouragy." Cheryl muttered rolling her eyes.
The teacher folded her arms and eyed Cheryl. "Something you would like to share with the class, Miss?"
Cheryl looked up at her. "No ma'am." she said coolly.
"Class, let me tell you how something works here." Ms. Flowski said. "If I catch anyone whispering or talking in class I will ask you to share it with the class. And fi you refused you will be spending the next ten minutes sitting silent in the corner in the back. No work or anything. Don't let it happen, you will fall behind. So, I will ask you again young lady," she eyes Cheryl, "something you would like to share with the class?"
"No ma'am." Cheryl repeated.
"Well considering it's only the first day I will let you off with a warning. But you will not be off the hook so easily tomorrow." Ms. Flowski warned. "Now, let us go around the room and introduce ourselves. You will say your name, how old you are, your brothers and sisters names and how old they are, and what your parents do. So we'll start with you." She pointed at Corrie.
Corrie looked down, a bit shy of speaking out loud to so many people. "Well...my name's Corrie Bolton and..."
"You'll have to speak up a little more. Some of us can't hear you." Ms. Flowski said.
Corrie sighed and reluctantly raised her voice just a little. "My name's Corrie Bolton and I'm five. I got two sisters and a brother. Gina's eight, Timmy's six, and Justina's five."
"Oh, so you have a twin I see." the teacher observes.
"Why isn't she in this class, too?" Corrie wondered.
"Because most schools try to keep twins in separate classes." Ms. Flowski explained. "We don't want them to grow too attached to each other and feel like they can't do anything without each other by their side. It's standard school rules no matter where you go, though there may be one year at most in your elementary school years when you would share a class with her, not including during lunch. Now, if you could continue, Ms. Bolton?"
Corrie nodded. "My dad works at his old high school and own the community theater and my mom manages a restaurant." she finished.
The teacher nodded. It seemed like she wouldn't have any problems with Corrie. She eyed Cheryl. "How about you. The trouble maker."
Cheryl rolled her eyes. "Cheryl McKessie-Danforth. I'm five and my older brother is seventeen." she said casually. "My dad works daycare and my mom's a secretary."
Ms. Flowski folded her arms. "A seventeen-year-old brother." she repeated. "How intriguing. Now I know I'll have to keep my eyes on you. Moving on now..."
Cheryl raised an eyebrow as the next student spoke. What did the teacher mean? She'd have to keep her eyes on her?
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"Hey, I'm going out for lunch on my break." Chad said as he walked by his boss at the daycare center.
She nodded in response. "An hour to eat, as usual."
"Got it." Chad nodded. "I'll be back by one." He pulled out his cell phone and started heading down the street to get some fast food, since it was the easiest thing to get around there. He hit the speed dial and waited for Taylor to pick up.
"Hello?" Taylor picked up from the other line.
"Hey," Chad grinned, "what happened to your secretary voice?"
"Because between noon and twelve-o-five you always call, therefore I know to expect you." Taylor replied. "Going to lunch?"
"Yup, a whole hour to scarf down any fast food I want." Chad replied.
"Well try not to eat too much. And nothing from McDonald's. It gave you gas last time."
"Ok, I'll make sure to stay away from all McDonald's in Albuquerque." Chad joked.
"All joking aside, there is something we need to talk about." Taylor stated.
"I didn't do it." Chad said right away.
Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Didn't do what?"
"Nothing...force of habit." Chad said. "So what do we need to talk about?"
"I got a call from Cheryl's teacher about fifteen minutes ago." Taylor answered.
"Ok, let me rephrase...what did Cheryl do?" Chad asked.
"It's not so much what Cheryl did as what she said. There was a minor backtalk, but apparently 'nothing to worry about'." Taylor explained, quoting the teacher. "But she had mentioned something about Cheryl saying that her brother was seventeen and herself five. Apparently she's not too fond of students who have teen parents."
"What?" Chad gasped. "I mean I know we almost were, but Dill wasn't-"
"I know, and I attempted to explain that to her." Taylor replied, now tapping a pencil against the desk. "But she wasn't one to listen. And I'm afraid that she might make life for Cheryl at school hell because of some assumption about us. She even said quite bluntly, 'I prefer to keep an eye on students who have been brought up much like your daughter'."
"I don't get it." Chad shook his head.
Taylor rolled her eyes. "Put two and two together, Chad. I have a good mind to try and get Cheryl into another class just to avoid that teacher."
"How about I get out a little early today and talk to that teacher?" Chad suggested. "I can take Cheryl home while I'm at it."
"Are you sure that won't make things worse?" Taylor wondered.
"I hope it doesn't. But what else are we supposed to do? Let her push us and Cheryl around just because she thinks we're raising not just Cheryl, but Dylan, the wrong way when she knows nothing about any of us?" Chad replied.
