by R. J. Ross
Cubby nods, but doesn’t look very appeased with that answer. Instead he glances over at Robo, who’s tapping away on the table with a look of extreme concentration. A second later a hologram comes up, showing a mechanical rocking horse that’s rapidly becoming more detailed. The next moment a wall lights up and Hana heads over with a notebook and pencil in her hand.
Cubby looks down, again, looking depressed. He glances over at Evie after a moment, and is a bit stunned to see her already getting together colored paper, scissors and glue. In fact, he realizes a second later, he’s the only one NOT doing anything, yet.
“You take your time,” Nico says to him. “And go look through the stuff I brought, okay?” He nods, seriously, and Nico stands.
“The entire day?” Ashlynn asks.
“The entire day,” Nico agrees. “Don’t worry, it won’t set them back. Think of it as a way to put everything they’ve learned into practice.”
“What I’m worried about is…” she hesitates, looking over at the kids. “Some of them are… further advanced than others in artistic pursuits,” she whispers, trying to put it gently.
“Mmm… Evie doesn’t seem to mind, she’s working hard, and trust me, Summer will love whatever she makes,” Nico says quietly, smiling as he watches the girl.
“Evie loves art, but it wasn’t her I was talking about,” Ashlynn whispers, looking at Cubby, who’s staring at his hands, and kicking his feet idly. “Evie is too young to compare herself to the others.”
He looks at her, surprised. Then he, quite rudely, laughs. “All the things they need are in that room over there,” he says, motioning to it. “Just make sure he checks it out.” He says that to her, but Cubby jerks, looking at the door he motioned to and heading for it.
“Are you sure that’s the right reaction to—”
“None of the kids in this class are lacking, Ms. Ashlynn,” Nico says. “Even your daughter will be surprising you, soon. She might even surprise you, today,” he adds, nodding to where the little girl is frowning and trying to push her hand through the paper she’s been drawing on.
“Mr. Nico?” Evie asks, getting up and bringing her art over. “Can I—” she looks at her mom and then tugs on Nico’s shirt. He leans down so she can whisper in his ear.
“You sure?” he asks. She nods. He taps on his earbud, “Rocco? You’re being summoned to the children’s area.”
“YEAH!” Ashlynn hears the teen cheer, and then blinks as the door to the supply room opens and Rocco steps through, closing it before they can see what Cubby is doing inside.
“Like I said, all they need comes out of that room,” Nico says dryly.
***
And Now Cape High Productions Brings You:
Cubby Time!
This room is HUGE. Leave it to Uncle Nico to tear down the wall between two rooms just to put random stuff in it. I pick up a rather frilly looking hat, placing it on my head and going deeper into the room. There really IS all sorts of stuff in here. I stare at a set of miniature robots, and then shake my head before trying to bury them in other stuff. If Robo gets those, he’ll have the entire school running, screaming—actually, I think, maybe I WON’T bury it. I very diligently move everything back to where it was, and move on.
What am I supposed to give a baby? I don’t know ANYTHING about babies! Robo came full-sized! Okay, not full-sized, but MY sized! And so far I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Hana’s area, and Robo’s area, and that bright area over there is for Evie, I think… but where’s something I can work with? Uncle Nico said it was in here! He never lies!
I stop, the smell of plants and earth catching my nose. I head for it, almost running until I reach the area full of vines, sticks, flowers, and— “SUNNY!” I shout as I see the teen sticking his finger in a series of small pots and growing flowers.
“Hey, Cubby! You caught me,” he says as I fling myself into his arms. He tosses me into the air, catching me easily, and I snuggle against him for a second, feeling relieved.
“You gonna help me make a present for the baby?” I ask, looking at him eagerly.
“I’m going to provide any plant materials you need,” he says. “But YOU are going to make it. Or,” he says, moving aside, “you can put on a show.” I stare at the uniform in front of me, hesitating. It’s MY future uniform, complete with my stick for the Sticky-Dance. I look from that to the plants and even the little knife made just for me. I’m torn. “You’ve got all day, you know,” he points out.
“What are you gonna do?” I ask him.
