Watcher

Chapter 6: Manner class

Bradley opens the brown box. It’s wrapped perfectly with a red ribbon on it. He scrapes his head, walking toward Caden. He tries to wake up him and asks about this.

"Hey, Caden wakes up.” Bradley gently pats Caden’s cheek. “This box is for you.” is a delivery for you."

"What's wrong Brad?" Caden slowly opens his eyes and sees Bradley's blue eyes. "Wait, I don’t order anything at all." Caden furrowed his eyebrows when he heard Bradley's words.

"So, this is not your belonging?” Bradley furrows his eyebrow. "So, who owns this item?”

"I don't know either, but I feel like we should take a look inside of it."

Bradley slowly opens it and sees two bright blue shirts folded neatly inside. Caden's eyes lit up. His smile widely. He likes the color of the shirt, which makes him bounce up and down. He quickly takes one of the clothes.

"Brad, this shirt is very nice!" He squealed happily. "I wonder who gives this?"

“Cad, I don't know either,” said Bradley, shrugging his shoulders. "Wait a minute, looks like there's some card tucked in here."

Bradley takes the small white card and starts to read it. However, his eyes widened and a small scream out of his mouth.

"Brad, what’s wrong?" Caden asks him curiously. “Who is it?”

"Cad, the person who gave this shirt is someone we know." Caden's hands are shaking. "This is a gift from Madam Theresa."

Caden doesn’t believe his's words. He decides to walk closer to Bradley and looks at the card by himself. His hands start shaking. Madam Theresa’s name is written on the card, complete with her signature and the words "Today, wear this shirt."

"No way! But how it can be?" Caden's eyes widened and instantly sees Madam Theresa’s handwriting.

Caden ignores it and continues holding the shirt. He is dancing around with a big smile on his lips, shakes his head, and sees his best friend. However, inside his mind, he feels there is something odd about all of this. She is very sure Madam Theresa has another plan for them.  

The two of them go downstairs to the manners room which is adjacent to the living room. The room is just a small room. Inside it, there are a few wooden chairs and a white chalkboard. The room used to be a room where old things were stored.

However, Mr. Eugene’s wife had the idea to create a room where the orphanage children could behave politely when meeting people. She wanted the orphans to be friendly to everyone when they meet.

Mr. Eugene’s wife is a language teacher who highly values ​​good manners. She gives all the knowledge about manners that she knew, starting from greeting people, behaving politely, and being sensitive to the environment around them.

"Okay. Cad, are you ready?"

"Yes, Sir.” His voice cracks but he still smiles.

They slowly opened the door and there is something unexpected. Their faces instantly stiffen seeing it all. A woman with white hair wearing yellow clothes is talking to an older man who is carrying a small note in his hand.

"Wait, a minute! She doesn’t tell us about this.” Caden’s body and hands start trembling. Cold sweat dripped down the curves of her face.

Madam Theresa sees them and immediately calls both Bradley and Caden. "Kids come here, someone wants to meet you."

The two of them walked closer to Madam Theresa with sweaty palms. The man introduced himself. He is a reporter for the daily newspaper in town, he has also approval to join this class.

"Okay, so today he will be with us throughout the class and watch over you." Madam Theresa pats Caden on the shoulder. "I hope you don’t make any mistake, sweetheart" she whispers in Caden's ear and walks away.

Caden swallows saliva in his throat. The man chooses the corner of the room. He sits there and takes out his notes. Afterward, Bradley and Caden begin to direct every child to enter the room. Twenty minutes pass everything seems normal as usual.

Suddenly one of the yellow-haired girls asks them a question. Those words make Caden and Bradley look at each other. They don’t know how to answer that question, making them speechless for a while.

“But both of you are already mature enough. Why don't you guys try to find work and get out of here?”

"That's because we haven't gotten a proper job either," said Bradley replied to the child's words.

"Isn't this an excuse for you to be lazy?" she said in an innocent tone.

Bradley and Caden both tried to stay calm in response to her words. However, the little girls continue to ask several questions that seem to corner them. Caden doesn’t say anything. His smile vanished.

“Hey kid, what do you mean asking that question?” Bradley raises her voice. “That question of yours is so impolite!” Bradley widened her eyes until the child is fright and cried.

The atmosphere in the class became chaotic. Caden’s eyes turn red and his eyes slowly fill up with the water. He can’t resist the situation and left the classroom early. All the children go out of the classroom and run out of nowhere. Bradley sees his best friend disappears, and immediately chases Caden.

Bradley decides to check Caden's room. When he passed through Caden's door, he hears someone's sobs coming from inside the room. Bradley knocks on the bedroom door and tries Caden to call him out of her room.

"Cad, come on, don't be sad," said Bradley as he keeps knocking on the door.

"Brad, everything is a mess," he said with a sob.

“Cad, let me in and we can talk about this together.”

Bradley knocks again and again on Cad's door. But there is no answer from Caden. Bradley sighed and walk away from Cad’s room.

"I feel sad seeing him like this."

Bradley walks back to his room. He tries to forget all that had happened. However, heat flows to his head. The embarrassing moment still sticks in his head. A few minutes later he hears a conversation between two people from outside the room. Voices sound very similar to someone. He comes out of the room, looking for the source of the voices.

“Wait? Is that Madam Theresa?”

He furrows his head. Madam Theresa seems to talk with the same child in that room. Yet, their voices are fuzzy. He tries to find a position closer which is beside the stairs. However, He accidentally steps on something and makes a loud noise.

His's heart skipped a beat. He hides away in the gap in the stairs. Madam Theresa notice someone overheard her conversation, immediately stop talking and tell the child to leave.

“I know someone is here,” she says as she walks closer to his hiding. “Come on, or I will find you.”

***