Every year on the first day of school, my mother would wake me up early enough to go across the street to Pep’s house to walk to school together. Pep was never on time, and her mornings consisted of her mom yelling her name from the kitchen to hurry up. Pep would come down the stairs looking exhausted; I don’t say anything out loud but know that Pep was up on the computer all night since she never logged off on AIM.
I didn’t think that years later, I’d be the parent yelling our for their kid to hurry up for school.
“Milo,” I called out for the third time. “We’re going to be late!”
“I don’t wanna go,” he said through the bathroom door. I sighed as I looked at my watch. Milo had locked himself in the bathroom about 20 minutes ago, refusing to come out. I was growing anxious knowing that I needed to get to work on time, all while trying to get him to school on time.
“C’mon Milo, it’s gonna be okay,” I tried to reassure him. “This year is going to be so much better than last year.”
“You said that last year!” He shouted back. I might’ve said that to get him out the house on the first day of school last year as well.
“Milo, we have to get going,” I said in a more stern voice. “You got to get to school and I have to get to work–“
“No!”
“Milo!” Before I could say anything else, the doorbell rang. I sighed, walking to answer the door. Pep stood there with Mollie; her smile fades when she looks at me.
“What’s wrong?” Pep asked.
“It’s Milo,” I sighed as I answered. “He locked himself in the bathroom.” Pep and Mollie walked into my apartment, and Mollie immediately pulled out a chair from the kitchen table.
“What’re you doing?” Pep asked her sister.
“I’m not going through this again with him,” she answered back, rolling her eyes. Pep turned around to look at me seeming confused.
“This happened last year,” I started to explain. Pep looked at the bathroom door, slowly walking toward it. “Pep–“
“Hey Milo,” Pep began to say through the door. “It’s Peppie.” Peppie. “Mollie’s here; we gotta get ready to go to school.”
“I don’t wanna go!” Milo shouted out.
“Why not? School is where you get to see all your friends and play outside during recess–” The room went quiet. “Aren’t you excited to see everyone again?” Milo doesn’t answer back. Pep turned around to look at me for assistance. She quickly turned back around to face the door after seeing the worried look on my face. “Hey, Milo?”
“What?”
“Nothing bad is going to happen to you this year,” she began to say. She got closer to the door and began whispering to the point I almost didn’t hear what she was saying. “I know it may seem like things will be the same as last year, but I promise they won’t.”
“You’re just saying that,” Milo responded back.
“I wouldn’t lie to you, Milo,” Pep gently said to the door. Surprisingly, the bathroom door cracks open, and just a portion of Milo’s face is shown. Pep smiled at him, still on her knees on his level. “I pinky promise.” She points out her pinky towards the open crack of the door. Milo slowly reaches out and intertwined his pinky with hers. I couldn’t help but smile.
Pep slowly opened the bathroom door more, revealing Milo and his backpack sitting in the ground.
“Plus, you’ll have Mollie in your class this year,” Pep continued to say, which prompted Mollie to finally look up at us. “You’re going to the fourth grade with a guaranteed friend already; most kids don’t have that on the first day of school.” This made Milo smile. She really knew what exactly to say to him.
By the time we dropped off Milo and Mollie off at school, Pep and I were running down the street, hoping to catch the bus that was only just a few stops away. Pep ran much faster than I did, which I was grateful for considering she had held the bus for me until I got there. We both entered the bus, sitting in two vacant seats toward the back. Pep looked over at me, out of breath, with a smile.
…
Milo’s demeanor was completely different than this morning by the time I picked him and Mollie up from school. He had a huge smile leaving his school building, clearly in a very in depth conversation with Mollie.
“Oliver flipped the bottle more times than Henry did,” I overheard Mollie say. “He literally did it three times in a row—”
“But Henry got it in the first try!” Milo debated back. I shake my head as the kids walked ahead of me; man do I wish adult conversations were more like this.
“Dad,” Milo said as he turned around.
“What’s up, bud?” I answered back.
“Can Mollie come over to our house for dinner?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed as I answered, not really wanting to have to look after two kids after my long day at work.
“Please, dad! Please,” Milo begged until Mollie started to persuade him more.
“We promise we’ll get our homework done fast,” Mollie chimed in. It was uncanny to see just how much of Pep I saw in Mollie. I wonder if Pep’s future children would be like this.
I raised an eyebrow before answering. “I’ll give your sister a call to let your mom know.” The kids hi-fives and continued to walk ahead of me, deep in more kid conversations.
Dinner wasn’t much this night; I insisted on feeding the kids whatever was appealing to them which was chicken nuggets with Mac and cheese. Milo liked when Mollie would stay for dinner; he knew that when she did, I would make the foods that he actually enjoyed.
While the kids hanged out in Milo’s room, I worked from the kitchen table, putting together the lesson plans that were extremely overdue. It wasn’t long after that the doorbell rang, which I automatically knew it was Pep.
I answered the door, smiling at Pep. “You’re here on time.”
“What can I say? I’m a changed woman,” Pep responded, walking into the apartment. Pep always had a comeback comment to say. “Also, my mom went on a date with Alex.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Is it getting serious?” I asked. Alex was Lydia’s boyfriend, which I got to meet a couple of times as I picked Milo up from their house. Mollie seemed to like him when he was around, which was a big deal considering Mollie is Pep’s sister and Pep was never the type to like anyone new in her little circle.
Pep shrugged her shoulders. “She swears it’s not, but I can totally see my mom smitten over him,” she said as as she sat on the couch. I sat in the seat across from her, finally relaxing after a long day. “How was the first day for you?”
“It was okay; your typical introduction type classes and syllabus review,” I answered, leaning back on the couch. “They already have the sheet music to their first song.”
“I would hate to be in your vocal class,” Pep teased, laughing afterwards. “You can’t even give your students a day to settle in and you’re already shoving music in their hands.”
“Of course; it’s Waverly,” I said, looking at Pep now. I didn’t realize just how comfortable she looked being in my apartment. I thought about nights like this; having Pep come over and chill in a space that was genuinely my own. It’s crazy to compare Pep’s first time being in this apartment versus now; it’s like time between us barely had passed, even when so many things have happened in that time.
“Mol, we gotta get going–” As soon as Pep began to get up from her seat, something in me made me get up with her, holding out my arm to her. She looked at me, seeming to be confused.
“They already ate dinner…if you’re…worried about Mol–” I begin to say, feeling embarrassed I even said anything.
“Oh,” Pep replied, not really knowing what else to say. “I—uhm… have you eaten dinner yet?”
“I haven’t,” I began to say. “Having a kids cuisine type of dinner isn’t really dinner for an adult.” Pep laughed, looking at me before she spoke. She was saying nothing, yet everything all at once.
“Well, maybe when it’s not a school night, we could go out for some dinner,” Pep suggested. I looked at her, trying to read in between the lines she was throwing at me. This was a version of Pep I was not used to seeing.
“I have to wait all the way to Friday?” I slightly teased. To my surprise, Pep ruffled my hair with her hands as she giggled. God, I feel like a golden retriever type of man with her.
“Well definitely don’t starve yourself until then,” she wittily said. “Milo can stay with Mollie if you need someone to watch him for the night.”
“I feel bad throwing my kid at your mom to watch,” I playfully said with some truth behind it as well.
“Well don’t,” Pep begins to get up from her seat. “Mars is watching Mollie this Friday.” Some things never change.
