Kindergarten Capers
Note: Before our beloved characters were reintroduced to each other, they had always been friends. They met during their kindergarten years at Petite Infants Kindergarten. (Little Children).
Chapter 1—Recess Is Our Kingdom
Little William Dunbar had found the playground to be a welcome place for him, particularly with his newest best friend, Ulrich Stern. The two had only met earlier after sharing snacks and apple juice together and a hearty nap. They had found a ball to kick around, not knowing they were playing soccer together. The two just thought they were playing a game of 'pass the ball'. A young brunette by the name of Sissi had found their game interesting and she wanted to play too. Not objecting, the two boys let her come along in their game and were impressed that her kick was so strong.
"Woah !", a cute toddling blonde yelled while the ball passed him. Sissi almost ran into him but managed to dodge him. She blushed slightly.
"Sorry, little boy !", she said, curtseying politely. She kicked the ball over to another kid who recently joined their game, a little Russian girl named Taelia. She was doing tricks with the ball that were really quite impressive. The team cheered for her. With a laugh, she head-butted the ball to a black girl named Sam. It seemed that the team was growing and that more of them were joining in this frolic.
Later on, William explained to the other children how impressive he was in all kinds of activities. Odd just rolled his eyes, and Ulrich scoffed.
"You're not an ubermich you know.", Ulrich stated, in an almost self-righteous tone.
"You don't even know what that means.", Taelia said, laughing heartily.
"Actually I do. It is a German word after all. It means 'superman'.", Ulrich responded. William snorted in disgust.
"I wasn't lying though.", William stated, with arrogance.
"Don't pay attention to them, Will. They don't appreciate greatness.", Sam giggled girlishly. Before long, the bell had rang, the kids simply laughed off William showing off. Certainly he was good at everything he did, but none of his friends made fun of the way he pronounced certain words. He still couldn't distinguish between a 'b' and a'd', but his friends wouldn't hold that against him. After all, he was incredible in their sports teams and uncanny at catch. With their help, however, he would be able to overcome his speech impediment.
Chapter 2—Master of Chutes and Ladders
Jeramie was the smartest kid any of the others knew. They called him the "Master of Chutes and Ladders" because he always managed to beat the other children when they played him. They dared not play him at any board game, because he was so amazingly good. He had met a little friend only recently who had moved from afar from the country, and she was the only one who could defeat him. Her name was Aelita. Like Taelia, she had a strange color of pink hair, which made her unique. But none of the kids really saw it as such. She was just like the rest of the kids, but happened to be smarter.
One sunny day, Jeramie and Aelita were outside playing a rousing game of Candyland when a couple of bullies came by and kicked their pieces angrily out of the way. The other kids playing with them were terrified.
"Why did you do that ? We were just playing, you had no right to do that !", Jeramie said, standing up for everyone. Aelita just hugged on tightly to another girl who was sitting Indian style next to her and felt her eyes water.
The bullies kept traumatizing Jeramie and even threatening him until they nearly involved themselves in an altercation. A rather upset Ulrich and William saw that he was in trouble and stepped up to help. They showed off some Pencat Silat moves.
"These kids are trouble…Let's get out of here !", the smaller instigator said running in the opposite direction. The other bullies soon followed him, and were out of sight long before Ulrich and William even started demonstrating their moves.
"That was…unbelievable.", Jeramie said, astonished.
"We can teach you if you like.", Ulrich said, offering his hand to the blonde boy and the pink-haired girl. They ecstatically took the offer, and hoped that the next time, (if there was one) they met with bullies, they would be prepared.
Chapter 3—Rainy Day
One day at the kindergarten, it was raining buckets. The playground had become far too muddy for the children to play outside, so the kids played inside. All the kids were playing with toys together or board games. Some even played old fashioned card games like Old Maid or jacks. The teacher called them together to read them a story she had written herself. It was called "The Little Girl and her Bucket of Rainbows". The story had been given a Newberry Reward and was soon to be published worldwide, but she didn't think much of the fame and fortune it would bring her. Mrs. Rowley wasn't concerned with the transformation Bucket of Rainbows would cause. She was just happy to be among her class and able to teach other kids as a substitute teacher. She also had children at home she cared for, and they loved the story just as much as the kids in the class did.
