The two had taken their breaks on similar times, perhaps their individual personalities had changed how they spent their time but the similar timing for their breaks indicated the stress they were going through and the relief this short break gave them.
These few days Alex had been tinkering with his created app, going to the movies with Mercer,Laura or even Amelia and just generally doing things a normal teen his age would do.
He also took the time to help demolish the old mansion, it gave him a much needed chance to let loose but he didnt destroy too much after all not only would that be suspicious it would also be pointless since people were working on it and he was in no hurry. He wished to enjoy the simpler processes in life, after all without them it would get dull quick.
Amelia, who became a frequent visitor to his house thanks to her friendship with Laura also looked more cheered up every time as if the burdens she had kept getting lesser and lesser.
It didnt come as much of a surprise thinking of her current abilities, would anything less than a giant organisation even matter? Her improvements were slow but she could easily punch away a car, what else needed to be said?
Alas family was truly hard to deal with, even if you could pinch them into smoke you wouldn't simply because they are your blood relatives.
Morals and principles bred by society serve as shackles to ensure you never rise even if you could. Amelia had the mentality of a regular teenager so how could she break these shackles? At most her strength allowed her to loosen them, still that served as a way to gradually gain true happiness.
The one with the most changes was infact Laura, this once shy girl knew she had to fix herself. She needed to get her grip on life and stop running from it.
She knew she couldn't always hide behind Alex, she remembered back when they saved Ashley when all she could do was avert her eyes
Laura knew she had strength hence she also knew she had to stop being weak and finally, one morning after hesitating she stepped out of her room, went down the stairs. She halted midway and returned to her room but then slapped herself and tried going down the stairway again. This time she took a few extra steps before she started hesitating again.
She wasn't hesitating to leave her room, she kept going back and forth simply because she was torn on whether she should go through with her decision or not. In the end she overpowered her hesitation and walked up to her mother.
"Mother."
Violet who was watching a drama on TV paused it and look at her hesitating daughter, clearly she had made a decision and from the look of things it was a hard decision. She got off the couch and stood in front of Laura, she looked her in the eye then said.
"Laura. Whats the matter dear?"
Laura visibly shaken up, as if the cold appearance she had in front of the top brass of doodle was an illusion muttered under her breaths.
"Mother, I.. I made a decision.. Things cant go on like this and-"
She halted midway, stopping her sentence she swallowed her own spit, hesitating. Violet just smiled at her daughter and said.
"School, right dear? Well thats a good decision, I get to see my lovely daughter in her uniform again"
Laura looked up at her mother with surprise, something that took all her guts to even attempt to say her mother just guessed. Violet saw the surprised look and continued.
"What? Do you think I wouldnt even know my own daughter?"
In her head she had a different thought
'Well its about time, Laura had changed so much but some things are hard to get rid of and the only thing could shake her up so badly is social contact and since she mentioned changing herself it was pretty obvious. Cant exactly say that now can I, Oh dear I have to be a reliable mother'
Hearing this Laura brightened up, her hesitation existing only in the past. She even imagined what she was gonna say to everyone in class since she hadnt been there for so long but then realized, her name was probably taken off records by now and even if she can catch up with her studies easily she cant go back to school since she isnt even a student there.
She told Violet about her worries and Violet put on a tense expression.
"Laura, why not switch to a different school? We can send you to a new one.. perhaps even a better one now that you and your brother are rich."
Violet seemed to murmur out the last bit, understandable for any parent as they wish to support their children not the other way around.
Laura shook her head with a complex expression.
"Mom I dont want to run away, not anymore."
Violet sighed and decided to call Alex over. He was out with Mercer having fun playing in his new place. It was mostly demolished and the debris would be gone in about a week.
He quickly asked to take a short toilet break and teleported home from the toilet.
Violet told him the entire story and in return you could see a bright smile on his face.
"Really? Laura are you going to go to school again? Thats wonderful, leave everything to me I can just go talk to the principal and I am sure he wont mind with a large enough donation"
Powered by a typhoon or a hurricane, as if transformed into some sort of highly doting butler from some anime, Alex quickly teleported back and without even saying goodbye drove to her school, he sent a short text to Mercer while driving and throughout the drive rarely took his feet off the accelerator. To put it in perspective Violet and Laura still hadn't fully comprehended his reply when Alex was already halfway to Laura's school.
