This bonus chapter is dedicated to reqresser. Thank you for all your support!
"...and I wonder if anybody can remember his name?" Mr Woodward asked with a bright smile, slightly glassy like he wasn't expecting any of us to remember what he'd taught us two weeks before. I probably wouldn't have known, except that I thought it was the last time I had been in school. Even when I was turning into a complete baby, I wanted to be in school sometimes, just so I didn't stop learning. And Mummy was happy with that too, because she still had her work to do. And as long as she was choosing my diapers, she could know whether a little accident was going to send me home again. I couldn't help wetting my diapers; it happened every day now, and I'd given up trying to change that. But Mummy might decide to let me keep my big-girl thoughts sometimes, so I could keep on listening to a lesson.
Like today. I knew the answer. I raised my hand, breathless with excitement. I knew that wasn't normal; I shouldn't be so proud of remembering one little thing, but it was the best I'd been able to do for some time now. I saw some of my friends turning to look at me as I raised my hand, literally bouncing up and down in my seat hoping that the teacher would pick me.
"I think Alice is going to explode if I don't ask her to answer," he said, and everybody laughed. "Do you know the answer, Alice?"
"Erasmus Darwin!" I said, and then suddenly felt really nervous. Was I actually right? It was so easy to get confused now. Well, I'd tried anyway, and that was more than I had been able to do in quite a while. I just froze, hoping that my memory was right.
"Correct!" he said. "I wonder if you should get a gold star for being so enthusiastic?" I squeaked in excitement, before I realised he was just joking. But it wasn't a mean joke, and I was still really happy that I'd remembered one of the things that I'd learned. I was still kind of smart sometimes, even if most of the time I was taking a break from being too smart. I could be proud of that, somehow, and I enjoyed feeling how much life changed, even if it was a bit hard to think about it too much.
Mr Woodward was going into more detail now, telling us all the things we needed to know about Darwin. Some of it I remembered from a few weeks before, and some of it I knew I was going to forget as soon as the class ended. But I could remember that I got a question right, and all my friends were giggling about how happy I was. I didn't know how many of them were still really my friends; they didn't talk to me so much now. But that wasn't important, because I knew that my real friends liked it when I was happy.
It wasn't long before the class ended anyway. I'd made it through a whole day of school today, and I thought I'd understood at least half of the lessons. I didn't mind the teachers making little jokes about me, because I didn't understand most of them; I only knew that people were enjoying themselves.
As everybody got up to go home, Penny came over to me and asked if I wanted to hold her hand to make sure I didn't get lost. I blushed; I wasn't that little. At least, I wasn't that little right now. But it felt so safe to have somebody looking after me. So I took her hand like a little kid, and she checked that I had my bag and everything that I was supposed to have. I let her remind me to put my coat on as well, because it made me feel so small when I couldn't do those things by myself.
"We should wait a little bit," Penny told me. "Mummy won't be here yet. And we can play some until she comes. Okay?" I nodded, and we sat down at the edge of the yard, while Penny taught me a silly little dance where you have to stick one hand up in the air, and then the other, and then wave your fingers around each other. It was really fun, and I knew that it was so simple I should have been able to master it instantly, but I was having too much fun to care. I almost managed it, before Penny stood up again, noticing that Mummy's car had arrived outside the gates.
"Is your mummy late too?" I asked her. "I hope you don't get in trouble for waiting with me."
"It's okay," she said. "I'm babysitting tonight. I got Mum and Dad to agree that I can stay over, so we can play all night, until you fall asleep. Won't that be fun?"
"Yay!" I cheered. I was too excited to think of any other words; even when I was thinking like a big girl now, it was so easy to get overexcited, and to enjoy every tiny thing. And I knew that we were going to have more fun tonight than anybody else had ever.
I was even more joyful when I saw a car I didn't recognise in the driveway. Somebody had come to visit us, and I hoped it would be somebody fun. Mummy and Penny both seemed to know already, so I thought this must be just a surprise for me. And that made it feel extra special. Maybe they'd told me, and I'd just forgotten, but that didn't matter. Surprises were always more fun than just doing stuff.
"You looking forward to tonight, Penny?" Mummy asked, and Penny nodded. She was blushing a lot, and I wondered what they were planning. It was a bit weird that Mummy was asking her before me, but I didn't mind. I already knew that it wouldn't be fair if everything was always about me, and I wanted all my friends to have fun too. Especially my best friend.
"Are you doing something fun?" I asked her. "Can I help?"
"Of course you can," Penny said, and laughed again. "You always help out. I'm just going to play with you tonight. A little bit helping Mummy with the babysitting, and then maybe I can be the little one too. Does that sound like fun?"
"Yeah," I said, and grinned. "You don't have to be big if you don't want to, and it's always fun when we can play together." I knew that this was something Mummy was doing to make Penny feel good now, but it was just as much of a treat for me as well. I loved the idea of playing with my best friend like we were both just little kids, without a care in the world. I didn't know how long I would be able to think enough to know what was going on, or if Penny would be struggling to remember words again or just playing along. But I couldn't wait to find out, and I knew that whatever happened it was sure to be a whole load of fun.
Penny ran forward as soon as Mummy stopped the car and released the child lock on the doors. She was just as eager as me, and I couldn't blame her. I didn't get out of the car yet, though. I waited for Mummy to come around and help me with my seatbelt. Penny was already knocking on the door, because she didn't have a key of her own. I laughed at that a little bit. Was Penny doing a little kid thing, playing at not knowing how doors work? I didn't think Mummy could let her in when she was still helping me, and Sarah didn't usually get home so soon after school. In fact, Sarah didn't always come home before dinner time now, telling Mummy that she had school clubs, or a whole lot of friends to spend time with. It must be nice to have so many things to do, but I thought I would probably get super tired if I had so many things to do.
I was surprised, though. Mummy helped me out of the car seat, and lifted me down to the ground. She held my hands, like I was a little kid who only just learned how to walk, and I was really surprised to see the door open before we were even halfway there.
"Hello Mrs Pembroke!" Penny said, with a big smile on her face. "Can we come in and play?"
I tried to work out what was going on. It should have been easy, but my mind was still just a little bit confused. I wondered who Penny was talking to, because I was pretty sure this was my house. But then I looked up at the woman inside; and I knew that there would be a lot of babies tonight. Lyra's mummy was standing there, holding the door open for us, and I was almost certain that meant Lyra had come to visit as well. That was a new thing for me, because Lyra usually had to stay at her own house. But it would be great having her around so that we could try all the new things we could think of. Mummy would let us have naptime, and changes, and dinner whenever she thought we were all ready for it. That was a bit different from at Lyra's house, where they always tried to get her to follow a routine, even if that meant having nap time when she was full of beans or something. Maybe it was a different way to look after a baby, but I was sure that Lyra would have just as much fun either way, and if they wanted her to grow up as a good girl this time, I thought it would be good for her to have different kinds of people looking after her, so she could learn that a loving family didn't have to mean a complicated schedule to fit everybody's activities in around each other.
As I walked down the hallway, I realised that I was thinking about this a little bit more than I liked to. I hoped that Mummy would change my diaper soon, so I could have some of the special wipes and go all fuzzy. But I was still little and giggly enough to be really excited about tonight; and apparently my brain was still slow enough to be surprised when I stepped into the lounge and saw Lyra playing in there while she waited for us.
"Look at who's here to see you!" Sascha said, and we both jumped up in joy and ran towards each other for a big hug. All the mummies went into the other room to talk for a minute, but I was so sure that we were going to have a perfect day now. I couldn't think of anything that might have made it better.