“I’ve got a bassinet that I’m putting together, just in case he’s a plant elementalist,” he says. “But I’m sure you can come up with something! Do you need anything?”
I stare at the plants, chewing on my bottom lip. “Robo is making a robot rocking horse,” I say softly. “It’s gonna be awesome. An—and Hana is doing something super, too, and—”
He rubs my head, letting out a little laugh. “You’ve got that problem, too, huh?” he asks. I look up, confused. The little smile on his face makes me even more confused. “Listen, Cubby, you are amazing, just as you are. I think, really, EVERYONE is, no matter who they are, they just need to do what they love to do.”
I nod, and look at the plants again, thinking about what I love to do. I dig through my pockets, pulling out my usual ball of twine and other stuff. There’s a bouncy ball, a quarter, a tiny figurine…
I look at the plants, my hand tightening on the items. I look at Sunny, and say, “I need vines, please. Ones that harden.”
“Got it,” he says, tossing a seed in the air and grabbing it. A long vine shoots out and I grab the little knife, getting to work.
“Cubby? How are you doing?” Ms. Ashlynn asks as she steps into the room. I hear her gasp as she sees the place. “This is definitely overkill,” she mutters under her breath. “Cubby, are you in here?”
“Back here,” Sunny calls out.
“What—” Ms. Ashlynn says, startled.
“I’m Cubby’s help for the day,” Sunny says, heading over to her as I work as fast as I can. If I don’t twist these vines together now they’ll get too stiff to work with, and I know it. Soon I have a circle made and I nod, looking at it with pride. This is exactly what I need!
“Ohhh, you’re making a hula hoop?” she asks as she reaches me.
“Nuh uh,” I say, heading into the plants that are already made. I start sorting through the vines that don’t get hard, finding several with pretty flowers, and take them back to the hoop. I poke at it, and then look at Sunny. “Can you make it dry?” I ask, pointing at it.
“Oh, yeah, sure,” he says, holding a hand out. I sit down on the ground and start weaving the vines together, wrapping them around the hoop so they cover the hole. Soon the base of the flower picture is done, and I stop, looking around, and then grinning as I head off to raid the other kids’ sections.
“Well, it seems you’re doing fine,” Ms. Ashlynn says. “Sunny, are you okay watching him?”
“I do it all the time,” Sunny says. “Well, Adanna’s usually there, but—”
The door opens and the other three come in, along with Rocco. “We’re ready to get to work!” Robo says excitedly. “Hey, that’s my area,” he complains as he sees me searching through his stuff. Of course he would realize it’s his.
“No it’s not, Uncle Nico said it’s for all of us,” I say, although I know as well as he does what’s going on. I grab one of the small robots, ignoring how he bites back a protest. I leave, heading for Evie’s area and sorting through the various little dolls in a toy box. She watches in confusion, but says nothing as I pick one up and look from it to her and then walk off with it.
Now, I think as I see Hana, the hard one. Strangely, though, she’s looking at the items in my hands. She turns, looking through her things and then grabbing a handkerchief that has a pretty floral pattern. She ties a handful of knots and then holds it out, offering it to me. I stare, a bit surprised to find it looks a lot li
ke a doll. She’s figured it out, huh?
I can’t help but grin at her as I take it and head back to my area. I frown a second later, though, looking around at the various items.
“How about this?” Sunny asks, handing me a tiny wooden panther. I take it, looking at it with a little smile. I want to keep it… I REALLY want to keep it. But… I look at the flower picture and head for it, nodding as I start working on the next layer.
Soon the four items are peeking out from behind flowers and twigs, like they’re playing hide and seek. I look around, seeing the others working hard. Well, I think Evie’s working hard. She actually looks like she’s playing with toys… oh well, she’s happy, at least!
I put the flower picture down and head for my costume, taking it behind a pile of stuff to change. I come out, tightening my belt, and grabbing my stick. I’m a bit sad to leave the hat behind, but it’s not part of the costume. I’ll come back for it later!
“Okay, I’m ready,” I say to Sunny.
“What are you doing?” Hana asks, suddenly distracted from her drawing. “Where DID you get that outfit?” she adds, excitedly, running over.
