Valentina - [wlw]

twenty five

Evie's view:

"That's adorable" I chuckled into the phone.

My best friend Alyson was currently telling me all about how her daughter Willow, has been calling other little girls in her class her girlfriend.

"You should come over this weekend. Valentina has some business to attend to in the morning so I'll be free until the evening on Saturday." I said packing all of my things into my tote bag.

Alyson agreed to coming over and we both hung up after.

I was thankful to have her around still despite not always getting to see each other or talk as often. Her schedule was crazy busy with running her own business.

It was the evening now and all the kids who weren't in the after school program, went home. I had told the people in charge of the program that I'd be volunteering for the week, just as an excuse to keep coming back in case I needed to.

I locked up my classroom and walked down the hallways to the cafeteria where the kids stayed.

As soon as I walked in I spotted Sophia sitting at one of the tables leaning her head against her hand. She looked like she was doing some homework which was perfect. It was a great excuse for me to go over and sit with her.

I said hi to some of the other after school program staff members, letting them know I was there.

Then went over to sit next to Sophia at the table. "Hey kiddo, whatcha doing?" I asked her in a cheery tone.

Sophia looked up at me and gave a small smile. "Just some homework, I hate math."

I smiled at her sympathetically and leaned on my arms. "Most students do, but it's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Would you like me to help you?" I asked hoping for a yes.

Sophia stared at her paper for a few seconds and then nodded. "Sure." She said with a shrug.

I helped her with her math homework until we completed the assignment. She was a pretty quiet kid, kind of like I was.

She only spoke when she had a question or needed reassurance on something I told her.

"Good job. See it wasn't so hard was it?"

Sophia put away her homework and shook her head no. "I guess not. But I still stink at it." She said with a frown zipping her backpack.

"You'll get the hang of it eventually Sophia. Do you have anything else you need help with?"

"Mmm.. no that was my only homework. I just have to wait for my dad now." She said with a sigh rolling her eyes.

This was my chance to start digging.

I glanced around making sure Parker wasn't walking in anytime soon and turned back to Sophia who was picking at her backpack strap.

"You don't seem too excited about that.. everything alright at home?" I asked slightly regretting my choice of words.

That was probably too straight forward.

Sophia glanced at me then looked away shrugging and remaining silent.

"You know you can talk to me about anything right?" I said with a smile tilting my head to look at her. "Teachers are here to always help you even if it's not something school related."

Sophia sighed glancing around too which made my stomach flip a little. She was worried.

"I know. But it's not something I like to talk about.. I can't talk about it anyways because I'll get in trouble with my dad." She said looking down.