Status: Engaged
Colour My World
Page Two
The robot looked like it crawled out of the deepest bowels of Hell and managed to play speed bump to a few semi trucks. Tyler snickered from his table and whistled coyly earning a stern look from both Mr Hoke and I. I rolled my dark green eyes and stood from the table, my table partner giving me an apologetic look as I walked down the aisle way towards Mr Hoke and the demon baby. At least it wasn’t missing an eye, it was just charred and some of the skin bubbled around the metal. Mr Hoke gave me a toothy smile as I took the diapered heathen from him and crinkled my nose at it.
"Now don’t give it that look," he chided playfully with a grin, "That’s your new bundle of joy, Ariel, be excited. You’re a mother!"
"Mother Leeds maybe," I muttered in response as I turned on the heel of my leather boots and walked back to my table, tossing the doll unceremoniously on the table making Mr Hoke wince in sympathy.
"I won’t have any of you abusing these dolls," he told us and I rolled my eyes. Falling into my seat heavily, he continued, "The doll will record any impact. So if you drop it, I’ll know, if you play catch with it, I’ll know. These are your children and I expect you to treat them as such. This will be 70% of your grade in this class," another chorus of groans and Mr Hoke held up a hand to silence them, "This class is to prepare you for the trials of parenthood. You will need to bring this child with you everywhere or find a sitter, if you find a sitter I expect that sitting to log the hours the baby eats and needs changed or you’re reports will suffer. If your reports do not match the robot’s log, you will receive a deduction." I propped my chin in my hand and tapped my well-manicured nails on the doll’s stomach, listening to the thuds of thick plastic and nails. The doll’s eyes were closed and I almost jumped out of my skin when the lids fluttered open rapidly before closing again. It whirred and shook a bit earning Mr Hoke’s attention as well as most of the class.
"It’s possessed, too!" Jacob laughed and I narrowed my eyes at him. God, he was so thick. Boys, really what were they good for except the occasional fuck? There was soft laughter rippling through the class from Jacob’s tease and Mr Hoke walked up to me to check the doll. He turned it over in his hands a few times before shrugging his shoulders and putting it back down on the table.
"It’s old," was his only offer of comfort. I looked at the doll with distaste and turned it around so it would be face the front of the class and away from me. If it had another freakout I didn’t want to be a part of it. "Alright, time to meet your spouses!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together and clapping. It seemed to me he was trying to get the class excited, but the only one who smiled was Eli. Mr Hoke danced his way up to the board, bouncing foot to foot, and plucked the chalk from the tray to start calling out names. "Please gather your things and move to your partner’s desk. From now on, this is your seating arrangement," he added as everyone began shuffling around and talking. He raised his voice to be heard over the shuffling and whispering and I watched the hoard move around like flies. Some darting this way, others weaving that way, no real sense of direction until their name was called out. It was around that time I made a realization, our class was uneven. There were more girls than their were boys which meant at least one of would have to be a single parent and one of us would have to be a lesbian couple.
Fantastic.
I was kind of hoping to not be the single parent. Dealing with the demon child alone would give me nightmares for sure and I needed my beauty sleep. Mr Hoke was down to the wire; only Tyler and Eli were left for Heather, myself and Becky. Maybe I would get to see how Tyler acted around a child with me. We rarely discussed things like the future with each other, but mostly because Tyler was adamant he’d play lacrosse for the rest of his life. Does lacrosse even have professional teams?
"And Miss Summers!" I looked at Mr Hoke when he spoke my name and grinned, "Congratulations on your mutual relationship with Miss Knight, two mothers is not always better than one," he warned and I looked at the blonde girl as she gather her bag and binder and started over. She wasn’t like most of the girls; she didn’t carry a purse she just had her one-shoulder book bag with all her books and binders in it. She didn’t wear a lot of makeup or do mid-class touch ups during a lecture. She was taking notes while I fixed my lipgloss and shove Tyler’s hand off my thigh and she was washing her hands while other girls brushed their hair, applied mascara, and fixed lipstick. She was just- weird I guess. She didn’t seem to put a lot of effort into her looks but she always looked pretty, a natural, easy sort of pretty I guess her boyfriend liked. She smiled at me pleasantly as she took the seat to my left.
