Bernard x Oc

The Teacher's Assistant

After Christmas break ended, the students returned to school on the fifth of January. First, Charlie's school had the students' parents talk about what kind of work they do. Then, Charlie's teacher, Ms. Daniels, had her twelve-year-old assistant stand by the door as the parents spoke about their jobs.

"So, remember, kids, there is nothing more painful than third-degree burns." The firefighter explained to the children as they stared at him with their mouths open in shock. Ms. Daniels stepped up to the firefighter, "Well, thank you, Firefighter O'Hara. And I think the whole class will join me in saying... sorry about your partner." The Firefighter sat down as Ms. Daniels turned to the class, "Well, perhaps this is a good time to bring up the psychiatrist. Charlie, would you like to introduce your, um... Dr. Miller?" Ms. Daniels asks. Charlie stands up and stops in front of his stepfather, "Can I ask Dad to go first?" Dr. Miller settles back down in his seat, "Well, if that's how you feel, Charlie."

"That's how he feels, Neal. Come on," Scott gestures to Charlie before glancing back at Neal, "Nice sweater, buddy." He pats Neal on the shoulder before standing next to Charlie in front of the class, holding a baby doll. The assistant crosses her arms, waiting to hear what Mr. Calvin does at his job.

"This is my dad, Scott Calvin. He's got a really neat job." Charlie introduced. "Thank you, Charlie." Mr. Calvin chuckled.

"My dad is Santa Claus."

The young children laughed as the parents frowned, and the teacher and her assistant stood quietly as the assistant rolled her eyes. "Oh, boy! I think what he means is that I'm like Santa Claus. We're both giving. We're both jolly. And we both work very hard one day a year. Oh, boy." Mr. Calvin nervously chuckled. In confusion, Charlie peers at his dad, "That's not what I mean, Dad. Look, on Christmas Eve, my dad pushed Santa off the roof." Charlie began walking back to his desk as Mr. Calvin tried to stop him, "No, Charlie-- Ch-- Charlie."

"Santa disappeared, and my dad took his place-"

"Charlie!"

"Then I went with him to deliver all the presents. Then the reindeer flew us to the North Pole where the head elf-" Charlie continues as he walks back to the front.

"Charlie!"

"-Bernard gave me this." Charlie holds up a glass snow globe. The assistant perked up at the mention of the head elf, "Bernard?" She mouthed, "It wasn't a dream?"

Mr. Calvin frowns at Charlie, "Look, I work for a toy company. I deliver toys all over the country. So, in a way," Mr. Calvin peers at Charlie, "I'm like Santa Claus." Then, the assistant began thinking to herself, "Did he meet Bernard?!"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Mr. Calvin turned his attention to a little girl with her hand in the air, "Do you make the toys?"

"No, stupid, the elves do!" A boy shouts out as he glares at the girl. Ms. Daniels takes a step forward, "Bobby, we don't say "stupid," and we don't say "elves." They're little people." She softly spoke.

"No, but they really are elves!" Charlie piped up.

"Whatever, honey." Ms. Daniels brushes off, and the assistant slightly glares at her.

"Which one's your favourite reindeer?" Bobby pressed.

"Comet," Charlie answers with a smile.

"Uh, I, I, I don't have a favourite." Mr. Calvin takes the doll's dress and dabs his eyes. Bobby sneers at the Calvins.

"So, let me get this straight, Santa. You mean, when I grow up, if I wanna be Santa Claus, all I gotta do is push you off a roof?" He jeered at them.

"Uh, Charlie, thank you. You can go ahead and take your seat now." The teacher nervously suggested.

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Charlie's parents and stepfather walked to the principal's office to discuss what had happened in the classroom once school let out. Charlie stood against the playground wall waiting for them to come out.

"Charlie?"

The eight-year-old tilted his head to see his teacher's assistant stand before him, "Oh, hi, Alfina." Charlie acknowledges. Alfina smiles at him as she holds her bag on her shoulders, "Is it true? The part about the snowglobe, I mean."

Charlie nods his head, "Yeah, it's true." Then, reaching inside his bag, Charlie pulls out the snow globe and shows it to Alfina. The twelve-year-old gently takes the snow globe and examines it, "A beauty..." She mutters. Alfina hands back the snow globe to Charlie, "When you met Bernard, was he wearing a dark-green beret and a striped sweater?" She asks as Charlie puts the snow globe back in his bag.

"Yeah, he-" Charlie pauses before staring at Alfina in surprise, "How did you know that?"

Alfina chuckles at Charlie's shocked expression, "Keep a secret?" She adjusted her bag.

"Sure."

"I know Bernard, Judy, Quintin, and Curtis."

"HOW?!" Charlie's eyes widened in excitement, and he bounced on his feet. Alfina giggles as she watches him, "Charlie, it's a long story. I-"

"Charlie! Time to go home!" Charlie's mother, Laura, calls out. Charlie glances at his mother and then back at Alfina.

"Later. I will tell you later." Alfina Alvin smiles. Charlie nodded, "Okay, I won't tell anyone, promise."

Charlie sprinted to his mother and hopped into the car as Alfina watched. Then, adjusting her bag, Alfina began walking out of the school grounds and thought about what had happened in the classroom.

Charlie saw him. Bernard is still at the pole. Alfina smiled as she thought about the tall elf, the fun she had before...

The girl stopped in mid-step, "When that incident happened." She recalled the incident that happened in the year 1600. Oh, she misses the Pole. Alfina waited five years to see if she could return to the North Pole. The girl frowned, "Well, it's been five years for me." She thought bitterly. A large, fancy white house appears before Alfina as she stands in front of it. The girl walks to the front door, opens it, and enters a nice clean front room entrance.

The girl makes her way to the stairs that lead to a bedroom door with her name on it. Alfina enters the room and dumps her bag on the floor. The house was silent as she listened closely; her parents weren't home again. "Probably didn't bother telling me that they have a meeting somewhere." She snarled as she plopped herself on her bed. Her parents never cared about her. They always had a meeting somewhere that would last days. WEEKS at the most!

"Mellon nin," Alfina whispered in elvish as she lay there in silence.