Hi author! How would baby joo act and behave in class if she went to a school for littles? Does she cry all the time? Does she get used to it overtime or does being away from umma Wendy and being surrounded by other littles and adults scare her?
Joo is a crybaby. Period.
She just doesn’t do well with strangers. No one can blame her though. Every since her body chemistry completely changed for her Little status, she was thrust into the outside world full of strangers because her parents didn’t want her.
And all the strangers she met were awful to her.
So now, here she is, having been with Wendy for years now and Wendy decides Joohyun’s ready to go to the Little Learners Academy and she herself needs to go back to work. She felt it would be good for both of them to be around people who weren’t each other. And Joohyun had grown so much since she first found her in that alleyway. Wendy truly thought her baby was ready.
Joo obviously thought otherwise.
She didn’t even see it coming.
The bub knew the place, the Little Learners Academy. It was the private school her Yerim unnie went to, the one Auntie Sooyoung taught at. She’s even gone with umma to pick her unnie up from school on some occasions. Joo never would’ve thought that she would go there too. Or that umma would ever leave her there.
Umma would never. She always kept her Baby Joo close and Joohyun very much preferred it that way. Umma was everything to her.
Sure, she could play with Yerim unnie in her play area while Umma was in her office working. Sure, she could let her clumsy Auntie Seulgi hold her while Umma stepped away for a bit, or let grandma watch her while Umma stepped out to buy groceries. But never has umma left her with people she didn’t trust.
Umma dressed Joo in one of her favorite outfits that day — a white T-shirt and denim shortalls with a blue heart and pink heart stitched on the front, paired with her beloved purple Velcro shoes. And as always, her little spectacles so her big bunny eyes could see.
They were going somewhere special, Umma said, somewhere fun. And Joo was excited. She knew what “special” and “fun” meant. She couldn’t help but kick her feet gently as Umma strapped her into her car seat.
Joo was expecting the park, but Umma had driven past it, humming as she drove like she always did. Joo didn’t dwell on it too much though. Maybe there was a place more special and fun than the park.
But then they arrived at the Little Learners Academy, and Joo could see all the parents and Caregivers walking their kids and Littles into the building. She cooed in confusion. It wasn’t time to pick up Yerim unnie. Joo knew this for a fact. She lives on her routine and gets upset when things don’t go the way they’re supposed to. She knows they never pick up Yerim unnie until after lunch when she’s had her nap and a change. Why were they here?
“Here we are! First day of school for Joohyunnie! Aren’t you excited, bunny?”
Wendy parks the car, happily stepping out to get Joo from the back, only to be met with confusion and great resistance. Joo was gripping on the straps of her car seat with a death grip, looking at her umma with big pleading eyes that were quickly filling with tears. She shakes her head frantically. She’s too small for school. Why would Umma think she’d be excited, that this place was special or fun?
“It’s okay, baby. You’re gonna have so much fun. Yerim unnie is here and so is Auntie Sooyoung remember?”
Joo shakes her head. “N-Nah!”
Wendy had expected this and prepared for the occasion. It was her fault, really. Ever since she found Joohyun and brought her home, she had kept her close under her protective watch and care. Her baby was her whole world. But Joohyun was ready, her instincts knew it.
The tiny frail Little on the verge of death she found abandoned in that alleyway had blossomed into such a sweet and loving girl, so kind and thoughtful despite being so young. Joohyun was ready.
She calmly unbuckles the straps despite Joohyun’s screams and cries of protests, ignoring the kicks and little punches coming her way.
Umma tricked her, Joo thinks. Umma lied.
When they went inside the academy last week to pick up Yerim unnie and coincidentally went the wrong way down into the Caterpillar Hall instead of the Rabbit Hall where Yerim’s classroom was. Or when umma took Joo to go shop for clothes and bought her a pretty backpack with Peter Rabbit hopping around all over it.
It was all for this, Joohyun realizes.
Wendy picks up the bub and holds her close, grabbing the backpack and shuts the door before walking towards the building. There were parents looking and staring at them but Wendy paid no mind to the stares. This wasn’t an uncommon scene at the academy. Every school year, there’s always a couple of Littles or kids who are afraid to go.
And this year, Joo was one of them. Joohyun continues to wail as they walk in, hiding her face in umma’s neck even though she was really upset with umma. No matter how upset she was, she was more scared than anything.
She feels herself being lowered and screams, but umma shushes her and rubs her back gently.
“It’s okay, bunny. You’re alright. Umma’s here.”
