Chapter 35: Kindergarten

I'm sorry everyone but finals are a bitch. Lucky I'm on break now and should be able to publish more chapters. By the way, after this I will be going back to the plot driven chapters.

Denver, Colorado

Samantha Waterstone was driving her car to the nearby daycare center. Her husband Robby had gone off to work at his job at the local news station.

Samantha was a little nervous, although not as nervous as her and Robby's adopted daughter. Tammy the Umi Osho wasn't at all happy that she was leaving for this "kindergarten". Her past experiences had made it so that she would fall into panic attacks anytime her new parents would leave for any reason.

The last few months have been the best months Tammy has had in a while. She had a loving home with loving parents. She radiated joy and had strengthened Samantha and Robby's relationship. But while she was happy Tammy had serious abandonment issues. Issues the couple was trying to help alleviate. But the months wore on and eventually Tammy's first day of kindergarten was upon them. When the pair had registered Tammy as their daughter with the US government and CPS they required Samantha and Robby to register Tammy for schooling. This would blow up into new problems.

There was an issue for the whole family that Tammy was a Mamono. Even after Mamono came into the public eye and new ones were being tracked by world governments they still made up less than one percent of the global population. And there were even fewer Mamono children. This led the couple to the concern that Tammy might be bullied because she wasn't Human. But unfortunately there wasn't much they could do about it. Tammy needed schooling.

The car pulled up to the front entrance, Samantha turned to her adopted daughter. She saw the look of both wonder and fear on her face.

"Alright sweetie we're here."

Tammy then turned to her and shook her head.

"I don't want to be here! This kindergarten stuff sounds dumb! I don't want you to leave!"

Samantha sighed. She knew it was going to take some work to convince Tammy.

"How about this sweetie, I'll walk with you to your class. Is that ok?"

Tammy looked outside at the bright building. Quickly looked back at her mother, then to the building. She quickly nodded her head. Samantha smiled and turned off the car. She helped Tammy out of her car seat and began to walk her to the front door.

Tammy was absolutely terrified, but she calmed down a little when she saw the bright colorful mural on the front of the building. The pair stepped into a baby blue reception area. Samantha walked up to the counter and began to speak with an older woman who seemed to be the receptionist. Meanwhile Tammy looked through a window and into the hallway. It was littered with tack boards showing off artwork made by the students as well as flyers and posters for faculty and parents alike. While she was still afraid she began to grow curious of this place.

Samantha was told to follow the receptionist to room 18. She grabbed Tammy's hand and the pair began to follow down the hall. The receptionist looked back at the small child. She was curious about Tammy, she would be the first Mamono at the school. She was nervous about how the other kids would react.

Eventually they made it to room 18 and the receptionist knocked on the door. A moment later the teacher, a woman on the younger side, opened the door. She stood shorter than Samantha but obviously taller than Tammy. She had her sandy hair tied into a bun. The receptionist explained the situation before heading off back to the front office. The group walked in to a brightly colored and lit room. This time the walls were a grass green and decorated with childish characters of butterflies and caterpillars. The kids inside the room were in the midst of play time beyond the round tables. Tammy saw them and they quickly saw her. She rushed behind her mom's legs and nearly jumped into her shell.

The teacher and Samantha jumped at this before Samantha quickly explained her extreme shyness. The children however were whispering to each other, each excited and curious about the new student. It seemed to them she was one of those new people that the adults were calling Mamono. Samantha turned around and began whispering something into Tammy's ear. She then picked her up, gave her a kiss on the forehead and walked out of the room. Tammy didn't try running after her but she did begin to cry.

The teacher crouched down to Tammy's level and slowly and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hello dear, I'm Ms. Courtney. I'm going to be your new teacher, don't worry your safe, nobody's gonna bother you and your mom will be back soon. I promise. Now let's wipe those tears away and meet your classmates, is that ok?"

Tammy gulped as she looked at the horde of kids. She gently clinged to Ms. Courtney's leg and nodded. The pair began to waddle over to the group, Tammy looked around the room as they did so. Bookshelves were placed along one of the walls to the room, on the other side was a set of cubbies for the kids to place their belongings in. The pair stopped by one of the cubbies which already had Tammy's name written on the whiteboard plaque. She gently placed her new green backpack that also looked like a turtle shell inside before continuing.

"Alright kids take a break to meet your new classmate." Ms. Courtney said as they made their way over to the play corner. The children dropped what they were doing and began to sit in a semicircle surrounding the pair.

"Ok children, this is Tammy! Say hi to Tammy."

Various replies of hey, hi or hello sounded out. To which Tammy was gently pushed out to greet them as well, which she did.

"Hey is that shell real?!" Someone blurted out, causing Tammy to jump and almost delve into the subject of the question. Ms. Courtney quickly looked around to see who made the rude outburst as Tammy quickly nodded.

"That's so cool!" Tucker, the one who created the original outburst cried out. Ms. Courtney was about to scold him before Tammy piped up for the first time.

"Y, you think it's cool?"

"Yeah! It's awesome! I wish I had something like that, so if I get picked on I could use it to hide away!"

Tammy broke into a smile as Ms. Courtney watched the exchange. She decided not to punish the boy and just continue with her monologue. She continued with explaining to Tammy about what they would do today and such, the rules and the schedule. Then she sent the child on her way. Tammy was almost immediately grabbed up by Tucker and another girl named Ginny telling her that they should play together. Ms Courtney would continue to watch the girl, but had a feeling that things would turn out alright.

A few hours later Samantha came back to the school. All day she was nervous about Tammy. She didn't receive any calls from the school so she assumed everything was alright. She walked into the front office where the receptionist told her to wait. Samantha quickly sat down and waited. Sure enough a minute later Tammy walks through the door with a big smile on her face, she quickly turns around and waves at her new friends before rushing at Samantha. Samantha quickly crouches down and gives her adopted daughter a big hug.

As the mother and daughter left the building Tammy told Samantha about her amazing day. She made new friends and had a lot of fun. She concluded with asking Samantha if she could come back the next day.

Samantha had a big smile on her face. "Of course. Now lets get you home your dad misses you."