Ninja Stars

He sat on the big chair with his legs folded and tucked underneath him, little hands adeptly working with bits of ripped paper. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on formulating the words and letters I was testing him on. Barely looking up, his eyes trained on the page in front of him, he continued to tenderly care for his little craft beneath the edge of the desk he leaned against. Upon finishing the page, I leaned over to peek at his work and seeing my interest he said eagerly, eyes shining,  “It’s going to be a ninja star.”

He went back to his seat eventually, and at the end of the class when I had just finished testing the last student, I felt something brush against my elbow.

I found that my little friend had slid the completed star across the table, with his name fondly scrawled across it.  ~

This boy has always been labeled as a disruptive, hyper and rebellious student in the class, with teachers always responding to his little hiccups as reasons to punish him, and unfortunately to shout. After working with him for this while, bending down and looking into his little face after mishaps, and episodes of stubbornness…I think today, I may have won this little guy’s heart❤️