Wendy sat them down on a bench outside Joo’s classroom, holding the poor bub close as she tried to comfort her. Despite the happy face she put on for Joohyun, a part of her feels guilty for leaving her. She had been wanting to go back to work for awhile now, but one look at Joo and she’d forget all about it. It took a lot of convincing from her friends and family to even get her to do this. Over time, she started to see that they were right. This would be good for Joohyun. Wendy regrets not preparing her better, or even being honest with Joo about it.
“Mma…mma!” Joohyun wailed.
Wendy nuzzles into the Little’s hair, pulling her closer and holding her tight. “My sweet girl…umma’s precious bunny…look at me, Joo. Look at umma, baby.”
She can feel Joohyun shake her head, burying closer into her neck. “Joohyun, look at umma.”
Only then did Joo pull away, knowing Umma was serious when she used her full name.
“You’re gonna be okay, I promise. You’ll have fun and make friends. You’ll have a great teacher. And if you need anything, Auntie Soo is here to help. Umma will be back, baby. Umma would never leave her baby like that.”
Joohyun just clutches onto her again, going back to hide and cry, and Wendy lets her.
When it comes time to start class, Joo ends up putting up a big fight, thrashing around and trying to claw her way back into Wendy’s arms when she tries to set her down on the rug with the other Littles. Joohyun’s teacher, Ms. Sunny had to step in and help and Joo wouldn’t have in, even getting a kick in at the woman. But Joo was small, and eventually, all the crying tired her out and she sat on the rug in defeat as she wailed for umma to come back and take her home as Wendy waved goodbye to her sadly before leaving the classroom. There were only seven Littles in Joohyun’s class and they all stared at their classmate as she screamed and wailed.
Ms. Sunny does her best to comfort Joohyun that first day, but Joohyun kept crying and screaming herself sick, resulting in a trip to the Nurse Yoona’s office, where Joohyun once again put up a fight when they tried to change her out of her soiled, vomit covered clothes. Joo didn’t want them to take her special clothes away; they were hers and umma got them for her. It was standard protocol to change a Little if they got messy to ensure their comfort, but Joohyun refused to let any of them touch her. Only umma was allowed to change her. Both Sunny and Yoona eventually decided to let her be, allowing her the time to calm down in the crib the academy had in the nurse’s office. Only then were they able to change her when she fell asleep from exhaustion, dressing her in a clean white onesie issued by the academy for these situations.
Joo naps the whole school day, due to a combination of exhaustion and hopes it was all a bad dream and umma would come save her. And umma does, later that day. Wendy is the first parent to arrive before all the others, speed walking into the building as quickly as she could. She had gotten a call from Joo’s teacher about what happened and wanted to leave the office to pick up her baby and take her home and never try this whole school thing again. But already on her first day, she had gotten so much work assigned to her that she couldn’t walk away from. Needless to say, Wendy was just as miserable to be apart from her baby.
So when she walks into the building and to Yoona’s office, her heart breaks when Yoona leads her to the nursery where Joo was, curled up into a tight ball in a plain white onesie that Wendy definitely did not dress her in that morning. The poor bub’s eyes were red and swollen, and the blonde could see the dry tear marks on the Little’s cheeks. Joo was whimpering in her sleep, sniffling pitifully.
Wendy rushes to her right away, lifting her from the crib and holding her close, whispering reassurances and apologies over and over.
“Oh Joohyun…I’m so sorry, baby. Umma’s so sorry, sweetheart…”
Joohyun wakes up groggily with a whimper, taking in the familiar scent with a sniffle before looking up to see her umma before letting out a fresh wail of tears, clinging to her tightly. Umma came back. Umma was saying sorry. Joo feels relieved, thinking umma would never do this to her again, never take her to this foreign place and leave her.
Except she does a couple of days later. After the incident that first day, Wendy kept Joohyun home from school for a few days in an effort to comfort her and prepare her better. Joohyun was just glad to (seemingly) go back to her routine at home with her umma.
But the baby couldn’t be more wrong. Because the next week, umma takes her back. Umma tries to set her down while she fights and screams. Umma ends up leaving. And Joo is stuck there again, crying her eyes out in a room with strangers.
This goes on for a few days before Joohyun eventually figured out that despite umma taking her to this place, she always comes back for her. And that thought makes Joohyun hopeful each day, developing a routine she doesn’t even realize.
