A Taylor Christmas

Chapter 2 - Chaos

11 days to Christmas

**Ben's POV**

This is turning into an absolute disaster.

For the tenth time in less than two hours, I am wondering why I am doing this to myself – and to these not-so-innocent children.

Apparently, this is what happens if your professor at college talks a very good game and you are more gullible than the average student: I am currently standing in the center of the gym hall at our local middle school, surrounded by pure and utter chaos, ready to tear my hair out.

In hindsight, I wonder what on earth made me believe that earning some extra credits towards my college degree by filling in for the drama teacher at my youngest siblings' school is such a great idea. Of course, I expected that teaching English to classrooms full of third and fourth graders might be a bit of a challenge. But somebody should have warned me that orchestrating a nativity play on top of that with a mixed group of middle schoolers ranging from the ages of 7 to 11 is bordering on the impossible.

Right now, I am very close to losing my will to live. And that is saying something, considering that one of my virtues is an almost endless supply of patience, which has served me well over the years. I assume there is a limit to everything and I am about to reach mine.

One would think that I am used to chaos, seeing as I grew up with five older siblings and two younger brothers until I was well into my teenage years. And when I was in high school, we gained five additional little siblings. Therefore, chaos is the foundation on which our family is built on. But even surviving a messy house, eardrum-shattering riots and arguments about who can use the bathroom first, not to forget the food fights, flying fists and verbal destruction on a daily basis: all of that obviously didn't prepare me for this pretty hopeless mission.

"Ben?"

I blink a few times when a familiar voice filters through my negative train of thoughts.

"Hellooo, Ben? Are you in there?"

The next thing I notice is fingers snipping in front of my face.

"Huh?" I mutter, still feeling slightly dazed by the noise level around me.

"There you are." Amusement is lacing the voice, which I finally recognize as Donna's.

Donna, my girlfriend of almost a year – and also the main driver behind this ridiculous plan of bolstering my college credits by taking this job. She was the one who suggested this opportunity of substituting for a few weeks during our extended winter break. Said break is extra-long to allow students to gain essential teaching experience in addition to the classes in college.

My goal is to become a high school English and History teacher. With the emphasis on high school. That is going to be a non-negotiable term for any future jobs I am willing to consider. I am clearly not cut out to successfully manage groups of twenty-odd children and pre-teens.

"Sorry, in my mind, I was just...," I mutter a bit awkwardly, stopping in mid-sentence when I realize that my complaining about this current situation might make me look rather pathetic.

I feel embarrassed that I am struggling so much to get these hyper kids under control. I should really be able to handle this a lot better. At home, Alex has been putting me in charge of the youngest five for years already and it is a responsibility that I embrace. Technically, I also believe that I am quite good at helping him raise our kid siblings. And they are certainly not the easiest bunch to look after, with Aidan and Will proving to be quite the challenge at times.