*NOTE: Talks of bullying and racism.*
This is a pretty long chapter compared to the others...Probably won't have many this long again.
"Ready to go, buddy?" Asked Toby as he walked into the kitchen carrying the boy's little backpack.
"Yeah daddy!" he hopped off the chair and rushed to him to grab his backpack.
They walked out towards the car.
Happy was really nervous for him. She knew he would be bored, she didn't want him to get made fun of, she didn't want him to get himself into trouble on the first day, she didn't want to have to go pick him up at noon.
Toby was equally as nervous, but he didn't show it as much. They both tried really hard to hide it from Lucas and not ruin his excitement. They had already visited the school, and decided he would be going to the same school as Ralph did. Since they had experience with a genius like Ralph. They had warned the teachers that Lucas was a very curious and busy child who always wanted to be doing something to keep his over 180 IQ busy.
"Daddy, what happens if I don't like the other kids? Kids my age are dumb. They can't even read or count." he asked from his car seat.
Toby looked up into the rear view mirror quickly, "Buddy, you're going to have to play nice with them anyways. Try and make at least one good friend. Be nice!"
"I'll try." He responded quietly.
Once they arrived at the school, Happy and Toby walked him in, they both kissed him on the cheek and sent him into his class room.
"Oh god, I don't want them to call us at noon to come pick him up. He's going to get bored and take something apart, I know him. Or he's going to have a little bit of an attitude with them, and say something he shouldn't." Said Happy as she turned to walk out.
"Don't worry about him, he's going to be fine. He knows not to do that stuff here." Said Toby as he placed an arm around her shoulders as they walked out.
They headed to the garage and tried to distract themselves until it was time to go pick him up at 3.
Later that day
At about 1pm Happy's phone rang.
"Hello? Yes, I'm his mother." She put her hand on her forehead and Toby walked over to her with a concerned look. She continued on the phone "Yes. Oh. Okay, Okay. I'll head right over. Thank you for calling." She hung up.
"I told you we'd get a call!" she said looking at Toby and grabbing her keys.
"What did he do?" Asked Toby following her to the car.
"He kept telling the teacher to teach them real stuff instead of colouring. He was disruptive and once he was sent to the principal's office, he told her he came to school to learn not take naps and that he hates naps." She let out a small smile.
Toby laughed. "It's exactly like our kid to get kicked out on the first day of pre-K."
At the school
Once they arrived at school and walked into the principal's office she sat down with them.
"Mr and Mrs. Curtis," she started as they took a seat across from him.
"It's Doctor." Toby corrected her, and Happy shot him a glare that could kill.
"Lucas seems to be too advanced for Pre-K. We were used to Ralph, but Ralph didn't speak much, we never had behavioral problems with him." Said the principal.
"My kid does not have behavioral problems. He's a genius with an IQ of 182. He need to be kept busy. He has social skills, Ralph didn't have any. They're not the same kind of genius." Answered Toby.
He didn't like the tone that principal was speaking with them in.
"I understand, but he's already too disruptive for a normal classroom. We could skip him up to first grade, or we could put him in the Special Education class, where he can get the attention he needs. I'm willing to give him 1 week in Pre-K, but if this is any indication, it's not what's best for him." She replied.
Toby say up straighter in his chair and leaned forward. "My son needs to learn how to be with normal children his age who aren't geniuses. We'll talk to him. Give him the week." Said Toby.
"Alright, one week to improve his behavior. If nothing has changed by then, we're going to switch him classes." Said the principal.
Happy and Toby agreed with her and went to pick up Lucas from sitting on the hallway floor outside the office.
They brought him back to the garage. And sat down and had a long talk with him about what was appropriate for school. They tried to make him understand that the other kids didn't know all the things he knew and that he had to be patient with them. They promised they'd do more advanced work at home with him if he wanted it, but that he had to behave properly at school.
The next few days went better. He was minimally disruptive in class. Toby, Ralph and Walter had given him some mind games to pass the time.
*One week later*
One week later the principal called Happy and Toby for another meeting. She wanted to discuss the progress.
