Belladonna - First day of school

The wrought iron gate swung open, letting out a swarm of children, most of which looked like they had just been through war. Hair bows were halfway down their heads. Pants were torn. Dirt smudged chubby little cheeks. The first day of school and they had all survived. Thankfully, most were exiting the building with smiles, albeit, tired ones.

“There she is,” Bella said. She was doing her best not to stand on her tiptoes to see our daughter exit the school. 

Our little girl had her white bows down around the ends of her brunette locks and a frown on her face that spoke of drama. Bella had been no better all day. Separating mother and daughter had been a task I had not been ready for. We had dropped our child off at school that morning and yet Bella had made every excuse to come back to the gates, glaring through the bars.

“She looks hungry. I don’t think the administration got my message on her specialty diet.”

I glanced at Bella out of the corner of my eye. “She doesn’t have a specialty diet.”

“She gets fussy without snacks,” Belladonna said with a roll of her eyes. “Do keep up, dear heart.”

I hid my smile. It had been hard sending our little one off to school. The first day of a new year was always a little hard, but the first day of school ever, had proven to be far more difficult. We had put our mini mart in the best private school possible. It had a wide curriculum and various species of children that attended. The classes themselves were designed around child led learning, and most of the curriculum was flexible if it looked as if the class was not engaging. It took us three years to decide on a school. Multiple visits with the headmistress and, in the end, several fights with Belladonna. But we had done it. We had found a school.

So when our daughter came storming out with the pure and unadulterated anger that I often saw on Bella’s face, I think it was reasonable for me to be afraid.

“My darling,” Belladonna swooped her up in her arms, brushing the tangled hair from her face. “Did you have a good day?”

“No,” she pouted.

“What? Why?”

“Carter Elliot broke my colors!”

Belladonna’s eyes flashes. “Point him out for me, dear. Mummy will take care of it.”

I grabbed at Belladonna’s arm before the two of them could go and scent out what I could only assume was the equivalent of a five-year-old. “Why did Carter Elliot break your colors?” I asked. Before we went out to gut a child, we probably needed to get a little more information.

“I don’t know. He just did. He’s mean and he hates me and we are now mortal enemies.” She was sitting up on Belladonna’s hip, the two of them staring at me with identical expressions.

“Honey, people don’t just break other people’s colors for fun.  Did something prompt it?”

“Of course not,” Belladonna said. “What would prompt a child to do such a barbaric act?”

I blinked. “The fact that they’re children?”

Belladonna dismissed that. “Show me where he is, my sweet. We will go take care of this now. Then we will be pulling you from this school. It is obviously not the right fit for you.”

“Whoa. Whoa whoa. Wait. We are not pulling her from school because a child broke her colors.”

“Why won’t you believe her?” Belladonna snapped. “It’s apparent that she is traumatized by this.”

I closed my eyes, counting to ten in my mind. If I didn’t get a handle on this now, then I was probably going to face this for the rest of my life. “We are going to slow down and take a minute,” I told the two of them. “And we are not pulling her out of school.”

“I hate it here, though! We have to sit behind desks and the teacher won’t let me go first.”

I gave Bella a knowing look. We had talked about this before. Bella had given mini mart everything she ever desired. She had treated her like a princess. I stood behind it all, but, I also thought that the transition to school was going to be tough. And low and behold, it looked as if our daughter hadn’t gotten her way today and that was gearing up to a full-blown tantrum.

Belladonna seemed to pull back then. She looked at the miniature version of herself with a bit more of a critical eye. “Did you have a tough day?” she asked, her voice turning far more gentle.

Our daughter's face twisted up into anger, her cheeks going red and her fists clenching. But it was to hide the tears that were gathering.

“Oh! Ms. Malady! Night!” The teacher, Mrs. Koolix, came bustling over. She was a faun and had the sweetest eyes with a set of downturned ears that gave her a soft expression. “Hello! I was hoping I would see you today.”

“She did nothing wrong,” Belladonna said, going back on the defense. She became nearly feral if someone suggested her baby did anything wrong.

Mrs. Koolix blinked in surprise. “Oh. No. She didn’t. I was coming to tell you what a delight it was to have her in class. She was so helpful and kind. Shared her colors with many kids. I think there was an incident where one of the other children scribbled too hard with her yellow crayon? But he spent the day gathering more colors for her and the two of them made a beautiful picture of the lanterns.”

By now, mini mart was just pushing her head into Bella’s neck.

“Oh.” Bella said, a bit dumbfounded.

I stepped forward. “That sounds wonderful. I’m glad it was a great start. Thank you, Mrs. Koolix.”

“Of course! We’ll see you all tomorrow!” She bustled off to speak to other parents.

When I turned back to my family, Belladonna was rocking our daughter back and forth. I came up, placing a gentle hand on our babies back. “It was a lot today, huh?” She nodded her head. When I looked towards Bella, she herself looked near tears. It was too much for mother and daughter. It was a lot of change all at once.

“How about we go home,” I suggested. “Curl up in bed and read. I’ll light a fire and get some snacks. Does that sound nice?”

I heard my daughter's muffled sniff, but she nodded all the same. Even Bella looked amenable. Reaching out, she took my hand in her own, still holding our daughter tight.

“And maybe,” I said under my breath. “We use this as a lesson to not go threaten a child until we have all the information?”

Belladonna lifted her chin a bit in defiance. “No promises.”

It was going to be a long year.