Mental

Chapter 12 Robbing the cradle

"I don't want to be here." I groaned putting my head on top of my arms as I sat in English listening to Mrs.Cuzins draw on and on about the Song of Roland and the influence religion had on medieval France.

"Only 7 periods to go." Harry joked laying his head on the table to look over at me. I turned my head to see him staring at me with a small smile on his face. "Excited for our first day of health class?"

"No." I groaned even louder. It was our first day back after christmas break. Everyone looked dead pretty much except for Harry. Harry ended up coming over christmas Eve night for dinner. Once my mom found out he would be all alone she didn't take no for an answer. "Francene back?"

"Yeah she comes back this Sunday." He smiled looking a little relieved. You could only live in a house by yourself for so long. I stared at him as he looked at the front of the room where Mrs.Cuzins was talking about Durendal, Rolands sword. The slightly pink lines under his eyes made him look tired but the sparky green made them look alive. "It's not polite to stare."

"Shut up." I smiled, my cheeks feeling hot. He was melting into me, but only me. Becoming softer and softer toward me. It was scary but I liked it, and I think he does too.

***

"I'm Mrs.Riley and this is your second semester health course. We start off on family living and child development. Now I'm sure you all know the infamous sack of flour child project that is portrayed in movies well you'll be doing something similar to that. You will partner up and be given a baby. Its an automated baby with real emotions and it really cries. The only time the baby will not cry without you having to touch it is from 12am to 5am, enough to get some sleep." She pulled out a cart of a bunch of babies in little onesies and they looked incredibly real. 

"You will pick your own partners," I felt Harry nudge me with his leg under the table. "You will have to keep a journal and complete different tasks. For example you will have to bring it to the park, to a restaurant, a grocery store and so on. You cannot just bring it home and keep it there. It must be here everyday in class and it must be in clean clothes everyday. Since the health class budget was raised these babies are very real..."

"Do they poop and pee?" Some kid asked as he leaned over his desk to see the babies.

"Yes. Each of you will be given a box of a powdery formula. When the baby cries because it is hungry you will put this in a bottle and mix it with water. in 30 to 45 minutes it will come out in a much more solid form, the poop. You will notice the baby might cry when it is not hungry but it could be thirsty so just give it water and it will pee. You are expected to change the diapers. Every class I will check your baby to make sure it is up to par. If it is not, you will fail the first half of this course. There is a lot riding on this. Now pick your partners."

"No offense Harry but I don't think you'd be a good dad, I mean I just don't want to fail." I said smirking at him as he went to write our names down on the paper.

"I'll have you know I think I'd be a great dad. Plus, you don't have a choice." He winked at me and stood up handing Mrs.Riley the paper and picking up a baby with a pink hat. "Isn't she cute? Her names Storm."

"Storm? What is she going to become the goddess of winds and rain?" I teased taking the baby from him.

"As a matter of fact, yes." 

"Okay so now everyone turn your baby on and you'll see a blinking blue dot, once it's solid blue you're ready to go. All the babies are synced to my computer and I can monitor them which means yes I can see when you've turned them off. If you turn them off you automatically fail. Good luck, and happy parenting."