Chapter One

They say that where some grow up, others merely grow older. From an outsider’s perspective, the latter could be applied to Sabrina. 

The young girl, who admired with starry eyes the adventures of fairies in a magical world, had in fact grown into a proper adult. But unlike others in the mid-twenties, that glistening shine that had festered that day in the packed mall remained lodged in her eyes. 

Or at least it had until a few months ago. Back when the implications of life and the impact of a faithful day darkened the twinkle. 

But that was something Sabrina herself forced to the back of her mind, especially in the present as she plastered a large toothy smile across her face. Right now she needed to be her best, to give her all to the task at hand. And that said task was making a child forgo their tears. 

There were many things Sabrina enjoyed about her job as a kindergarten teacher. The look of awe in her students’ eyes when they discovered something new about the world around them. Their bright and cheery disposition. It all filled her heart with pure bliss and left her feeling fulfilled. 

What she didn’t love, however, was seeing her beloved students’ crying expressions. 

Oh, and playground duty. 

Both of which lead to the present. 

It was the first nice day after nearly a week of unpleasant rain storms, and the students were more than ready to burn off their pent up energy. Said energy was in full display across the small and compact play area. The sound of young children’s voices and squeals filled the air. Streaks of every color of the rainbow flashed by as a cluster of students raced across the grass in a game of tag. It was a delightful sight to be had. But the hapazard atmosphere often lead to less than favorable occurrences.

 And well, accidents were more likely to happen. Like her resident budding class artist Katie doing a number on her knee. 

The petite girl with braids hadn’t honestly stood much of a chance against her overly enthusiastic classmates. Sabrina had seen it happen, though she honestly wished she hadn’t as the scene played out in slow motion before her eyes. And she really wished she wasn’t looking at such a deep gash. It was enough she was fighting down the bile that was rising in her throat. There was no way the child’s fathers would be too pleased by this development. 

But that was for future Sabrina to tend to, present Sabrina first needed to calm her student down and somehow do damage control first. 

“Oh, it’s okay dearie,” Sabrina began in a light melodic tone as she fished around in a first aid kit. “It’s just a little, itty bitty scrape. I’ll have you back playing with your friends before you can say…um…hehe..” The woman’s voice trailed off, her smile became slightly lopsided as she did what she could to remain her composer as her student’s tears trickled down her flushed cheeks.

Mentally, Sabrina rummaged through her library of solutions. Crack a couple jokes? No, Katie was always so shy that getting a laugh out of her wouldn’t be effective. What was that popular YouTube channel her students were into again… her mind was drawing a blank. A fact that was clearly written all across her face. 

Before Sabrina had time to form any type of plan, she found herself diving into the chorus of the first song that came to mind, ‘The Chiwambo Song’. Was her voice completely and totally off-key, absolutely. Her voice was as far a cry away from the angelic Elisa Rossslli as one could get. But it was the best she could come up with on the fly.  At the back of her mind, she recalled the advice of her high school drama teacher. 

He always said if you end up messing up make it big, make it funny and own it…

So Sabrina did just that. As she tenderly disinfected the injury, she began to bobble around as makeshift choreography to draw Katie’s eyes away from her knee. There was absolutely no question in Sabrina’s mind that she looked utterly ridiculous, and that the other teachers were likely gaping at her. 

She didn’t mind. Sabrina would always be willing to swallow her pride for a child in need.

As she went into the next verse of the song, Katie’s tears lessened and the young girl’s shoulders slumped as the tension in her body decreased. 

Now with her student more relaxed, Sabirna began to pick up the pace and with a few movements of the wrist she had successfully wrapped the dark complexioned girl’s knee in a bandage. Now all that remained of the accident was a memory and a slightly runny nose. 

Mission accomplished. 

–

“Have a good evening, everyone,” Sabrina’s voice chimed through her brightly colored classroom and down the hall as her students rushed out the door for the dismissal bell. As she watched the last of her students filter out of the room, Sabrina fell back into her desk chair and drew a breath as she recounted the rest of her day. 

After the little accident with Katie in the playground, she had been dealt with the task of calling her student’s parents about the minor accident. Though she had been apprehensive, both Mr. Barna and Mr. Janko had accepted her surprise call rather well. Unlike other parents Sabrina had dealt with in the past, the two had been focused solely on their daughter’s well being. And bonus- they hadn’t done the overbearing parent thing and blamed her.

Dear god, love parents like that!

Everything else in the day, well it was rather uneventful. Or at least what passed as such in the daily life of a kindergarten teacher. And with the end of the school year and summer holidays fast approaching, everyone was on full speed mode. Though there was much to do and complete, Sabrina made sure to treasure each moment she had with her class regardless of how mundane they might be.

