Kaden's P.O.V
I started packing up my things for the end of the day when I felt someone's presence at my desk.
"Vivian," I smiled, packing the rest of my belongings into my bag, "what can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if you could help me with the test that's coming up on laws of physics?" She asked, shuffling from side to side.
"I can't give you the answers but I can give you some revision sheets to help you study if you'd like?"
"Um yes that'd be nice," she smiled.
"You know it's only five percent of your grade Vivian? You don't have to get a hundred percent," I reminded her, earning a small blush on her cheeks.
"I-I know I just want to pass," She replied, holding her head down. I looked at my phone and noticed I had thirty minutes before I needed to pick Jasmine up for her physiatrist appointment.
"I know you'll pass Vivian, you're a really bright student," I reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I have some time before I pick up my daughter if you want to run through today's lesson?" I asked her.
"Uh yes that would be nice, but I don't want to keep you," she replied, scratching the back of her neck.
"Of course not, it's not a problem," I smiled, placing my stuff down and sitting on my desk. Vivian sat on the desk in front of me and pulled at her pleated skirt to reach mid thigh.
"So without looking at your notes, tell me what Newton's third law is," I watched as Vivian played with the hem of her white shirt uniform as she thought.
"Uh it's something like every action there's an opposite and equal reaction?" She questioned, letting her eyes meet mine.
"Yes that's correct," I smiled, earning a smile from her.
"So How would you apply the time to driving a car?" I asked, knowing she needed to break down the question and the law.
"Um," she starts, scratching the back of her neck, "the tires spin and," she stopped, furrowing her eyebrows, "um I don't know," she mumbled, her cheeks turning red.
"It's okay," I reassured her, putting my hand on her knee, "let me break it down for you," I continued, removing my hand.
"When a car drives forward, which way does the road go?"
"Uh backwards?"
"Yes so when the tires spin against the road, it causes it to move backwards," I explained, earning a confused look from Vivian, "because the forces are from mutual reactions, the road also forces the wheels forward and that's how sometimes if people accelarate too quickly they roll their tyres becusw the force isn't equal,"
"Oh," she breathed, "that makes sense," she nodded, tucking her hair away from her face.
"You just have to break down the questions into little parts," I smiled, standing up and grabbing my things, "I'll bring some revision sheets tomorrow for the rest on Monday so you can overlook them on the weekend,"
"Thank you Miss Longmore,"
"Please, call me Kaden when it's just us," I smiled, hating whenever people called me Miss Longmore.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Kaden," she smiled, her cheeks blushing slightly.
"See you tomorrow Vivian, have a good afternoon," I smiled, opening the door for her.
"You too," she smiled, brushing past me out of the classroom. I checked I had all of my belongings before quickly making my way towards Jasmines school that was around the corner.
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I held Jasmines hand as we walked into the high rise building. We came here every Tuesday for her appointment with her physiatrist Margaret. We went up the escalator which Jasmine loves to do and she would always ask me if we could keep going up and down but I always told her no. I don't know why she had an obsession with escalators but she did. We walked towards Margarets waiting room.
"Go play with the toys," I ushered Jasmine over to the corner.
"Hi Kaden how are you?" Polly the assistant greeted me.
"I'm good, how are you Polly?"
"Good, hows Jasmine been this week?" She asked as we both glanced over at her playing with the blocks.
"She's been good, she's had a few upsetting moments but she's been good," Isniled.
"Margaret will see you both shortly," she smiled. I nodded, sitting in the chair that was near Jasmine. I watched as she stacked the blocks on top of one another, making sure they were all the same colours together. That was another thing about Jasmine. No matter what the food was, she never liked it when her food was touching the other. If we had vegetables, she hated if the juice went through her other foods. Most people would say she was a fussy eater but I knew it was part of her autism and it wasn't hard to make things comfortable for her. I was just lucky she was at the higher end of the spectrum.
"Jasmine," Margaret called from her door. She quickly hopped up, straightening out her school dress before holding her hand out. I grabbed her hand and walked with her towards a smiling Margaret. She smiled at me before sitting in her seat.
"How are we today Jasmine?" She asked as we sat in our usual seats.
"I'm good," she replied, swinging her legs back and forth.
"How has everything been this week?" She asked me, grabbing out Jasmines notes.
"She's been pretty good, homework is still stressing her out but apart from that it's been the same," I replied, feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket.
"How's school been Jasmine?" She asked her as she played with the end of her dress.
"Good," she replied, looking up at Margaret.
