Parents in Training

(x) Chapter One: How to Not Work Together

"Okay, I think we had enough of this for today." Miss Philips said as she stood up from her table, shutting off the DVD player whilst everyone peeled their hands off their eyes. Miss Philips made us watch birth videos that lesson. Everyone seemed reluctant and it's quite understandable as to why every inexperienced teen who hadn't birthed any offspring so far to be reluctant to watch a lady scream in excruciating pain.

Miss Philips took out a box from under her desk and placed it onto the surface for everyone to look at. She started working at Middlesbrough School the year before. Ever since then, almost every guy in school decided she was the fittest teacher they've ever seen in their lives. She was young and she was gorgeous. I don't see why not.

"With that aside," She began and dipped her hand into the box before pulling out a plastic doll. Everyone exchanged the same confused glances. However, it's the most interesting thing we've seen so far that day. "I think I should tell all of you that we received many concerns from your parents about this whole baby situation. I get it, young people like you often to break free out of their cage and get drunk and ultimately, make the biggest mistake of their life."

Someone in the back coughed and made Miss Philips sigh. She looked slightly annoyed so she turned in her super high heels, taking the chalk off the side of the board and started to write on the board. In cursive letters, she wrote 'RESPONSIBILITY' with two lines underneath it for extra exaggeration.

"All of you lack responsibility." She looked around the class and sit the plastic baby on her table. "Principal O'Reily received many concerns from parents and if your parents can't turn you troublemaking lot into something good, we have to."

With this, she started to pace in front of the class, scanning all of us with her beady eyes that narrowed into slits. Once she saw me, I sunk in my seat. It was like she was giving my soul the daggers. There was something about Miss Philips that made me feel so uncomfortable. I don't know if it was the beady eyes of that creepy aura wafting off of her like she was always up to something. Maybe she was an undercover witch.

She stopped pacing by her desk and placed her hands on the surface, "So, this leads to the big assignment that all of you should be excited for."

Everyone in the room groaned in frustration, including myself. I had physics homework, my English coursework due the next day and alongside that, I hadn't touched my psychology assignment. So I prayed that whatever assignment Miss Philips was planning, it wouldn't take up my entire life.

"As you can already see," she let out a big sigh when she took out two other boxes and onto her table, "I have mechanical babies for all of you to work in pairs to take care of together. This will teach you partnership and what it takes to become responsible for another thing. You are the first ones in your year group to undergo this assignment. Your friends will do the same in a few months' time."

I threw my head back and mentally cried to myself. There's one thing I was sure of for this assignment. I absolutely had zero ideas on how babies work and I, particularly for one, hated those things. Sure, babies are cute but in one split second, they burst into tears. What do they cry about? Taxes?

"Alright, shall we start the pairing?" She sickly grinned at us with her perfect teeth showing. She tapped the clipboard with her pen before calling out our names, "We have Chandler Adams with Emma Kendall. There's Tommie Smith with Jamie Greene. Alberto with the one and only Gwen."

She went on and on, reading names off the list. I crossed my fingers (and toes) and prayed for a partner who would be a professional in this whole baby assignment thing. I was hoping for someone in the room to miraculously been a professional babysitter in their life and I was hoping that the person would be my partner.