Alpha Lorenzo

Chapter 21

MIA

Pushing the set of multicoloured drawers shut in front of me, I stood up, clapping. "There you go! A whole new set for you all to keep your work safe."

"Mia, can mine be the red one? It's my favourite colour!" begged Louis, pulling at my cardigan, beaming at me, his chubby cheeks making me laugh.

"You can choose whichever one you want, Louis," I said, scruffing up his thick blonde hair. "We could even decorate it with stickers if you'd like?"

He nodded eagerly, squealing in excitement, rushing off towards the other children, clearly enthusiastic to let them know that he had got dibs on the coloured drawers.

"Mia!" exclaimed Miss Aldridge as she approached me, gesturing towards the piece of furniture I had spent over an hour putting together. "Again, we really can't thank you enough for what you're doing for this school. It's so wonderful that you're spending your evenings doing this for them."

I smiled, nodding, offering her a small shrug. "I enjoy it, and the children deserve it. It was very nice of some of their parents to allow them to stay after class and help."

Miss Aldridge nodded in agreement, gazing down at her leather watch, eyebrows raising once she noticed the time. "My Goodness, I didn't even realise it's almost seven. I offered to walk the children back to their houses, so we better get going."

"Oh, you all go ahead, I'll just finish up here and then I'll see you tomorrow? I can ask Lily if she's around to help too," I replied, folding up the instructions for the drawers and popping it into the recycling bin.

"That would be lovely, hunny," Miss Aldridge said, gathering all of the children up, ensuring they had all of their belongings, waving at me as they all exited.

Taking in a deep breath, I scanned the room, taking in the brightly painted walls dressed with banners of photos of the children and printed cards aiming to teach them how to spell and write.

The cracked tables were still crammed together, a lack of them meaning that too many kids had to be seated at them, and I made a mental note to myself to bring it up to Lily. I was hoping that we could purchase them new tables and chairs to match the rest of the done-up classroom.

It made me feel almost bitter, the thought of my own childhood coming to mind, the longing feeling to see my old friends just once more running through it.

I sighed to myself, sorrowful that my parents had never let any of them come over to play, their dislike for their parents blatantly obvious, despite the fact that they barely socialised with any of them.

These children deserved a great childhood though, even if mine wasn't envy worthy.

I had gained a connection with a lot of them, the sight of their smiling faces as I entered the building causing me to feel warm inside. They truly did appreciate me.

"Mia, I've been waiting outside for you for like ten minutes! It's pouring with rain!" laughed Lily as she entered the classroom, her dark hair curtaining around her high cheekbones, droplets of water falling from the ends.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just cleaning up!" I said, taking in her soaking form, holding back a giggle.

"I'm going to need to shower before the party starts," she mumbled, grabbing an umbrella from under Miss Aldridge's desk and opening it up, holding it out to me.