WARNING: Mention of disability.

With the final day of the baby experiment now upon them, the students awaited the arrival of Principal Rogerson.
He had been doing the rounds throughout the day, and it was now Mr. Patel's students who were due to get their results.

Principal Rogerson entered the room, another man by his side.
The man had a black satchel with him, and he was holding a silver laptop.

"Mr. Patel, students... this is Al.
He'll be telling you your results.
I'll leave him to tell you more", said Principal Rogerson.

Al gave the students a half-smile and nodded his head.

"Hello all.
So, with the help of state of the art software, and a few calculations thrown in there, we can have the results of your experiment within minutes.
Factors such as how quickly you responded to crying, how often you fed and cleaned your baby, and the number of times your baby was damaged, will all play a part in working out your final overall percentage", he explained.

As Principal Rogerson called students to the front one by one, Atlas glanced at Zee's empty seat.
He looked over at Elliott's seat, which was also empty.
Atlas leaned forward and tapped Eloise's shoulder, making her turn around.

"Hey, you seen Zee and Elliott?"

Eloise shook her head.
Hearing Atlas' question, Irene chimed in, raising her voice just enough so that Atlas could hear her, but not so loud that the class would be disrupted. 

"They had science before this", responded Irene. 

"They had better hurry up or they'll miss out", said Spencer. 

The group watched the door, hoping that the pair would walk in any minute. 

- - - 

"Ethan, hurry!", shouted Zee. 

"Oh my gosh, we've been partners for two weeks you should know my name by now!"

"Just move, man!"

After getting into an altercation in class, one which Zee was forced to provide an eyewitness account for, the pair faced a race against the clock to get to history class in time.
After a difficult two weeks, neither wanted to miss the opportunity to see their hardwork pay off. 

Picking up the pace, Elliott passed Zee, swiftly weaving in and out of the crowd, robot baby safely tucked away in his arms. Zee dodged oncoming students, bumping into a few on the way though.
The pair hurried down the stairs.
Elliott's foot missed a step, and his heart thumped rapidly in his chest as he watched the baby leave his hands.
Eyes wide with surprise, the pair grabbed onto the railing, leaning over to watch the baby fly through the air.
After what felt like forever, the baby landed on the floor with a THUD. 

"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!", exclaimed Elliott. 

"Stop 'sh*tting' and get the baby!", yelled Zee. 

She sprinted down the last two flights of stairs, silently praying to God that the baby wasn't damaged.
Well, not anymore than it already had been. Just as she was about to reach out for it,
James and his friends ran by.
He stood on the baby, the velcro on its clothes pulling apart.
Zee heard a popping sound, followed by muffled cries. 

"James, what the f*ck?", asked Elliott, herring down the remaining stairs. 

James just lifted his foot, as if he had chewing gum at the bottom of his shoe. 

"What?
It's just a stupid baby", he said. 

"That we're going to get marked on", reminded Elliott. 

He shrugged and scoffed.
"Not my problem."

Elliott seethed as James and his friends walked away, laughing amongst themselves. 

"I hope he loses his bus pass and a bird sh*ts on him", said Elliott. 

Zee turned to Elliott.
"What the heck are we gonna do?"

- - - 

With Elliott and Zee still not showing up, Eloise and Atlas were getting increasingly worried that they'd miss out any receiving their mark.
Eloise was one of the only ones left to receive her mark.

"Eloise Bhasin?
You're up", said Principal Rogerson.
"Uh, where's your partner?
James Murphy?"

Eloise fought the urge to physically gag at the mention of James' name.
She stood up, pulling Ruti into her arms. 

"He's probably running late", said Eloise.

Realising that she needed to do something to stall, Eloise began taking the smallest steps she could manage.
Al and Principal Rogerson looked at each other, their eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
A curious Aahan watched on as Eloise continued to walk slowly.
He couldn't be sure that there was actually a valid reason for her walking so slowly—he had seen a lot of strange behaviour from students during his time at the school. 

"Uh, pick up the pace, Eloise.
We haven't got all day", said Principal Rogerson. 

"Right, right, of course", said Eloise. 

She picked up the pace, but barely.
An exasperated sigh escaped Principal Rogerson's lips, and Eloise started to worry that they'd skip her.
She pushed that thought to the back of her mind though.
She had seen how hard Zee and Elliott worked, and they had improved so much since the outing in the park.
She wasn't going to let them fail.
Not if she could help it.

"Um, Principal Rogerson, is there like a top score we should try to beat?", asked Atlas. 

Eloise looked over at him, and he gave her the most subtle look.
His eyes widened just a little, and he nodded his head slightly.
Eloise knew exactly what that look meant. I've got you. 

"Oh, well uh, excellent question.
There's not a specific target, but seventy and above is really what we're aiming for here", replied Principal Rogerson. 

Eloise finally reached the desk.
Al grabbed her baby, almost as if he was worried she'd try to do another odd thing. She smiled politely as Al collated her results, although her brain was already thinking of another way to stall. 

A look of shock appeared on Al's face.
He looked over at Principal Rogerson, who was grinning at the scream. 