"Of course not. It's just that sometimes you have a tendency to say things at the wrong time or happen to open your mouth." Taylor stated.
"Ok so what did you do when you talked to her?" Chad asked.
"Well what could I do? I'm sitting at work. I can't open my mouth or curse a teacher out." Taylor replied.
"Yeah that is true." Chad nodded. "But at least let me see what I can do, if I can make things easier. And besides," he added jokingly, "who can resist the hereditary Danforth charm?"
Taylor giggled. "Well you do have that charm to you. And trust me, I've seen it. Let me know how it goes?"
Chad smiled and nodded. "I will. I'll try and be home before five."
"Alright." Taylor agreed. "Now hurry up and get your lunch before you're late to work, too."
"Right." Chad said. "Talk to you later. Love you."
"Love you, too." Taylor replied.
Chad hung up his phone and took a deep breath. "Hopefully the teacher will fall for that Danforth charm." he said to himself. Because he knew if it didn't work out, there would be more trouble coming.
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As soon as the students entered back into the classroom, Ms. Flowski didn't even wait a moment before she spoke again.
"Well it seems that everyone enjoyed lunch today. And I'm sure the playground was quite enjoyable as well." she said. "Now, we must move on. You need to make sure you have all the books you need for tomorrow. One for English and the alphabet, one for math, and two more just in case. And don't forget to buy folders where homework will be kept in them. It can range from anything such as art to math to a bit of science."
"This just keeps getting better and better." Cheryl muttered.
"Young lady, you seem to be doing quite a bit of talking today. Perhaps I should make an exception for the first day and send you to that corner." the teacher folded her arms.
"No ma'am." Cheryl shook her head coolly. "I was just trying to state my opinion."
She merely nodded. "Well, let me tell you what happens to children who state the incorrect opinions. No free time, no pretend time, and a phone call home should it continue. Now would you like me to talk to your mother again?"
"Again? What do you mean again?" Cheryl asked.
"I told her about your first little outburst this morning. We had a very interesting chat. Such a shame she seems as headstrong as you." Ms. Flowski replied.
Cheryl glared at the teacher. For a five year old, she thought she was handling herself pretty well. Or she could have been watching a few too many shows a few years out of her league. One way or another, she was going to put her foot down.
"I think I'll go to that corner now." she said as she stood up and stormed to the back of the room.
"Now then," the teacher continued as soon as Cheryl sat in the corner and folded her arms, "is there anyone else who would like to face such a punishment?"
Corrie slowly raised her hand. "Aculy," she said as she tried to pronounce 'actually', "is there anyway I can go home now? I don't like it here much."
"I'm sorry sweetie, but you have to wait until the final bell rings. That's not for a while longer." she shook her head.
"What if I felt sick?" Corrie asked.
"Then you'd be sent to the principal's office for lying." Ms. Flowski stated simply. "Now please remain in your seat so we can continue on now."
Corrie slowly put her hand down. When it came to friends and home, she was fairly hyper. But when it came to an unfamiliar environment such as school, including being with specific people who she didn't feel comfortable with, that's when her guard went up and she wanted to get out as soon as possible.
But unfortunately, it didn't look like anyone was getting out of this class any time soon.
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The final bell rang and the students left each classroom in single file to either wait for the parents outside along with the teachers or wait in the gym for their designated bus to arrive. As soon as Corrie found Justina waiting on the line for their bus, she practically ran over to her.
"Where's Gina and Timmy?" she asked right away.
"I think they come later cause it goes grade by grade or somethin." Justina replied. "Like how we get here first and then the first graders and whatever comes after that."
"Can we go home now?" Corrie begged. "I don't like kindeygaten."
"What are you talkin bout?" Justina asked. "It's tons of fun. We got to play games all day and sing songs. The teacher even gave us all pieces of candy."
"My teacher didn't do that. She got Cheryl in trouble." Corrie shook her head.
"But she always asks for it." Justina said.
"Not this time." Corrie said. "She even went to the lonely dark corner in the back. It was scary."
"Don't you go gettin in trouble, too." Justina warned. "Mama and Dad are gonna have fits if you do."
"I know." Corrie sighed. "But the teacher said we couldn't be in the same class either or else we'd get stucked together."
"My teacher said that, too. But we get to make new friends." Justina shrugged like it was no big deal. "It's fun." She glanced around the gym and waved to a couple of other kids she had met in her classroom, one of which was sitting in the line beside theirs waiting for his bus.
Corrie just sighed and pulled her legs into her chest. How could one person love school so much when someone else was so scared?
