After finishing all of the obligatory new hire work, Sofia followed Ginger's diminutive form down one of the daycare's long hallways. Doors adorned with construction paper suns and beach scenes passed them by as the woman led her along, speaking rapidly the whole while.

  "...To start, we're going to put you in Dragonlings—that's our three-year-olds," she was saying. "They'll be an excellent place to get you started. We could use an extra pair of hands in there, and you'll have a great teacher to show you how things work…"

  "Dragonlings?" Sofia asked. "Why that name?"

  "Oh, it's all about the theme. We have names like that for all the age groups—Egg, Hatchling, Whelp, Wyrmling, Dragonling, and Dragon. The children love it. Anyway…"

  Sofia nodded along. The older woman's short stride wasn't difficult to keep up with, despite her rapid steps. "Who's the teacher?"

  "Oh! Silly me. Miss Ashley is our only Dragonling teacher for the moment."

  Sofia brightened. Yes! Perfect.

  Throughout her long and grueling sessions of paperwork at the daycare, Sofia had ended up coming into contact with a few more of the teachers, if only briefly. However, Ashley still stood out to her as the most affable and friendly.

  Not that the others weren't nice. I'm just glad to be paired up with her.

  They reached a door at the far end of the hallway, its exterior decorated with an underwater ocean scene. Swimming across it was a school of crudely colored fish, each bearing a neatly written name across its edge. Ginger stopped in front of it. "Well. Here we are!"

  With barely a moment's pause, Ginger pushed the door open and stepped inside. Sofia followed, taking in the scene before her.

  A miniaturized classroom greeted them, its walls painted in vibrant blues and whites. Cubbies filled with child-sized backpacks lined one wall, while different play areas filled with colorful toys and books of all kinds ringed the rest of the space. The different areas were sectioned off with neat little shelves, each only a couple of feet tall. Throughout it all were sprinkled a wide variety of ocean-themed decorations—plastic bubbles, construction paper kelp, and crude little fish and crabs made from paper plates.

  Wow. They really go all out with the theming, don't they? Guess I should have expected that, given how the place looks from the outside… And they even tied it into the fairy tale thing, too. I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be a kraken's tentacles painted in the corner up there.

  She turned her attention toward the center of the room. Three tiny tables that didn't even reach her knees occupied the space, each with a handful of gawking children seated at them.

  “Miss Ashley? Do you have a minute?”

  The sleepy-looking hippie woman turned in their direction. "Miss Ginger! Of course. What can I do for you?"

  "Miss Ginger!"

  A high-pitched voice squealed with joy. A little girl with curly brown hair leapt from her chair and darted forward to hug the diminutive director. Another child followed suit, then another until half of the class had gathered around the orange-haired woman for hugs. Considering that Ginger was only a headtaller than most of the kids, Sofia worried that they'd overwhelm her.

  Ginger just laughed. "Goodness! I'm so glad to see you all too!"

  "Miss Ginger, look!" Another girl twirled, showing off her pink princess dress.

  "Oh my, that's a lovely dress, Lina!" Her eyes crinkled. "And is that a dinosaur on your shirt, Rory?”

  The children clamored for the woman's attention until Ashley clapped. "All right, all right. Once you’ve said hello to Miss Ginger, let’s get back in our seats everyone."

  With a bit more cajoling and urging from both Ashley and Ginger, the grinning children returned to the miniature chairs arranged around the tables. Sofia noted the napkins with little fruit-filled granola bars sitting atop them—though a few of the kids had already reduced theirs to little more than crumbs.

  "Good job, everyone." Ashley smiled dreamily from where she stood at the counter. "Now, what can I do for you?"

  "Well," she gestured to Sofia, "I just wanted to come and introduce your new helper. Miss Sofia will be working with you from here on—at least, until Miss Tasha gets back."

  "Oh!" Ashley brightened. "Miss Sofia! I'm so glad. It looks like we will be working together after all!"

  "Oh?" Ginger shot them a questioning look. "Have you two already met?"

  "Briefly, while I was doing paperwork," Sofia explained. "Miss Ashley was one of the first people to introduce themselves."

  Calling the woman "Miss Ashley" felt a little foreign on her tongue. However, it seemed like common practice to refer to the other adults as such when they were around the kids. She figured she might as well follow suit.

  Ashley turned to address the class. "Everyone? This is Miss Sofia. She's going to be a new teacher helping me. Say hello!"

  Sofia turned toward the class of three-year-olds. There were about ten in total, their soft faces gazing up at her. She waved awkwardly. "Er… hello! Nice to meet you all!".

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  One girl waved enthusiastically back. The rest continued to stare at her, blank and silent.

  Well… that's a promising start.

  She let her hand fall back to her side, glancing between the other women for support. Her face flushed red as she realized they were trying to suppress laughter.

  Great. My first day and I'm already getting embarrassed by the kids… At least they're laughing about it and not taking it as some sort of ill omen.

  "Well, I'll leave you both to it," Ginger said, chuckling slightly. "I must be getting back to the front—payroll won't do itself, no matter how much I ask it to… Goodbye, everyone!"

  "Bye, Miss Ginger!"

  The kids chorused their goodbyes as though they hadn't been dead silent only moments before. A few even scurried out of their seats to steal one more quick hug from the old woman before she disappeared back into the hall. As the door clicked shut once more, Ashley turned toward Sofia with a smile.

