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 Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:26 am
"Ahh. It must be good to be a teacher." He said happily. "It seemed to be quite a dream amongst my classmates in elementary school. I never did see the glory of it..." He said sadly. "But it's good to work with kids and teens. It makes one more social and out there to help the new generation." He said with a chuckle.
Lily just watched as Reuben stretched. At first, he thought that the silvery haired man beside him was tired. So was Lily, due to a night of level grinding on his favourite MMORPG with his best friends, but he didn't want to show it. Not here in front of Reuben or the kids. "I do too. But work calls, right?" He said with a worried look on his face. "I don't want him to notice we're gone until I come back." He said as he stared at his little purple haired 'son'. "But I'll head with you. I gotta make it before my boss finds me late again." He said nervously. It was a bad habit, but he was guilty of it.
Stas was hesitant about having his string cut, but before he knew it, it got cut and seemed to be good as new. He almost felt like crying when it was cut. Now it wasn't as long as Vergil's or any of the other kids' strings. "Yep. It's all unbroked now." he said. He stopped after and decided to string more. The other kids' strings were filled with noodles already. He had to be faster. He licked it and began to string more and more noodles into his string until it was almost filled as well. "Dad's gonna love this!" He said, more to himself.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:56 am
Reuben smiled wryly. "I don't know, some of them are a little tough to deal with sometimes, but for the most part it's pretty fun. Grading's brutal, though." He grimaced. "I've got to get going on it, or else it'll just pile up."
"Yeah, too true." Reuben replied, nodding. He understood Lily's concerns. The first time he'd left Vergil at the preschool, he'd made sure to stay a little later so that if he needed to wait until his kid stopped missing him he'd be around. But Vergil had just gone off with the other kids and hadn't really noticed his Dad too much. Reuben was happy about that, but it was bittersweet. He would have liked to be missed, although maybe a little.
"Lateness is a killer," Reuben agreed. He couldn't be late to his job--everyone would know. And, as an added bonus, 18 high schoolers would gossip about why their history teacher hadn't made it in. "I'm pretty early, just as a precaution." He slowly began to step bak, away from the table, easing his way more toward the door.
Vergil string noodles like the wind. There was a hesitant moment when he was a little afraid that his string was going to break again under the weight of all the noodles that he'd put onto it, but it held. He watched as Stas put more noodles on his string as well.
"I like your necklace, Stas!" He chriped, finally feeling like he wasn't way behind everyone else.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:24 pm
"That's okay though." He said with a chuckle. He knew the pain of grading when he volunteered for a second grade math class and all he could read was the name at the top of the page. "Their hard work should be rewarded, right?" He suggested with a smile. As Reuben slid and made his way, Lily followed close behind, in case he made too much noise if he had went by himself to the exit.
"That's good to be early." He said as he pardoned himself past some people. "Be a good example for your students." Lily said even though when his teacher was early, he and his friends were never as early as their teacher to school. They occasionally made it right before the bell by a good 10 to 15 seconds.
Stas was so into his necklace that the world seemed dead to him. His eyes started to sting because he forgot to blink every now and again. He closed his eyes in a futile attempt to wet them. Then he heard a voice. He opened his eyes which were blurred with tears and say Vergil's silhouette. "I like yours too!" Stas said. "Yours is much prettier than mine." He said as he rubbed the water from his eyes and smiled at Vergil. Despite the fact that all the noodles were the same and that their strings were the same, Stas felt as though Vergil's was really pretty. "Your dad is going to love it!" He said with a large smile on his face.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:35 pm
Reuben chuckled. "Yeah, and they're good about it. Most of them work pretty hard and it shows in their work. Some decide to go and plagiarize, though, which is always the un-fun part of my job: having to see who's done their work and who hasn't." He sighed. "But hey, better they learn not to now rather than get fired for stealing someone else's work later." Though, he was pretty sure that some parents wouldn't appreciate their kids flunking out, but tough love. Sometimes, you just had to draw the line.
Nodding, Reuben smiled. "Yup! That's the thing. You have to get everything ready, unlock your door, and keep the early birds out of trouble before classes." He smiled at Mrs. Pemberley one last time before exiting the room and making his way out into the hall.
Vergil giggled and looked at his necklace again. "Yay! Thanks, Stas! I really like yours, too!" Some of his noodles were a little askew, and Stas' looked very neat. "Your dad's will love yours, too! It's perfect." He said, nodding his head knowledgeably, even though he had very little knowledge of the way of the macaroni necklace.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:47 pm
"Yea, Plagerism sucks. but that is true. Better to have them learn now than to be fired when they're older." Lily said as he slinked out of sight from the children. He had to get to work. It was almost time for him to get into his spot and look like he was working diligently. "I have to rush off now. I'm sorry to have to cut the conversation short again." Lily apologized sincerely. "It has been wonderful having another chat with you." He said with a smile before rolling down his sleeves of his dress shirt and beginning to tuck it back into his dark brown trousers.
"Thank you!" Stas said happily. "I wanna show dad!" He said as he turned over to see where his dad and Reuben were standing. An empty space. "Vergil...." Stas's voice quaked. "Where's Dad?" Tears welled up and were almost flowing down his face. He hadn't ever been away from his dad anywhere besides home. This was new to him and he hated it. He didn't like change. It wasn't always good. He knew this from the bottom of his heart that change wasn't always good. Same with changing foods or changing lightbulbs. "Did someone take Dad?" Stas said with his voice almost inaudible now.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:38 am
Reuben nodded, feeling the same way. "No sweat, I'm under the same crunch. You need a ride or will you be okay on your own?" He was pressed for time, but he didn't want to leave Lily stranded.
