Boo still hovered beside her. "But you can have mine if you change your mind. I’ll even make it float."
"Boo," Alina said gently, "chairs are ant to stay on the ground."
"That’s boring," Boo muttered, pouting.
Shaking her head, Alina straightened up, fixing Drake with a patient but firm look. "And Drake—no more playing with fire inside the classroom, alright?"
Drake slumped, wings drooping like a sad pigeon. "But it was just a little fla—"
"It was big enough to eat my chair," she reminded him.
He winced. "...Sorry, Teacher."
"Good. Apology accepted. And if you need to practice your fire, you can do it outside—far away from anything that can burn. Deal?"
"Deal," he mumbled, nodding.
Lucien, who had been quietly watching, finally spoke in his calm, matter-of-fact tone. "I still think you should have a better chair than before. I’ll tell my dad to get you one."
Drake perked up imdiately. " too! I’ll help him! We can get the biggest chair ever!"
Luna said. "As long as it’s fireproof."
That earned a round of giggles from the whole class, even from Drake, who muttered, "Yeah... maybe fireproof."
Alina took attendance with her clipboard in hand, her eyes sweeping over each little face in the room. Her heart ward when she ticked the last na—everyone was present today.
Then, as she stepped outside, she spotted one of the elder staff mbers coming down the hall, the familiar blue cap perched on her head. "Can I have a new chair?" Alina asked politely.
The elder laughed, the sound rich and fond. "Sure, dear... this situation used to happen a lot when Miss Clara was here. We keep a stock of chairs for just such ergencies." With a wink, she disappeared and reappeared monts later with a brand-new chair.
Alina smiled and thanked her warmly before carrying it inside. A collective sigh of relief ca from the children the mont they saw it, as if the presence of the chair restored balance to their tiny world.
"Alright, everyone," she announced cheerfully, setting the chair down in its place. "Let’s start our first class—maths!"
The reaction was imdiate. A chorus of groans filled the air, faces scrunching up as though she had just announced a day without snacks. No one liked math.
"Does anyone rember what we did in our last math class?" she asked, scanning their expressions. The children glanced at one another, silently passing the question around like a hot potato.
"Sable?" she tried, noticing the small boy stiffen. His eyes widened before he ducked his head, suddenly very interested in the pattern of the floor.
"Lucien?" she called next. The boy’s brow furrowed in confusion, his usually sharp gaze betraying no hint of recognition.
Alina sighed softly. She knew they couldn’t be expected to rember everything, but still—she had taught them this lesson only yesterday.
Her gaze drifted to the far corner. "Boo?" she prompted.
That was when she noticed him trying to make himself invisible behind Kelpie. Kelpie was sitting stiffly, tiny beads of water forming along his hairline, as if shielding Boo was the most stressful job in the world.
"Boo," Alina said with an arched brow, "why are you hiding behind Kelpie?"
Kelpie squird, clearly uncomfortable under her attention. "Uh... he says his brain is... empty today," he mumbled, clearly repeating Boo’s words exactly.
Boo peeked out just enough for his big round eyes to et hers. "It’s true, Teacher! I checked. My brain is completely empty. There’s nothing in it right now!" He tapped his head for emphasis.
A few children snickered, and Alina’s lips twitched. "Empty, hm? Well, I suppose we’ll just have to fill it back up."
"Nooo!" Boo whined, ducking again. "If you put numbers in, all my fun thoughts will run away!"
Vlad Jr., leaning back in his chair like a tiny aristocrat, raised a hand lazily. "Teacher, I rember what we learned yesterday."
Alina’s expression brightened. "Oh? Go ahead, Vlad jr."
Vlad jr. smoothed his little tie, cleared his throat, and declared with complete seriousness, "We learned that... math is boring."
The class room burst into laughter, Alina included, though she managed to school her features into a mock-stern look. "Not exactly what I was going for."
Drake hesitantly raised his hand. "I rember we were adding... and subtracting... but then my stomach growled really loud, and I forgot the rest."
Alina chuckled, lifting a hand to her forehead. "No, we learned about asuring," she reminded them, her voice carrying a mix of patience and disbelief at how quickly yesterday’s lesson had vanished from their mories.
"I rember!!" Luna suddenly blurted, nodding her head with great seriousness. "I asured book," she announced with the kind of proud certainty only a child could have, as if that one achievent cented her as a math prodigy.
"Aww, Luna, sweetheart! You rembered!" Alina bead, her face lighting up. "Everyone, clap for Luna!"
The classroom erupted into enthusiastic applause. Tiny hands slapped together in uneven rhythms, the sound filling the room like a burst of sunshine. Luna’s ears turned a shade pinker, and though she tried to hide her smile by puffing out her cheeks, the gesture only made her look even more adorable like a little wolf pup trying to act serious but failing miserably.
After the clapping finally died down, Alina clasped her hands and gave them her most serious teacher look. "Alright, enough celebrating. From now on, you are all writing notes during lectures," she announced, her tone strict enough to make a few pairs of little shoulders stiffen.
Boo’s mouth dropped open like she had just been told recess was canceled forever. "W-what?" he whispered, clutching his desk in horror.
Vlad Jr.’s red eyes widened in disbelief, as if note-taking was so unheard-of punishnt reserved for the gravest cris.
Sable, however, lit up with joy. He imdiately patted his small notebook like it was a treasure chest. Sure, he didn’t know how to write more than a handful of words, but he was fully prepared to scribble everything he liked.
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