"You got some moves, Dawit!" I cheered, watching the young, Eritrean boy dance to the music I had put up. His hands were on his hips, he twirled around, winked at Gloria when he stopped at her desk, who giggled at that. I chuckled, cheered him on some more, until it was Gloria's turn.

Gloria turned shy, pressed the side of her body against mine. With her seven years old, Gloria was quite the appearance with her afro-textured hair twirled into two tight buns on top of her head, her pink dress and white shoes. She hadn't been here for a long time, came from Uganda and we had yet to figure out what her eyes had seen.

It was clear that she went through something traumatic and since music was a non-medical cure, such as reading for me when I was little, I decided on having a simple start of the morning with some music and dancing. Most children took the challenge right away, threw their culture into their dance moves and floated through the classroom.

To say it was a pleasure to see was an understatement. I enjoyed the different cultures, the way each child had their own characteristics and personalities. Their own tempers. Beliefs. But maybe mostly, their braveness. Their hope.

Turning to Gloria, I crouched down to her height, looked into her eyes. "Hey, how about you think of a song and a nice few dance moves, while I put on some music for Amira?" Gloria nodded right away, reached for my hand and stared at the computer as I typed in the song Amira wanted. After a lot of typos and pressing onto the wrong song for a couple of times, I managed to find the right one and Amira started to dance right after.

We traded the Eritrean atmosphere for the Syrian one. I was impressed, looked at Amira with my mouth almost open wide. There was something about these children that made me think twice about everything. Without having to put much effort into doing something, they all danced so naturally. It was as if all of them were gifted with that talent for no reason- why wasn't I gifted that way? They didn't have to try so hard, yet it came out beautifully.

Then their smiles. The smiles they almost always had on their faces, no matter what they had been through, said more about them than words ever could. Something about the hope a child could have always moved me. It was the strongest kind of hope to exist- I was sure of that. No matter what happened to children in life, they always had hope for the next day to be better. They barely sulked in their miseries, always tried to get the best out of the moment that would follow after. They surely could be seen as a huge inspiration, and maybe I had to take notes for once.

Gloria tapped onto my shoulder, the music had stopped. I turned to her. "I dance.. if you dance."

Standing up, I twirled around, making the children laugh. "Gloria, how can you ask me that? I'm as stiff as a.." I pointed to the pictograms from the theme we'd had a few days ago; the farm

"Rake!"

The children laughed harder, copied my stiff dance move.

Chuckling, I sat back down onto the desk chair, helped Gloria type in the song she wanted. However, when it started to play, Gloria kept standing where she was, mouthed along with the song but didn't dance. I raised my eyebrows at her. "Don't you want to dance?"

"If you dance, I dance."

I gave her a look.

"If you dance, I dance." She repeated.

Letting out a deep breath, I stood up and reached for her outstretched hands. Right after, a huge smile appeared on her face and she started to move her hips. It went fast- too fast for me. I glanced at the video behind me that was displaying onto the digital board. Insanely talented, once again, those children who didn't even go to dance classes or something like that.

"Go Mr. Malin!" Dawit cheered, stood upon the desk and copied my movies. I couldn't help but laugh, continued to copy Gloria, who was more flexible than a snake. She moved her shoulders along with her hips, turned a pirouette while I held up her hand.

"Woohoo, Mr. Malin!" Amira and Dawit screamed, laughing at each other as they pointed at me. "Stiff as a rake!"

"But cool.. rake!" Amira screeched from laughing, causing my other pupils to join her into the wild laughter.

Gloria's face turned brighter than I'd ever seen before, which moved me to the point that I let go of her hands, stood onto my own desk and started moving my hips and shoulders the way she had done before. Gloria stood upon the chair, forgetting about her shyness as she sang the song loudly, while moving around, hyping me up.

If only Aurora had seen me.

"Webale! For everything You've done. Webale! You turned my life around! Webale. Am gonna give my praise to You!" Gloria clapped her hands, jumped onto the floor and lifted her hands up and down, motioning for her peers to do the same.

"Go Gloria!" I cheered, giving her the attention. She shook her head, pointed at me, to which my pupils started cheering me on again.

"Hip! Move hip!" Amira said, giggling when she glanced at the door. Oblivious to her glancing, I gave them what they wanted, and at that moment, Salomé opened the door. The children screeched, yelled in laughter and almost fell to the floor, whereas I stopped dancing, widened my eyes and sat back down onto the desk chair as quickly as possible, almost stumbling over the chair leg.

"You got some moves there." Salomé couldn't contain her own laughter, shook her head as she let her gaze fall onto my pupils.

Letting out a deep breath, I gave her a sheepish smile. "Well.. what can I say to that." I wasn't sure if the redness of my cheeks represented my shame or the effort I had put into the dancing, either way, I mentally scolded myself. Until I saw Gloria's beaming face again.

