Chapter 11
~Dane~
Zion and I finished the first part of the whole marriage project and honestly, I was a bit worried to see what the next part of the project was going to be. Mrs. Wizzle had said that the assignments weren't just going to be research and papers and presentations. They were going to get interesting.
Sure, I liked school but how could this class get interesting?
We soon found out the moment family studies class started and Mrs. Wizzle told us what we were going to be doing today. "I was glad to see that all of your assignments were handed in on time. Now, for the next assignment, you'll be working on it for today, tomorrow, and you'll be ending it on Friday. It is where you'll be taking care of a baby."
Zion raised his hand almost immediately and even though he didn't ask his question, Mrs. Wizzle seemed to know what Zion was going to ask.
"No, Zion," Mrs. Wizzle said. "Not a real baby. A fake baby. I don't think I'm legally allowed to make you watch a real baby."
Zion nodded and lowered his hands. Did he actually think that we were going to have to take care of a real baby?
Mrs. Wizzle began explaining how taking care of the fake baby was going to work. Whenever it started crying, we had to scan its back with a bracelet we were given to register that we were trying to take care of it. After we heard a beep from scanning it, we had to figure out how to get it to stop crying.
Seemed simple enough, except for the fact that we were high school students, and the babies would probably end up crying in the middle of the night.
I didn't know what it was like quite yet, but just thinking about it was already making me have the respect for any parents who still attended school.
Not too many people seemed happy with the fact that we were going to have to take care of fake babies. I, honestly, wasn't too mad about it. I knew being partnered with Zion was going to make it interesting.
Unless we were both scheduled to work one of the days we were watching the baby. Zion wasn't the best at multitasking, especially because he was constantly trying to get fired.
Okay, maybe it wouldn't be good to be partnered with Zion.
Mrs. Wizzle told us it was going to take a while to get the fake babies set up for everyone, so she told us we could just do whatever we wanted as long as it wasn't disruptive. Part of me wanted to nap, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to with Zion sitting beside me.
Mainly because as soon as I rested my head on my desk, Zion tapped my shoulder. "Psst," he said. "Dane. I have something important to ask you."
I lifted my head to look at him. "What?"
"I don't know," Zion said. "I just want you to pay attention to me."
"Don't I always pay attention to you whenever we're together?" I asked.
"Yes, but it's clearly not enough," Zion said. "I crave attention."
"I can see that. You once called me in the middle of the night because you were bored."
"Okay, but in my defence, you were awake so it wasn't like I woke up you or anything."
"Fair enough."
Soon enough, Mrs. Wizzle called me and Zion over to her desk so she could set us up with one of the fake babies. We got up from the desk and walked over, seeing a bunch of the babies lying on the table beside her desk.
Zion immediately noticed the babies as well. "Creepy."
"Would it be creepier if they were real babies like you thought we were going to take care of?" I asked.
"Hey, that was a reasonable question," Zion said.
"No, it really wasn't," Mrs. Wizzle said. "So would you two like to raise a boy or a girl?"
"I'm fine with either," Zion said, and I agreed so Mrs. Wizzle chose a girl for us.
As she was setting the baby up, I asked, "Are the babies soda proof? Or nacho cheese proof?"
Mrs. Wizzle furrowed her eyebrows. "That's such an odd question to ask. Why?"
"Zion and I work together at the movie theatre and we're usually put on the same shift since I'm the only one who can put up with Zion's antics," I said. "And by antics, I mean that he's constantly flooding the concession stand with pop, nacho choose, and popcorn."
"Well, I can confirm that babies are not soda proof," Mrs. Wizzle said. "But I am able to register times for the baby to be turned off if you two are both unable to watch the baby due to certain circumstances, I'll turn it off. But I have to approve of it. It can't just be because you don't feel like watching it, and I do have to know right now."
Zion sighed. "So I'm guessing naps don't count?"
"No, Zion, naps don't count," Mrs. Wizzle said. "Work, however, does so if you two are both working together today or tomorrow, I can turn off the baby."