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Chad slowly stepped up to the classroom. It was three, exactly, and he knew the teacher would still be in there. It was time to find out if she was as bad as she sounded. Luckily, Chad had dealt with plenty of annoying teachers in his day. He would play jokes and disrupt class and everything. But it was also different back then. He wasn't discriminated against because of assumptions about his parents. Or anything else, for that matter. He was just hoping that this could all work out. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" he heard a woman's voice from inside.
"Um...I'm a parent of one of your students." Chad answered. "I'm here to talk to you."
"You have an appointment?" she asked through the cracked-opened door.
"No, but it's important." Chad said. "You even called my wife about my daughter earlier. I wanna know what's going on."
"Oh yes. You parents. Enter, then." the teacher agreed.
Chad took a final deep breath and walked into the room. The teacher was sitting at her desk, her fingers laced together as she watched him expectantly. He looked at the middle-aged woman and then took a glance around the room. Even in the back he could see Cheryl sitting in a chair in an empty corner. Chad blinked as his head snapped back to the teacher.
"What is my daughter doing back there?" he asked. "Do you realize that if I wasn't here she could miss her bus?"
"She deserved to stay after class, Mr. Danforth." the teacher replied. "She snapped at me in the middle of class and was asking for a punishment."
"Who are you to criticize what she does?" Chad questioned. "It was her first day of school, have you considered that? And I'll have you know-"
"I'll have you know," Ms. Flowski interrupted, "that I do not tolerate back-talkers in my classroom. Nor do I approve of teen parents."
"Spare me." Chad couldn't help but roll his eyes. "My wife told me you fed her the same thing."
"Yes, and she didn't put up much of an argument either." the teacher stated.
"She was at work. What was she supposed to say over the phone to you that wouldn't get her in trouble?" Chad asked.
"Well it's her problem then now, isn't it?" Ms. Flowski asked. "And I will not have your daughter be one of my problems."
"Do you treat all kids the way you do based on what they say about their families?" Chad questioned, becoming more irritated by the minute. "What do you know about my family?"
"I know all I need to. You have a pitiful paying job and you had your first child when you were what, seventeen?" Ms. Flowski shrugged as though she were talking to another child.
What Chad wanted to say was, 'no, we would have had one when we were eighteen' but he didn't. That much was in the past. And he wanted to make sure to lower his voice so Cheryl couldn't hear him. As far as their ages went, both Cheryl and Dylan knew their parents were in their thirty's. But Chad had adopted Dylan not too long after college, before the boy was even ten.
"My son is adopted." Chad said in a low yet harsh voice. "And for all you know, some of the children in your own class could be adopted. Do you hold that against them? Or do you just make assumptions from what they tell you or what they look like?"
"The way I teach my class is none of your concern. Do not make me give you a detention." Ms. Flowski warned.
"I've gotten enough detentions in my life not to be scared of them." Chad informed her. "And for the record, the way you treat my child is my concern. And if you have any other kids in your class that I happen to know, such as one of my friend's twins who happens to be a month younger than Cheryl, then I have the right to worry just as much about them."
The teacher was about to counter when there was a knock on the door.
"Is there something going on in here?" a distinguished man inquired.
"No, Principal Hayes." Ms. Flowski replied. "Just a parent-teacher discussion."
"On the first day back?" he quirked an eyebrow. "What seems to be the problem?"
"The problem is this teacher." Chad said, standing up straight. "She was keeping my daughter after class when she could have missed her bus. And apparently, aside from a minor squabble between the two, the teacher is holding something against Cheryl just because of her brother and his age."
"What seems to be the issue then?" the principal wondered.
"The issue is that not only is she taking this out on my daughter, she's taking it out on me and threatening to give me a detention just for standing up for my family." Chad replied.
The principal eyed Ms. Flowski suspiciously.
"Principal Hayes, who are you going to believe?" she asked as she stood up. "Some teen father or someone who has worked here for eighteen years?"
"I told you, my son was adopted." Chad hissed.
Principal Hayes held up a finger. "Ms. Flowski, the parents are not as much of your concern as the children are. I would like to see you in my office, pronto." He didn't even give the teacher a chance to argue before he turned back to Chad. "Can you and your daughter make it in early tomorrow?"
"I'm not sure." Chad admitted. "Can we do it the day after tomorrow, just in case?" That would give him more time to discuss everything with Taylor and see where they should go from there, not to mention give him more time to get the story straight from Cheryl.
"Seven a.m. then." the principal agreed. "Try not to be late."
"Understood." Chad nodded.
The principal turned back to ms. Flowski. "Meet me in my office, now." he ordered. The two men watched as the angry teacher removed herself from her desk and left the classroom. The principal turned his head back to Chad once more. "If you could just wait for me to converse with Ms. Flowski, we can set the basis for our meeting and continue that morning. Feel free to remove yourself and your daughter from this classroom as well. Won't be much longer now."