"Did you teach Mr. Malin those moves?" I watched as Salomé crouched down in front of Gloria, who touched Salomé's hair. She'd nodded her head, pointed at the video onto the screen. "That's beautiful. Do you like that song?"

Gloria nodded, ran back over to me and pointed at the replay button. "Ms. Livingstone can hear?"

Nodding, I played the song again. But this time only the pupils and Gloria danced, while Salomé and I watched them. It wasn't until Gloria started singing that the lyrics caught my attention.

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever. He's full of mercy and full of grace. His love endures forever. With a mighty hand, He rescued me. His love endures forever. And He set my feet on higher ground. His love endures forever. So I will clap my hands, my feet will dance for You.."

My eyes trailed down to mine and Aurora's ring, my fingers shoving it up and down rapidly. How could a child like Gloria, who'd been through so much, sing a song like that with so much belief, power.. hope.

Without much notice, it hit me like a train. Where had my hope gone? Rotten like the guilt that ate me from the inside, whilst being alive? I thought about Aurora, how she would've laughed at me, but in a way that told you that she loved you no matter what. She'd scold me in Italian, and I adored it. It was her way of expressing her emotions, a trait that described who she was.

Gloria's little finger brushed something away from underneath my eye and I quickly turned my face away, remembering Salomé's presence in the room. "Has hay fever always been this bad around this time?" Classic excuse. Awesome, Zev.

"I think so." Salomé agreed. The hay fever season was long gone. When I glanced at her, I could tell by her face that she knew I was hiding my emotions. She understood, for reasons I did not, and therefore didn't mention anything about it.

"Anyway, can I steal Gloria from you? Play therapy. That's what I originally came for, but when I saw your dance moves I had to hide and admire it for a while." She tried to enlighten the atmosphere and I let out a chuckle.

Switching off the computer, I nodded, waved them off. "Yeah, yeah. Go ahead. I'll see you in a bit, Gloria." I gave her a smile, which she returned softly, her little hand waving at me. "Alright, class. Now the dance party is over, I'd like to introduce the new theme for the week.. it's the kitchen! Who knows what belongs to a kitchen..?"

For as long as I'd been a teacher, I had reserved the last thirty minutes of a school day for reading. The children would choose a book and I would read it out loud, with them seated onto the floor, across me and circled around. I would look up from the pages, make eye contact with each of them to keep their attention into the story.

I never knew what it was, because once the story would be done, they always wanted more. Benji wanted none of it. He'd always turn his back to me and close his eyes, trying to get to sleep as quickly as possible. I'd never understood, but realised the behaviour started when Aurora had passed away. I knew it must of had something to do with that, but my diseased heart couldn't bring me to push the words out of my mouth.

Flipping the last page, I glanced at my pupils, and finally said; "The little bear had never felt so happy in his life before- he had made a new friend! His first friend! He ran into the snow and made a cake out of snow, celebrating his birthday for the first time with a friend."

The door creaked open. Gloria and Salomé came back, hands full of grocery bags. I frowned, saw how Gloria messily placed them onto the floor. "Need some help with that?"

"It's alright, just wanted to tell you that I'm taking the children with my car today. Since your new theme has started, about the kitchen, Teddy and I decided to have a dinner party."

My frown became deeper. "Do their parents know about it?"

"No, I'm just kidnapping them. Thought you wouldn't mind." Salomé laughed softly, placed the bags down herself as she flapped her hands. Perhaps, to get her muscles working again. "Of course. Asked for consent, too. They loved the idea."

"We do too!" Dawit smiled brightly. "We eat at Ms. Livingstone house! Very good."

"And.. we.." Amira stopped her sentence, pointed at the pictogram that displayed a person with a chef's hat. "We.."

"Cook?"

Amira nodded eagerly. "We cook! With Ms. Livingstone."

"Well, I suppose you can get going then." I suggested, glancing at the clock. The school was over, and although it wasn't as official as any other school, we still had a time schedule to stick to. "Do you need help with the bags?" I offered, once I made sure all of the children were out of the classroom, following Salomé to her car.

"If you want to take over Gloria's bags.. that would be really helpful."

Softly pulling onto Gloria's little bun, she looked up at me, her smile still wide and bright. "Let me help you." Taking the bags from her, instinctively I took a few from Salomé who seemed to be struggling as she searched for the car key in her bag.

"Thank you." She smiled a little, glanced at me. She helped the children sit safely, only then there was a problem. "Oh, goodness." She looked at Dawit, who patiently waited outside the car. "I've always counted six.."

Right. Gloria was new.

"Let me take him. My son will be around there, so I can pick him up right after."

"Are you sure?" Salomé looked disappointed. At herself mostly. "Goodness, I don't like this at all. How could I have forgotten that-"

"Come on." I said, shrugging. "It's quite alright. It happens. I told you it's not a problem." I gave her an encouraging smile, then patted Dawit's hair. "You want to go with me? I'll bring you over to Ms. Livingstone's house." He had screamed a loud 'yes!'. Minutes later, we drove off.

