Breeder

Change (1)

Norman Pov

"That's not fair!!"

"Yeah!! Not fair!!"

The children protested, puffing their cheeks out and yelling loudly. They really didn't like having to take tests- their scores made them sad, after all. The kids always strived to make Mom happy- and sometimes, it didn't happen that way. So when they heard that Erica didn't have to take Litany tests, they all wanted to not take the tests like her.

"Fine, fine. I'll take the tests." Someone's voice stopped the chatter.

"Norman, Ray, Emma. Let me down, please."

She knew our names? But how? It's not like we properly introduced ourselves-

"You know our names?!" Emma yelled, perking up in surprise.

"How can I not when there are half a dozen children yelling your names every single second?" Erica retorted coolly, rolling out of her cocoon.

"Now, tiny humans, lead me to my desk!!" Erica yelled dramatically, letting herself be herded to a spare desk in the test room.

Mom picked up the bedsheet that Erica had left behind, folding it neatly. Giving the three of us a smile, she ushered the rest of the kids into the test room.

Honestly, I didn't think that Erica would do well on the Litany Tests. So far, I only knew her as the "pretty, strange girl" who could run like the wind. But I was proven completely wrong when she got first place- a perfect score in the shortest time.

"Great job, Erica!! You got first place!! A perfect score int he shortest time- it's a new record!" Mom exclaimed, giving the new girl a proud smile.

Erica merely replied with an empty smile. Something that I was growing accustomed to already. Unlike Emma, who was all sunshine and rainbows, Erica's mile was vacant and didn't have any emotion behind it whatsoever.

"Whoa!! That's amazing, Erica!!"

"You're so smart!!"

"We also have Norman, Ray, and Emma with perfect scores again!!" Mom announced, giving us the usual announcement regarding our scores.

The kids cheered happily as they ran circles around Erica, drowning her with hugs. She returned the friendly gestures, the empty smile never leaving her face in the process. The smile made her look even prettier, making a corner of my heart tickle. But it was also frightening. Was it even possible for a human to be completely void of emotions?

If she was just good at hiding them, then what made her so good at it?

"How do you think you did, Nat?" Erica asked, holding the boy on her lap.

"I think I got about half right,"

"Half?! Man, I wish I could get half right!!" Dominic cut in.

"Why don't you go and gather everyone up again? I'll help you all study and get your scores higher." Erica suggested, surprising everyone.

"Really?! You'll do that?!" Dominic shouted, buzzing with excitement.

"Just know that I'm not an easy teacher, all right?"

Dominic went off to get the children back, eager for the lessons. Ray, Emma and I approached her to ask her what she was planning on doing now.

"Are you really going to teach all the kids so that they'll get better scores?" Ray questioned.

"Of course. That way, they'll be able to stay with us a little bit longer. I've come here with plans in mind, you know. I hope that the three of you can help me bring them to fruition." Erica replied, giving us that empty smile of hers once again.

"I wanna help!!" Emma volunteered, much to Ray's displeasure.

"You'll help us, right?" Emma asked, giving us her doe eyes.

".....Fine." Ray grumbled.

"Of course," I replied, giving her a smile.

"So how is this going to work?" Ray asked, turning to meet Erica's blue eyes.

"As far as I know, the test questions are the same as long as you're taking the same level test. So we're going to split them into groups and teach the kids what they don't know or have problems with. There are types of questions within the tests. For example, there are questions that make you think about shapes in 3D. "Which net makes a triangular pyramid?" or "How many cubes are in this configuration?" so on and so forth." Erica began explaining.

"The types of questions stay relatively the same even as the levels go up. I want to separate the kids into groups where the ones that have trouble with the same type of question can learn and practice together. This way, the ones that do better in that type of question can help the others amongst their own groups."

"But you want us to teach them how to answer the question?" Emma confirmed.

"Correct. The kids trust you, and you three have the knowledge to teach others. You have to take the Litany tests every day, so using these few hours before lunch to look and go over questions that they weren't able to answer will definitely help their scores improve."

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Operation Keep Everyone Alive Pt.1: Commence!!

2.5 pages, 837 words