"Dr. and Mrs. Curtis, there have been positive changes in Lucas' behaviour. I'm impressed." She smiled at them.
She continued "But, he is still too bored and disruptive. Maybe we should talk about switching him up to a grade 1 level. I know it won't be challenging, but there is more structure, the other children are more advanced than those in pre-K, he could pick up a few things from the other children."
"We want him to be with kids his own age. He's only been with adults and geniuses for the last 2 years. We want him to be with a group of his peers so he can learn to interact with kids his own age. Even though he's light years ahead of them intellectually." Said Toby.
"I understand, but it's only two years. They are 6 year olds, it's close enough to his age, like I said the structure could be good for him." Said the principal.
Toby was getting annoyed of her trying to push them into something they didn't want to do.
"He's smaller than the kids in his class now, put him in a class of first graders, they're going to eat him alive. He's different enough without adding to that, we don't need another reason for him to get picked on. When he's 13 and the others are 15, that's going to make a difference." Said Toby.
After much more debate, they agreed to let Lucas spend one week in first grade, and see how he did. If he liked it, Toby and Happy said they'd consider keeping him there. If they found it wasn't working out, they would keep him in Pre-K and that would be the end of it.
*The next week*
"Ready? Remember, it's only for 1 week. If you like it, we'll talk about keeping you there, alright?" Said Toby as they were walking into the school together.
Happy helped him put his stuff in his little locker and kissed his cheek, "Have a good day, buddy."
"I'll try mom. Bye dad!" he said as he walked into the classroom.
Happy and Toby walked out of the school. In the car on their way back to the garage Happy spoke up.
"You're really good with all his schooling stuff, you really know what's best for him. I never really liked school, and I just went to get it over with. No one fought for me to get what I needed in school."
"I know. It's hard, ever genius is different. It might be best for him to skip grades, like I did. It might be better to keep him in the right grades like Ralph. Who knows? We'll see how this week goes." He replied.
"I'm worried about him. I've got a bad feeling about this school thing. I feel like it's going to be a real battle for him and us." She said nervously.
"I know. We're just going to have to see how it all plays out. I'm sure he's going to be fine."
*Two days later*
Happy was at her work bench when her phone rang. It was the school again.
"Hello. Yes, I'm his mother. Oh my god. Yes. Yes. I'll be there right away." She hung up and walked to Toby's desk.
"We have to go pick up Luke." She said standing in front of him.
"Why? What happened?" He asked.
"School called. He got into a fist fight. He's got a busted lip but the other kid's got a broken nose. We have to go pick him up." She replied.
"Oh my god. That's not like him, he's never been violent before. What the hell?!" They both rushed out of the garage.
At the school
Once they arrived at the school they both walked up to Lucas who had an ice pack to his lip and was sitting in the hallway by the principal's office. Happy sat on the floor with him and hugged him.
"Baby, what happened? Are you okay?" She said quickly.
"I'm okay. Just my lip hurts." He replied.
Toby crouched down and asked him to move the ice pack so he could take a look at the injury. He took a mental note of the swelling and the size of the cut, it wasn't too bad, but it still looked painful.
The principal asked them to come into her office again.
"We've got to stop meeting like this." Said Toby quietly.
"What happened?" asked Happy concerned.
"It appears one of the boys in his grade 1 class was bullying him. Lucas went to walk away. The kid grabbed Lucas' shoulder and Lucas lost it. Apparently he knows how to fight, he broke the other boy's nose." Said the principal.
Happy spoke up "He was in foster care until he was two and a half before we adopted him. He learned how to fight, he had to."
"What exactly was he being picked on for?" asked Toby, not really wanting to know the answer.
"I don't know the details. He won't tell me the full extent of it. He was being called a nerd and a shrimp, but I'm positive there's more he isn't telling me. I have a 6 year old with a broken nose and a 4 year old with a split lip, there has to be more to it. Either way, I'm going to have to suspend him for one day. Fighting is unacceptable no matter the reason. The other student is getting 3 days, because he was the one who was doing the bullying."
Toby and Happy agreed that it seemed reasonable.
