Hello everyone!

So sorry about the late update again! Friday and Saturday were just too busy for me. Anyways...

Today's topic was suggested by... my sister! Yes, she's a reader too. She just gives me her reviews in person.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!

Playing House

Kindergarten

May (5), Drew (5), Gary (5), Paul (5)

Rain was pouring down outside, so, for recess, Ms. Kelly's kindergarten class decided to spend the time indoors. There were plenty of activities to keep the children busy, from colouring, to looking at books, to playing with toys, and even playing dress-up. And playing dress-up was what a little girl, wearing a bright red bandana, was busy doing.

May, while she was enjoying her play, came across a little problem. It was fun dressing up, but it made her want to play pretend. But she couldn't play pretend with just herself! She needed more people. Luckily, she already had a pretty good idea of who to ask at times like these. Drew, Gary, and Paul, of course! After all, what are friends for?

Drew's grassy-green hair signaled her from the table where she and her friends usually sat. The boy was busy creating a colourful picture with crayons.

"Drew!" May hurried up to him. "I need your help!"

"What is it, May?" Drew turned to her concernedly.

"Can you play with me? I want to play, but I only have myself to play with."

"Oh." Drew glanced at his masterpiece-to-be. "But I'm colouring beaut-full scene-ree."

"Please? I only want to play for a little bit?"

Drew thought for a second. If they were only going to play for a little bit, then he would probably have plenty of time to finish colouring before recess ended. It seemed reasonable enough.

"Okay." he said, nodding and getting up. "What are we playing?"

"We need to find Gary and Paul first." she directed seriously.

After a minute of searching, they tracked down Gary trying to make the highest tower out of blocks, and refusing to share with the other children. They had to try really hard convincing him to abandon him tower, finally getting him to listen when Drew told him that what they were going to play was much better than what he was doing. Despite the fact that May still hadn't told him what they were doing.

The three located their purple-haired friend, Paul, soon after. He was sitting alone by the bookshelf, looking through a book with many words that he claimed he could read. Drew had learned a bit of reading because of his tutors, so it didn't seem like an impossible task to him, but Gary was convinced Paul just looked at the pictures, pretending he could read such a hard book.

"Paul, we need help!" May said, trying to catch his attention.

"Ask Ms. Kelly." Paul responded without looking up.

"Ms. Kelly can't play with us. She's the teacher." Drew pointed out.

"I don't wanna play." Paul said.

"Please!" May begged. "Just a tiny bit! A teeny tiny bit!"

"No."

"If he doesn't have to play, then I don't have to." Gary declared, planning to start heading back to his blocks.

"Wait!" May cried. "But you have to play!"

"Why?" Gary demanded.

"B-because!"

"Why?"

"Just because!"

Gary thought for a second. It seemed like a logical answer...

"Come on, Paul." Drew urged. "It'll be lots of fun!"

Paul looked doubtful, but he gave in. He, Drew, and Gary followed May to a corner of the class where there was a plastic kitchen set, and a box full of dress-up clothes.

"What're we gonna play?" Gary asked, facing Drew. After all, it was Drew who had told him they were going to play something better than building with blocks.

"Um..." Drew thought for a second, realizing he didn't know himself. He turned to May.

"House!" May exclaimed enthusiastically. "We're gonna play house! I'll be the mommy, and you can be..." She studied her friends, trying to decide what role would fit them best. The three boys groaned.

"You said we were gonna play something fun." Gary accused Drew.

"I don't wanna play house." Paul said sulkily. "I wanna read."

"You can be the baby." May directed Drew, whose frown became wider.

"I don't wanna be the baby!"

"I wanna play something fun!"

"I don't wanna play house."

"And then who's gonna be the daddy?" May wondered, trying to see whom the role fit best between Paul and Gary.

"I can be the daddy." Gary said suddenly, as if a thought occurred to him. He turned to Drew. "You have to go to have nap time now."

"I don't wanna be the baby!" Drew whined.

"I don't wanna play house!" Paul scowled.

"And Paul, you can be the uncle, or the big brother, or..." May tried to select a choice.

Paul became alert at 'big brother'.

"I can be the big brother." he offered.

"Okay!" May cheered.

