Lilo

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Marley once more pulled back the strap of the bag that slid down her arm as she ran with that bag on one arm and the little girl on other. She had thought that carrying Lilo herself could save her time if she ran but now she was debating if that was only slowing her down. She was about to be late if not already.

"Where are we going?" the girl on her hip asked, a palm on Marley's cheek. "Is this your school?" she asked, eyes roaming the hallway curiously as they passed.

"Yup," Marley answered and sighed quietly. She was late. As they made it to the classroom, she put down the toddler and knelt in front of her, coming to the same level. "You have to be very quiet, baby, do you understand that?" she asked softly, a hand on her forearm, a soft gesture that made the little girl keep eye contact. She nodded in approval. "It's going to be a little long in there. I've got your crayons in the bag, you can draw. And you've got Stitch, right?" Marley asked with a small smile that rewarded her with a toothy grin from the girl, raising her hand that was holding a little plushie toy. "Alright, then," Marley sighed, holding Lilo's hand with one hand and the other reaching to the handle of the back door of the classroom.

"Ma!" Lilo whispered before the door could be opened. "This is the outside, right?" she asked, just to make sure she knew where they were.

"Smart girl," Marley smirked at the almost three year old. "Yes, baby. It is," she said, caressing her chubby little cheek.

Once again exhaling nervously, Marley quietly opened the door. Professor was in the middle of his speech, the students in the back already bored of their minds after only ten minutes and the ones in the middle only just adjusting to their seats. There was a little group who was already invested in the class and was too focused to notice anything outside of their small bubble of education.

She wished Professor Lachlan was also preoccupied with those students as they were with him. "What in the -" he started, doing a double take as he spotted Marley trying to sneak in with a toddler.

"I - Professor, I'm rea-"

"Come down here, please, Miss," he interrupted with her, his voice half full of astonishment and half annoyance. The entire class - even the ones who were too focused to realize something else under normal circumstances - turned to look at the very back of the class, to what made Professor Lachlan, of all the lecturers, to stop the class.

Now it would've been fine if he was a teacher who barely minded the out of ordinary. But this was Lachlan, the very professor everyone avoided conflict with because he was infamous of grading poorly. Not only that, but he didn't show any problem embarrassing students in front of the class if he was simply unimpressed. To say that Marley managed to get on his wrong side would be an understatement. On the bright side though, she doubted anyone managed to make him actually surprised with such a stunt. She surely must be a first. The girl could find it at least mildly amusing if she wasn't under the spot light currently.

"I'll just leave, Professor Lachlan, really, this is -"

"Come down, Miss Pearson." he said with an irritated sigh, leaving Marley with no choice but to follow instruction. There went her chance to sneak back out without him knowing who she was. Damn.

She walked all the way down, standing at the edge of the podium. Her heart was beating so bad that she could barely hear anything. It felt like all that blood pumping towards her head was clogging her ears.

"Hello there," the professor said, completely ignoring Marley and greeting a very confused Lilo behind her legs. Lilo was barely shied out. But now she didn't like the attention they were receiving. Her shaky pout was a give away if her hiding wasn't enough. Marley's heart was beating in her rib cage, the whole event feeling surreal all of a sudden.