let's write stories at 5am

A true story

As I walk into the classroom, the sound of the door opening makes the children nearest to me turn their heads, and a smile crosses their faces when they see me. Some wave and say hello to me, and I return their earnest greetings.

Even though it’s something I have to do as part of my school life, I always enjoy travelling outside of our Edwardian school to help out the younger kids. I remember the first time I met them – they’d hardly even acknowledge my presence. However, now that I know them a little better, they would always at least smile.

Unable to find a chair, I kneel down at a desk and ask the children what they’re doing. They’re making their own versions of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’. It’s a tricky job; replicating abstract art is a skill you either have or don’t have. These kids aren’t very talkative, though, and I spot my favourite child out of the whole class sitting across the room. I know you’re not supposed to have favourites, but Harvey’s just so chatty and fun.

I finally find an empty chair and carry it over to where Harvey is sitting. He didn’t even notice me arriving at first, but when I say hello to him, he beams and greets me enthusiastically.

This table is much more exciting than the other one. Everyone’s breaking all the rules: being noisy, disruptive and unproductive. And I love it. Eventually the teacher tells them to be quiet, and they obey, except for their happy giggles.

We can still talk, so we do. When they ask me to draw a black hole, I manage to confuse them by saying that a black hole doesn’t look like anything. Harvey says that they should organise a school trip to a black hole, but I tell him that that’s probably not a good idea.

After successfully aweing them with a crappy skull and very deformed ‘abstract’ cat, Harvey asks me if I like YouTube, and naturally I say yes. I tell him that my favourite YouTuber is Benjamin Pracy. He’s never heard of him. He says he prefers vloggers, so I ask him if he likes JoshSundquist. He’s heard of him… but doesn’t really like him. The only other vloggers I remotely like are danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil, and he doesn’t like either. He starts rattling off all these other YouTubers, of which the only one I recognise is JacksGap.

Then suddenly, the girl sitting next to me asks if we know who her favourite YouTuber is. Of course we don’t, so she tells us.

SkyDoesMinecraft.