"I already have a name for it," she said setting her things down and grinning mischievously, "Diablo."
"Now don’t give it that look," he chided playfully with a grin, "That’s your new bundle of joy, Ariel, be excited. You’re a mother!"
"Mother Leeds maybe," I muttered in response as I turned on the heel of my leather boots and walked back to my table, tossing the doll unceremoniously on the table making Mr Hoke wince in sympathy.
"I won’t have any of you abusing these dolls," he told us and I rolled my eyes. Falling into my seat heavily, he continued, "The doll will record any impact. So if you drop it, I’ll know, if you play catch with it, I’ll know. These are your children and I expect you to treat them as such. This will be 70% of your grade in this class," another chorus of groans and Mr Hoke held up a hand to silence them, "This class is to prepare you for the trials of parenthood. You will need to bring this child with you everywhere or find a sitter, if you find a sitter I expect that sitting to log the hours the baby eats and needs changed or you’re reports will suffer. If your reports do not match the robot’s log, you will receive a deduction." I propped my chin in my hand and tapped my well-manicured nails on the doll’s stomach, listening to the thuds of thick plastic and nails. The doll’s eyes were closed and I almost jumped out of my skin when the lids fluttered open rapidly before closing again. It whirred and shook a bit earning Mr Hoke’s attention as well as most of the class.
"It’s possessed, too!" Jacob laughed and I narrowed my eyes at him. God, he was so thick. Boys, really what were they good for except the occasional fuck? There was soft laughter rippling through the class from Jacob’s tease and Mr Hoke walked up to me to check the doll. He turned it over in his hands a few times before shrugging his shoulders and putting it back down on the table.
"It’s old," was his only offer of comfort. I looked at the doll with distaste and turned it around so it would be face the front of the class and away from me. If it had another freakout I didn’t want to be a part of it. "Alright, time to meet your spouses!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together and clapping. It seemed to me he was trying to get the class excited, but the only one who smiled was Eli. Mr Hoke danced his way up to the board, bouncing foot to foot, and plucked the chalk from the tray to start calling out names. "Please gather your things and move to your partner’s desk. From now on, this is your seating arrangement," he added as everyone began shuffling around and talking. He raised his voice to be heard over the shuffling and whispering and I watched the hoard move around like flies. Some darting this way, others weaving that way, no real sense of direction until their name was called out. It was around that time I made a realization, our class was uneven. There were more girls than their were boys which meant at least one of would have to be a single parent and one of us would have to be a lesbian couple.
Fantastic.
I was kind of hoping to not be the single parent. Dealing with the demon child alone would give me nightmares for sure and I needed my beauty sleep. Mr Hoke was down to the wire; only Tyler and Eli were left for Heather, myself and Becky. Maybe I would get to see how Tyler acted around a child with me. We rarely discussed things like the future with each other, but mostly because Tyler was adamant he’d play lacrosse for the rest of his life. Does lacrosse even have professional teams?
"And Miss Summers!" I looked at Mr Hoke when he spoke my name and grinned, "Congratulations on your mutual relationship with Miss Knight, two mothers is not always better than one," he warned and I looked at the blonde girl as she gather her bag and binder and started over. She wasn’t like most of the girls; she didn’t carry a purse she just had her one-shoulder book bag with all her books and binders in it. She didn’t wear a lot of makeup or do mid-class touch ups during a lecture. She was taking notes while I fixed my lipgloss and shove Tyler’s hand off my thigh and she was washing her hands while other girls brushed their hair, applied mascara, and fixed lipstick. She was just- weird I guess. She didn’t seem to put a lot of effort into her looks but she always looked pretty, a natural, easy sort of pretty I guess her boyfriend liked. She smiled at me pleasantly as she took the seat to my left.
"I already have a name for it," she said setting her things down and grinning mischievously, "Diablo."