The series of brick buildings dubbed a "campus" in front of me served as no surprise.
"You got this, we're not leaving you alone this time," Larry confided in me.
"Oh hi, Kaylem!" Larry was gone. Larry was also 12. Makes sense.
"The rest of us won't let you go, don't worry," Morton says as the rest of us walked into the academic building.
I stare down at my phone. One by one they all headed to class and soon enough Iggy, Roy, and I was the only ones left.
"I don't wanna be here," I rolled my eyes, whining slightly. "It's okay, nothing happens this time," Iggy said.
"I'll keep those motherfuckers away," Roy puffed his chest as we turned the hallway. I poked him and giggled quietly.
Roy gave me a reassuring pat on the back as we parted to enter class. I stared at my phone as I sat at my seat. "You want a seat closer to mine and Larry's?"
"No, I'd rather stay," I said sweetly. "Okay, that's fine. Get started on your work. I'll sit here since we're early," I nodded and pulled out my notes, copying the pre-written bell ringer on the board.
"I'm sorry you babies got hurt on school ground!" We looked up to see the teacher, bag encircled within her arm, walking towards us.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it," he shook his head, lime beanie bouncing atop his head. I slightly hid in Rick's hoodie at the memory. "You're required to have a meeting by law, after your after school activities you have to gather in the conference room with the assailant to discuss legal matters," she said, gesturing to our faces, which still had some bruises on it.
"Also, I heard about the king on the news, and your outstanding bravery," she smiled, "Great job on saving our king," she grinned gratefully.
"Fist of all, he's my dad, and second of all... MY WHAT?!"
"The raid got coverage on the news. And there are so many online reports about it. If dad hadn't been so flimsy with his security's schedule, this wouldn't have happened," Iggy grumbled, aggravation painted on his features as he aggressively scribbled his notes down.
"We can't blame dad for this. Blame the money-hungry infiltrators,"
"Wait.. you said what..?" The teacher's eyes widened. "Infiltrators, they're not from here,"
"That means they snuck in, no foreigners are allowed in the country," Iggy nibbled at his talons. "The Koopa Troop's got it. We're all in it except for Larry, Morton, and Junior," Iggy paused. "Are you in it? We haven't heard from Kamek lately," I shook my head and shrugged. Me neither after all. He began to work again.
"Remember your dad can represent you if you don't show, the bullies are gonna have to answer for him," She said, making want to stay home 10x more.
The bell exploded in its discordant blare. Iggy patted me on the back and moved to his seat as the sun teacher began setting up her welcome PowerPoint.
"Taemin!" Tony and Sammie walked up to me. I hugged them both. "Dude I'm so sorry-" I placed a hand on his snout.
"Not now, Carl," I grinned, not wanting to ruin the moment. "I called your dad after you saved-"
"We saved," I cut him off, correcting him.
"Right," he breathed as we all took our seats, Sammie rotated in his chair as he listened in. "He came to my house with the Koopa Troop, and of course I let him in. I was really embarrassed because I don't really have the nicest house," Sammie frowned empathetically.
"He saw how I lived, and he gave us money. For my bravery and service!" I gasped happily as Sam clapped his shoulder. "And get this, he even got us a house close to his, and offered me a job in his troop," He smiled proudly, darting his eyes toward me. "Your dad changed my life man, I actually woke up feeling nice for once. I get to move in tomorrow," he smiled softly and hugged me from his spot on our connected desks. "Thank you so much," I smiled gratefully.
"No problem,"
"Tell us about the time you were adopted," Sam offered. "Class hasn't fully started yet,"
"Fine," I chuckle as they pry. The light chatter in class as students wrote their bell ringer put me at ease. "So, this may come as a shock, but do you guys know Richard?"
"That new student from the North Side?" Tony scratched the back of his neck. I snapped and nodded. "Oh! That guy. He scares me, he's always scowling," Sam shuddered.