“It’s my uniform,” I say, trying not to show how proud I am to wear this. “Camera?” I ask Sunny.
“Probably better in the gym, you think?” Sunny offers. “Everything’s recorded, though.”
“Why do you get to do it all alone? I wanna do the Sticky-Dance!” Robo says. His rocking horse is in large pieces around him. “Miss Ashlynn, can I do the Sticky-Dance with Cubby?”
“Um, well, this is for your baby shower gift, right?” Ms. Ashlynn asks me. I nod, hesitating.
“I wanna dance,” Evie says.
“Can we all dance?” Hana asks.
“Can I do it alone, first?” I ask.
“And THEN we dance,” Hana says. I nod, because when she uses that tone, you don’t argue with her. Hana can be scary.
***
I fall on my back, trying not to laugh. It had STARTED out well, I did my Sticky-Dance and we got it from all different angles and I’m sure it went really good—and then Robo joined in, and we did the Sticky-Dance together, but then… well, Hana and Evie don’t know the Sticky-Dance.
The two had been jumping about and twirling and doing all sorts of silly dance moves that… well, I think as I sit up, I want to see the video!
“I think we did a WONDERFUL job!” Hana brags. “You have great dance moves, Evie!” she tells Evie, who blushes, and looks proud of herself.
“What about us?” Robo demands as I head for one of the walls. “We actually know the dance moves!”
“Oh, I guess it was good,” Hana says, more to get on his nerves than anything else, I think. Hana and Robo tend to fight a lot. It’s because they’re both bossy, not that I would tell HER that. I’ll tell Robo, no problem.
“What’s up, Cubby?” Rocco asks as I tap on the wall, trying to get it to start. I like Rocco! He comes over for villain night, too.
“Play?” I ask, pointing at the wall. “I wanna see the dancing.”
“Oh, sure,” he says. “Sunny—” he looks over and snorts. “He fell asleep, didn’t he?”
“Probably,” I say, not surprised, Sunny falls asleep ALL the time.
“I’m not asleep,” Sunny calls over. “I’m setting Cubby’s flowers so they stay fresh until after the baby’s born.”
“Ooooh, you can do that?” Hana asks, heading over to him. “If I make an acces—access—”
“Accessory?” Sunny offers.
“A hair bow!” she says.
“Sure,” he says.
Rocco takes out his phone and taps on it, and soon the video of me doing my dance starts. I… have never actually watched my Sticky-Dance, I realize. “I look like Papa,” I say, awed.
“You look a lot like your dad,” Rocco agrees, “and so does Robo,” he adds as we get to the second dance. The girls come over as their part starts and we watch for a moment before I have to look away to keep from laughing. We look SO silly! It doesn’t help that Robo jumped in and starting doing silly dance moves, and then I had to, because I wasn’t going to be left out—
Evie starts giggling, and Hana looks over at her with an offended expression that turns into giggles a second later, and soon all four of us are laughing at the video. And then—which I hadn’t even noticed at the time—Rocco and Sunny show up in the video, dancing like crazy.
Soon even Ms. Ashlynn is laughing at the silly video. It stops a second later and she says, “You all did a GREAT job dancing! I’m sure the baby is going to absolutely love it! Now—”
The bell dings and we jerk, looking up. She lets out a sigh and pulls out her phone to look as it chimes a second later, because I’m almost positive she never hears the real bell. I chew on my bottom lip for a second, and then walk over, patting her hand. “It’s okay,” I tell her. “We can tell you when it rings, if you want.”
“Thank you, Cubby,” she says. I sort of think she wants to hide the fact she can’t hear it, but I like that she doesn’t. “It’s lunch time, boys and girls, so we’ll go eat and then get back to our projects when we’re done, okay?”
“Okayyyy!” everyone else says.
“I’m done,” I say, holding up my hand. “Can I go to the big kid classes? I’ve done it once before!” Well, sort of. I went to music class, at least! I was little, though. Now I’m a big boy!
“Don’t you think you could help the others with their projects?” she asks.
I look over at the others and shrug. “I guess?”
