The classroom was large,with a green wallpaper like molded grass. Little cartoon drawings were on the wall, with childish playthings and books sorted in a wooden case in the corner.
The windows showed a bright and sunny afternoon, a playground filled with young children, playing and talking with happy smiles. The air smelled of bubblegum, tarmack, sand and crushed grass.
Inside the classroom, the study desks, all thirty of them were empty. Instead four people were inside the classroom, one ebony woman with dark hair and wearing a lustrous pink dress and dark blue scarf. She sat on a chair, facing the other three people, one man and two women.
It was Vivian and the other people were the class teachers for her children. Mrs Lee taught Nicholas, Mister Brown taught Natasha and Nikolai and Misses Simien taught Nikki.
Normally she would have gone to each teacher, one by one but instead the three teachers sent her an email, demanding a private joint meeting.
Vivian had nerves frayed to the seems when she read the email. Her heart wanted to run up her chest and choke her, her fear and anxiety were so absolute she stared at the screen for nearly five minutes.
After a few tubs of ice cream, and sweet talk from Mariah, she had put on her clothes and come to the school. Close to the end of parent teacher conferences, so as not to be too early.
She wasn't nervous anymore.
She was fine.
She was in control.
She-
"Mrs Watterson!" Misses Simien snapped her fingers and Vivian snapped out of her stupor.
"Oh! I'm sorry. You were saying?" Vivian apologized and gave a small smile.
"I was sayin' that in all my years as a teacher, I have never seen such a chaotic, disruptive and pandemonic child." Misses Simien snapped with a scowl.
Misses Simien was an old cogger, with withered skin that was rinkly and saggy, a bald spot on her head and grey hairs everywhere else. She wore a faded pink dress that reached her ankles, with simple loafers. Her voice was raspy, like glass shards slashing chalkboards.
Nobody liked her.
She was an old, grumpy and malicious woman who had been teaching since the school was founded.
"What do you mean? My son is a good boy." Vivian frowned," He's energetic I admit but he's not ill disciplined."
"Is that right?" Misses Simien reached down under the desk and pulled out a file, flipping through it," Let's have a look see then. Here we are, first day of school; Threw a rock through the window and when asked why, he said because he thought he saw a stain on the glass. The next week after that, he smacked all the students on the face with a textbook just to get rid of a bee that was flying around. After that, he planted ants inside the sandbox because he wanted pets. After that incident, he climbed a tree, all the way to the top and peed, just to see how quickly it would fall. Shall I continue?"
"No...that's...okay." Vivian spoke in a soft voice, shocked by every word.
"Honestly. In parenting, you get an F." Misses Simien shut the file with a scowl.
"Yes, that is bad but...I feel like I am in a worse place." Mister Brown said, pushing his glasses up his nose."Natasha and Nikolai...are beyond words."
"Now hold on, my daughter and son are just passionate people. Whatever they've done, I'm sure it was just a momentary lapse in judgment. They're kids." Vivian rushed to defend them, not wanting to hear what her twins had done.
But Mister Brown would not give her the chance.
Another file was pulled up, twice as thick as Nikki's file. Vivian looked at it with bitter apprehension and Mister Brown's eyes never left her face as he opened it.
"Vandalism, fighting, bullying, assault and theft." Mister Brown listed them,"Your son committed all of this. He's seven years old and is already picking on ten year olds. Last week alone, he beat up two fourth graders, bare handed. I have never gone to prison, never seen the bad parts of the city, no. I have not. But, when I look at your son, I can imagine what gangsters are like, with clear detail."
"Fights? But I never heard of it. You never informed me." Vivian looked confused, Nikolai always said he was injured by bullies or tripped over. She didn't know this was the situation with her son.
"What are you talking about? We've called you, multiple times and your reply has always been that you'll handle it yourself. But after a few months we gave up trying to call." Mister Brown said with a scowl," Then again...you sound different from the phone. No French accent."
Mariah, Vivian thought in shock. Her best friend...she knew about this!?
"Besides, there's a reason I started with your son first and not your daughter. By comparison, he's less tasking than her. She is an absolute enigma." Mister Brown opened to a section of the file showing photographs.
Mrs Lee raised a brow, Misses Simien scowled in disapproval and Mister Brown's eyes held resignation from having seen these photos and the actual acts first hand.
In the pictures, Natasha was seen holding hands and kissing different students from other grades. Not just boys, but girls too. The moments were taken by video camera, probably the school CCTV camera system.
"This...this is...,"Vivian looked at each picture, her face getting thunderous.
"Unacceptable." Mister Brown said.
"Horrible." Misses Simien snapped.
"Confusing." Mrs Lee muttered.
"Outrageous!" Vivian thundered, her eyes glaring at Mister Brown," Is this why you called me? To label my children as deviants, crooks and whores?"
"Mrs Watterson -" Mister Brown started but Vivian cut him off.
"It is Miss Watterson, and i have had enough of this." Vivian turned to Mrs Lee," Say your piece so i can leave. Say my son is villainous, diabolical or demented. Go on."
"Ummm... actually, I want to commend you. Nicholas is a very smart and focused boy. He helps students who struggle and is very assertive for his age. He does struggle making friends but everyone likes him and I think he's just a loner. Which is not too bad an issue. That's all."
"Well, that's...good. Thank you." Vivian grabbed her purse and left.
"I taught Nicholas too...I miss that boy." Mister Brown said as he looked down.
"I don't want him in my class." Mrs Lee said suddenly.
"Wait, didn't you just say he was a good and dutiful boy?" Misses Simien asked.
"I only said that because the mother looked ready to explode. I don't know your experience with the boy, but mine keeps me up at night." Mrs Lee sighed, her eyes weary and dreary of hope," Imagine having a student who corrects every mistake you make, on lessons and tests. I marked his mathematics test last week...he corrected my questions and wrote me a comment saying I should go back to fourth grade myself. He's a rude, cold and arrogant boy and the kids don't like him. They're scared of him. Gosh, I can't wait for the year to be over."