"Should we play the card game first up?" She asked, earning a fast nod from Jasmine. As she grabbed the cards out I swiped out my phone and saw Megan's name on my screen notifiying me that she had sent me a text. I quickly unlocked my phone.
Meagan Jones: Did you make it to school on time today?
Kaden Longmore: I actually made it early today. Jasmine decided she was in a cooperative mood haha.
"What does this one mean?" Margaret asked, holding up a card that had a happy face on it. Jasmine looked at the card, turning her head slightly as she chewed on her finger.
"Smiling?"
"That's good Jasmine. What's the other word we use?"
"Happy!"
"And what does it mean to be happy?" Margaret asked as I felt my phone vibrate again. I didn't want to be rude and answer it again but I really wanted to know what Megan said.
Megan Jones: Well that's good. I'm sure Jasmine doesn't mean to make you late.
Kaden Longmore: No, she just needs things a certain way.
I texted back not wanting to tell her too much about Jasmines autism because I didn't really know her.
"Okay Jasmine, are you ready for a new face?"
"Mmm I don't know," she mumbled, her eyebrows furrowing as she let her thumb fall into her mouth.
"It's okay if you get it wrong Jasmine, we will learn it eventually," Margaret smiled holding up a card that was frowning. Jasmine looked at the card, sucking on her thumb as she kicked her legs.
"Have a guess," Margaret encouraged her.
"It looks like the one that looks like the sad one," she spoke, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Can you see the difference in the pictures?" Margaret asked, holding them side by side. I could see the eyes and eyebrows were different but I knew it was going to be hard for Jasmine to spot it. I felt my phone vibrate and quickly pulled it out.
Megan Jones: I can relate, I hate when people wear odd socks
Kaden Longmore: Odd sucks huh? Some people don't have time to find the other sock
I looked up and watched as Jasmine was now doing a worksheet as Margaret assessed her abilities and ques while she competed it.
Megan Jones: please tell me you don't wear odd socks...
Kaden Longmore: I have them on right now...
Megan Jones: for someone who was early this morning, you're telling me you didn't have time to wear matching socks?
Kaden Longmore: That I did not haha
"So Jasmine, how did you think that went?" Margaret asked her as she played with the pencil in her hands.
"I think okay,"
"Did you find that you could focus on each question or were you focusing on all of them?"
"I was focusing on too many and it was beginning to stress me out," she replied.
"We're you able to stop and think about just one?"
"I think so but not for long," she replied, putting the pencil down on the desk.
"I think you did really well today Jasmine. Would you like to choose a couple of stickers?" Margaret asked as she took the sticker box out of her draw.
"Yes please," Jasmine nodded, grabbing the box and quickly looking through the stickers.
"She's definitely improving with how she interprets information but as I've said before this is something she's going to deal with her whole life especially as she gets older and has to learn more things," Margaret explained to me as we watched Jasmine.
"She's improved greatly from when we first started seeing her and with time she's going to keep progressing but it'll be at a slow pace," I nodded, listening to Margaret. Jasmine held the two stickers in her hand as she put the lid back on the box.
"All done?" Margaret asked. Jasmine nodded.
"What do we say?" I asked her.
"Thank you," she mumbled, holding the dinosaur and smiley face sticker.
"Same time next week?" Margaret asked me.
"Yes please, thank you," I replied, shaking her hand.
"I'll see you next week Jasmine," Margaret smiled.
"Okay," she replied before we both made our way out of the office towards the car. I felt my phone vibrate thinking it could be Megan again. I grabbed out my phone as we were on the elevator.
Megan Jones: I'll be in Australia next week, what's the possibility of me seeing you?
My heart fluttered slightly at her text. Why would someone as famous as Megan want to hang out with someone as normal and boring as me? I thought about how to reply.
Kaden Jones: I'm at school 8-3:30 and I have appointments till 4:30 so possibly after?
"Mummy can we go back up the escalator?" Jasmine asked once we reached the bottom.
"Just once," I replied, walking to the up escalator with her. She giggled in excitement as we stepped up. I knew that this was the only time I could talk to Megan before Jasmine fell asleep tonight so going up and down the escalator again wouldn't hurt.
Megan Jones: Even If it's 30min I won't mind. As long as you're okay with me visiting you? You're allowed to say no, it won't break my heart (much)
I laughed at her reply, earning Jasmine to look at me confused as we went back to the down escalator.
Kaden Longmore- I just don't know why you want to hang when you're famous and can hang with people like Jenifer Lawrence and stuff. But no I'll let you know when I'm free.
