Right after I met Dr. Ava Dara, the stunning woman who stitched up my arm, I went to Angel's and met Momma and Dad and in the private lounge behind the kitchen. I told them about Ava and Momma was insistent that I was going to get this girl. I wasn't sure if I'd ever be enough for a woman so smart, so strong and so gorgeous, but I'd definitely try.

I knew I wasn't much. But I'd do whatever it took to show Ava that I might be worth it. I would show her my loyalty and make sure she knew I was only interested in a lifelong relationship and nothing more. If she didn't want that then I suppose she wasn't the one.

That night, I couldn't sleep from the pain in my arm, so I called Rico and he brought me some pain medication and told me to take the next day off. So I sat awake for the next few hours, sending an email about the day off that I needed, and then I wrote a detailed lesson plan.

I hated taking days off, it felt wrong to leave my amazing students with a random teacher who didn't know them like I did. Especially, poor little Lily. I knew she would have a hard time with another teacher, but I didn't expect what I saw when I got there.

I saw a very upset Lily. She was crying when she walked into the classroom and then she saw me and she frowned, walking over to her cubby and putting her things there. She was very upset with me.

"Hey, Lily." I said softly, going over to her and handing her a bigger book than she usually read.

She refused to take the book from me, not even looking me in the eye.

"Are you upset with me?" I asked her.

She nodded and turned to go to her desk with her favourite book in her hands.

"Hey. Don't walk away, Lily. Talk to me." I said to her.

She turned to me and frowned, tears streaming down her face.

"Why are you so mad at me?" I asked her.

"You left." She said softly.

"I didn't leave. I just had to skip one day... did something happen?" I asked her.

She nodded and went to sit down.

I decided to let her go have her time alone, she really didn't want to talk to me at the moment.

"Alright everyone... how was your day yesterday?" I asked.

They all groaned. Apparently, it was really bad.

"What happened?" I asked them.

"The teacher was mean. She didn't give us talking circle time and we didn't get to read stories or anything. She made us do boring worksheets." Riley groaned.

"Why? I told her you guys should have your story time in the morning." I said, looking over at Lily to see her with her head in her arms.

"Lily ruined it! She wouldn't come sit with us and the teacher got angry." Michael said.

"Yeah. Lily wouldn't listen and then none of us got to do anything fun." Mackenzie complained.

Lily got up and she ran off, out of the classroom.

"Lily. Come back here, Sweetheart!" I called out.

It was my fault. I should've written notes about Lily to the teacher replacing me. That way Lily would've been left alone and the rest of them would've gotten their fun.

Lily didn't listen. But I turned to the rest of the class.

"I'm very disappointed in you guys. You know Lily likes to just sit back and read, and you know that she's allowed to do that. Why did all of you turn on her?" I asked them.

"I told the teacher, but she wouldn't listen." Riley explained.

"Alright. Well, next time, I don't want to hear you guys blaming each other for anything. Some of us are different. We learn in different ways and we need time alone. So why did you all turn on Lily and make her feel bad?" I asked.

"It wasn't fair." Landon said with a sigh.

"I know. But it wasn't Lily's fault. It was my fault for not telling the teacher to leave her alone." I sighed.

"Who's going to help set up a little apology breakfast for Lily and draw her a little picture to say sorry for blaming her?" I asked.

A bunch of little hands shot up into the air and they all yelled that they wanted to help.

"Perfect. How about all of you set something nice up? No fighting, no leaving the classroom... I trust you guys, if you do a good job, I'll let us do something extra fun today... I need to go find Lily though and you need to listen and stay here." I told them.

"Ok, Mr. M!" They all chanted.

I smiled and nodded.

"Get to work then." I said, leaving the room in search of Lily.

I was quick to find her. I found her sitting outside on the steps in front of the school and the principal was watching her.

"There you are, Mr. Morelli." The principal said.

"Could you go keep an eye on my class?" I asked the principal.

"Sure thing. This little one needs some attention, I see." The principal, Mrs. Ford, sighed.

I nodded with a smile and she walked off to go watch the kids for me.

I sat down beside Lily and I brushed her long hair away from her face.

"They didn't mean what they said." I told her, seeing her shake a little as she cried.

"They did. It was my fault." She cried.

"No. It was mine." I told her.

She shook her head and I lifted it, making her look up at me.

"It was my fault. I should've told the teacher to leave you alone." I said.

She nodded and then she looked at me, examining me. She seemed to be trying to find a reason for my absence.

"I wasn't here because I got hurt." I told her.

She gasped and she climbed into my lap, looking for a scratch or a bruise somewhere.

"I'm ok." I said to her.

She shook her head and I smiled.

"I'm ok, I just have a big bandage." I said to her.

"Where?" She asked.

"On my arm." I said.

"Let me see." She insisted.

She reminded me of Momma. She was very fussy about this injury.

I rolled up my sleeve ad she gasped, starting to sob.

"Hey. Don't cry. It doesn't hurt anymore." I said to her.

"Don't leave again." She said.

"Listen. If I ever need to take a day off, I'll make sure the teacher gives you a special assignment. You can sit and read and write some notes for me. Ok?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"Now, how about we go back to the class and you can read that book I picked for you?" I asked her.

"I don't want to." She said.

"You have to go back. We can get you some breakfast like usual." I said to her.

She nodded her head.