Vergil flopped his head from side to side, scanning the classroom. Nope, no sign of either of their Dads. Huh. He never really noticed when Reuben left before and it made him feel a little sad, but, hey a whole day full of fun stuff was ahead of him!
"Don't worry, Stas! I'm sure your dad is okay. My dad does that, too, but he always comes back later." He nodded, an experienced veteran of this sort of thing. In the meantime, Mrs. Pemberley and Becky were moving around, helping to tie the necklaces and finish them up. It looked like the next thing they were going to do would be to make a pencil holder out of an old soda can and popsicle sticks. "Look, we're gonna start something new, soon! Let's keep making things and then show them all to our dads when they get back!" Vergil finished enthusiastically. "My Dad's always wanted a pencil holder." He added knowingly.
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 5:57 am
"Naw, It's perfectly good. My workplace isn't too far from here." He said with a smile. "I can walk there. It'll be a good chance to practise for going there everyday from now on." He chuckled slightly as he spoke. "I'd better get running." Lily said as his final farewell to the other father. "See you later." He said before heading off down the sidewalk outside of the little building towards his workplace's general direction. He'd have to remember where the little building is to make sure that he doesn't make Stas sad by being late.
"If you say so." Stas said as his voice muttered a little. "I'm a trust you that my dad will come back." He said with reliance towards the veteran. Stas noticed that they were wrapping up their necklaces. He decided to quickly string two more pieces to make his necklace have more pieces of pasta, in wait of Mrs. Pemberley or Becky to finish off his necklace with their magical knots. "I'm going to make mine really really pretty to dad will want to stay and see how I made it." Stas said with determination burning in his eyes. "Does your dad draw or write a lot?" Stas asked Vergil. If Mr. Reuben did, then he must've really needed lots and lots of pencil holders.
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:51 am
Reuben waved as Lily made his way to work, and then climbed into his own car. Man, grading papers seemed like such a boring way to spend his morning, especially after getting to talk with Lily and watch Vergil and Stas play. Ah well. It wasn't like he got paid to exchange fatherly gossip, did he?
"He will." Vergil said with certainty. Becky came over to their table and began tying Jill's necklace, and moving to each of them in turn. "I know your Dad will like yours lots." Vergil took a moment to think about that. He hardly ever saw Reuben without a pen or pencil, and he giggled at the though. "Oh yeah! Dad has so many pens and pencils that he leaves them all over the house and can't remember where he put them!"
A pencil holder would surely come in handy.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:56 am
Stas heard Vergil, but tuned out after a while as he watched Becky intentively. He wanted to know the secrets of knot tying. "We have to watch how she does it." He said softly to Vergil. His grey eyes locked on Jill's string that was in Becky's fingers. She had done it with such excellent control of her fingers that Stas couldn't keep up. He twisted his string just as he saw it and pulled both ends. But without much luck, the string pulled apart. and alas, no knot. He zoned back with Vergil and nodded in agreement to him.
"I wonder if my dad will need one." He said as he tapped a hand on his chin. "Dad doesn't really use pencils. He's always on the computer." He said as one corner of his mouth raised. His dad did draw and write, but it was either on a word processor or with watercolours. "I guess I will make a brush holder instead of a pencil holder for dad then." He said as his crooked expression stayed plastered on his face in wait for Becky to tie Vergil's and his strings to end their necklaces.
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:34 am
Vergil nodded, as though almost reprimanding himself for his near-miss of this most important moment. String-tying was crucial.
Though, when Becky came to tie both of their necklaces, she didn't seem to think it was so lofty a task. It was a quick one-two and then their necklaces were tied, and then Becky retreated to the front of the room to once again assist Mrs. Pemberley.
Vergil immediately jammed his over his spikey blue hair and grinned at Stas. "How do I look?" He asked, posing for his friend's approval. "Hmm...Dad's hardly ever on our computer, except when he's entering in grades." He replied, twirling the end of his necklace a little. Reuben tended to go online early in the morning before Vergil woke up or at night after he was asleep, though the songbird had, on the rare occasion he woke up before his Dad came to rouse him, seen his father at the small machine. He wondered if there was something strange about his dad.
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:08 pm
Stas was bewildered by her movements. She had left to quickly that he didn't have a chance to ask. He just held his necklace in both his hands and looked at the knot that tied his necklace off. At the sound of Vergil's voice, he turned over to see his friend with the string of pasta on his body.
"you look really pretty!" Stas said with a small giggle. "Your dad will look pretty as well!" He said before pulling his over his own head without difficulty due to the clear lack of spiky hair. "I have to keep this safe!" He said as he pointed to his necklace around his neck. It hungreally low on his small body. He knew his dad would fit it better than he did.
"That's good!" Stas said. "My dad says computers aren't good for the eyes. That is why my dad has glasses." He said with a small pout. He remembered that Reuben, Vergil's dad, didn't seem to have glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. "i wonder when we will make pencil holders." Stas was eager. It showed in his actions with his tail swishing and wings a-flutter. He wanted to do more things before his dad got back. He wouldn't be disappointed in the progress that Stas made that day!
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:23 pm
Vergil giggled back. "Yay!" He smiled, glad that he looked good. Though, pretty wasn't quite the word he would have liked. Would his dad not like it because it was too pretty? He wondered about this, but then decided that he had more pressing matters at hand. Like making pencil holders.
All in all, he thought as he listened to Mrs. Pemberley giving out the next set of instructions, this was turning out to be one of the best days he'd had at preschool. He smiled across the table at Stas and hoped that they could always be friends.
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