"We're both working tonight from five to nine," Zion said.
Okay, so maybe it wasn't a bad thing that I had to raise a fake baby with Zion now that Mrs. Wizzle was able to turn off the baby at certain times. We could now just focus on work and not worry about getting soda and cheese on the baby.
Once the baby was all set up, Mrs. Wizzle gave us the diaper bag that came with the baby, telling us everything that was in there. She also said the babies weren't going to turn on until this class officially ended.
Zion and I went back to our seats with the diaper bag and our newborn daughter. As soon as we sat down, Zion said, "So you know how you told me to write a song, it should be about how you feel for something?"
"Yeah, why?" I asked.
"Well, I am feeling an awful lot of love for daughter, Malaya," Zion said. "So I say we should write a song about her."
"She hasn't even been activated yet and you're already attached to her?" I asked.
"Activated?" Zion repeated. "You make it sound like she's a robot."
"I mean, she technically is," I said.
"Harsh," Zion said before holding the doll closer to him. "Don't worry, Malaya. Daddy Zion still loves you."
"She's still not activated."
"Whatever," Zion said. "So since she will be, as you say, activated in the middle of the night, want to spend the night at my house. It would be a lot easier for us to take care of her together then to take turns."
"Yeah, sure," I said. "It would give me an excuse to get out of my home, anyway."
I didn't mean for the last part to come out, but after all the stress I have been through the past couple days, it was going to happen sooner or later.
"Is everything okay there?" Zion asked.
I sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, everything's fine. It's just... complicated."
"Okay," Zion said, not questioning it anymore, which I was really thankful for. I knew if he did continue, it wouldn't be because he was trying to be intrusive or anything. He would have just been wanting to make sure I was okay.
Which was why I continued anyway, despite Zion not asking me to.
"My parents found out that I quit writing for Carrie," I said. "They weren't mad or anything, but I could tell they were disappointed."
"Why disappointed?" Zion asked. "It's not like you completely quit songwriting."
"That's not why they were disappointed," I said. "When my mom moved from the Philippines to here, Carrie's mom was the first person she became friends with. They became best friends, and a lot of best friends always dream of getting pregnant at the same time and their kids getting married. So when my mom found out she was pregnant with a boy and Carrie's mom was pregnant with a girl, they were happy. They always thought Carrie and I would get married but... I'm gay, so we can't. My parents never outright said they don't support me or anything. They say they still love me but... My mom still talks to Carrie's mom about us getting married."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Zion said. "If it's any consolation, I told my dad I'm pansexual and he asked me if that meant I'm attracted to pans."
"That isn't really any consolation because I'm not upset or anything," I said. "But your dad sounds like someone who has an endless amount of dad jokes."
"Oh, you don't even know the half of it," Zion said. "He tells me I'm adopted, like, all the time."
"Aren't you, though?" I asked.
"Yes, but he also does it to my sister who wasn't adopted," Zion said. "So if I wasn't, he definitely would still do it to me." He suddenly gasped. "What if he tells my daughter she's adopted?"
"She's fake. And would probably be adopted if you and I ever get married."
"If?" Zion asked. "Awe, you want to get married?"
"What?" I asked. "N-no. I didn't mean it like that. I'm just... using us as an example because we're, you know, fake married with a fake daughter."
"Oh, right," Zion said. "Sure. Totally."
"I'm serious," I said.
"I never said you weren't," Zion said, giving me a cheeky smile.
He was so annoying.
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this project brings back memories of me having to take care of one of the fake babies WHO KEPT CRYING EVERY SINGLE HOUR AT NIGHT TO BE FED, THEN BURPED, THEN CHANGED SO I LEGIT GOT NO SLEEP.
and then he cried twice at school and then slept the whole time. honestly big mood, though. i taught him so well.
at least i got 100 on it lol. my experience with 7 siblings helped lol, especially because i'm the designated babysitter. even when my older sisters lived at home, i was still the babysitter oof
anyway stan zion and dane. i love their friendship so much.