First Day - 2026
She wasn’t ready for this. So many things could go wrong. What if there was an emergency? What if somehow there was an emergency and nobody could get in contact with her? What if… she just had a bad day? How was Jezebel supposed to get through the day without wondering how her little girl was doing on her first day of school? There were a thousand things that could happen while Jezebel wasn’t with her. Sure, Jezebel had been away from her daughter before, with family, a friend, or even a nanny watching over her, but school was different. A bad day and Laurel could never want to go to school again, or couldn’t make any friends. Laurel could get sick being around the other kids, or she could have an asthma attack at school and the teachers might not know what to do, or someone could try to take her from school.
Was Laurel even ready to start school? Fine, she was 6 years old, she was supposed to be in school now, but that didn’t mean Jezebel was necessarily ready. Laurel was a big girl going to kindergarten, but she was still a baby in Jezebel’s eyes. Jezebel was already missing her as she hugged Laurel goodbye when she brought her to school that morning. Even Jezebel knew she wasn’t ready to see her little girl start growing up.
For most of the day, she kept checking her phone every couple of minutes, looking to see if the school had called her to say something was wrong, and to see if it was time to pick up Laurel yet. She had zero focus on anything else, she just wanted to be able to know her daughter was fine and having a good day. At one point, Dan tried convincing her that Laurel would be just fine, that there was no reason to worry, after all it was the best school, and everyone who would be at the school had already been background checked thoroughly, but Jezebel turned it back around to him, pointing out how he’ll understand next year, when it was time for VC’s first day of school.
It was a very long day for Jezebel. A few hours seemed like an eternity, but it was all worth it when she saw the smile on Laurel’s face. Jezebel got down on her knees to be at her level, and pulled her daughter tight into her arms.
“I missed you so much. Did you have fun today?” she asked as she picked Laurel up. “Yeah it was realllllly fun! We made finger paintings!”
“You did? Wow, you’ll have to tell me all about it, while we go eat some ice cream. How does that sound?”
“Yay ice cream!”
“Alright, let’s go get some ice cream, and you can tell me all about your day.” Jezebel said, giving her little girl every bit of her attention, letting Laurel have what Jezebel wanted so much at that age, her mother’s love and attention. Seeing her daughter happy, spending time with her after school, was exactly what Jezebel needed, and Laurel’s second day of school would be a little easier on Jezebel.
@benitz786 - Dan mentioned