"But I hafta go study." he explained. He triumphantly walked back to the bookshelf, where he selected the book he was looking at before to get back to reading.

It was a trick his older brother Reggie had pulled on him countless time. Whenever Reggie wanted to be left alone by Paul, he'd just tell his little brother that he needed to study and to not disturb him. Paul had once walked into his room to discover that Reggie was actually not studying, but instead playing some game on his laptop.

"Bye bye!" May waved to him, happy that he was playing too.

Meanwhile, Gary and Drew had gotten into an argument.

"You have to! Cuz I said so!" Gary ordered.

"I don't wanna go to sleep! I don't wanna listen to you!" Drew shouted back.

"But you have to! Cuz I'm the daddy, so I'm the boss! You're the baby, so you have to do what I say!"

"I don't wanna be the baby! I'm not playing!" Drew scowled and turned away with his arms folded.

"But you said you were gonna play!" May reminded him, upset at his sudden changed decision. "You were gonna be the baby."

"I don't wanna be the baby!" Drew repeated. He turned to May. "Why can't you be the baby?"

"Cuz I'm the mommy! And you can't be the mommy, cuz you're a boy."

"I don't wanna be the mommy either."

"I'm bored." Gary announced. "I'm gonna play with blocks."

"Wait!" May desperately called out to her friend, who had begun to walk away. "You can't go!"

"Yes I can!"

"But we were gonna play house!" May cried. Her whole game was being ruined! Neither Drew nor Gary wanted to play with her.

"What's going on here?" Ms. Kelly asked a bit exasperatedly, arriving at the scene of the argument.

"They don't wanna play with me." May accused, sniffling a bit as she pointed to her two friends.

Ms. Kelly sighed. "May, dear," She bent down to her level. "You can't force others to play with you. They are your friends, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything with them. Sometimes, friends want to do something else, too."

"But they said they were gonna play with me! All three of them did!"

"Three?" the teacher repeated confusedly. "It's only Gary and Drew."

"And Paul." May pointed to where her last friend was seated. "He's the only one who's playing."

Ms. Kelly was perplexed by May's statement, as the purple-haired boy didn't seem to be playing, but instead reading like he always did. But she didn't question it, lest it start more trouble.

"May," Ms. Kelly faced the little girl. "When you try to keep telling your friends what to do or play, they start thinking you're being bossy, and it's not fun for them. Do you think you would have fun if no one else is?"

May seemed to be in deep thought for a minute, before she sadly shook her head. "No."

"So why don't you play something different that you can do by yourself? And if the others don't want to play too, don't feel upset. Okay?"

May nodded somewhat understandingly. "Okay."

"Good girl." Ms. Kelly smiled warmly before patting May on her head and walking off to attend to some of the other children. May turned to Gary and Drew.

"Do you want to play with me?" she asked hesitantly.

"No!" Gary didn't miss a beat with his answer one bit before he rushed away to attend to his half-completed tower.

Drew felt a bit more sympathetic than his spiky-haired friend, as well as a bit guilty for letting his May down. "You can colour with me if you want." he offered.

"Okay." May accepted before walking up to Paul. "We're not playing house anymore." she informed him solemnly.

"Hn." Paul didn't really care, as it didn't make a difference to him.

May, glad that he didn't seem to be disappointed, went back to join Drew at the the table. She got a fresh sheet of paper from the small stack in front of her.

"What're you drawing?" Drew asked after a while.

"A house." May showed it to him. "And here is the mommy over here." She pointed to a small person she had drawn standing in front of the house.

"What about the daddy? And the baby?" Drew inquired.

"They didn't wanna play." May explained sadly.

Drew stared at the lonely 'mommy' before grabbing a crayon and adding something to the picture. "Here's the daddy." he said, as he made another person in the picture.

May smiled, and added something else on with her crayon. "And this is the baby!"

"And the big brother over here!"

The two continued adding more and more people to to picture, eventually bringing in grandparents and siblings and friends and teachers. They both felt the end result was a masterpiece!

And it looked like May got to play house in a way after all.

Done! Another day of kindergarten.

Didn't think I'd update today at all, actually, but looks like I did. I'll try to update earlier next time, but no guarantee.

Please review and thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! And have a smiling day! :)