Chapter Text
Paul gave one last wave to his mom before joining the other kids who were in Ms Miller’s kindergarten class. He gripped the straps of his backpack as he walked over nervously, eyeing the others who were already chatting and laughing. Kindergarteners were really loud. Ms Miller was calling out, almost shouting, trying to get them into two lines. Paul’s eyes fell on a girl with brown hair near the back of the line. Her shoes were pristine and her backpack lacked the glittery, dollar store charm of the others’, but her eyes flashed wildly as she turned to scold the boy from the other line who had grabbed one of her tight plaits. She looked scary, about as scary as a five year old could look. He timidly approached the line, arriving at the last second possible before they started moving again.
They all sat cross legged on the rainbow rug in the middle of the classroom, and Paul tugged on the fuzz nervously as he watched his classmates chatter excitedly. His eyes were once again drawn to the girl from before, who was sitting straight-backed on the edge of the carpet with her hands folded neatly in her lap. Her gaze fell on him, and her brown eyes bore into his until he had to look down at the handful of red fluff he had pulled up. He quickly dropped it, smoothing his hand over the carpet to remove the evidence as Ms Miller started talking. When he summoned the courage to look back at her again, she was staring straight at Ms Miller with a smile creeping across her face.
“And Paul and Emma are going to sit here.” Paul’s attention was back to what Ms Miller was saying as he heard his name. She was pointing to a table at the back of the classroom, and he watched as the girl, Emma, jumped up from where she was sitting and walked over to him. “Come on!” she held out a hand to him. He took it reluctantly and let himself be dragged over to his new seat.
“I’m Emma, and you’re Paul, that’s what Ms Miller said,” she chattered as they sat down.
Paul nodded shyly in response, but Emma barely realised as she continued to talk his ear off for the rest of the morning. Paul happily listened, grateful that she was doing all the talking so he didn’t have to say anything.
When lunch came Paul slowly went to get his backpack from his cubby, keeping his head down. Everyone around him was chattering excitedly, and the noise was putting him on edge. They had all seemed to have formed groups in the two hours they had known each other. Paul turned and jumped. Emma was standing behind him, staring at him intently as she gripped the strap of her back pack.
“Where will we sit?” She turned and began to walk towards the door. Paul followed her, confused but perfectly willing to follow her lead. He hadn’t realised that they had agreed to sit together, but he was grateful as she grabbed his arm and pulled him along.
They spent the rest of the day like that, with Emma leading and Paul following along. Paul liked Emma. He didn’t really know any other kids. Sometimes he would play with the neighbours, but usually it was just him and his mom. Hanging out with Emma made him feel less out of place with his classmates.
After school Ms Miller rounded them all up and brought them into the playground. Paul brought a toy car out of his pocket, which Emma seemed fascinated with, like she'd never seen one before. They took turns driving it back and forth, making race car sound effects. At some point Ted, the boy who had pulled Emma's pigtail earlier, tried to take the car, but Emma scared him away by yelling at him. They kept driving the car between them as the afternoon went on, the sound of children playing around them fading away as they were collected by parents.
Eventually the only two kids left at the playground were Paul and Emma. They didn’t mind, playing together in the sandpit happily. After only a few minutes Paul’s mother walked into the school playground, her dark hair tied up in a haphazard bun that wildly contrasted the professionalism of her blazer and large handbag. She walked up to Ms Miller, who was biting her lip as she walked out of the classroom. As Paul’s mother got closer she could tell that the young teacher was quite distressed, her eyes welling up slightly as she wrung her hands together.
“Kristen,”Paul’s mother introduced herself quickly before spilling into an apology for her tardiness as she took Ms Miller’s hand. “Are you okay?” she asked as she finished her explanation.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Ms Miller said, before launching into a ramble that contradicted that statement, “it’s just that little Emma’s nanny just called and said that she can’t get here until 6, and I’m supposed to go look after my grandmother this afternoon and it’s my first day and I really don’t know-” she trailed off as Kristen laid a gentle hand on her arm, “sorry,” she apologised, a blush spreading across her face.
“It’s fine,” Kristen smiled reassuringly, “I can take Emma home with me if you would like,”
Ms Miller’s face lit up briefly until she remembered, “I don’t think I can do that.”
“How about you go call up Emma’s nanny and ask if it’s ok. I’ll watch the kids.”
Ms Miller smiled gratefully as she fled back into the classroom, revealing a bunch of pom-poms stuck to the back of her dress.
Kristen strolled over to the playground where she was immediately attacked by a hug from Paul.
“Hi baby,” she smiled, letting his arms wrap around her neck, “how was your first day of school?”
Paul nodded emphatically as he launched into a story about the alphabet poster on the whiteboard. He had just started to tell her that *d was for dolphin* when he stopped abruptly, shaking himself out of his mothers arms and running to the little girl who had been standing a distance away, watching them carefully.
“This is my new friend Emma!” he grinned proudly, grabbing her arm. To her credit, Emma held Kristen’s gaze confidently as she gave a small wave. She then looked over the woman’s shoulder, confused. Kristen turned to see Ms Miller running over to her from across the playground.
“She said it was ok,” she panted as she stopped suddenly, almost falling as she tripped over her heels but managing to right herself at the last second. She handed a small slip of paper to Kristen. “Here, that’s her number. I’m going to be late, thank you so much!” she yelled as she began running towards the school gates. Kristen turned to the children who were watching their teacher in confusion.
“How would you like to come to our house, Emma?”