Chad nodded as the principal exited the classroom. When did the first day of kindergarten ever get so complicated?
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"Wait...so after all that the teacher isn't getting fired?" Dylan gasped at dinner that night.
Chad rolled his eyes and shook his head. "When I meet with the principal we're gonna talk deeper into that. But as of right now, just for the remainder of the week, she's on probation. There may or may not be a sub to take over for her the rest of the year. But the school needs teachers and they can't afford to let one go."
"That's kinda stupid." Dylan stated.
"I said school would be stupid." Cheryl muttered, playing with her food.
"Well if we had known that you would have a teacher like you did today, we wouldn't have sent you there." Taylor said.
"Really?" Cheryl asked.
"Well...no, not really." she shook her head. "We would have just found you a different teacher."
"Well believe it or not, Cheryl was as quiet as a mouse when I talked to her teacher." Chad stated. "She was in the corner the teacher sent her to the whole time."
"I was there since after lunch." Cheryl said.
"For that long?" Taylor gasped.
"Yeah, and she said if someone gets sent back there too much they'd fall behind and get in trouble and fail." Cheryl nodded.
"Hey, I was almost sent back there with you." Chad interrupted. "The teacher almost gave me a detention just for being there."
"Well that wouldn't be a surprise." Taylor said. "Not with all the detentions you received back in high school."
"Hey, you got one, too." Chad gasped.
"Yes, courtesy of you and opening your mouth." Taylor nodded. "So my detention was your fault."
"So do you think that means Cheryl's gonna get a lot of detentions, too?" Dylan wondered.
Chad and Taylor stopped eating and slowly looked at Cheryl, who was now stuffing her face with food. They had observes how much she took after Chad, even as a baby. That could only mean....
"Now I'm gonna know how it feels to get a lot of phone calls about my kid being in trouble at school." Chad realized. "Not normal."
"Let's just hope that wouldn't be for a few years." Taylor said. "Never have I pictured one of my children getting into so much trouble from day one."
"Well, at least one of them turned out right." Chad joked, referring to Dylan. "Not a single phone call home since he started, except from the nurse to take him home."
"Well, while we're on the subject of families..." Dylan started, "...there's still some business that we have to take care of."
Chad raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"
"Can we go into the backyard after dinner?" Dylan asked. "We can take care of it then?"
"Sure." Chad agreed. "After today I think we could all use something family related."
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As soon as they were done with dinner, Chad, Taylor, and Cheryl went out to the backyard and waited for Dylan. Cheryl automatically jumped onto the swing set and started playing on them.
"So what do you think Dill's got planned?" Chad wondered.
"Not sure." Taylor shook her head. "But I know this much - you did pretty good today."
"I did?" Chad raised an eyebrow.
"I never would have pictured that instead of being on the end of a teacher's punishment, you'd be fighting against one." Taylor said. "Do you want me to go with you at the meeting with the principal?"
Chad smiled and shook his head. "Nah, it's all good. I'm a big boy, I can handle myself."
"Well you'd better, or else I'd be raising two five-year-olds." Taylor replied.
Chad chuckled. "Don't worry. You're not married to a five-year-old."
"Ok, I'm out!" Dylan called as he ran into the backyard with a camera in his hands. He started setting it up on a table.
"What are you doing?" Chad wondered.
Dylan looked up for a minute. "Well, after a crazy first day of school, I thought we could all use something good out of it. So a new family portrait seemed like the perfect idea."
The adults smiled at the thought. Chad could remember the family portrait from their wedding that was in Cheryl's room. He always imagined what the next one would be like, with the four of them instead of just the three.
"I think it's a great idea." Chad grinned.
"Cheryl, come over here. We're taking a picture." Taylor called.
"Coming!" Cheryl replied. She jumped off the swing and ran over to her parents.
"Almost finished?" Chad asked Dylan.
"Yeah, just working on the timer and the zooming in and out." Dylan nodded.
"We'd better set up then." Chad said. He and Taylor stood in the same positions that they did in the first portrait: side by side with a hand around one's waist and the other on the others' shoulder. In the first portrait, Dylan had stood in the center, each of his parents having a hand on his shoulder. So now Cheryl was the one standing in the center between her parents, and as soon as Dylan finished setting the camera up he got beside Chad, being just a little shorter than him. The family smiled at the camera and a minute later the photo was snapped. All that was left was to figure out where to put it. That, and to get through the year in one peace.
So there we have it, another chapter. I thought there could be something extra by having a problem teacher. Really, did we ever see something like that in HSM? Just a little twist, you know? So that's all for now, I will see when the next update will be!