I Became a Kindergarten Teacher for Monster Babies!

Pyrra, his mother, stood in the doorway with her hands firmly on her hips, her long auburn hair flowing behind her like fire, and her golden brown eyes narrowing dangerously. "Then what," she said, her voice dangerously calm, "were you doing rolling around on the floor like a turtle stranded on its shell?"

Drake sat cross-legged right where he was, still on the floor, his cheeks puffing out. "Well, you see, I was sooo tired, Mom! I wanted to sleep on the bed, but somehow—hehehehe—my body rolled on the floor instead!" He gave a big fake laugh, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh?" Pyrra raised one brow, her eyes narrowing even further.

Drake froze. Wrong answer. Very wrong answer.

Desperate to change the subject, he blurted out quickly, "Ahhh Mom! By the way, I'm invited to my friend's birthday tomorrow, so I might be a little late, okay? Okay??"

Pyrra's eyes widened. "Friend's birthday? And since when do you keep secrets from your own mother?"

Drake waved his hands dramatically and flopped backward on the floor. "Gooo, Mom!!!" he whined, his voice pitiful. "I'm a big boy now! I need some privacy! You can't always watch me!!"

That… was the wrongest move of all.

His dragon mama's patience snapped. She stomped closer, her eyes glowing with fiery irritation. "Big boy, you say? Hah!! Let me remind you who laid the egg you hatched from!" She scooped him up like a sack of potatoes, ignoring his squeaks and kicks.

"Mommmmm nooooo!!" Drake squealed helplessly.

"Oh yes!!!" Pyrra declared, marching toward the bathroom. "Big boys still need baths when they roll in dust like little worms! Do you even know how much I suffered carrying that egg? Do you know how many nights I stayed awake keeping you warm??"

"Moooom!!" Drake cried, wriggling as she plopped him straight into warm water with a splash. His chubby dragon tail flicked, sending droplets everywhere. "Stoppp! I'm clean already!!"

"You call this clean? Hmph!!" Pyrra muttered, scrubbing his hair mercilessly while Drake curled like a scared kitten in the tub.

And while his mother continued her endless bath lecture about eggs, sleepless nights, and ungrateful dragon children, poor Drake's only thought was—

Privacy is the hardest treasure to keep.

****

Meanwhile, Boo drifted through the long hallway of his ghost council tower, his little face scrunched in annoyance. Everything around him was so terribly white—white walls, white floors, white ceilings. It was no wonder he liked the colorful kindergarten so much more! At least there he could play and laugh, instead of floating here all alone with stingy old ghosts.

"What are you doing, Boo?" one of the elder ghosts asked as he passed by, his enormous face looming in a way that made him look even spookier.

"Boo is just playing around! Just ignore me!" Boo huffed, waving his hands in annoyance as he floated away, his eyes searching the hall for anything Lucien might like.

He soon wandered into the main hall, only to find more of the same—endless, empty whiteness. With a heavy sigh, he drifted back to his room, his little form drooping. He had nothing, nothing at all, to give Lucien. His eyes misted as sadness welled up, and he curled into himself, wishing the world wasn't so empty.

He felt restless after lying on his little cloud-pillow—everyone was bringing something shiny or special for Lucien, and Boo couldn't possibly go empty-handed. The thought made his round ghostly face scrunch up in horror. "Nooo, if Boo comes with nothing, Boo will look like silly ghost!!" he muttered to himself dramatically.

His eyes darted toward the tiny round window of his room. The fog outside curled thick and white, wrapping the whole ghost realm in bone-chilling silence. Perfectly spooky. Boo wiggled his little puff of a body through the window and floated out.

"Brrr~ cold, but Boo is brave!!" he whispered, spinning once in the air for courage.

The ground was carpeted with luminescent flowers that glowed faintly, their petals sparkling as though brushed with frost, thriving even without sunlight.

Boo gasped, floating closer. "Ohhh so pretty! Boo's perfect gift!!" He plucked one carefully, then another, and soon gathered a tiny armful. His face glowed with pride. "Boo present pretttyyy flowers!!" he declared, twirling in a circle as the petals glittered around him like stardust. He bundled them together into a crooked bouquet, humming to himself.

Still giggling, Boo floated further, curious if he could find more. That's when he spotted him—Mr. Skeleton, clacking along the ground, his bones rattling with every aimless step. His skull wobbled to the side as if he'd walked this way for centuries.

"Mr. Skeleton!!" Boo called, zipping down in front of him. "What are you doing?? Walking like zombie-grandpa without purpose?"

The skeleton slowly turned his hollow eye sockets on Boo, tilted his head, and in a deep echoey rattle replied, "Searching… for my left shin bone. I lost it again."

Boo gasped loudly. "Again?! Mr. Skeleton, you're hopeless!! Boo will glue your bones one day with ghost glue!!"

The skeleton only sighed, a hollow, windy sound, and kept trudging, leaving Boo giggling so hard he spun upside down, his bouquet spinning with him.

"Boo has flowers, Boo has gossip, Boo has everything!! Lucien will looove Boo's present!!" he cheered, twirling until he smacked into a foggy tree trunk with a soft thud.

************

Rocky, meanwhile, was sitting on his little bed, staring down at the wooden box. Inside, neatly arranged, was his precious pebble and stone collection—round ones, shiny ones, striped ones, and even one shaped almost like a heart. He picked up a speckled blue pebble, turned it in his hands, then placed it back and grabbed another. His expression looked more and more troubled.

"Hmmmm…" he muttered to himself in his tiny voice. "Which one is good? Lucien will like shiny pebble? Or smooth pebble? Or pebble that looks like potato?" He tilted his head, holding up a particularly lumpy stone and squinting at it. "Nooo, Lucien will think Rocky is giving him… potato." He quickly tossed it back into the box with a worried frown.

He pulled out another stone, this one glittery under the lamplight, and hugged it to his chest. "This one is special… but… but… if I give this away, i will cry later." His little stone-marked cheeks scrunched, his lips pursing as if he might cry already just at the thought.