The morning of Chibitalia's first day of preschool went by in a blur of number flashcards, colored pictures, and cheerful songs. Suddenly a bright, clear bell went off and it was lunchtime. Everyone got their lunchboxes out and sat around a circular table with the world painted on it.
I'm so glad Grandpa Rome packed me pasta today! I was getting so hungry while learning all morning…
Japan sat beside Chibitalia and quietly opened a small, black box. It was stuffed with rice and pickled plums, making the black-haired boy smile. On the other side of Japan was Taiwan, and beside her were the blonde twins. One was waving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich about as the other clutched a croquet monsieur.
It's hard to tell the twins apart, they look so similar. It's not very nice of the one wearing the blue shirt to make fun of the one with the leaf on his shirt.
Holy Rome sat down beside Chibitalia and began eating in total silence. This freaked Chibitalia out a little bit. He ended up eating in silence too, scared to look to his left.
After everyone was done eating, Miss Hungary lined all the children up alphabetically and led them down to the playground. The playground was amazing! The slides were huge, there were plenty of swings, and the sand box was like a small desert. Chibitalia hurried over to his big brother Romano who seemed to be hiding from someone behind the brightly colored play structure.
"Poopy-head, why are you here?" snapped Romano.
"Can't I play with you?" asked Chibitalia in a rather sad, hurt voice.
"Dumbie who wants to play with you CHIGI!"
Romano ran as fast as he could as a tall brown haired-boy peaked around the play structure wall. Chibitalia hid in fear before realizing it was only Spain.
"Chibitalia! I didn't realise you started school this year. You're so cuuuuuuuuute" exclaimed Spain as he patted Chibitalia on the head. Before Chibitalia could respond, Spain caught sight of Romano and had dashed off. Poor Romano. Spain and his two other big, weird friends were having a great time chasing him around.
Since the older kids were clearly busy, Chibitalia went over to the sand box and started making a castle. The castle ended up having three large towers, a moat, a central hall…
"Chibitalia, that is work of art" said a quiet voice from behind him.
Chibitalia was so stunned he almost fell on his lovely sand castle. When he looked around, there was no one in sight.
The bell rang and all the children filed back inside for their afternoon lessons. Chibitalia was glad that preschool ended only an hour after recess, so he could go home and take a siesta.
"Hello again, children! I hope you had a nice recess" greeted Miss Hungary as her students walked through the door.
"Yes, Miss Hungary" they replied..
"We're going to have story time and circle time now, but I'd like to let you know that every other day is a culture day. Tomorrow, please bring in something that represents your artwork!"
How am I ever going to decide one thing that represents all of my artwork? Wondered Chibitalia, who had lots of artwork in his home.
Story time started as Miss Hungary pointed to the stack of cushions in the corner of the carpet area for the children to sit upon. She took out a massive, extremely heavy book and opened it to the beginning.
Chibitalia couldn't really remember what the story was about afterwards because he was still wondering about what to bring in for culture day, but he was paying enough attention to know when the preschool bell rang for school to be over. Grandpa Rome was on time for once, waiting at the door with a pony-tailed preteen. Japan and Taiwan walked over the preteen, who gave them both hugs as he started talking rapidly. Chibitalia noticed he kept saying "aru" over and over again, which was kind of funny. Grandpa Rome gave Chibitalia a hug too and took his hand as they collected his backpack and walked out of the school.
"Grandpa Rome?"
"Yes, Chibitalia?" replied the great empire.
"What should I bring in as a representation of my artwork for school tomorrow?"
"Anything you'd like that you can carry by yourself. Figure this out after your siesta, okay cutie?" he answered.
So when Chibitalia got home, he stopped worrying and promptly fell asleep.