Kai
"Kai, dear, are you ready?"
Kai shook his head, gripping his father's hand in his left and his mother's in his right tightly. "No, Mommy."
They continued down the sidewalk, New Beijing Elementary coming into view. "Why do you think so?" Rikan asked his son. Being a politician, he always asks his son why, hoping to help develop his speech.
"I'm scared, Daddy. I might see Jacin, but we're not very close."
"Is Jacin the one you see at the park?"
"Yeah." Kai wrinkled his nose. "He doesn't talk much."
"What about that girl? With the red hair?"
"Scarlet is okay." Kai sighed adorably. "I guess it won't be that awful."
Karen Crown laughed. "Oh, Kai, of course it won't! Daddy and I went through it too, and here we are."
Kai smiled. "Alright, Mommy."
They got to the school quicker than expected. The school was a brick red building with the doors thrown wide open. Students were already flooding through the gates.
Navigating through the halls, they soon found themselves in a colorfully decorated classroom with ROOM 23 written next to the door right outside the classroom and in bold on the whiteboard. Upon entering, a beautiful young woman greeted them. Some students who were already in the classroom smiled warmly at Kai.
"Hello there! I am Mrs. Kay. Welcome to New Beijing Elementary, room 23!" The woman had a name tag with her name in fancy purple letters.
"Do you know how to write your own name?" This was directed at Kai, who nodded proudly. "Okay, here's a name tag for you. You can pick a marker and write your name on it, okay?"
Once Kai started concentrating on writing his full name neatly, Mrs. Kay turned to Rikan and Karen. "How much can-" she looked over to Kai's name tag "-he do?"
Karen looked thoughtful. "Well, he can write his name for one."
Mrs. Kay laughed. "And he's doing it well, too. What else?"
"He can read to himself." This time it was Rikan who spoke. "He's read through every picture book we have at home."
"Wow, impressive." Mrs. Kay glanced over to see Kai had finished writing "Kaito Crown" on the name tag. "You can go find a seat, Kai." She turned back to his parents. "What about math?"
Karen shrugged. "He can count to a hundred. Really, though, he's more interested in books most of the time or playing."
Mrs. Kay nodded. "What do you do, Mr. Crown?"
"I'm a politician, so I can stay in my office at home most of the time to be with my family."
"No wonder Kai already loves words," Mrs. Kay remarked with a smile. "And you, Mrs. Crown?
"I was a nurse. I took a break when Kai came along, but now that he's in school, I'm thinking about working during the day."
At that moment, another student walked in with her parents. "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Crown, I'm sorry to cut this short, but hopefully I'll get to talk to you guys soon?"
Rikan nodded. "Of course. We'll just say goodbye to Kai and be on our way."
Mrs. Kay nodded a "thanks", then started to greet the next student with as much enthusiasm as before.
Karen crouched down next to Kai's chair and kissed his forehead. "You'll be a good boy for Mrs. Kay?"
Kai nodded, lips trembling a little. "Of course, Mommy."
Rikan ruffled Kai's hair. "You'll do great, son, I know it. Do you like your teacher?"
"Yes, I can tell she's nice, Daddy." Kai smiled bravely before diving at his dad for a hug. "I'll miss you!"
Karen smiled fondly. "We'll miss you too, Kai. But we have to go now, okay?"
Kai nodded, waving at his parents one last time before they disappeared through the door. He walked to where everyone else was already sitting and took a seat in an empty chair.
"Hi, I'm Iko!" Kai got startled and turned around. It was the girl sitting next to him. She was dark-skinned, and her hair was pulled back into more braids than Kai could count. And he could count to a hundred, remember?
"Hello, I'm Kai," he said. I made a new friend!
Jacin was annoyed.
The girl who sat next to him in class kept trying to talk to him. It bothered him so much that he had to pretend to be interested in a book about unicorns to ignore her. That just proves how annoyed he was because he hates unicorns. He can barely read anyways, just a few words here and there.
At least it's lunch now, though that girl- Kate, or something- was still following him. Maybe if he could find a group of boys, he could sit with them, and hopefully they would let him stay-
"Jacin!" Winter, the girl that he met at the park yesterday, was waving at him enthusiastically from a lunch table. He also spotted Selene, along with two other kids he'd seen and played with at the park, Scarlet and Carswell. But the last girl, he didn't recognized. She had short, blonde hair and big blue eyes. He sat down next to Selene, taking bites out of his sandwich while keeping an eye on the girl.
Selene nudged him. "Stop glaring at Cress, you'll make her nervous. She's really shy."