"Wow, that's remarkable!
You got ninety two percent!
That's the highest I've seen so far", beamed Principal Rogerson.

Eloise gasped, her whole face lighting up. She placed her hands on her face as she tried to process her result.

"Aw, she's gonna be all big headed now", teased Spencer, but even he couldn't hide the smile on his face. 

"Ah, congrats, El!", called out Atlas. 

"Well done, Eloise", smiled Rowan. 

"You definitely deserve it", said Irene. 

Just as Aahan was going to chime in, Elliott and Atlas appeared at the door. 

"Ah, Mr. Brown, Miss Syed... how wonderful of you to join us.
Finally", said Principal Rogerson.

Aahan couldn't really explain why, but he suddenly found himself puffing out his chest.
He was the teacher here. 

"Actually, Principal Rogerson... I've got it from here", said Aahan. 

He whirled around, facing Elliott and Zee. 

"Thank you for joining us.
Finally", he copied, earning an eye roll from both Al and Spencer. 

"Sorry we're late, Sir.
We had to ask our science teachers about something and we didn't realise how long we took", lied Elliott. 

"Well, we've not got long left.
Hand over your baby and we'll give you your results", said Principal Rogerson. 

After sharing a panicked look, the pair stepped forward.
Elliott stepped even closer, trying to shield Zee with his body.
He clasped his hands together and cleared his throat. 

"Uh, uh, um, firstly... I'd like to say something.
This experiment has been so eye-opening..."

Zee leaned to the side, fiddling with the robot baby.
Atlas caught a glance of the baby and let out a quiet gasp.
Zee looked up at him and glared. 

'What the f*ck?', he mouthed. 

"... and that is why I believe babies truly are the future.
I mean, some may even say they're, you know, the next generation of humans."

Whilst the rest of the class were baffled by
Elliott's speech, Atlas thought it made perfect sense given the context. 

"Well, that was uh...  a very long speech, Elliott.
Thank you for sharing your many, many thoughts", said Principal Rogerson. 

"Please pass me your baby now", said Al. 

Resigning to fate, Zee held the baby out.
Its right leg had popped right out, and its forehead had sunk in due to the force of James' foot.
The left eyeball was a little loose, and the battery pack at the back was now exposed. In an effort to save the situation, Elliott held the right eyeball in place.
Zee let out a soft sigh and shook her head, before moving Elliott's hand away. 

Horrified faces stared at the baby.
Principal Rogerson covered his mouth. 

"Oh gosh...", he gasped.

Elliott took the baby, without realising that Zee's hands were the only thing keeping the baby's right arm in place.
As the arm fell to the floor, Principal Rogerson shook his head. 

"This is absolutely appalling.
Even if you had done any good babysitting, whatever you've done to cause this would definitely impact your marks negatively", said Principal Rogerson. 

"Wait, hold on a second, Principal.
Why would all our hardwork not matter?", asked Elliott. 

"Elliott, its leg is on the floor!"

"Yes but, isn't that true of life?", he questioned.
"Accidents happen.
One wrong move can cause life-altering disabilities.
Sometimes it's not even in our control!
But isn't it a good thing that we didn't turn our back on our baby?
Yes, we messed up, but we didn't give up. We love our baby just as it is.
And isn't that a good lesson for us to learn?"

A stunned Zee couldn't help but be a little impressed with Elliott.
Maybe she had underestimated him.
A speechless Principal Rogerson just stood there, as if no word could ever express what he was thinking, 

"Well, I've seen some robot babies in my time", said Al.
"But I've never heard an explanation as good as that", said Al. 

"Principal Rogerson, you have to let them see their results", said Eloise.
"Elliott made some really great points."

"Yeah, isn't it important to also take the bad with the good?", asked Spencer. 

"Give their mark, give their mark, give their mark!", chanted Eloise, with some of the class eventually joining in.

Principal Rogerson raised his hand.
"Alright, alright!", he yelled.
"They can receive their mark."

The class cheered, with Eloise's cheers being the loudest.
Elliott and Zee gently carried the baby closer to the table, hoping that no more of it falls apart. 

"Uh... wow.
A higher power must be on your side today because... you managed to get a seventy three percent", revealed Al. 

The class started clapping.
Zee turned to a beaming Elliott.
She lightly punched his arm. 

"Nice work, Brown."

---------

This was much longer than I thought it would be! Maybe it's a good thing I didn't include it in the chapter. This is more like an off-screen moment though, so it did actually happen.

I also want to make it clear that I am not using disability for comedic effect. I do think that childcare lessons should actually do more to prepare you for having a child with a disability. Of course, there are so many different types out there, and each need their own way of handling it, but I feel like there's not enough preparation for if your child develops a disability later in life, or has one from birth that wasn't apparent before.

What were your thoughts on this bonus content? Would you like to see more bonus content?

In case you wondered what everyone's scores were:

I'm counting Eloise on her own because let's face it—James did not pull his weight.

Irene & Rowan: 75%

Atlas & his partner: 85%

Spencer & his partner: 87%

Eloise: 92%

Elliott & Zee: 73 % (would have been 83 if the baby hadn't have been damaged.)

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