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“Are you all right, Oscar? I didn’t mean to kick you,” Aria said as she chewed on the end of her pigtail.
“I’m great. I’m super great,” the kid gushed, smiling at Aria like she’d gifted him with a new camera and not a kick to the leg.
“That’s good to hear,” the teacher answered.
“And we weren’t saying any bad words to Grover,” Oscar added.
“I noticed the tapping. Mrs. Bergen told me about how you tap out syllables instead of using inappropriate language. It’s a great way to stay out of trouble and communicate displeasure. But we can’t kick people at Whitmore,” the woman added and patted Aria on the shoulder.
“But Miss Mackendorfer,” Phoebe lamented, “Grover took our super special erasers. We were showing each other that we had them when Grover grabbed them like a real…” Phoebe tapped twice.
“The kid sounds like a…” Rowen said under his breath, then tapped twice for Phoebe’s naughty word of choice,butthole.
“She’s right on the mark with that kid,” Charlotte whispered.
“Aria’s reverse nanny aunt gave them to us,” Phoebe continued.
“And we decided that we’d be the eraser club kids,” Oscar added.
Then as if on cue, the children opened their palms to reveal the tiny piano, camera, hot dog, and the little donkey that looked more like a horse, but it was the thought that counted. And OMG, not only did they love the little eraser gifts, they’d also brought their special treasures to school.
Score a point for Harper Presley-Paige, the thoughtful guardian.
“Well, eraser club kids,” Miss Mackendorfer said, glancing around the group, “I see we’ve got two new students joining our class.”
“Yep, Aria and Sebastian,” Oscar chimed. “Sebastian has donkeys, and Aria is…perfect,” the boy mooned, staring at Aria like she was made of sugar and spice and everything nice.
“Welcome to Whitmore,” the teacher said. “Phoebe, could you be Aria’s Whitmore special helper?” she asked, then reached into her pocket and produced a star sticker with the wordsspecial helperprinted in gold.
Phoebe gripped Oscar’s arm and tittered like her body was on the verge of exploding. “Yes, I will wear the special helper sticker proudly. I will make sure Aria doesn’t get lost on the way to the bathroom, and I will share the extra cookies I jammed into my lunch box with her.”
“Extra cookies?” Rowen groaned.
“And Oscar, can you be Sebastian’s Whitmore special helper?” the teacher continued and slipped a second sticker out of her pocket.
The boy accepted it. “You can count on me, Miss Mackendorfer.” He turned to Charlotte. “Can you take our picture and use your camera and my camera?”
“Absolutely,” Charlotte replied and removed her camera and Oscar’s Polaroid from her large tote.
“You can stand by me, Aria,” Oscar offered, still dreamy-eyed.
Mitch clapped Landon on the shoulder. “Not that she’ll need it, man,” he began, lowering his voice as the kids clustered together, “but it appears Aria’s got a protector.”
Landon nodded as a grin stretched across his lips.
They looked on as the fearsome foursome stood shoulder to shoulder.
“Say, ‘eraser club kids,’” Char called, first snapping a shot with the Polaroid, then switching to her fancy DSLR camera.
Miss Mackendorfer checked her watch. “We’ve got a few minutes until the bell rings. This is a good time to say your goodbyes.”
The kids peeled away from their spots on the sidewalk and headed toward their people for last-minute hugs.
“You don’t have to get mushy-gushy and huggy,” Aria said, resurrecting the tough girl act.
“What if we want to get mushy-gushy and huggy?” Landon replied.
Aria sighed. “One hug. No kisses.”
