Inconsistent Paper Stars

Mrs. Burming led the three boys to their seats, which had miraculously been placed all at the same table. She vowed to change that sometime soon.

Zacky, however, knew it must have been fate to have been sat by his bestest friends in the world. He knew now that this “kindergarten” thing might not be so bad after all.

“Hey, now this might work out alright. See, Bwian, we’re right next to each other, and Jimmy is right next to you. Maybe kindergarten won’t be awfully howible like we thought it would!" Zacky’s excitement was extremely contagious. Brian and Jimmy both found themselves smiling.

Zacky grinned. People liked him! People his own age liked him! “Wow, you guys smiweld at me! Dat’s never happened befow! You guys must reawy like me.”

Jimmy let out a snort. “I’ve known you for five minutes, dude, and you’we one of my bestest friends. Of cowse I like you!”

Brian nodded. “I’ve known you for wonger, but yeah, you’re my bestest friend.”

“That’s quite enough chat, boys!” Mrs. Burming said from her chair in the corner of the classroom, an empty space of carpet in front of her. “Now, come class, sit down here, and I will teach you the first three letters of the alphabet. A, B, and C.”

Zacky’s legs started to itch after about five minutes. He needed to get up and do something soon. Would he really have to do a full hour of this? He hoped not.

Mrs. Burming noticed out of the corner of her eye Zacky’s twitching. She knew how destructive hyper kindergarteners could be, but she also knew that if she broke them up too many times, they would lose the focus she had. She decided to wait, and she hoped the classroom wouldn’t be destroyed before she finished the first three letters.

Luckily, the kids she had were smart, and Zacky only had to endure ten minutes of sitting still. “Alright, class, go to your desks, I’m going to pass out a piece of paper with lines on it, and I’d like you to write for me the letters A, B, and C. Go on, now, go!” She moved her hands quickly in front of her, and the kids ran to their desks, eager to try on their own. Even the three boys of our story moved quickly. They pulled out crayons, the nicely pointed ones, and sat, waiting attentively for their pieces of paper to come.

After what seemed like forever, the insanely slow teacher walked to their table and gave each of the boys the paper. Zacky immediately scribbled a sloppy line of A’s, B’s, and C’s. Jimmy went slower, but his didn’t look that much better. Brian took the longest time, and his turned out great.

Zacky pouted. “No faiw. You went to pweschool.”

“Yeah, I did,” Brian said with a laugh, “But we didn’t leawn lettews!”

Jimmy just laughed. “You guys awgue like my mommy and daddy do. But they awwwwwwways kiss and make up. So you guys have to kiss and make up now.”

“Okay.” Zacky, who had no problems at the age of five showing affection for other people, gave his bestest friend a kiss on the lips and said, “I’m sowwy.”

“S’kay,” said a very shy and blushing Brian, who wasn’t so used to showing affection to anybody, much less someone he just met.

Jimmy laughed again. “You guys awe gonna get mawwied someday, I can tell. My daddy says I have a knack for peopwe, and dat someday, I’monna be a mawaige counsuwer. Whatever dat is.” Giving a shrug, the five year old turned over his paper and started to write his letters neater. “As wong as it means I get to sit and listen to peopwe tawk all day, I can do it.“

Zacky decided to follow his friend’s example, and flipped his paper over to write his letters a little nicer. Well, he tried. But he kept on messing up. The letters were all over the place, they were messy, just awful in general. Brain sighed. He had to help his friend, so he thought. That’s what friends did, right? Well, that’s what he would do at any rate.

“Zacky, why don’t you twy it dis way…” he put his hand over Zacky’s and moved the crayon to make a perfect A, a flawless B, and an amazing C. “Now you twy.”

Zacky tried. He honestly did. And they turned out looking not quite like Brian’s, but pretty close. “Wow, danks a lot, Bwyan!! Dis looks gweat!!” He smiled, showing all the teeth he had, so happy that his bestest friend was there to help him. This pattern repeated all throughout their school years, the assignments being the only thing changing. And the clarity of the words they spoke to each other.