Ziad patted Fleur's arm and said, "I can teach you."
"And me," Alex said, coming closer.
"And me!" Aurora shouted, not wanting to be outdone.
Fleur looked at all of them, then gave a big grin before leaning onto Ziad more. She then said in a soft voice, "It's okay. You guys just protect me."
Sam pursed his lips while Ali and Kyle did their best to hold back their laughter.
After all that pouting, and blaming her father, she wasn't bothered.
Fleur was the typical delicate little lady, who liked to dress up in pretty dresses and was afraid of pain. She may have sulked a bit earlier for suddenly feeling like she was left out, but in reality, she really was not interested in any rough sports … or any physical activity, for that matter.
It was enough that her friends were around her.
"Come on," Kyle said, "It's time for you to see which class you're in."
Ariel clung onto her father's neck, loving the fact that she had him all to herself this morning. She even rubbed her cheek on his once in a while, while looking at her surroundings and noted the many, many stares towards them.
Particularly at her father.
She was proud to stake her claim on her father and that he was not paying any attention to all of that. He was only concerned with her - and oh, her siblings too.
She looked down and saw Alex looking at her, and she gave him a brief smile before putting her attention back on her father.
Between her brother Alex and her father, the latter naturally won.
Much to Alex's consternation, of course.
He was like the 'back-up' when their father was not around.
Seeing his younger sister ignore him and clung to their father more, he rolled his eyes and asked the others, "Shall we?"
"Do you think we'll be separated?" Fleur asked nervously, clinging onto Ziad even more.
"It will be fine, Fleur," Sam told her, stroking the top of her head.
"Papa!" Fleur complained, smoothing her hair while avoiding his touch, "Don't mess with the hair!"
"It's not messed up, Fleur," Sam said as they followed their kids to the Hall, "You should know me better than that."
Fleur pouted and Ziad looked at her.
He didn't say a word but merely tilted his head to look at her face clearly. Fleur couldn't stand his gaze and so she stopped pouting.
"I know," Fleur replied, pouting a little bit again.
Kyle smiled at the interaction and was also glad over the fact that no one batted an eyelid at the way Fleur was clinging onto Ziad. Fortunately, there were no weird teachers judging them or looking at them with twisted thoughts over something as innocent as two small kids holding hands.
Unlike his first day in school, when Kay held onto his hand as they walked in. The teacher in charge of greeting students into the school had made Kay feel so guilty over the simple act of holding his hand that he was still bristling over it now.
The teacher had not known that they were siblings. All he saw were two kids of opposite genders, holding hands as they walked into school. Then again, it should not have mattered even if they weren't siblings. Making young kids feel 'dirty' or that they did something wrong over an act that was pure and innocent was wrong.
Kyle had basically called the teacher a perverted old man with a twisted mind. Not in those words, of course, and not right at his face (he was only 7 at that time) but loud enough for the person to hear when he said it to his sister to make her feel better.
Kyle was glad for the improvement.
He wondered what else was different in the school.
The Hall was where the new students would go to, in order to see which class they were assigned to. There were a couple of tables in front with a teacher sitting there, and they chose one line that was the shortest.
Kyle, Ali, and Sam stood aside and told the kids to go by themselves. Unlike the others, they had each other. This was one way for the kids to be more independent and they were more than capable,
Kyle also took a good look at the person who sat at the desk that the kids had chosen.
Kyle was pleasantly surprised to find that the face was familiar. Though it had been about 18 years, the person's features had not changed much from his time. Was it a coincidence that the person who would tell the kids which class they would be at, was the very same person that Kyle had all those years ago?
Kyle pursed his lips.
Fate sure had a funny way of testing Alex on his very first day of school.
Alex and Aurora stepped up to the table once it was their turn.
The amiable-looking gentleman greeted them with a kind smile.
"Welcome to Retsu Primary School," he said, "I am Teacher Micheal."
He was surprised to find that there was no adult accompanying the two kids in front of him. He looked back a bit and noted that the two kids behind didn't have any adult supervising them as well.
"Hello, Teacher Micheal," Alex replied politely, "My name is Alexander Smith and this is my twin sister Aurora Smith."
Teacher Micheal's eyes seem to light up, "Ah! You're Kyle's children. I thought so. I felt like I was back in time seeing you."
Alex's eyes narrowed to a slit. Aurora quickly grabbed his arm, squeezing it.
Taking a deep breath, Alex closed his eyes for a second, then forced out a small smile. Luckily, Teacher Micheal didn't notice this slight abnormality as he had looked down on his list of names.
"You're both in Van Goh," Teacher Micheal told them then asked, "Are the two behind you your friends?"
Aurora nodded.
"Tell them to come over as well," Teacher Micheal said to them.
"Ziad, Fleur," Aurora called out and she motioned for them to come over with a wave of her hand.
Although puzzled, they were more than happy to come over.
"Ziad, Fleur," Aurora said, "This is Teacher Micheal. He asked us to call you over."
"Hello Teacher Micheal," they both chorused.
"Hmmm," Teacher Micheal said, "Ziad and Fleur?"
Fleur was a unique name itself, so that was easy to find but he couldn't find Ziad.
"It's Muhammad Ziad, Teacher Micheal," said Ziad.
"Ah, no wonder," Teacher Micheal replied, and found his name listed under 'M', "You're both in Van Goh as well."
Visible relief could be seen on their faces.
Fleur put a hand over her chest and patted it, "Thank goodness, thank goodness."
Seeing this action of his daughter, Sam mused, "I guess that means she got the same class as one of them."
"It's all of them, actually," Kyle replied with a slight smile.
Sam turned to face him then shook his head, "I should have known."
"Eh? Why did you do that?" asked Ali curiously, "I thought you wanted them to be independent and all? And yet, you fiddled with the placement?"
Kyle shrugged, "Just called in a favour. It's fine for them to be together in the first year. I only requested this. After that, it's up to the school."
Kyle remembered how stressful it had been for his sister, and he didn't want that for his kids. Kyle had been in Van Goh together with his best friend (that he met for the first time) while Kay had been placed in Kahlo.
The school named its classes after various people.
In the first year, classes were named after artists. For the second year, it was musicians, third-year classes had inventors, the fourth years used scientists, the fifth years had doctors and finally, the sixth year classes were named after Nobel Prize winners.
The six classes of Primary 1 were thus (Vincent) Van Goh, (Pablo) Picasso, Rembrandt (Harmenszoon van Rijn), (Frida) Kahlo, Michelangelo (di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni), and (Claude) Monet.
The four little munchkins came back, their hands holding a pile of items: the school map, timetable, rule book, and a paper listing the names of their teachers and contact details.
Kyle took one look at the map and noted that the classes remained in the same place but didn't say a word. Neither did Ali or Sam, as they waited for the kids to either ask them or try it on their own.
Alex should be able to read a map by now, so Kyle was expecting him to take the lead. Surprisingly, it was Fleur who did so.
Well, by giving orders - but it still showed that she took the lead.
She took the map that she was holding and showed it to everyone, asking, "Who can read this?"
Alex replied, "Me."
"Okay, so you show us the way," Fleur told him.
"No problem," Alex answered, studying the map seriously.
Kyle smiled.