Megan Jones: So you know Jennifer and not me? *insert broken heart* I'd prefer to hang out with you. I look forward to seeing you Kaden :)
Kaden Longmore: I'll see you soon Megan
I smiled at her text, liking how easily we could talk to one another. I tugged on Jasmine's hand towards the car so she didn't bolt for the escalator again. If I ever lost Jasmine in a supermarket. The first place to look are the escalators because she will 90% of her time be there just going up and down until she got so tired so needed to sleep.
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It was now Jasmines bath time so I made my way down the hall towards the bathroom to turn the bath on. I could hear her talking to herself in her room. That was another thing she did. Whether she was just walking through the house or playing with her toys, she always found herself talking to herself about all sorts of things. At first I thought she might've been going a little mad but Margaret explained its part of her autism. Jasmine has Aspergers and the lowside Of ADHD. She takes medication for both which is a challenge every morning to give to her because she never wants to take them.
"Jasmine!" I called, filling up the bathtub with her favourite pink bubble soap.
"Yes Mumma?!" I heard her call back from her room.
"It's eight, which means it's bath time," I called back, stopping the water once it was at the right level.
"But I don't want a bath," she groaned. I got up from the floor, making my way into her room. She looked up at me from under her bed. She was squished between two boxes of her toys and only her head and arms were visible. Sometimes I would find her in the weirdest of places. Usually if she's had a meltdown, I would always find her inside the cupboard squished in with her pillow and her duvet.
She liked confined spaces because it made her feel safe.
"You know the routine Jasmine," I sighed, kneeling so I was crouching in front of her. She looked up at me, opening her mouth so I could see her little buck teeth.
"But I don't feel like one,"
"Every Monday and Thursday we wash your hair Jasmine and it's Thursday today so we have to have a bath," I explained.
"Fine," She grumbled, pulling herself from out under the bed. I helped her, moving the boxes aside. She slipped out, holding her arms open for me to carry her. She was getting too big for me to carry. She was smaller then other people her age but she was still getting too big to carry. I picked her up with a huff, feeling my back hurt slightly, before carrying her to the bathroom.
Jasmine still wasn't the best at washing her hair herself so I had to help her because if I let her do it, she'd leave soap in it and wouldn't let me wash it out later.
"Mumma can you do the Mohawk again?" She asked as she climbed into the bath and I helped her sit down, grabbing the dishcloth to help her wash her skin.
"Of course," I smiled, handing her the cloth as I grabbed the small bucket to put water through her hair. I watched as she grabbed some of her toys that were in the bath tub and started playing with them.
"Tilt your head back," I spoke softly. She listened, holding the rubber Duckie in the air. I grabbed the conditioner and shampoo and rubbed it through her hair. She put the duck down and put her hands in her hair too, helping me brush it up into a mowark. She stood from the tub so she could look in the mirror.
"Hehe look!" She laughed, pointing to herself in the mirror. I took this chance to scrub over her back, stomach and legs before she sat down.
"Ready for the water?" I asked, scooping the water from the bath. She nodded, tilting her head back. I carefully poured the water, watching her squint her eyes, as she squeezed her hands in fists. I tried to quickly wash the soap out of her hair but it was difficult when she kept moving away when I accidentally put water on her face.
"Sorry pumpkin," I sighed, putting the bucket down once I had finished washing the soap out. She wiped her eyes, opening them before finding her toys again.
"Let me see your fingers," I smiled. She held her hands up and they were beginning to wrinkle which meant it was time to get out. I pulled the plug, standing up with a towel. She quickly got out, running into the towel and began drying herself. I went to grab her pj's when she ran past me butt naked back to her room. Another thing about Jasmine was for some reason she hated wearing clothes at home, especially after a bath.
"Jasmine!" I called, grabbing her clothes and walking into her room. She was sitting on her bed, sucking her thunb.
"You need to put your pyjamas on,"
"No," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Jasmine," I scolded, walking towards her.
"Mumma no!" She threw her hands up, and began to get teary eyed.
"Jasmine please don't, you know you sleep in your pyjamas every night,"
"I don't want to!" She cried, throwing her arms up again.
"Jasmine," I sighed, watching her ball her eyes out in front of me. I opened up her shirt, slipping it over her head as she cried louder telling me no. I knew there was no way I was going to get her pants on until I calmed her down so I laid on the bed, moving the covers and pulled her under and into my embrace. She was thrashing her arms, crying as I tucked her in tight and held onto her. I kept holding onto her, placing kisses on her forehead until she calmed down, resting her head into my shoulder. Her cries had calmed down and eventually she had fallen asleep. I felt myself getting tired and before I could even think about going into my own bed, I fell asleep in her princess bed full of toys.