With no traffic holding us up, we arrived quickly. I helped Salomé with the groceries and saw how she looked at it, with her hands in her hair. She glanced at the children, smiled at them while she got them toys to play with before they would start cooking.

"Do you need help with the cooking?" I wondered, seeing her helpless expression.

"It was my idea." She took a deep breath and started unpacking the grocery bags. "You pick up your son."

"I can help." I offered.

Salomé stopped, turned around slowly. "I could use some help, but.."

"But what?"

"You should go home, to your wife and son."

Part of me just didn't want to tell her what was going on. It wasn't her business and besides- I didn't want to be pitied. She didn't know anything about me, unlike the whole town we lived in. And for some reasons, I liked it that way. "No, no. It's work. She'd be alright with it."

Salomé hesitated. "I don't know, Zev. Would she really be alright with it? I don't want to get in the way like I've said before.."

"She's alright with it."

"Can I call her or something? Just to.."

"You don't believe me?" I furrowed my eyebrows, fiddled with my ring.

"No, no. It's just.."

"She doesn't pick up her phone anymore."

"Why not?" Salomé looked away, played with the grocery bags.

I swallowed, just wanted to help her. "She just doesn't. She's alright with it, trust me."

She took a deep breath. "It's work. If you're so sure about it, then I could really use your help. I think I underestimated the whole situation. They all had some requests for food and I do bake and cook and stuff in my free time, but.. I just want all of them to be satisfied." Her gaze fell onto the children, who were calmly playing.

"So, I'll help you. Just let me take care of something." I excused myself, walked over to the small hallway and peeked through the window, my eyes falling onto Daniel and Amanda's house. I dialed Teddy's number and it didn't take him long to answer his phone.

"Son, everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Uhm.." I bit my lip, wondered how I could ask without sounding too odd. "I was just wondering if Benji could eat dinner at your place tonight? I.. Salomé needed some help, with the dinner party."

"Oh, of course! Is everything alright? I had asked Salomé a couple of times if she really was sure doing it alone and she repeatedly said yes." He sounded surprised. I could imagine him standing at the kitchen counter, preparing dinner for his wife and a little more for is someone would come over. Like he had done when I was little and needed the escape.

"She underestimated it. Her words. All she said. We're all good."

"Good, Zev. I'll wait for Benji to arrive. Does he like chocolate cake for dessert? I can hop into the car and.."

Once the phone call was over, I couldn't help but feel warm about Teddy's always welcoming behaviour. The way his house was a safe haven for those who felt lost. Or just needed a talk. A hug. Or desserts. Sighing, I called Daniel. He picked up right after, greeting me with an enthusiastic Zev! I asked for Benji, who came to the phone not much later.

"Papà?"

"Benji.. do you mind eating at Unc Teddy's tonight? Work is going to take a little longer.. wouldn't want you to get hungry."

He stayed silent for a while, I could hear him breathing softly. "Why can't I eat at Nolans' place?"

"I already asked Unc Teddy.. he bought dessert just for you."

"Will you bring me?"

"I'm afraid you have to go by bike."

"When will you be back?" His voice sounded rather off, which tightened my heart for some reasons.

"Soon enough. How about a movie tonight?"

He hummed, only. "See you."

Once I had told him a quick I love you, I returned back to Salomé, my heart feeling heavy for some reasons. I didn't want to not tell the truth to Benjamin, but I didn't want to give him the wrong impressions whenever I'd tell him I was helping out another woman. It was rather complicated- he didn't have to find a hidden meaning behind it, because there simply wasn't one, but he was a young boy. His mind would wander everywhere. It was just to protect him.

Teddy's house wasn't as close as Salomé's compared to Daniel.

"Did you invite your wife and son?" Salomé wondered, looking up at me as she was cutting the vegetables. "Stupid I didn't ask before." She smiled sheepishly, almost apologetic.

"No, at home." I mumbled out quickly, playing with my ring. "What can I do?"

Preparing the food together, I realised how nice it was to cook with someone. To have someone around to help you whenever you didn't know the better way to prepare something. If it was about the amount of salt to use or whether it was about the way of cutting certain meat. It was a presence I'd missed strongly, every single evening in the kitchen. Because even when Aurora was more about the cooking, I had always helped and prepared the dishes my own mother had taught me. We cooked together.

With the seven children around the table, Salomé across me, I wondered if my life had looked like this if Aurora's wish had come true.

•

Teacher Zev aka ZM!! What do you think of him as a teacher?

The refugee children?

What about Zev not telling Salomé the truth, do you understand his view on it or not?

Let me know your thoughts ❤️ votes, comments so much appreciated xx