"Alright. Let's go." I said to her, taking her little hand and letting her drag me to the classroom.

She was still a little upset with me, holding a little grudge for the rest of the day. I saw her little smile when she walked into the classroom to find her desk full of a beautiful breakfast and a few drawings here and there.

"Look... I think they're sorry." I said to her.

She ran behind my leg and hid from them, clinging to my pants.

"Thank you." She said softly, but everyone caught it and they started apologizing. I watched her start to get uncomfortable with all the attention. So I interrupted them.

"Alright everyone. Time to gather in the talking circle." I said, kneeling so I could talk to Lily.

"Hey, Lily... why don't you go get your breakfast and look at those drawings, then.... I'd like you to come join us in the talking circle. I'll just read a story to everyone and you don't have to talk." I told her.

"I don't wanna." She said.

"Alright. You don't have to. You can just take the book I got you from my desk and you can go sit at your desk and read." I told her.

She nodded and ran off to her desk, getting some breakfast. Then once she was done, she started glancing over at us while I just let them ask me questions about anything. Eventually, she got up and she walked over to me, handing me a book and moving my arm so she could sit in my lap.

I finished answering the question I had been asked and then I smiled down at her.

"Who wants to hear this story?" I asked.

They all cheered and then settled down. Lily sat happily in my lap and read along with me. I didn't know much about Lily's life outside of school. But the poor kid was always hungry and always ate from the food I offered them in the morning, and at lunch and even recently during the after school program.

And now, while I was reading the story, she stopped reading along and rested her head against my chest. Before I knew it, she was asleep. I didn't want to move her or wake her. She had been through a lot that day for her four year old self. She was one of the younger kids.

After I finished reading everyone the story. I carried Lily over to my chair and put her down, covering her with my hoodie.

For the next hour she slept in my chair. I didn't notice her consciousness until I saw the chair spinning behind my desk. She was so short that I couldn't even see her and she had lowered the chair as close to the ground as she possibly could.

I walked over to her and I stopped the chair, looking down at her in amusement.

She was now wearing my hoodie and giggling at me. She put the strings of my hoodie between her upper lip and her nose and giggled.

"Hello, Lily... I'm Mr. M. Why are you spinning in my chair?" She said in the deepest voice she could muster, and she giggled wildly.

I chuckled and knelt down.

"That's a great question." I laughed.

She smiled and she grabbed the book I left on my desk for her.

"Time to go back to your desk." I said to her.

"No... you did dangerous stuff, hurt yourself and you even didn't come to school. So I'm taking over." She said, still amused with herself.

"Hm... is my punishment going to be a stolen desk?" I asked.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"I guess I deserve it, just this once." I chuckled, letting her stay there.

I went through a math lesson and then gave Lily a little worksheet since she wouldn't participate.

"This is your work for today." I said to her.

She frowned at the worksheet and she moved it aside, going back to her reading.

"You have to do it, Lily. I want that worksheet finished by the end of class." I said to her.

She frowned and pouted. She didn't want to do math, she just wanted to read.

The end of class came and she hadn't finished the worksheet. But I noticed that she was trying near the end of the day.

I watched her get frustrated and upset. I walked over to her and I knelt down beside her.

"Hey, Lily." I said.

She frowned at me and she grabbed the worksheet, crumpling it up and going to the garbage, throwing it out.

I couldn't help but be amused by how cute she was. But she was going to do that worksheet no matter how much she hated it. She still had my sweater on and it was like a full length dress with a train at the back. She walked back to the desk and struggled to climb onto my chair again.

As soon as everyone was dismissed, it was only her left in my room. I lifted her off my chair and I set her down on the ground.

"Lily. This worksheet is going to be done. You have to learn this stuff. If you have questions or you need help, just ask me." I said to her, handing her another copy of the worksheet.

She frowned and crossed her arms, having her in my sweater just made it all more hilarious. She grabbed her backpack and my book and marched out of the room. I chuckled and followed behind her.

She sat down at one of the large round tables and she started looking down at the worksheet.

Another kid came over and started asking me for something, so I got distracted. And Lily didn't ask for help when she needed it, she just ran off when she got upset. I didn't know about it until a colleague came to me and asked me to go see if I could get her to come back. I walked outside on the steps and saw her in tears.

"Lily!" I said, shocked to see her crying.

"I don't like math!" She said angrily.

"Me neither, sweetheart." I said softly. "But it's important to know how to do it."

"Help me?" She asked.

"Yes. Come inside, and we can do the worksheet together." I bargained.

She took my hand and let me lead her inside. I helped her do the work and discovered that she was actually very smart. Addition was a piece of cake, but subtraction was a struggle. It took a lot of encouragement and praise to get her through those twenty questions and then she went back to reading.

When it was time to go home, she took my sweater off and she handed my book to me.

"Keep the book. You haven't finished it yet, right?" I asked her.

"Keep it for me... I'll finish tomorrow." She said.

"Alright. It'll be on my desk." I said to her.

She nodded and she went off to meet whoever was taking her home. She was a cute kid, I just wished I could understand what made her so reluctant to trust people. She definitely preferred being alone.

But when I interacted with her, I noticed how strong she was. It reminded me of a certain doctor that I couldn't wait to visit today. I would take her some lunch and see if she was more interested in me today then she was when I had an open wound and acted like an absolute idiot. Hopefully this time I would have better luck.