Focused in her thoughts, Sabrina didn’t notice the figure standing in her doorframe. A slender older woman about twenty years her senior. “Deep in thought, Miss. Lee.”

Alarmed by the presence of another, Sabrina jolted in her seat as her eyes made their way towards her counterpart. A spark of nervousness sent small beads of sweat down the back of her neck. “Mrs. Janiszewki, I’m sorry…” Her voice cracked as she straightened her back and started to stand, “what do I owe this visit.”

I’m so in trouble…

“Oh,” Mrs. Janiszewki waved her hand as she strolled into the classroom. “Sit. Sit, hon. No need to stand for me.” She clicked her tongue as she surveyed the classroom, a light smile formed on the older woman’s face. She expanded her arms and gestured around the open space.  “You have been here for how many years now, hon? This room is your own now. So it’s high time you just start calling me Paula.”

A small nervous laugh slipped through Sabrina’s lips. “O-oh-kay, Paula..Is this about what happened with Katie Barna-Janko, because-”

Before Sabrina could continue, Paula raised a hand and nodded. Sabrina couldn’t help but feel her stomach do a flop as her boss pulled a child size seat over towards her desk and lowered herself into the plastic lounge. If the circumstances weren’t what they are, the scene would almost be comical. A well-dressed woman in hues of springtime green sitting on a paint splattered children’s chair attempting to look Sabrina in the eyes.  

Sensing her employee’s apprehensiveness, a warm smile formed on Paula’s face as she clasped her hands together, “Those two, despite their reputation as sharks in a courtroom truly are the most doting of fathers. I was chatting with them before they headed out with Katie, and they wanted to pass along their thanks to you.”

“Huh?” Sabrina blinked once, and then again. Her fingers brushed against her ear as she brushed back the strands of her hair. Her eyes narrowed as she questioned if he had heard correctly. 

Paula began nodding her head enthusiastically, “Oh yes. They had been concerned about Katie, as you could assume, but when they saw her happily race towards them and Katie shared how you took care of her. Well, they seemed far calmer. Apparently she is a bit uneasy when it comes to seeing blood, poor things, so they were concerned she wouldn’t fare well. So hearing she did so well- let’s just say they were highly pleased.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I’m glad things worked out so well. Katie really worked up there, the injury was pretty nasty. But the shock was probably just as bad.”

“Hmm,” Paula nodded her head as she put her hand to her cheek. “But they are far from the only parents to come and share their regards for you.” Sabrina’s eyes widened, her fingers curled under as her nails dug into her palms. A look of bewilderment formed on her face at the news. 

Sure, she had a few parents thank her rather recently for an array of reasons. And many had been very generous with classroom gifts. But she had assumed they were simply kind people. After all, her own parents had done such actions towards her own teachers back in Sabrina’s youth. But for parents to speak directly to the head of the school. That was unexpected.

Sabrina felt her face grow warm, “I had no idea…”

Paula let out a small laugh at Sabrina’s girlish response. Try as Sabrina might, her youthful face and often animated expressions often made her appear younger than her actual age. On one hand, it made her more approachable to her students. But it also worked in her disfavor more often than not. There had never been a time where Sabrina had been able to enter into as much as a mature film without being asked for her identification. And job interviews and first introductions to parents were always awkward. 

“Oh yes. Parents absolutely adore you. I have even had some ask me if there would be any way to get you to teach their kids again in the next grade.”

By this point, Sabrina’s face was warm enough to bake on. And any chance of her remaining composure was forfeited. 

“With that said,” the atmosphere changed as Paula reconfigured herself in the chair. She propped her chin up on her hand resting on top of her knee cap. The cheerful and airy tone in her voice grew serious. “Brings me to what I wanted to speak to you about today.”

“You’re good, Sabrina. Over the decades I have been in education I have seen many teachers. There have been some that clearly shouldn’t have entered our field, others that are average, and very, very few that have a true calling for this. You, Sabrina, fall into that category.”

“Today with Katie alone shows how deeply you care, the endless testimonials I have gotten from parents since you started here…there is endless proof of the impact you have made here. You may have not formally been a student of mine, but I do consider myself to be a teacher to my employees. And like every good teacher, I can see that your wings are growing and soon this place isn’t going to be enough to contain you.”

Paula paused for a moment, studying Sabrina’s frozen expression before continuing. Paula’s eyes softened as she reached for her employee’s hand, “I know that this year hasn’t been easy. I can see the weight that hovers above you, I’m not even going to try and pretend that I can relate. I can’t, but I do wish you never had to….”