If Laura was with him she would no doubt think his mind had turned into goo, even he himself would normally look at his current self and scold himself but the happiness of Laura finally deciding to go back to school after so long numbed any sort of logic, he even had slight tear in his eyes as he drove.
He could have rushed less, thought more but to respond to his sisters resolve he had to be quick.
Soon his car hard braked right in front of school gates, the guard was startled that such an expensive looking car stopped by and he assumed it was the relative of some rich brat.
He had Alex identify himself and guided him straight to the principal. The school building itself wasnt large but the open land around it was huge, He could fit 3 of his newly bought land in it. For a semi-government institute it was also pretty cheap.
Previously they were pretty well off when Alex's parents worked so they could afford the fees. Now? Alex didnt even need to worry even if he had to buy the school because if he couldn't afford it now, he had plenty of people who would be glad to help him. The app was a pretty volatile but large income source too.
He looked around while walking, seemingly judging the classrooms and even stopped for a while to listen to the teachers. The education seemed to be pretty subpar but he didnt really care after all what did Laura even need to learn for?
He then knocked on a door with a large 'Principals Office' written on it. After hearing a reply he stepped in.
The principal was wearing a blue suit and a red tie, the surrounding office was decorated with dark wood including the desk and chairs. The office looked pretty luxurious even for a semi-private institute.
The principal stood up as a greeting, one could clearly see his lifestyle with his fat belly almost bursting out from his suit.
He then shook hands with Alex and sat back down motioning for Alex to sit too.
"Hello young man, what brings you to my office today?"
He was pretty polite thought Alex and he politely said.
"Its actually about my sister, She has been absent from school for a long time due to reasons I can not say, I apologize for that but she wishes to resume school now and as her brother I feel like I should straighten the path for her. I assure you that she will have no problem with her studies as we had her home schooled so could you please tell me what I need to do?"
Alex said his piece in one go, he figured beating around the bush wouldn't benefit anyone and most importantly any problems he had could be solved with money so why should he not get to the point?
The principal frowned as if thinking of some swears but soon loosened up his expression and slowly said.
"I am sorry, If her name has been removed from the database then all she can do is reapply for admission in whichever class she left as soon as admissions open again. I am really sorry but I cant do anything."
Alex narrowed his eyes, it appears this polite principal really is just putting on an act. He decided to put down his politeness as well and just get it over with.
"Would a hefty donation for the benefit of this fine institute, say 300,000 dollars make you more sympathetic to our plight"
The principal had his eyes shot open with this statement, he looked on in amazement. He had rich parents donate money for their children before but the most they would give is 50,000$. He looked back at Alex and smiled.
"I wouldnt be able to mistreat our schools patron, pardon my manners I didnt even serve our guest properly"
He called for a peon and had him bring coffee, he assumed Alex was a 2nd generation rich kid so he asked for the coffee to be made out of beans and not the instant brand.
Alex smiled and nodded, the peon took his leave and Alex took this chance to say.
"That would be a relief, my sister is pretty frail and I would be torn if something happened to her and I am sure you as her principal would be equally torn if a student is suffering."
A threat, The principal figured. He nodded and soon coffee came. Alex transferred 300k straight to the schools account after confirming details with the principal.
The principal thought whether he should still deny admission in hopes of getting more but his thoughts were interrupted by Alex.
"Then, I leave this matter to you. It would break my heart if the institute I so heavily invested in turned out to be dishonest and I would have no choice but to render this institute in the same state as my heart."
The principal's face had anger on it. Such a daring threat but thinking about it, someone spending 300k on a school admission, could he a principal offend such a behemoth? He quickly settled his anger and hurriedly confirmed the details with Alex.
Alex didn't give the principal much info despite it being required for an admission simply because he knew the school had this record saved. High-schools rarely delete records as they can easily sell the information to recruiting companies or other organisations.
He then finished the coffee and bid farewell, he then texted Laura.
"I hope your uniform is ready because it will be needed tomorrow".
He then put his phone back in his pockets and went back to his car. It was lunch break and the students filled the halls, a few even pointed to him and spoke in hushed voices. Alex ignored this and was about to walk to his car when he saw 3 girls surrounding another.
Normally he would just treat it as a normal school thing but since his sister will soon be part of this school again and considering their ages they might even be the reason his sister dropped out. He decided to give them a lesson. He tagged them with his teleportation power and waited until they had no eyes on them.