"Oh, he's a softie," I roll my eyes.
"Anyways, he was my only friend at the adoption home, and he'd always take care of me and help me defend myself. Of course, I never put my skills to use because I feel bad even when I swat a fly out of my face," They nodded in understanding, "So when I was being taken in for send-off, I didn't even realize he was king because he dressed so casually. I and the receptionist thought he was just a rich Koopa looking to adopt a son,"
"After about I'd say a good few days I'd figured out he was king. The hard way," I grimaced. I'd been through a lot and had to do a lot of the piecing myself. "I woke up from a coma after being hit by a car last week,"
"You were hit by a car?" Tony asked, cupping a hand over his mouth. "It was my cousin who hit him. He was lucky he wasn't sentenced by the king," Sam doodled in his notebook mindlessly.
"Damn man," Tony groaned. "After I woke up, I realized I missed my birthday in a coma, and that's what triggered the crazy events that have been happening to me. Except for the raid. Those were money-hungry illegal immigrants," I huffed.
"People from out of the country aren't allowed here unless they get through a series of tests. It's a process. Sir Mario does it to ensure the purity of the two islands. And there was a sense of purity that you'd find nowhere else. The babies never cried unless they were in actual pain, the elderly looked extremely young and blended in with the young, even the humans. The humans born here were truly different.
"It's so funny when people refer to my family as royalty," I snorted. "Sir Mario" was just my uncle and "King Bowser" was just my dad. And now all of a sudden the school knows I'm a prince. It's so weird. As my friends bowed their heads to work, I anxiously texted my dad while he worked at the office. I was already far ahead. I clicked on his contact and began texting.
———————————————————
Bowser
———————————————————
Dad?
Yes, son?
I'm a bit anxious,
I think I forgot my
meds this morning :(
What's wrong, trooper?
Want me to bail you?
I can but its a bit boring
at the office.
No, it's ok. I just need to calm
down, bad thoughts are in my head. :(
Get your teacher and tell
her you and Iggy or Larry
step out. Go to the bathroom
and call me son, got it?
Yes sir. I'll do it now dad.
Get whichever one of
them is finished most of
their work, ok son?
Thank you, dad.
I love you son.❤️
I love you too dad.
———————————————————
I began to text Iggy, knowing he's probably done work first. I let out a shaky breath. The damn nerd
———————————————————
Iggy
———————————————————
Iggy, which one of
you have done your work first?
Larry. He's over here playing who knows what on his phone.
I still got about a page of the work to do. What's up?
Tell Larry to come over to me,
dad said to get one of you to
come to help me.
If it's a work question, I better do it. I'm 10x smarter than he is.
Yet he landed himself in
sophomore AP, and you're
not in college somewhere.
Seriously, though. I'm sending him over to you. Go get the teacher and call dad. He just texted me what's going on.
———————————————————
I didn't bother replying to that, I subtly looked over at Iggy as tears threaten to drop from the corner of my iris.
I didn't let them though. I needed to act cheery until I called my dad.
"Larry!" I whisper yelled as he weaved through the desks to me. I got up and we both headed to the teacher's desk as she was packing for the second period. "I know, Iggy told me," he put a hand on my back. The first period had about 15 minutes left. "Can we be excused?" Larry asked the teacher sweetly. She excused us without a pass since class would nearly end.
We grabbed our bags and walked out into the empty, dormant corridors. "What's happening?" Larry slung an arm around me. "I just get really anxious, and thoughts flood my mind," I let a tear fall, no matter how hard I tried not to cry. Larry pulled my head to lean on his shoulder as we walked to the bathroom.
We sling our bags down and locked the door. Larry slid open a windowpane so I could get some fresh air without leaving campus.
"Daddy? Can you calm me down? Please?" I let the tears crash full force as I sniffled on the phone. I heard him gasp quietly. "I got you, son, hold on," I heard a door click shut.
