"Okay class, our assignment for today is for Mother's Day," the teacher says.
A couple students groan. Zayn's head pops up and he glances nervously at the teacher.
"As we all know, that's on Sunday, and I'm sure your mums are all excited for it. I just think it would be nice for you to have something to give them."
Zayn shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
The teacher starts passing out some lined paper and card stock paper.
"I want you to write down all the reasons you love your mum, and that can be in any style you want, a list or a few paragraphs or a poem or an essay. It's up to you. Then I want you to make a card for her. Design it however you like. Maybe put things that she likes on it. For example, my mum loves flowers, so I would decorate mine with flowers. You have the rest of class to work on it and you'll be presenting them in class tomorrow. I'll be walking around. Feel free to ask for help."
Zayn looks down at his blank papers. He looks around at his classmates pulling out their art supplies to work on their cards.
"What are you gonna put on yours, Zayn?" the girl next to him, Izzy, asks.
He looks to her, then back down at his desk. "I... I don't know."
"Well you're really good at drawing, so whatever you put your mum is going to love it. I think I'm going to..." she continues to animatedly tell him her ideas, but Zayn isn't paying attention. He looks around again at everybody excitedly working on this project for their mums and a tear creeps out of his eye. He quickly wipes his eyes and raises his hand as the teacher comes closer.
"Yes, Zayn."
"Can I go to the loo?"
She looks a little concerned, but decides not to ask while other students are watching. "Yes, take the pass."
Zayn gets up and practically runs out of the room. He locks himself in one of the bathroom stalls and calls Louis.
Louis is in the middle of teaching his beginner piano students a new song when a phone goes off.
"Whose phone is ringing while I'm teaching? You all know the rules," he says.
The class looks around at each other. "I think it's yours, Mr. Tomlinson," one of the students speaks up.
Louis looks to his desk and sees his phone lighting up. "Okay, you got me on that one." After seeing who it is, he makes a beeline for the door, "I have to take this, keep practicing, Adam is in charge." Groans come from other students who aren't Adam, but Louis doesn't care. "Hello? Zayn?" All that comes through are sniffles and heavy breathing. "Zayn, what's wrong, honey? Are you crying? What happened?" He can hear Zayn trying to speak, but he's too worked up. "Shhh... I need you to calm down so you can talk to me. Shh... It's okay. Do you need me to come? I'm only in the arts building. I can be right there."
"No," Zayn says, though Louis isn't convinced.
Louis finds one of the choir teachers on break and covers up the phone. "Can you cover my class for me, I have an emergency with my son." The other teacher agrees and Louis heads over to the building for the lower school. "Where are you, darling? Are you in class still?"
"Bathroom. By the stairs."
"Okay, be right there." Louis turns toward the stairs and stops outside the boy's bathroom. "I'm here, but I need you to come out to me. I'm a teacher. I'm not allowed in there."
A few moments later the door opens and Zayn comes out, face all blotchy and tear stained.
"Oh honey, what happened?" Louis asks as he envelops Zayn in a hug. Zayn just starts crying harder. Louis rubs his back and shushes him. "You're okay. I'm here. I'm here. I've got you." Zayn starts to calm down and Louis takes the opportunity to ask him again. "Can you tell me what happened that's got you all upset?"
Zayn takes a deep breath before he speaks. "We're doing a project for Mother's Day."
"Oh Zayn..."
"We have to write down all the things we love about our mum and make a card but..." His lips start wobbling as he speaks.
"Your mummy isn't here anymore..."
Zayn nods and looks up a Louis. "We're supposed to present them in front of the class tomorrow... I don't know what to do."
"Shh... It's okay. I'm so sorry Zayn."
"It happens every year... Nobody understands..."
"I know. It's hard not having your mum for Mother's Day."
"I miss her..."
"I know you do. I miss my mum too." They stand in silence for a bit, Louis just rubbing Zayn's back. The school bell signaling the end of the day goes off and kids start to rush out of class. "How about we go talk to your teacher for a little bit."
"Do we have to?" Zayn asks.
"At the very least, we need to grab your things from class."
Zayn nods and they head toward his classroom. When they get there, they see Zayn's teacher at her desk, packing up her things.
"There you are, Zayn! What happened, sweetheart? You were gone nearly the whole class time."
"Pack your things," Louis said to Zayn as he moved toward the teacher to shake her hand. "Hi, I'm Louis Tomlinson. I'm the piano teacher."
