I'm A What?!

We Need To Talk

     Tim stopped off at his locker and dropped off everything he wouldn't need til after lunch. The next class unfortunately was bonding, and it was right up against lunch so there was no point in carrying everything. Afterwards, they went to Gat's locker to drop off his bag.

     Gat opened the door and a note fell out. Gat's breath seemed to hitch as he watched the note slowly float down to the floor. He was frozen. He'd gotten notes in his locker before, none of them were ever good. Tim just sighed and picked it up off the ground.

     "They're moving your locker. You're going to have the one next to mine now." Tim quickly read the note, which was actually addressed to him anyway. "Get all your stuff together so we can drop it off before class starts."

     After they finished with the lockers, they quickly got to their next class. They were intrigued to see Mr. Cake sitting at the front of the class instead of Mrs. Desini. He gave Tim a slight smile, but his smile grew when he saw Gat. Gat liked him. He was one of the few teachers that actually seemed to care about Subs.

     Tim still wasn't entirely sure about Mr. Cake. He had been decent enough on the field trip, but what was he like teaching? Not that this class really had anything to teach. They could put a monkey at the front of the class and said it was supervising them.

     "How are you feeling Gatlin?" Mr. Cake asked. "You gave Tim a bit of a fright yesterday."

     Tim saw Gatlin stiffen. That's right... he didn't tell him about asking Mr. Cake about his health. He was already asleep. He really needed to tell him things more often so he wasn't so scared when people asked him about it later. At least Tim remembered to talk to him about being his Sub now.

     "O-okay... I guess." Gatlin whispered as he looked down at the floor.

     "Well, you have a good Caregiver there. He really was worried about you. And you should have told him how tired you were. Next time just say something. You don't have to keep things like that a secret. Don't think you're being a burden if you need to rest." Mr. Cake smiled and handed a few papers to Gatlin. Gatlin looked at them and quickly looked back up at Mr. Cake. "I got those together for you. Just return them Monday for math."

     Gatlin gave a shy smile and nodded his head yes. Tim could feel that Gatlin had respect for this teacher. It seemed to be the only one. Tim also noticed that Mr. Cake was not using the word Daddy at all to describe him. There might just be something to Mr. Cake. He could be another teacher that Tim could also give his respect to. If him and Mr. Pova were friends, there must be some redeeming qualities to the guy.

     The class finally filled, and the bell went off. Mr. Cake stood up and walked over to a whiteboard. Under the name of the class he wrote in large, clear letters, the word 'LISTENING'. He set down the marker and turned back to the class.

     "I'm covering for Mrs. Desini for today's class while she takes care of a few things. Now... today is the last day you have of Bonding before you move in together. And this... (he pointed to the word on the board) is the most important thing you will ever do. You need to let your Little talk. You need to let them express themselves. You need to acknowledge what they say. Don't just assume that because they're Little that they don't have times when they want to think big or have big emotions. There's plenty of room in here, so I want you to find somewhere quiet and talk with your Little. If they want a story, read them a story. If they want to play, let them take the lead in the game. Just whatever you do..."