Team8s and Counting

11. A Rough Day at Work

TW: Vomit

It was 8:30 am on a Monday morning. Around 20 children, one by one, started gathering into Gaty's (or as she's known at school, Ms. Pickets) Pre-K classroom. Gaty worked with her assistant teacher, Lampy (also known as Ms. Shades), who was able to give an extra hand when things got crazy in the classroom.

And boy was Gaty grateful to have Lampy in her classroom today.

The day started out pretty routine, with Gaty and Lampy giving the usual "good mornings", which were proceed by "Good morning Ms. Pickets and Ms. Shades". All the kids gathered on the carpet as they were reading The Sprouting Yoyleseed, which was chosen out by one of the kids yesterday for today's morning read.

Once that was done, Gaty went over "the letter of the day" with the kids. Today's letter was P.

"And what sound does the letter P make," Gaty enthusiastically asked.

"Puh," all the students said at once.

"Very good! And what are some words that start with the letter P?" An array of words began to fill the room!

"Pink."

"Plant."

"Wait! Pickets!

"Yes, my name does start with a P!"

After the lesson, the kids were brought back to the tables and handed a worksheet to practice writing the letter "P".

Gaty and Lampy started to go around to the different tables to monitor the kids and see if they needed any help.

"Very nice job," Lampy said to one child.

"Make sure that curve is nice and round," Gaty said to another.

They continued to look at everyone drawing their letters, and they were all making great progress.

However, when Gaty got to the last table full of children, she noticed that one of them was looking a little pale.

"Are you okay," Gaty asked her.

"Ms. Pickets, I don't feel very well," she said with a sad undertone.

"Well you don't sound very well," Gaty said, concerned, "I think it would be a good idea to take a trip to the nurse."

"Okay," the girl said.

Gaty told Lampy that she was headed to the nurse with the girl so she knew to keep a closer eye on the rest of the kids.

The little girl leaned on Gaty for support as they headed down the hallway.

All the sudden, before they could make it to the nurses office the little girl started to gag.

"Oh no". Gaty thought to herself.

Before she could do anything though,

"BLUEHH"

Vomit. All over her pants.

Gaty was having an internal panic attack, but she knew she had to stay calm and comfort the sick child.

"Sorry Ms. Pickets," the girl croaked out.

"It's alright, let's get you to the nurse, and it looks like you might need to get picked up."

They finally made it to the nurse, who noticed the puke all over Gatys pants, which told her the whole story.

The nurse took the girl to a bed to lie down.

"Don't worry, it's going to be okay," the nurse said to the child.

The nurse quickly went back to Gaty, who was now showing signs of visible discomfort after the whole ordeal.

"You go get cleaned up, I'll let Lampy know what happened."

Gaty proceeded to head to the bathroom and wiped as much vomit off of her as she could, but as she knew, she would need to get changed into something else. Luckily, Gaty had some extra clothes in the staff lounge just in case something like this ever happened. She got her clothes and changed into them. She knew she had to shake off the whole ordeal before heading back into the classroom. After all, they were just kids.

Gaty finally made it back into the classroom, when Lampy greeted her. The kids had now moved on to come coloring.

"Hey, the nurse told me what happened, first time getting puked on it sounds like," Lampy said.

"Yeah," Gaty sighed, "I'm still grossed out by it, but it doesn't look like I can do anything about it now."

Eventually, it was time for the kids to have lunch, which also meant it was time for Gaty's break. During this time, she would go into the faculty lounge and eat her own lunch. When she made it into the lounge, she noticed Saw, who has the same break as she does, had already made it there.

"Hey Saw," Gaty said, "how has your day been?"

"AMAZING," Saw exclaimed, "you know the butterfly garden that we've been trying to set up?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, one of the cocoons just hatched! I think I might have been just as excited as the kids," Saw squealed.

"Sounds like your day went a lot better than mine," Gaty said with a depressing undertone.

"Oh no, what happened," Saw asked, concerned for her girlfriend.

"Got puked on by a child," Gaty said.

"Really," Saw said, trying to hold in her laughter.

"Yeah, what's so funny?"

"Nothing, Nothing," Saw said, "Looks like you handled yourself well!"

"What other choice did I have," Gaty said.

"Knowing you I thought you would quit on the spot!"

"Trust me, I was considering it," Gaty said, "but I guess you're not a preschool teacher until you've seen some form of digested food at least once!"

"Looks like you finally went through the right of passage," Saw exclaimed. "Just wait until you get the elements that come out the other end!"

"SAW! That was something I didn't need in my head right now," Gaty yelled. However, she brushed it off real quick and started to laugh. "I'm assuming you've seen it all."

"Are you kidding me, I've seen it all, or more like, worn it all! That's what you get when you have 2 and 3 year olds who aren't known for having a high accuracy rate to the toilet!" Gaty laughed at her girlfriend's sense of humor. While Saw could be a little ditsy at times, she knew damn well that she was always able to keep her cool. She can tell you that if a preschooler were to throw up on every member of Team8s, Saw would handle herself the best.

"Sometimes I just don't know how you do it Saw," Gaty said.

"Trust me, once the little ones hand you the buttercup they found in the grass, all the gross elements become worth it," Saw said, smiling.

"I don't think I could ever handle the 2 and 3 year olds like you can," Gaty said, "I've seen them in other classrooms and they can be unpredictable."

"Well, that's just all part of the fun," Saw said, "you never know what they're gonna bring to the table."

"I'll stick to the 4 and 5 year olds thank you very much," Gaty said. Saw laughed at her.

"Just wait till we have a little one living with us and you're changing the diapers," Saw said. Gaty started to blush. With hanging around so many kids everyday, the thought of her and Saw having a kid of their own always made her excited.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here," Gaty said. Even with the challenge that was presented to her today, Gaty will always cherish her job as a teacher, and is lucky that her girlfriend knows what she has to go through.

...................................................

A gross, but surprisingly fun chapter to write. Very proud that I actually got a chapter out in under a week. Don't get your hopes up though, I'm starting school next week! Anyway, that's all I have to say about this chapter, see you in the next chapter!

- Sunny