"I've seen you at the big faculty meetings. Sorry, we've never officially met before. I tend to hang around the lower school teachers."
"I'm also Zayn's father."
"Oh. I didn't know." She pauses for a bit. "Were you the one who adopted the two little boys?"
"That would be me. My husband and I just recently adopted Zayn as well."
"Oh, how lovely! I..." her eyes go wide as realization hits her and she looks at Zayn. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry. I... I didn't even think! I didn't... Oh God I'm a horrible person. I'm so sorry, Zayn and to your father as well. I just always assign something for Mother's Day, I didn't even consider... I'm so sorry."
"It'll be okay. You didn't know," Louis says.
"It happens every year..." Zayn adds.
"That doesn't make it okay. I really truly am sorry." The teacher takes a deep breath. "You don't have to do the assignment if you don't want to. It's mostly just a participation grade."
"Can I do the project about somebody else?" Zayn asks, surprising Louis.
"Yes, of course. If you want to, but you really don't have to. It's okay," the teacher assures.
"Okay. I'll think about it, then," Zayn says.
"Well, come on," Louis says. "I need to go get my things from my room. Thanks for talking with us."
"No problem at all, and again. I'm really sorry. I'll be more considerate in the future."
"You're forgiven," Zayn says as he exits the classroom.
*********************************
The next day, Zayn comes into class and pulls out his project like the rest of his classmates.
"Hello everyone! Last class of the day. You're almost done. I think we're going to start with presentations and depending on how long that takes, we'll see if we have time for anything else. Okay? Does everyone have their projects?" She glances over at Zayn and he nods. "Great. Let's get started. Any volunteers?" Nobody makes eye contact. Apparently the floor suddenly became very interesting. "Am I going to have to call on people?" One brave student raises their hand. "Okay. Zayn, you're up."
Zayn nervously stands up from his seat and makes his way to the front of the room. He glances at his teacher and she gives him a reassuring smile.
"Whenever you're ready," she says.
Zayn takes a deep breath and begins.
"My mum passed away when I was little. My dad as well, actually." A couple murmurs flitter around the classroom before the teacher gives a stern look. "I decided to do my project on Miss Carrie, who is one of the people who took care of me while I was living at an orphanage. She took care of all of us there." He picks up his purple card to show his illustrations. "Her office was her favorite color, purple. She always had bright yellow flowers. She's the reason I can recognize practically every song from every animated Disney movie ever made." The class laughs a little at that. "I love Carrie because she taught me that I was worthy of being loved. She taught me how to care for others when I wanted to crawl up into a ball and hide from the world. She taught me that every child deserves a family. And most of all, she never let me give up hope. And now I've been adopted by two of the most amazing people I've ever met, my Papa, Louis, who is the piano teacher here at school, and my Dad, Liam, who is an amazing children's book author. And I have two little brothers, who came from the same place I did. She's not my mother and she will never replace my mother, but for the longest time, she was the closest thing I had and I will always be grateful for her."
The whole class applauds. The teacher has a few tears in her eyes. "That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing." Zayn smiles at her and goes back to his seat. "Do we have another volunteer?"
"That was really brave of you to share that," Izzy says when Zayn sits back down.
"Thanks," he replies.
"I can't imagine it was easy. I didn't know your mother had passed."
"Most people don't."
"Well, I'm glad I do now. I'm sorry about yesterday," Izzy says. "It must have been annoying to listen to me go on about my mum."
"It's okay." Zayn looks to the front of the room to watch the next person present their project. He glances down at his card and smiles.
Maybe mother's day won't be so difficult this year. And maybe Miss Carrie will be receiving a beautiful bouquet of yellow flowers with a beautifully illustrated card.
*************************
*Author's Note*
Two chapters? In the same day? That never happens!!
Anyway, do you ever think of that scene from Rugrats in Paris where they do a special dance for the moms and the kids and Chuckie is standing off to the side all by himself because he doesn't have a mommy and then cry?! Because that's the same thing I was feeling when I wrote this. Nobody can ever replace your mother, but I believe that Mother's Day is for all the motherly figures in your life, whether that's your mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, friend, or anybody else. I know mother's day in the UK is technically over, but I'm not there right now and it's not midnight yet here. So Happy Mother's Day to all the mother figures that have ever been in your life. They've all helped shape us into the people we are now.
Hope you all enjoyed this one! As always, please feel free to leave me comments! Also, feel free to make suggestions. I can't guarantee I'll use them, but I'll try to find some way to fit them in.
Happy Reading!