“Thank you, Cubby,” she says. “Everyone in line, now! Time to go to the cafeteria!” We get in line and head out, trying not to laugh as Sunny and Rocco get in line behind us, walking just how WE’RE supposed to, with our arms behind our backs.
“Do you think the baby will like the video?” Hana whispers. “Will they even be able to see it? Babies are supposed to not see very well.”
“I saw well when I was a baby,” I say.
“I did, too,” Evie says.
“I was never a baby,” Robo says cheerfully. “I was just a code in my maker’s computer that got bigger and smarter and then got stuck in a robot body and—”
“We know,” the three of us say, having heard this story several times.
“It’s a good story,” Robo pouts. “But the baby’s going to be a Superior. He should be able to see. Sunny, could you see when you were a baby?”
“I remember…” Sunny says, thoughtfully, “getting Zoe’s hand in my face a lot,” he decides. “She always did have bad sleeping habits.”
“Did you really?” Rocco asks, laughing.
“Or she MIGHT have aimed, you never know with her,” Sunny says.
“Ahem,” Ms. Ashlynn says, pointedly. “What’s the rule about being quiet in the hallways?”
“Sorry Ms. Ashlynn,” we say.
Silence lasts for all of a minute before Evie goes, almost silently, “I wanna learn the dance.”
“I’ll teach you lots of dances,” Rocco promises, only to get a look from Ms. Ashlynn. I have to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing out loud as he gives her a guilty look. “Sorry,” he says before heading past us to open the cafeteria door. We head into the room, only to stop as the kids inside start cheering.
“Nice dance, guys!” Jack calls out.
I… suddenly feel that dancing had been a bad idea.
***
“Okay, everyone,” Nico says as the entire SCHOOL enters the gym. “We’re going to do one dance for the baby shower and then everyone’s going to get back to their projects—and if you’re done with yours already, you’re going to help decorate the gym for the party, got it?”
“Yes, Nico!” the older kids say, already stretching and getting ready for the dance.
“But—but not all of them know the dance—” I say, tugging on Nico’s shirt.
“Well, it won’t be the Sticky-Dance, exactly, it’ll just be dancing, okay?” he says to me. I n
od, but I’m still not sure this is a good idea.
“Hey, look at this!” I hear Freddy say. I turn, seeing him holding up my art project. “This is great! Did you do this, Sunny?”
“That’s all Cubby,” Sunny says as I run over, reaching for it. It isn’t that I don’t trust Freddy, but—but I don’t want it to get broken! “I just helped a little with the plants, right, Cub?” Sunny adds, making me look over.
“Why don’t we put it somewhere it won’t get broken?” Freddy asks me. “We’re going to be moving a lot, so leaving it on the floor is dangerous.” I nod, bringing my hands down since he understands how important this is. He takes it over to the wall and taps on it. To my surprise, a hook comes out. “I THINK this is for hanging coats and stuff on, but honestly I’ve got no clue,” he tells me as he hangs up my art. “We never wear them.”
“I wear a coat!” Rocco calls out.
“I wear a coat, too,” Jack says.
“Those are parts of your uniforms, not something you bring to school,” Freddy says, straightening my art and nodding. “There we go, safe and sound.” He rubs my head as he walks past and I feel my hair go up a bit under his touch—straight up. I guess his hands are naturally sticky because he walks on walls, or something?
“Places, everyone,” Uncle Nico calls out, floating in the air as he does so. The rest of Adanna’s teachers are hanging out here, too. Are they going to make sure we’re being good? I hesitate as I look up at them, wondering if we’re going to get in trouble. We’re supposed to be learning things in school, not having a dance party, right?
“I think we should have a dance class added to the curriculum,” I hear Banshee say.
“Can any of you teach dance?” Uncle Nico asks.
“Since when has that question stopped us from teaching anything else?” she says. For some reason that makes all the other adults laugh.
“Cubby,” Adanna says, coming over, “Do you want to show them how to do the Sticky-Dance?” she asks quietly, crouching down and straightening the uniform I’m still wearing. She makes a face and digs through her pockets to get a napkin when she sees the bit of lunch I accidentally spilled on myself. It’s not my fault that tacos are messy!
