Married Life

Chapter 19: An afternoon at the schoolhouse

     With each step he took to the schoolhouse, another thought swarmed Branch's mind.

     "Maybe this wasn't a good idea.. I don't even have much experience with kids.." He thought silently as he made it to the door. This was something that she did almost everyday, they loved their queen. It would practically kill them to know that they weren't gonna get story time. But he wasn't their queen. Who knows if they'll even want to be with him?

     Just about when he was about to knock and open the door, a little girl, with purple skin and yellow hair, was getting ready to walk out the door to get something for the classroom until she saw him. Her eyes were huge and a shimmering icy blue.

     "Hey, you have queen Poppy's book. Are you reading us story time today?" The teal troll gulped, ready to hear the cries of a child because of pure disappointment.

     "Yes I am." She blinked and then smiled.

     "Okay! Let's go in!" Grabbing his other hand, she walked with him inside. He was nervous, and she could sense it. Kinda like a radar.

     "I'm Petunia. And you're king Branch. So that means you and queen Poppy are married."

     "Yes, that does.."

     "My mommy said that you two always loved each other. Is that true?"

     "Yes.."

     The classroom was small, but held a large about of kids. As he walked into the room, the students just kinda stared at him. Not really in a bad way, it was just odd to see someone else come in to read them a story. A young boy, probably 6 or 7, raised his hand and the group sat down.

     "Since you're the king and all, do you know where queen Poppy is?"

     "Queen Poppy isn't feeling too good today, so I thought it would be best for her to stay home and rest."

     Another hand shot up. A young boy, green hair and glasses.

     "So wait, queen Poppy's sick?? What'll the village do now??" This comment began to start panic in the room. As much as he found it a little offensive that he didn't think he couldn't handle the village, he was 6 so what would he know.

     "The queen is gonna die!" yelled a slightly overdramatic little one.

     Branch lifted both his hands and waved down as he made a 'shh' noise.  The loudness lowered as they looked up to him.

     "Queen Poppy will be just fine. She just needs some time to rest. Until then, I'll be here and the village will be fine."

     The room was quiet and Branch watched the little kids squirm in their spots. Looking at the book, then back at the kids, he set it down on his chair.

     "You know, I think we should go outside for a little bit. Just to get some of those ants out of your pants." The group giggled as they got up and ran to the door. Making their way into the outside world. While most ran around and played, a couple shy ones stayed over by their king. He looked at them with soft eyes and smiled.

     "You guys don't wanna play? That's fine. I remember being in the same spot as you."

     "You were?" One sparked up.

     "Of course. I never really had many friends, so it was kinda hard to play alone."

     "What changed? You're happy now, how'd that happen?"

     Branch sighed as he looked downward, a soft smile grew on his face.

     "I met a girl who taught me the true meaning of happiness.."

     A chorus of aww's came from a large group of girls.

     "That's queen Poppy! I remember cause she told us this story." Spoke one of them. More and more students came over the longer he talked with them.

     As much as he thought this afternoon would be a total horror show, it was actually a lot of fun. He liked communicating to the younger age group, and you know what. He'd definitely come back.