Hot Cocoa

7

School was back and also your art activity for kids whose parents needed them to wait there until they finished working, later than the usual classes. And pretty much every day, the last one to come was Daryl, which you liked, because he helped you to put everything back in order in the classroom and so you had the chance to talk to him and spend time with him and little Dixon.

The other teachers kept pretty much treating you as if you weren't there, that when they weren't throwing mean comments here and there, but you just ignored them too. You thought you'd heard them gossiping about you a couple of times, looking at you in a certain way, even the principal, but you tried to pay them no mind.

On that first week, you had more or less the same kids on your art activity than you had before Christmas, but on Friday, there was a girl, Rose, who was not in your classroom and had never stayed to your activity before, and she explained to you that her mother had gone to the city to do some shopping and told her to wait there in your art activity if she wasn't on time.

At first, she seemed out of place, she wasn't friends with your usual group and she didn't seem to like painting, but finally, she joined a couple of other kids who were building stuff with clay, even though she didn't interact much with them, but you guessed it was progress, even if little.

One by one, the other kids were picked by parents who, you wanted to believe, were warming up to you even if they sill saw you as the foreigner there, until only little Dixon and Rose were left.

To your surprise, Daryl arrived before Rose's mother.

"Hey," he greeted as he walked into the classroom, and he seemed confused when he saw there a kid who wasn't usually in your group.

"Hi, Daryl!" Little Dixon greeted, grinning, while Rose looked at him without saying anything.

"Hey, Daryl, this is Rose, I'm waiting for her mother to come from shopping at the city," you explained.

"Okay." Daryl nodded, looking at the drawing that Sam was showing him, before approaching you, looking like he wasn't very sure of what to do with himself.

"I was thinking that since it's Friday, maybe Sam and you could come to my place for popcorn and a movie? Or to the café for some hot chocolate?" You asked timidly. "But I get it if you want to leave now instead of waiting."

"Nah, uh...I don't mind waitin', I'll help ya," Daryl said, seeming shy too.

"Okay, okay, thanks." You smiled and Daryl gave you that cute half-smile, and you both started cleaning the mess in the classroom and putting everything in place and back in order, besides what Sam and Rose were using.

Soon, a woman who you supposed was Rose's mother knocked on the door of the classroom and walked in.

"Hello, Mrs.Clark, Rose's mother, right?" You greeted with a polite smile.

"Yes, that's me." The woman nodded looking at Daryl and you. "I didn't know you had your boyfriend with you for this class."

"Oh, no, he's not...he's not my boyfriend." You quickly explained, feeling more than shy, and a quick glance at Daryl showed you that he was feeling even more awkward. "That's Daryl Dixon, the uncle of Sam." You gestured towards little Dixon.

"Oh, yes, I do know who the Dixon's are," Mrs. Clark said in a tone that you didn't like. "Just wonderin' if you were datin' one..."

"As I told you, madam, I am not, but Daryl is a friend," you said as politely as you could. "And he's here because when he picks his nephew he helps me clean the mess in the classroom and put everything back in order," you explained, because the last thing you wanted was your coworkers thinking that you brought a boyfriend to the art activity and gossiping about it.