  "So… while everyone's eating, let me show you some of the basics. Then, when we go to group time, we'll have everyone introduce themselves. How does that sound?"

  Sofia shrugged helplessly. "Honestly? Whatever you think is best. You're the teacher, here."

  Ashley giggled softly. "Oh, don't be so uncertain. As of today, you are too!"

  With that, the hippie woman began her crash-course in all things daycare. Sofia listened intently, nodding along as she explained the daily schedule, lesson plans, key locations, and a whole host of other minutiae that she desperately hoped she'd actually remember. It was an absolute deluge of information.

  Geez. And I thought remembering all of the handbook stuff would be a lot… At this rate, I might have to start taking notes.

  "...And this tablet here is where we log things like meals and naps for the parents. I've already put in breakfast, as you can see here… Oh! Would you like seconds, Rory?"

  Sofia looked over to see the round-faced boy with a dinosaur shirt raising his hand. He nodded vigorously, his mouth stuffed full of granola and fruit puree.

  "All right—good job raising your hand, buddy!"

  Ashley set the tablet down and donned a disposable glove, then plucked another bar from the tray on the counter. A couple of gliding steps brought her to the boy's side.

  "What do you say?" She prodded, depositing the bar on his napkin.

  "Fen goo." A torrent of crumbs spilled from his mouth.

  Ashley patted him affectionately on the head, her wooden earrings swaying as she straightened. "You're very welcome."

  "More, please!"

  The boy crammed the food in his still-full mouth as Ashley turned around, scanning the room. "Hmm…. I don't see any hands raised… ah!" She smiled as one of the girls' arms shot into the air. "Wonderful, Clea! Would you like more?"

  The little girl beamed. "Yes, please!"

  Ashley turned toward the counter. "Miss Sofia, would you mind getting another bar for Clea?"

  "Oh! Sure!"

  Just like that, her first day of work began in earnest. Sofia helped Ashley see to the children, handing out seconds as requested and soaking up whatever information Ashley could teach her during downtime. When the kids finished, each one hopped up to throw away their trash, then sat back down.

  Sofia watched on with amazement. Wow. This is… pretty calm, actually. I really thought that it would be more chaotic than this.

  It didn't take long for the last child to finish her food. Ashley had everyone neatly stack their chairs and gather on a colorful alphabet rug. They sat facing their teacher, who settled herself into a cross-legged position against the ocean background of the wall.

  Rather than sitting next to the dreamy woman, Sofia opted to sit behind the line of children. She wasn't quite ready to leap into any kind of leadership position yet—not even close. And besides, Ashley had suggested she prioritize watching for the moment.

  As they settled onto the carpet, one of the little girls—the one who had waved at her earlier—scooted hurriedly toward Sofia. Sofia smiled at her and received a broad grin in return. Then, without so much as a word, the girl crawled into her lap.

  Sofia blinked uncertainly, shooting Ashley a silent plea for advice. The other woman just nodded encouragingly.

  Well… ok, then. Guess I'm here now? At least one of them likes me.

  After a brief moment of awkwardly figuring out what to do with her hands—she ended up setting them on the ground behind her and leaning back slightly—Ashley began to speak.

  "All right, everyone," she began, clapping her hands together to draw the children's attention. "Since we have a new teacher joining us today, why don't we all go around and introduce ourselves? Let's take turns, starting riiight… here!"

  Ashley pointed to the girl with the pink dress, who sat on the leftmost side of the rug. The girl wiggled happily, her blond ponytail swaying.

  "Tell Miss Sofia your name," Ashley prodded her with a smile. "And your favorite animal."

  "Lina," the girl said shyly. "I like horsies."

  "Good job!" Ashley praised the girl before moving down the line. "Now it's Toby's turn! Name and favorite animal."

  "Todd!" A fidgety boy who practically vibrated with energy proclaimed. "I'm three!"

  Sofia nodded with amusement at the boy, who was rather proudly holding up two fingers for her to see.

  "...And what's your favorite animal?" Ashley reminded him.

  "Uhm… Sharks!"

  They went around the class like that, with each child introducing themselves in turn. In the process, she learned that the girl with the round face and dimples was named Kitara and that Rory—as his shirt suggested—really liked dinosaurs.

  "This is Penny," Ashley explained when it came time for the girl on her lap to introduce herself. "Penny? Do you want to tell Miss Sofia your favorite animal?"

  The girl shook her head shyly. After a bit more coaxing, Ashley managed to get her to nod at the suggestion that cats were her favorite. But that was as much as she managed.

  Sofia tried to commit the names to memory, but already knew she'd need reminders. Thankfully, their cubbies were labeled with little nametags and pictures for each kid. She suspected she'd be referencing those quite a bit.

  "Wonderful," Ashley praised them once they'd finished. "Now, it's time to talk about the date! Who's my Calendar Helper today?"

  Todd leaped up from his seat, darting to Ashley's side as she handed him a short pointer stick. She turned to indicate a large calendar hanging on the wall, helping him point to the month. "Does anyone know what month it is?"

  "May!"

  "July!"

  "Summer!"

  As the children excitedly blurted out answers, Sofia watched on in amusement. They certainly weren't lacking in enthusiasm, even if their accuracy left something to be desired.

  She looked down at the girl calmly sitting in her lap and patted her head. Maybe this will be easier than I thought.