Chapter 7: Sharing is Caring

"Alexis, will you please play the alphabet song?"

A cartoonish blue mushroom with a butterfly on top glowed from its shelf above the alphabet carpet. A moment later, a piano rendition of the requested song began to play, the tune prompting Ashley to sway gently in place. Her long skirt pooled beneath her as she smiled at the circle of children. "All right. Everyone sing along with me!"

Sofia looked on with a smile as the group of kids began singing with various degrees of accuracy. It was difficult to get a gauge on exactly how well any one knew their alphabet, given the resulting cacophony of voices. But they managed to stay mostly together and weren't lacking in enthusiasm.

That mushroom must be a voice-activated music player or something. Very cute. It's probably some kind of knockoff, given the shape and how they gave it a different name than the default. I wonder why they didn't make it ocean themed like everything else, though?

She sprayed down the next table, bending over to wipe it down with a rag. Next to her, one of the boys tipped a dustpan full of the morning's cereal breakfast into the trash, then put both it and the miniature broom away. He had to jump a little to reach their hooks on the wall, but before she could offer to help, he managed to hang them up and scurried over to the rug to join his friends.

Evidently, the “Clean-up Helper" was one of many highly-coveted responsibilities that the kids rotated through each day. There was a whole list of them, ranging from turning off the classroom lights to passing out blankets at naptime, with the day's assignments hanging near the door to the classroom. Sofia had honestly expected the jobs to be mostly symbolic, but so far? That hadn't been the case.

He did pretty good, she admitted, glancing over the floors with approval. I mean, I'll definitely need to give a few areas another pass, but that was actually pretty helpful. Maybe I haven't been giving them enough credit.

She finished up with her own cleaning before moving to join the others on the rug. Just like the day before, Penny crawled over to meet her, settling into her lap with a toothy grin. Sofia smiled at the girl, ruffling her curly brown hair affectionately before turning her attention to Ashley.

"Now, let's read a story… Oh! Let's start with this one here."

"I like that one!"

"I like that one, too!"

"It's one of my favorites," Ashley chuckled, producing a thin picture book with a tall tree on the front. "Now, before we start, can anyone tell me what the front of a book is called…?"

Sofia watched the other woman teach, paying less attention to the words she spoke and more to her mannerisms and choices in how the information was presented. Ashley had a way of asking questions that was absolutely fascinating. Sometimes, she'd ask the class directly for a response. Others, she'd tilt her head to the side, tapping her chin in an exaggeratedly thoughtful pose as though she herself had also forgotten the answer. That always seemed to make the kids even more enthusiastic.

Which makes sense. It lets them feel like they're actually contributing and helping, rather than just giving an answer that she already knows. Even if they're all in on the game somewhat…

She wasn't entirely sure if the decision was conscious or not. But either way, it worked. Ashley had a whole host of little tricks like that. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing at any given time, and did it with a smile.

Sofia tried to soak up every bit of info that she could, taking mental notes about tactics to try herself. It was during this time that one of the other girls crawled over and tapped her on the leg.

"Hmm?" Sofia glanced down. The blonde girl—Lana? No, Lina, that was her name—stared up at her expectantly, her hair bound up with a puffy pink ribbon.

"I wanna sit in your lap." Lina whispered insistently.

Sofia frowned. "I'm sorry, Penny's already sitting there…"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Lina looked at Penny, then back up at her. "But I wanna sit on your lap, too."

Sofia pursed her lips. This was a dilemma. On one hand, she should let Penny stay. The girl had gotten there first, after all. But at the same time, she had gotten a turn yesterday while Lina hadn't.

Also, it's probably a good idea to practice sharing, isn't it?

She looked down at the quiet girl perched on her lap. "Penny? Would you mind letting Lina have a turn?"

Penny's eyes widened as she shook her head vigorously.

…Well, so much for that.

Both girls continued to stare at Sofia intently, as though expecting her to resolve the situation they'd presented her. Which, she supposed, they probably were. She was the adult here, and a teacher to boot. It was kind of her job to come up with ways to mediate disputes like this—and to model that problem-solving for the kids.

All right. Let's do this.

Turning back to Penny, she smiled gently. "It would really be nice if you would share. You had a turn yesterday, remember?"

Again the girl shook her head, this time giving Sofia a plaintive stare. Lina huffed at the reaction, crossing her arms with a pout.

Yeah, didn't really expect that to work. Oh well. Plan B.

"Well, then…" Sofia began, still speaking softly, "How about we take turns? Penny, you can sit for now. After the story, Lina can have a turn. Does that sound ok?"

Lina nodded enthusiastically as Penny's brow furrowed. Sofia decided to sweeten the deal to cut off any objections. "After your turn, you can sit next to me and hold my hand. Ok?"

That seemed to do the trick. With a final nod, Penny agreed and returned her attention forward just as Ashley began her story. The woman caught Sofia's eye, giving her a subtle thumbs-up.

Did she catch all that? Dang… I thought she had enough to focus on as it was.

Sofia felt something pull at her hand. Looking down, Lina's pale little hand held tight to her own, claiming it protectively. Sofia squeezed it back.

See? That was easy. No problem at all! Truly, my advanced understanding of the human psyche is serving me well.

All jokes aside, she couldn't help but feel a little proud of her solution. Sure, it was simple and straightforward, but was that really a bad thing? After all, it worked. The compromise seemed to satisfy both girls, and it felt fair for everyone involved.

I'm an adult. Figuring out something like this should be a given. But… I dunno. Maybe I'm used to social things like this being so much more tangled and convoluted that having a simple solution work is just refreshing.

She returned her attention to the front of the room, listening to Ashley's story with the two girls. Once it had finished, Sofia gently nudged Penny to switch. Thankfully, the girl left her lap without complaint, making room for a triumphant Lina to plop down in her place. The quiet girl clung tight to Sofia's hand as Ashley began the next activity.

"Now, who wants to play the animal guessing game?"

At the chorus of agreement, the woman smiled and put her hands behind her back. "All right. I'll describe an animal, and you have to guess what it is. What do we do if we want to guess?"

"Raise our hands!"

"Great job, Todd! All right, let's all catch a bubble in our mouths."

Ashley opened her mouth wide, then closed it, puffing out her cheeks to demonstrate. When the kids followed suit and fell silent, she nodded and began. "Let's see… I'm yellow with brown spots. I have a loooong neck. And… I love to eat leaves. What am I?"

"A giraffe!"

"Oh, let's see who has their hand raised… Yes! Rory!" She said, calling on the same boy who had shouted so excitedly.

"A giraffe!"

Ashley grinned, revealing the item she'd been hiding behind her back. She presented a small, intricately-carved wooden figurine of a giraffe to the class. "Very good! It's a giraffe! Does anyone know what letter giraffe starts with…?"

The class once again immediately forgot to raise their hands, shouting out answers in excitement until Ashley gently reminded them. They kept going with the game as she produced one figure after another for the kids.

I wonder how many of those she has. It certainly seems like a lot—though I guess I missed her bringing them to the rug… Is she keeping them in a pocket or something?

Partway through the game, another one of the kids crawled over to Sofia, gazing up at her expectantly. "Can I sit on your lap?"

She grimaced slightly. "Let's pay attention to Miss Ashley, ok?"

Her attempt to redirect fell short. The little boy glanced over, then returned his attention to Sofia. "But they got a turn. I want a turn, too."

She bit her lip. I guess there's no real problem with that, but still… I feel like this is getting out of hand. Just a little bit.

Her fears were validated when another boy turned around to see what was happening and joined in. "I want a turn, too!"

…Oh boy.