Julian has a few words of advice before sending his son off to his first day of school. "Remember, Kai, if you feel the study material is too far beneath your level, let us know right away and we'll have you bumped up a couple of grades."
"I'm going to tell everyone how Mom beat up a shark."
Jillyan sends Kai off to school with a big hug. "You'll do great," she promises, not as worried as her husband is about releasing their son into the care of others, but still slightly concerned about his comfort level round so many children. Even in their small household, Kai needs lots of alone time away from his parents and sister, and Jill hopes that being in a class full of kids all day won't be too much for him.
The first day of school was stressful for Kai for the very reasons his mother feared. Being around so many other kids was a terrible distraction, and it made it difficult for him to focus. But the bright side of it was he met another boy, Alejandro Torres, with a similar disposition and they paired off and became fast friends very quickly. Once he got back home to the solitude of bedroom, Kai found himself wanting to include his new friend into his space, even if it was just by phone. Like this, he could be solitary, but not entirely alone, and this suited Kai quite nicely.
Before school starts the next morning, Kai asks his father for a laptop of his own. "I want one like yours, Dad. But for my room."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Julian agrees. In fact, he should have thought of that himself. Kai will need his own computer to do his research.
When Kai comes home from school, he finds the laptop he wanted on his desk, already overclocked by his father. Having this will make homework easier, but more importantly, he can now also chat online and play games with Alejandro.
Dylan's birthday comes on a Friday night.
Despite the winter chill (it never gets truly cold in tropical Isla Paradiso), outdoor loving Dylan wants to spend the first Saturday of her childhood swimming and fishing in the ocean that surrounds their island home.
Since they won't be seeing each other in school over the weekend, Kai invites Alejandro over to visit.
Dylan comes inside to join the boys for some gaming.
"This game is cool, but the PC version is better," Kai declares, already a PC elitist gamer.
Eventually, Dylan is left playing by herself while Kai and Alejandro engage in a fierce pillow battle.
"You're the orc, and I'm the elven warrior," Kai declares.
"I'm not an orc, silly! I'm a balrog! And you're just a wimpy hobbit," Alejandro counters, while pummeling his friend with his pillow.
"You're both nerds," Dylan comments.
After his guest has left for the evening, Kai unwinds by painting a picture of a magical tree in an enchanted forest.
Dylan continues her game with her mother.
"Have you ever noticed how a lot of games that aren't about fishing have fishing in them?"
"There are games about fishing?" Thus is news yo Dylan.
"Yep, there sure are."
"Eeee! Can I get one?"
"No problem, kiddo. I'll get your Dad on that right away."
___________________________________
Kai's traits are Artistic, Computer Whiz, and Loner. Dylan's are Loves the Outdoors, Night Owl and Dog Lover. They were all rolled randomly.
I feel bad for Kai because going to school does give him a bad moodlet for being in a crowd. But, he did make a friend who also has the Loner trait, so that's the bright side.
I love Julian's approach to parenting. I want him for my dad. lol Who needs to wrap him around their fingers if the kids are already perfect and he's the one overlooking things? Ha! However, I think Kai had the right idea about school. Avoid being labeled 'that kid' by instead telling them how bad-ass his mom is. That ought to scare the potential bullies off fairly quickly.
ReplyDeleteAww, I love these guys. Last chapter was very sweet as well.
ReplyDeleteHaha, Jillyan's still famous for beating up a shark.
ReplyDeleteI like Dylan and Jilly's conversation at the end, that was pretty cute.