The school day starts with the drop off, which is always the hardest part (aside from when Ms. Sunny tries to change her and she refuses with a banshee scream). The first few weeks, Joohyun would cry when Wendy left, but now that she knows umma will come back for her, she can only pout sadly as umma waves goodbye to her from the window.
After that, Ms. Sunny would greet the Littles and start class off with a few songs and nursery songs to put everyone in a happy mood. While all the Littles sat in front of her on the big rainbow rug, Joohyun always retreated to the corner, to which Ms. Sunny let’s her with a soft smile, knowing Joohyun was still trying to adjust to everything. She was, after all, the youngest in her class. And the faculty was informed of Joohyun’s past, so they made sure to be extra gentle with the Little.
The school day basically consisted of activities Joohyun would do at home with umma: feeding time, snack time, play time, nap time, etc. except now she had to do it here with Ms. Sunny and these other people who seemed like her. And while she didn’t cry as much anymore, these were things she did with umma. She didn’t understand why she had to do it with these people all of a sudden.
It wasn’t until the fourth week of school that Joohyun finally, kind of, maybe made a friend. Ms. Sunny had slowly but gently been trying to get her to participate with the class more, having her sit on the rug with her Little classmates the whole allotted time instead of allowing her to crawl off into her corner whenever she wanted. Or having her play some games and share toys with others. She was incredibly patient and understanding of the small Little, who easily got overwhelmed and moved to tears. Joohyun was also the student who needed the most help with things, like holding her bottle or learning to share.
With her history, there were things Joo was never taught as Little. And now that she has Wendy, she was essentially a spoiled only child, albeit traumatized. But Joo was learning and Sunny was proud of her progress.
So when she witnesses a student toddle over to Joohyun with a toy in hand, she watches in anticipation, hoping this would be the time Joohyun allows herself to open up to others, especially others like herself.
Joohyun was fiddling with a toy block when the Little came over, plopping down in front of her with a toy dump truck in hand and sticking her hand out, smiling wide as she waited for Joo to do the same.
“Hi!” the girl chirped, startling Joo.
She looks up from her toy block to see her classmate, dressed in a white sweater and denim overalls, with blue sneakers with laces and a backwards red cap.
This Little was older than her and Joo knew it. She could tell from the laces on the girl’s shoes. Joo’s shoes didn’t have those, only velcro because she was too small for laces. This girl wasn’t small like her. She was bigger, older. Joo hopes this girl didn’t come over to hurt her. The only Little she trusted was her Yerim unnie anyway. She didn’t need anyone else.
“My name,” the girl greets, pointing to her name tag happily, “Hyojin!”
“Yo’ name,” the toddler points at Joohyun’s name tag, startling her once again, “Joo! Hyojin an’ Joo!”
The girls nods once, satisfied at having introduced herself and her new friend on her behalf.
“We go p’ay, yeah?” the toddler, Hyojin, asks, pointing to the single block in Joo’s hand and over to the pile she had pulled out. But Joo shakes her head. She only ever played blocks with her Yerim unnie. This girl might play it wrong and it would all go against Joo’s routine that she loved and breathed for.
Joo’s response doesn’t deter Hyojin in the slightest, seeing as the toddler hums before jumping up a moment later, pulling the bucket of blocks over with her and dumping it between them. “Hyojin p’ay wif Joo, ‘kay?”
Joo watches carefully as the older girl takes a few blocks of her own, stacking them up to make what appears to be a house before knocking it over and cheering. Joo’s lips twitch into a small smile. Maybe this unnie did know how to play blocks right. Hesitantly, Joohyun starts building on her own, not noticing Hyojin watching her with a smile. Eventually, both Littles start building and knocking down their creations, with Hyojin letting Joo pick her block pieces first.
Joohyun didn’t realize how much fun she was having until Ms. Sunny announced it was nap time and came over to help them clean up the blocks. She puts the toys away with a pout, oblivious to her teacher’s amused smile.
The rest of the day, Hyojin sticks with Joo. She tugs her sleep mat over to Joo’s, shares her snacks with her, and sits with Joohyun on the rainbow rug for the remaining activities. And If Joohyun could form a sentence, she’d express how nice it felt to not feel so lonely in an unfamiliar place.
When umma picks her up at the end of the day, she shocks umma and Ms. Sunny when she turns to shyly wave goodbye to Hyojin, who waves back in delight at having made another friend before toddling into her mother’s arms.
Wendy smiles, bouncing the bub as she walks them out of the building. “Who was that, baby? Was that unnie one of your classmates?”
And after a moment, Joo answers softly behind her paci.
