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“Yes miss, sorry miss,” said an older boy, laughing as she picked the ball up.

She was on playground duty, something she’d never have done in the States, but that she strangely enjoyed here. A little time to herself, as long as she kept her eyes wide open, but there was rarely any trouble. Whitebridge Primary was small enough that everyone knew each other and for the most part, the older kids kept an eye on the younger ones.

She was approaching the school gate, where she’d left a mug of coffee balanced on the wall, when Jake Lowell strode through it.

“Afternoon, Ms. Stanford,” he said.

“Afternoon. Been taking a sneaky long lunch?”

He smiled at her and Ava thought that he looked tired. “I wish. Been at the council meeting.”

“Ah.”

“Ah, yes,” said Lowell. “They got the parent’s petition.”

“And?”

He shrugged. “And now we wait and see. There’s nothing that can be done.”

“Fingers crossed then.”

“Fingers crossed,” agreed Jake.

“Ms. Stanford, what’s a petition?”

Hope looked down to see Alice Perkins looking up at her with big dark eyes, Clara Buxton right next to her.

“I think I’ll leave that one to you,” Lowell said to Ava as he walked off toward his office.

“Well,” Ava said, considering this carefully. “Let’s say that you want to stay in the classroom but everyone else wants to go out and play.”

“Okay,” said Alice.

“I wouldn’t want to stay inside,” Clara put in.

“Hush,” Alice said. She was much better at dealing with hypotheticals than the very concrete Clara.

“It wouldn’t be very fair if you made everyone stay inside with you,” Ava went on, talking directly to Alice. “But how do you know what other people want?”

“You ask them,” Alice said immediately.

“Well, a petition is a way of showing that other people support your idea,” Ava said. “So if you want to stay inside you write on a piece of paper that staying inside is a good idea. Then you ask people to sign their names on your paper. When you’ve asked as many people as you can, you take your petition to someone in charge, like a president or a prime minister or a teacher, and show them that you’re not the only person that wants to stay inside. Lots of other people want to stay inside too.”

Alice looked thoughtful.

“It’s like if I want pizza for dinner,” Clara said. “It’s better if I get my brothers to ask for pizza too, that way my mum gives us pizza. If it’s just me and they want hamburgers then I don’t get pizza.”

“Power in numbers,” Ava agreed. “The more agreement you have, the more likely you are to get what you want.”

Alice nodded in understanding.

“Off you go,” said Ava. “Break time’s nearly over.”

Alice and Clara walked away, heads bent together in earnest discussion and Ava smiled as she watched them.

She liked Alice, she truly did. She liked her and she didn’t want to hurt her.

A few months ago she’d never have considered having a child in her life. Now she was putting a child’s needs and wants above her own.