“How about we have a pool party instead?” Sadie suggested, thinking the party could still be salvaged by carrying on with the pool in their backyard.
Michael nodded his agreement, along with the other girls at the picnic table besides Michaela.
“But my friends didn’t bring swimming costumes.” Michaela complained, curling her fingers tighter around Michael’s navy blue shirt.
“Oh, don’t worry, Sweetie. You’ll still have your princess party.” Sadie smiled.
Mike and Michaela took a run to their house to collect a bunch of swim suits for the girls as well as a change of clothes while Jaden dug into his short drawer for swimsuits for the boys. Once all the kids were changed, they were then herded into the backyard, and set free into the aquamarine clear water of the in-ground pool. Under the watchful eye of Jaden and Michaela’s parents, they continued along happily splashing and dunking each other through the shallow end of the water.
“Sadie, how is this still a joint prize party? Seems to me the factions have been formed.” Michael asked, leaning in close to Sadie’s side.
“Hold on a minute, you’ll see.” Sadie smirked before she stuck two fingers between her lips and released a shrill whistle. “Jaden, Drew, c’mere!”
Together, both boys answered to Sadie’s call by presenting themselves before her. “Yeah?” Jaden asked, tilting his head in question.
“Don’t ‘yeah’ me, Buddy. You still need to be punished for your actions from earlier.” Sadie said, placing a hand on each of the boys’ shoulders before turning them to face the direction of the pool.
“Now, y’see it’s a hard job taking care of all these beautiful princesses here. And since your Dad and I are pretty exhausted from cleaning up your earlier mess, we’re going to leave the responsibilities of catering to the princesses up to you. Make some friends Jaden. Maybe the party won’t be so boring then.”
Jaden’s jaw dropped, wanting to refuse whatever it was Sadie was telling him.
“So for the rest of the day, until this party is over, you’re going to play with them. You and Mickey are going to give a presentation of your science fair presentation. There will be cake and applause. But no more pranks. Do I make myself clear?” Sadie chuckled, nudging her elbow against Michael’s.
“Yes ma’am,” Jaden responded solemnly, obviously not enthusiastic about these new developments.
“Sorry about that, Jaden. Talk to you tomorrow?” Drew sighed as he made a motion to turn away from his stationary spot in front of Sadie and Jaden.
Sadie immediately latched on to Drew’s shoulder again and released a quick ‘tsk’ noise, “Nope, I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere anytime soon, Dude.”
“But—“ Drew was quickly cut off by Sadie.
“I don’t think you’d want your mother to find out about your behavior today, young man. From what Jaden’s told me, Mrs. Hames grounded you for an entire week without television and video games last time you threw mud at your brother. I don’t think she’d be very pleased to hear about how you terrorized a bunch of little girls.”
Drew’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
“Now off with ya. Go take care of the royal court.” Sadie shooed the boys away.
Drew and Jaden scampered off to the pool edges, making haste to mingle and be pleasant to everyone.
Seemingly satisfied, Sadie leaned back into the free lounge chair beside Michael and pulled off her shirt to reveal the bikini beneath. It was a hot day for autumn and she wanted to enjoy it. She rolled onto her side, head propped on her elbow and picked up the novel she was reading. Sadie had freckles which were more prominent than ever in the bright yellow sun, floating against the toned honey colored skin of her chest. Sadie could immediately feel Michael eyeballing her.
“Like what you see?” Sadie licked her lips, flicking on her sunglasses to shade her eyes.
“You know you’re beautiful Ms. Alexander.” Michael smiled, extended his free hand to touch Sadie’s free hand.
“Hmm, I thought Pastors weren’t supposed to notice such things.” Sadie winked.
“Hey, I’m still a man yo. And one who grew up in the streets. Appreciation of the female form is a given.” Michael whispered.
“Hmmph” Sadie said feeling her cheeks heat up.
“Don’t worry. I still am a pastor so I won’t jump you however beautiful I might find you” Mike chuckled.
Sadie gave him a sidelong glance and went back to her book.
*****
Sadie glanced up at the knock on the door, and her breath caught in her throat as she saw the man standing outside her classroom, hand still raised toward the doorjamb. She’s gotten pretty good at ignoring the pangs of lust she sometimes felt toward him–after all, he was a parent at her school and an obnoxious asshole as well. Still he could rock the tall broad shouldered adorably awkward smile look to perfection and Sadie was sad that she wasn’t immune to it.
Ms. Alexander?” he asked.
Sadie shook her head slightly to clear her head; drooling at parents was never okay. She got up and gave her best smile. “Hi. How can I help you today Mr. Sanderson?”
Mike smiled, “I would very much like it if you called me Mike for one? But I wanted to have a word about Mickey.”
“Oh, yeah, Michaela. She’s a great kid,” said Sadie automatically. “There isn’t a problem, is there?”
“Oh, no, no,” said Mike. “I actually,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s a really smart kid, right?”
“Yeah,” Sadie agreed. “Very advanced reader, real whiz at math.”
“Yeah. I don’t really–I guess this probably isn’t your job, but I didn’t know who to ask. I don’t really know how to, you know, nourish her at home, I guess. I mean, I give her all the books she wants, we go to the library, like, all the time, but–sorry, I’m rambling.”
Sadie waved her hand. “I don’t mind, and it’s great that you want to help her out. But, honestly, Mr. Sanderson, she’s ten. Let her do what she wants. She’s a kid, she should be playing. I’ve been giving her more advanced stuff than the rest of the class to keep her stimulated, but–she’s not asking you for calculus at home or anything, right?”
Mike laughed. “Not yet, anyway. She likes to read, but she likes Ben10 too. I figured maybe I was a bad dad if I let her watch that instead of making her get started on Shakespeare.”
“She’s a kid, she needs kid time. It’s not all about studying and getting smarter for a ten-year-old. But if she starts asking you about getting more academic work to do at home, you could let me know, I’d be willing to start giving her some homework or something.”
Mike grinned. “Really?”
“Yeah, it’s no problem.”
“I appreciate it. I know I must seem kind of neurotic, but being a single dad, I don’t get anyone to bounce ideas off of or anything, you know? If I fuck her up, it’s all on me.” He flushed adorably. “I guess I shouldn’t say that in here, huh?”