"Tell me what's wrong? How are you feeling?" He asked. "Overwhelmed," I snotted into the speaker. I couldn't stop crying. I felt as if I was speaking a foreign language because I could barely understand myself. Dad seemed to understand me perfectly.
I slumped against the wall and slid to the floor in agitation. I don't know what was wrong with me, I cried into the phone, hating how this made me look and feel. I had a perfect life. I had no reason to cry.
"Why are you overwhelmed trooper? You're a strong boy!" He attempted to cheer me up, but I knew deep down I wasn't strong at all. Larry day with me and put an arm around me so I could lean on him.
"Go to the office during lunch, trooper," he said softly. "Why, dad?" I asked. "You can have lunch with your old man. My break starts just before your lunch period, you don't have to face those losers if you're not ready," he said. I sniffle and nodded through the phone, knowing he couldn't see me. I didn't wanna get beat up. I was too scared.
"Ask Larry if he wants to come, as a matter of fact, put him on." I handed Larry my phone. He poked his chest as if asking 'For me?' And I nodded, shoving the phone into his fidgeting claws. I made him my makeshift pillow until he was done. He played in my hair with one hand as he talked to dad with the other, and I played with the rim of his shirt or made little stick men fight on his stomach with my hands. I was such a child.
"Okay, love you, dad," he said, passing me the phone.
"Trooper?" He asked, using my exclusive nickname. It really grew on me this past couple of days. "Yes, daddy?" I asked. Larry used both my hands to stroke my hair to keep me calm.
"I'm on my way, try and stop crying okay?"
"Mhm," I whimpered, using my bag strap to wipe my face, which didn't work in my favor. "That's my boy," he roused.
"See you soon, I love you, son," The school bell blared in the distance.
"I love you too dad," I hung up the phone. I stood up and helped Larry up. I pulled him into a hug. "Thanks for coming in here with me," I thanked him. "Anytime you need me," Larry said. He lifted up his blue shirt and wiped at my face, getting any leftover tears off. I blushed crimson red. "I could've used tissue," I rolled my eyes.
"Oh don't be boring," we both laughed as we grabbed our bags and walked into the hallway together. Roy passed us in the hallway as we talked on our way to the office. Students were flooding to lunch. He stopped us. "Hey, everything okay?" Roy asked us. "We don't need advice from someone who listens to Scene Kidz and Dot Dot Curve," Larry quipped. Roy shoved him to the floor. "Breathe Carolina," He groaned. Roy kicked him, dragging him back up. He let go of his shirt and turned back to me. He saw my tears and opened his mouth. "I-"
"Ayo Roy!" A group of rough-looking guys called out to Roy. He wanted to say more, but I nodded at him to go. He gave me a bit of an awkward side hug before going over to his friends and disappearing into the crowd of hungry students with them. "Roy's such a loser," Larry grinned. "I could tell him you said that,"
He gasped, clearly overdramatic.
"You won't!"
"I will," I grinned. We entered the front office and the man himself was there. The receptionist appeared to be incredibly hard at work. I don't know if it was because my dad was there or what.
I ran into his arms because I invariably felt safe within them. He put his arm and around Larry as he walked up. I smiled as the receptionist mouthed an "awe" at us as we left.
"Aren't you supposed to check us out, dad?" Larry asked. "You should know, A, that I'm the king. I do whatever I want with my sons. Don't forget B, that I already did," he proclaimed, ruffling Larry's hair.
"You have so many cars," I mumbled, looking at the absolute beast in front of us. I admired its beauty. I don't even think the states could get their hands on such a car.
"Dad, since when are you driving this thing?"
"It brings back nostalgia, Lar," he replied as we got in the car.
Calming down a bit, I felt as if I was gonna be okay this school day. I was gonna be with my dad and brother for lunch so I wouldn't have to face the bully, and I'd have a nice impression on my next few teachers.
I really felt like things were looking up today. Right?
...right..?