Open summer afternoons

[Olive Layton-Strangewayes]

Two braids fell on either side of Livvy's head. More specifically, one ponytail and one braid fell on either side of Livvy's head. She'd already removed the elastic from the braid on her left because she thought a fly had landed on her earlier in the day and she'd wanted to let it out, but now that daddy wasn't around to retie it, the best she could do herself was a loose ponytail that now hung limply by her neck.

The classroom was noisy. It usually was. Livvy didn't mind too much though, her brown eyes were moving between the other children in the room as she was rocking backward on her chair, making the most of the distracted teacher to not have to sit still. Adults always liked you to keep still. It would be break time soon, which means they'd be able to play in the sandpit, and perhaps Livvy would finally be able to build her underground lake that she'd been trying to perfect all week.​

 

[Molly Verbeek]

Mol twirled the hair on her finger, drew a house spinning restlessly in her chair. Sitting in class was long and boring, while breaks were short and interesting. She had already filled a whole sheet of paper, in addition to the house she painted grandma, grandpa, mom and dad, and of course herself holding the pygmy puffin she had always wanted to have, of course it was pink. She added a smiling sun( that's because it saw mom and dad) and clouds and grass with flowers. Molly was proud of her creation and looked around to make sure everyone could see it.

 

[Olive Layton-Strangewayes]

Livvy caught sight of one of her classmates ' eyes. Molly her name was. Molly was looking at her like she'd just won something, although no one was playing any games at the moment. Livvy was still rocking in her chair, but tried her best to peer over at the girl's table on her right so that she could get a better idea of what she was doing. Now on a single chair leg, however, the weight balance was enough to tip her over and Livvy in an instant found herself in a heap on the bright blue carpet. Her knee was sore, and a little dazed and confused, Livvy went to rub it with her palm like she'd been told to by her parents.​

 

[Molly Verbeek]

The redhead jumped up frightened, but immediately bit her lips to keep from bursting into laughter and walked over to Livv extending her hand to her. Is it fun to lie on the ground? She asked with a hint of curiosity. Are you okay? She helped her get up after which she grimaced, because the picture didn't include the older sibling she always wanted to have. Of course, it was an older sister with whom she could play with dolls and draw, a brother she did not want to have, boys are stupid and smell bad. And she would have red hair, like Molly. Miss Brooke took another sheet of paper and began drawing her sister.

 

[Olive Layton-Strangewayes]

Livvy didn't see Molly's hand extended to her and was already pulling herself up by the side of the table by the time she peered up the girl. "M'okay," she nodded, knowing she hadn't been lying there on purpose. Livvy pulled up the chair so it was once more standing before looking back at Molly. She peered at the drawing in front of her, and the drawing she had now started on. "'Oo's that then?" she asked, pointing a small index finger to the figure that Molly was now drawing. ​

 

[Molly Verbeek]

Yes, this is my sister, we will play and draw, take care of Mr. D and run. She stated with seriousness and total confidence. And she will take me to my mom and I will always be with my mom, dad and Puffy Puffy anymore. Grandpa will be sad, but happy. She explained to her friend. And I'll give her a hug, we'll do some magic and she'll buy me a pygmy puffin. Are we going for a run? She could not stand up in class , so she stood up and started hopping.

 

[Olive Layton-Strangewayes]

"Wots 'er name?" Livvy asked, staring at the drawing for a few seconds as she watched Molly add little bits of colour and swirls to the paper. Liv wasn't much of an artist herself (unless you counted the time she'd crawled under her bed and drawn on the wall, only for her older sister to find it almost a year later and tattle on her) so she didn't really know if it was good or not, but that didn't matter. Her eyes fell on some paints in the middle of the table, and as Molly was still talking, Livvy reached across to grab them and a piece of paper of her own. Molly was saying lots of words Liv didn't really understand, and the brunette only looked over to her when she started hopping on the spot. "That's not a run! I fink yer 'ave to be moving if yer runnin'" Liv grinned, before immediately copying her. Hopping on one leg, she began to paint. ​

 

[Molly Verbeek]

I don't know,” she admitted, but she was excited. Mr. D will like her too I'm sure. She always counted on his opinion. He was her best friend, so no surprise there. It is, we can come up with the kind of running we want. She handed her friend the crayons while shaking her red hair. We can draw a puffin and a dragon and your mom and Mr. D or we can go for a run when the break comes. Her face lit up with a smile, here she was always at home.

 

[Mason Collins]

Mason liked being in daycare because it was almost like being in school and he knew his dad really liked him being in almost-school. He had seemed very excited when he dropped Mason off and he had told him to 'work hard', though he wasn't sure what he should work hard at. Though Mason also didn't like being in daycare because it was new and scary and noisy. There were a lot of kids here and Mason didn't know any of them and they all seemed to know each other or at least knew how to play with each other. He had spent most of his first day there just watching everyone. He had also built a tower with blocks, which he was proud of. But now the tower was done and he was out of blocks, so he had wandered away. He saw two girls who seemed to be painting and hopping up and down. Mason didn't understand why. He just watched them for a moment, slowly tilting his head more and more as he tried to puzzle it out.

 

[Olive Layton-Strangewayes]

Molly didn't know the name of her own sister. Maybe she would give her a name of her own soon. Livvy knew all the names of all three of hers! The brunette didn't know what was going on, but she just watched as her friend continued to talk. Molly had a puffin and a dragon in her family, and Livvy thought that mum would probably like to meet them, too. "Is Mr. D goin' ter go running too?" she asked, glancing across the table to see another boy staring at them. She hadn't talked to him before. Livvy copied his head motion, tilting hers to the side in case that would make the world look better. "Are you comin'?" she asked him, thinking it would be fun for all three of them to run when they went outside. They could all run in a line.​