Welcome to Stonebrook

Five

~Lor~

"Miss Turner?" 

"Mhm?" 

"What does this word say?" Olivia carefully held up the book towards me, pointing at a word. 

"Hmm. That's a tricky one." I pushed my papers back on my desk. "Why don't we work it out together?" She nods and comes closer, setting it on my desk. "That's a lot of letters." Olivia's eyes widen. "Little scary." 

"A little." 

"I think we can do it though. Maybe there's bits we already know?" I pulled some paper beside the book, handing her a pencil. "Or if we do it a little at a time? What do you think?" 

"A bit at a time." This past week I'd spent a lot of time trying to crack Olivia open for the rest of the class. I'd introduced a few of the other quieter girls to her, finding they too loved reading and figured it'd be a good starting point. Obviously I started with a reading task and paired people up. She was playing with them at lunch rather than sat on the floor though so that's a huge first step and one I was very proud of. She just needs a little more attention and I doubt until she started school she'd been around other kids so was struggling with understanding how to socialize. We're working it out though. She's a very smart kid.

"I think that's it!" She put the pencil down and spelled it out in syllables "glori-ump-tious." 

"Gloriumptious." I nodded. "Roald Dahl really does create some silly sounding words doesn't he?" 

"He made it up?" 

"There's loads of words he made up." 

"Do you have a favourite?" 

"That is a really good question." I moved my eyes to the ceiling. It'd been years since I last read a Roald Dahl book but I know for a fact I had some words in here somewhere. "Yes." 

"What is it?" 

"Telly-telly bunkum box." Olivia looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I nodded. "It's in the BFG." 

"What's that?" 

"You haven't read the BFG?!" Olivia shook her head. 

"What's a BFG?" I opened my mouth dramatically at her, tapping away on my computer to bring the front cover up. 

"It stands for Big Friendly Giant." Oliva stared at my the squiggly water colour man on the screen with wonder in her eyes. 

"Is it good?" 

"Oh yes. One of my favourites." I nod quickly. "Roald Dahl wrote it about his daughter who was called Olivia." 

"SHE WAS?!" Olivia turned and stared at me, I just nodded slowly. Her head looked back at the screen and I could see it ticking in her mind. 

"Sorry to disturb-" A young woman poked her head into the room and I immediately recognised her as Olivia's Aunt. My eyes glanced at the clock above the door. It was supposed to be a parent teacher conference with Olivia's dad today but he was 30 minutes late. I didn't mind watching Olivia for the time, after all people have emergencies all the time and she's not exactly any trouble. "I'm just here to pick Libby up." 

"Libby?" 

"That's me." Olivia closed her book, grabbing it as she ran across the room to grab her bag. 

"I'm sorry I'm so late, her dad was trying to get here but there was an emergency at one of his restaurants-" 

"Oh don't worry about it. These things happen and Olivia really is no trouble at all." 

"Auntie Tate, can we go to the library before we go home?" 

"That depends, how many books do you have out already?" Olivia's shoulder's dropped. "You have to finish the ones we have at home first and I'll take you to change them over." 

"But I want the-" 

"I might have a copy of it at home you can have Olivia." Olivia peered up at me with big bright eyes. 

"You don't have to-"

"No really, it's fine. I've got too many books and not enough shelves right now. Plus a Roald Dahl book isn't exactly what I'm reading these days. I'll bring it in on Monday if I can find it in my boxes." 

"What do you say Lib?" Tate Smiled at her niece, putting a hand on her head and ushering her out into the hallway.

"Thanks Miss Turner!"

"Not a problem." 

"I'll talk to her dad about rescheduling." 

"Oh there's no rush. It's just to introduce myself properly. I know some parents are concerned about the change in teachers half way through the year and how I'm keeping them on track, my experience and everything. It's nothing serious." Tate's shoulders slipped, like me confirming it wasn't about Olivia eased a heavy weight she'd been carrying on her shoulders. So I added "She's doing great. She's coming out of her shell, making some friends slowly." 

"Friends?" Tate looked over at Olivia who was whittering at Isla who was stood in her doorway, waiting for me to finish. "She's never- uh- wow. 2 weeks and you've got our quiet kid making friends. What are you doing, spiking their milk?" I chuckled, holding onto my elbows as I crossed my arms. 

"No. I just think Olivia's previous teachers didn't see any problem with how quiet she is. I mean, I don't either. I just think it takes her a little time to warm up to people. A little extra care and focus. Starting conversations. I'm not saying I can wave a magic wand and she's going to be super out going but my aim is to get her in a more confident spot so when she moves up next year, that Miss Kopaz will have a breeze at carrying it on. Before you know it she'll have too many friends to count." 

"We can but hope." Tate sighed. "Okay. I'll leave you to enjoy your weekend. Thanks again Miss Turner, we all really appreciate it. Libby, let's go, Koda's in the car." Olivia shouted her goodbyes before running down the hall, almost tripping when she turned the corner to the exit. 

"Well, she's coming out of her shell." Isla walked back into her classroom and I followed closely behind her, sitting at her desk whilst she finished tidying up. 

"Sure is. She's a sweet heart." Isla smiled at me. 

"I made you a coffee." 

"You are an angel." She chuckled and I grabbed it, taking a long, deep swig. "What are your weekend plans then?" 

"I've got some stuff to sort tonight for next weeks field trip and then we're going out Saturday night." 

"Oo. Who's we?" 

"Me, Wells, You, Tessa. Whoever else." 

"I didn't say I was-" 

"Yeah, Wells said you'd refuse so he told me to say- ahem- let me just-" Isla turned around and cleared her throat, putting on her best Wells impression. "Lorelei Turner, I will be at your house at 6pm on Saturday to feed you something that isn't packet mac and cheese and take away pizza and you are coming out whether I have to drag you by your bootstraps or not." 

"That was a pretty good impression actually." 

"Thanks, I've been working on it all day." 

"Did you even-" 

"Yeah my hand is his stubble." I chuckled at her. "So Saturday." 

"I mean, apparently I don't have a choice." 

"Yeah, I wouldn't wanna try refuse Wells and Tessa together. I could handle Wells-" 

"Oh you couldn't." 

"Couldn't I?" 

"No. Not if you knew him like I do. I've been friends with him since we were like 4. The guy knows how to get under my skin and I guess I make it easy for him."