Mrs. Delancey pressed her lips together and raised an eyebrow, but she took a step back and waited. Sure enough, Jeff managed to move his chair where it needed to be. He turned and beamed at his mother, who softened instantly and gave her son a double thumbs-up, and a small conciliatory nod to Annika.

Crisis averted. Things were going smoothly. Annika smiled to herself, proud that her children were doing so well. She relaxed.

That was her first mistake.

Annika had barely sighed relief when loud voices erupted from across the room.

She turned to find two girls screaming at each other. Ashley, her dark locks shaking with indignation, was screaming at Miranda, who was wailing with her little fists balled at her sides.

“You took my spot, Ashley!”

“You grabbed the green pencil from me!”

“Did not. I don’t even like your stupid pencil.”

“My pencil is not stupid!” Ashley stamped her foot and shoved Miranda before Annika could get over to them.

Before Annika could do anything, both Ashley’s and Miranda’s mothers were at their daughters’ sides.

Miranda’s mother clutched her daughter, soothing her while Ashley’s mother tried to explain that we do not shove, even if the other person uses bad words. Jeff, of the successful chair move, was currently drawing on the little boy next to him, who had started to cry.

Both girls’ mothers were glaring darts at each other, and now the other children started crying from all the commotion in the room.

Annika tried to pacify each child in turn but to no avail, and the parents were turning on her faster than anything. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Mitch edging his way toward the back wall, away from the commotion, his eyes wide with fear. Mitch’s father was glaring at her, a level of superior satisfaction emitting from his smile.

Now all of the parents of the crying children were trying simultaneously to calm their children and chastise Annika for losing control in the first place. Miranda’s and Ashley’s mothers had now started yelling at each other, and more than one parent was asking Annika what the hell was going on. In the midst of all this, her classroom phone rang. She glanced in its direction and then promptly ignored it. Another child had decided to simply lie on the floor and scream.