Paula pulled her eyes away as she caught a few small tears festering in Sabrina’s eyes. “You. You Sabrina Lee are so much more than you see. And there is a world out there that you can and will do so much good in. But maybe, at least for now, there is a place somewhere beyond our cityscape where you can spread and grow those wings of yours.”

“I have a friend from college, who is the headmaster of a boarding school in England. The school he’s at is looking at expanding into lower levels, and he is looking for top talent.” Paula gave Sabrina’s hands a squeeze. “I think that talent is you, Sabrina.”

Speechless, Sabrina sat there completely frozen as she mentally replayed the words of her boss in her mind. Talent. Wings. England. England. Her heart began to race as her inner voice cried out how insane it all was. Her home was here, everything was here…England?!

Sabrina shook her head, sending her back to reality, “Whoa. I’m- England?”

Paula nodded, “I know it’s a ways from our corner of the world. But think of the opportunities- the possibilities. I cannot think of anyone better. Not only are you a born teacher, but you have a better grasp on the English language than some native speakers I know.”

Well, that is because I spent so much time on the Winx English forums….but I’m not admitting that one here.

Sabrina opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. But what words could even suffice in this case? Her mind was swimming trying to process things. 

Sensing that Sabrina was overwhelmed, Paula gave her employee’s hands a squeeze. “It’s okay to not know. I realize I might have overloaded ya, so I want you to take your time and give this one a good think, okay? This is all still very early on too, they still have logistics and that headache to figure out before they can even formally take applications. You have plenty of time to decide and even change your mind if you want. But I want you to know that there are so many doors out there for you, Sabrina. And whenever you are ready, they will be waiting for you!”

–

It was a Thursday, the one day of the week she didn’t have anything scheduled or planned after work. There was a time where having nothing to do had been joyous and allowed her the feeling of spontaneity she missed from her student days. But today it just made her feel a bit hollow inside. 

With her backpack slung over her shoulder, and air pods playing the latest Winx Forever Podcast episode, Sabrina found herself taking the long way home from work. Though she normally clammored to her favorite podcast host’s upload days, Lola’s cheerful voice faded into the background sound that was Warsaw’s soundtrack. 

As a gust of wind rushed over her exposed skin, Sabrina felt a shiver down her spine bring her senses back to the forefount. Her brows furrowed, she idly kicked a few loose rocks down the path before her as she dug her hands deeper into her jacket’s pockets. 

Words of praise were always nice, but this wasn’t something she had ever considered. She was born and raised in Warsaw, and had only left the country a mere handful of times for holiday. Sure, she knew what England was like from films and social media. But life there? 

No. She scolded herself,  she couldn’t even allow herself to think about that. 

Her life was here. Her memories lived here. She couldn’t leave them. 

And she couldn’t leave her brother alone either. Oh no, certainly there was no way that she could leave Jax alone. The guy would forget to do something like, well, you know eat if she wasn’t nearby. He was seriously that helpless sometimes. 

Though, he was a good sounding board. But said sounding board didn’t get off work for another couple of hours. 

As intrusive thoughts crept into Sabrina’s mind she knew she had to talk to someone. But with her brother still at work, and her friends who had moved outside the city center likely also still on the clock, Sabrina had no one she could grab a quick coffee with to chat with. 

At least, she didn’t have them physically. 

A satisfied smile formed on Sabrina’s face as she reached into her back pocket for her phone and opened the discord app and opened up the Winx Club group she was part of. 

Growing up, Winx Club had kind of been here. The fantasy world she escaped to whenever life became too much. Be that when she was bullied as a kid, when her parents divorced, or just whenever she was feeling low. Winx always perked her up. There had never been any kids close by that loved Winx the way she did, or at least that is what she thought until she started ‘borrowing’ Jax’s computer and started connecting with Winx fans across the globe. 

At the time she was nothing but an awkward girl who could only communicate in broken English and some terrible assistance from Google translate. So it had been a rocky start and there had been lots of miscommunication. But everytime it got better, Sabrina felt herself growing more than her English skills. She suddenly found herself having friends who were more like minded and loved the Winx as much as she did. 

Though time hadn’t always been so kind to the Winx itself, the fandom had changed and thanks to such friendships faded. Winx was still impactful to her, her special secret magical world. And one that connected her to her childhood friend, another woman by the name of Carly that lived over in France. 

Though life had changed greatly for the both of them, the two had always kept in touch and shared a bond that made them feel like they were sisters. Even though they hadn’t actually met before. 

And right now, Sabrina needed some of that sisterly advice. 

Wings Reimaged – Prologue – Chapter Two