Intently, the children gathered together and basked in the warmth of Leona Rowley's angelic tone, seeing themselves as carriers of "pails of color", their world was there easel. By the time the story was over, the rain had ended and the children could see a rainbow outside. By that time, the children's parents had come to pick them up after school. They giggled and squealed merrily as they were picked up by their moms and dads, and said goodbye to Mrs. Rowley. They knew they would see her again the next day and looked forward to each new adventure they would share under her guidance.
Chapter 4—Overcoming Obstacles
It was the 55th Annual Le Petite Infants spelling bee, and a few brave students had decided to put their best foot forward and try their best during the event. One student that entered despite his problem in speech was William Dunbar. He wasn't about to let a little thing like that get in his way of winning the competition. It didn't mean he wasn't scared out of his mind, however.
After practicing hard with the help of Herve, Jeramie, Erika, Aelita and even Nicholas, William was drilled every day with difficult multi-syllabic words. He didn't know what half of them meant, but he knew he would be well prepared. And without his realization, he was beginning to pronounce 'b's and'd's clearly without tripping or flipping the consonants.
The day came when the contestants would participate in the Spelling Bee. All kindergartners from all regions had come to give it their best and win the fabled blue ribbon. Back behind the curtain, William's heart was racing, and he couldn't stop from shaking. He felt panicked but he heard his friends cheering from him and stopped feeling so nervous. After all, they were probably just as antsy as he was, but this reassured him when he thought about it.
When William spelled his words, he didn't miss a single syllable and he got each answer right. By the end of the tournament, he was the last one left standing with one other student from a higher-district school facing him. The judges had given the final contestants an extremely challenging word. The other student, Korean, stepped forward in front of the microphone and began spelling. Sadly, he flubbed a few of the letters and didn't get the correct answers. At last, William took a stand at the microphone and took in a deep breath. He remembered the encouraging words of his friends, closed his eyes and visualized the word in his mind after it was mentioned. Slowly, he spelled it as best as he could, and heard the unbelievable results.
"Correct.", the judge declared with a broad smile. Soon, she and her comrades were awarding William with the blue ribbon and the Petite Infants Kindergarten was featured as a front-page story in the news and reported by local media later that night. William never forgot this day, and gave the credit to his friends. After all, without them, he wouldn't have been able to overcome his problems and his stage fright. He knew what humility was for the first time, and never forgot it was important to remember how to be humble when it mattered.
Epilogue
Present Day…
It was a snowy winter day and the gang spent their time on an old swing-set in a playground.
"This place is still my favorite playground. I still come back here when I wanna reminisce. You know ?", Nicholas said, waxing nostalgic.
"Yeah, we had a blast. We all had the times of our lives. I don't think we'll ever forget the moments we shared together, and even then we were destined to be friends.", Herve agreed. It was funny how fate worked her magic, but since their meeting that first day of kindergarten, they had been more like a close-knit family than mere friends. After all they had been through in fighting XANA and Umbra, they had grown closer as well. Sure, they had experienced arguments and maybe the occasional tiff or two, but that had never destroyed their friendships in the past.
Kiwi and Kumquat played out in the snow, nipping at snowflakes that began falling suddenly. The group laughed, especially when they saw Emily participating.
"I can't help it, it's a good idea, and besides, it's fun !", she said, cheerfully as she caught one flake after another. Soon, Jim and Suzanne had come into the Le Petit playground and grinned.
"We knew you would be here.", he said, pointing to his temple.
"Our telepathy is scary accurate.", Suzanne chimed in.
"Yeah, isn't that the truth !", Emily laughed, running up to hug her mom and dad.
"We thought you could come with us, spend the night. We're having a big dinner. We have plenty for everyone.", Suzanne offered.
"Really ? With all of us ?", Michael asked, curiously.
"Of course. You wouldn't be imposing after all. Come on !", Suzanne offered. The whole gang loaded up into the Morales' van and headed back to the Morales' sizable cabin in the country. With all of the lights on and a warm fire welcoming them, they felt like it was a second home, because to them, the Morales home would always be open to them whenever they needed a place to sit back, relax and always be accepted, loved and listened to whatever the circumstances.
The End