Jacin frowned. "What about 'stranger danger'?"
Selene shrugged, pulling out some Oreos to share. "Well, if something horrible happens, you can be our guard, right? Like that game we were playing at the park yesterday."
"You're talking like a big person again, Selene," Scarlet remarked, eating her grapes happily.
"Cress says big words too," Winter chirped. Cress ducked her head, her hair swishing around her face, effectively covering the redness. "When she's talking."
Scarlet reached for one of Selene's Oreos. "Kai says big words too! Right, Jacin?"
Carswell frowned, reaching for an Oreo too. "How come you don't ask me, Scarlet? I know Kai too!"
Selene slapped his hand away, took one of Scarlet's grapes, popped it in her mouth, and exchanged a grin with Scarlet. "Who's Kai?"
Carswell wrinkled his nose and turned to talk to Winter, who was ignoring him in her efforts to get Cress to talk again. Jacin pointed at someone. "Look, that's Kai."
They all turned, even Winter and Cress, to see an Asian boy walking with another boy and a girl. Scarlet waved at him. The girl noticed, and promptly dragged both boys over to their table.
"Hi, guys, I'm Iko! This is Kaito, but you can call him Kai," she gestured at the Asian boy, "and this is Ze'ev," she said, pointing to the other boy, who looked Middle-Eastern and was rather tall for their age. "Who are you guys?" she continued in her preppy voice.
"I'm Winter." Winter looked at Selene. "Do I say my long name?"
Selene shrugged. "If you mean your full name, then why not?"
"Okay." Winter flashed a bright smile at them. "My name is Winter Hayle-Blackburn." She looked to the others, who looked like they weren't going to talk. "This is Selene, my cousin. We met Jacin at the park yesterday. Jacin says you also know Scarlet and Carswell from the park." She looked at Cress. "And this is Crescent Moon. But she told me to call her Cress."
"And she's very shy," Carswell piped, trying to wink at Winter.
Kai sat down across from Selene. "Nice to meet you," he said, opening his lunch bag and peering inside.
Selene peered at him. "You talk like an adult."
"I told you already!" Scarlet muttered.
Kai looked at Selene curiously. "I think you do too. You said 'adult'. Is your name Selene?"
"Yeah. And your name is Kaito right?"
Kai huffed. "Everyone, just call me Kai." He looked around the table. "Are those Oreos?" he asked, pointing at Selene's bag.
"Yeah. Want one?" She held one out to him.
"Sure! I'll swap with you. I have..." Kai looked around his bag. "Oh, I have brownies! Do you want a bite?"
Selene beamed. "Of course I do!" She took the brownie from Kai and bit it, looking at Carswell. "See? Nice little boys should ask."
Carswell scowled. "Scarlet didn't ask!"
"Scarlet's not a boy." Carswell looked up in surprise when he realized Cress was the one who had spoken. And that her rare words were to reprimand him.
Winter smiled. "Yes, Cress is right!"
Selene inspected her Oreos. "There's three more. Ze'ev? Do you want one?"
Ze'ev jolted in surprise, looking up from his lunch. "How do you remember my name?"
"Maybe I have a computer in my head." Selene giggled, and Kai, Winter observed, smiled at the sound. "I don't know. I just notice stuff and stick them in my head." She tilted her head. "Oreo?"
"Sure."
"Um. Cress, do you want one?" A shake of her head. "Jacin?" A hand held out in acceptance. "Iko, do you want the last one?"
"But what about Winter and Carswell?" Iko inquired.
Selene shrugged. "Winter and I can eat more at home. Carswell lost his when he tried to just take it."
"No fair!" Carswell cried out, indignant of Selene's verdict.
Winter put her hand on Carswell's shoulder. "It's okay. How 'bout I bring Oreos tomorrow?"
"Okay," Carswell beamed, flashing his very most charming smile. Jacin frowned, not liking it one bit.
Selene zipped up her lunch bag. "Do you guys wanna go play now?"
"Yeah, let's go play!"
What do you think? Please tell us in the reviews!
To the first guest: there will definitely be Cresswell somewhere down the line. Not now, they shouldn't date at this age. But I have something planned for the canon ships when they're a bit older ;). As for your sibling relationship request, I'm hoping to make all of them appear like siblings, but if Jacin-Cress-Kai is what you requested, I'll try to feature it!
To the second guest: here it is! Apologies for the wait!
(If you reviewed with a registered account, I replied to you via Private Messages. I won't forsake you for anything, don't worry!)