After a bit more discussion they took Lucas home for the rest of the day.
At home.
Toby tried to talk to him about it once they were home while he was patching up his lip and cleaning the wound out properly. Lucas wasn't up for talking with him.
After Toby and Happy had both said goodnight to him he asked Happy if she could stay for a bit. She agreed.
"Mom, can I talk to you about what happened at school today?" he asked while sitting up in his bed.
She was sitting next to him. "Of course, baby, what happened?"
"They made fun of me." He said quietly.
"I know, the principal said the bully was calling you names." She said as she placed her arm around his shoulders.
"They did, but they also saw you and daddy drop me off the other day, they made fun of me because I don't look like you or daddy. They made fun of me because I was adopted, like it was a bad thing. They said that we weren't a real family because we all look different." He said lowering his head slightly.
Happy realized they had never addressed the issue of racism with him. They never really had a need to. He knew he was adopted, and he knew that family didn't have to be blood. Happy and Toby had never really paid attention to the looks they sometimes got, and they cared even less what people thought of the fact that their son was black. It was never an issue for them and they had hoped it would never be an issue for other people either.
Kids could be mean though.
Happy knew Toby was listening on the other side of the door. She wasn't entirely sure how to address the issue to a child. She had grown up with stereotypes her entire life, she knew deep down that Lucas would also have to. She knew he'd also have to grow up with the stigma of having been a foster kid for a while and being adopted.
"Baby, those kids are wrong. We know we're a real family. We don't have to look alike to be a real family. We're happy, and we love each other, that's what makes a family. You and I both know that being adopted is a good thing. DNA doesn't always make a family." She said while running her fingers through his hair.
"Mom, they said it was weird and wrong that daddy was white, I was black and you were Asian. They said I was some poor foster kid who you were just going to get rid of. They called me orphan boy." He said leaning in to put his head against her.
She was sad for him. She knew that some people would have problems with it. She knew there would be judgement made. She knew that her family would probably be the victims of those kinds of things more than once.
"Baby, It's not wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with us all being different races. That's not what matters. It's true we are all different, and to some people it might even be weird to see, but you need to know that it doesn't matter. You're definitely not an orphan. Daddy and I love you no matter what other people think. The important people in our lives don't care about any of that stuff, and don't make fun of it." She said.
She wasn't exactly sure what else to tell him. She knew she was talking in circles and repeating herself, but she didn't know how to explain it to him. She didn't know what else to tell him, without being too blunt about anything and telling him that people suck and they should mind their own business.
"And you know for a fact that daddy and I aren't bringing you back. You know you were adopted and you're ours forever. We've been through that many times." She added
Toby walked in just then and sat on the bed. He could overhear Happy talking in circles and decided to add his two cents to the conversation.
"Buddy, you know they're wrong. You know that we don't care about race. Do you know why it hasn't come up since you've been with us? Because it doesn't matter and it's not important to us. Yes, I'm a typical white guy. Your mom is half Asian, and half white. You're half black and half white. That's all true. But it doesn't make us any less of a family. It doesn't mean we love each other any less. It's who people are that matters, not their skin colour. You also know adoption is a wonderful thing and you're not an orphan boy. You got parents and we got a kid. We built our own awesome little family." Said Toby as he sat on the bed on the other side of Lucas.
"Buddy, unfortunately you're going to have to deal with stereotypes and racism your entire life. I still do. It happens because some people aren't as okay with people who aren't the same race as them. Some people aren't okay with two people of different races being together, like me and people aren't okay with the fact that we're all different races and we just need to ignore those people. Standing up to it is good, when you don't use violence." Said Happy still playing with his hair.
Lucas tried to explain more of his story to them. "I tried to tell them that we're a real family and we're geniuses, but he wouldn't listen so I tried to walk away. He called me a nerd, orphan boy and a baby shrimp. He tapped my shoulder and I got mad. That's when I hit him. I shouldn't have, but it just happened." He was apologetic.
"I know buddy, try to not let that happen again, okay? Violence doesn't solve anything." Said Toby.
"I know, I'll try next time." He said looking down.
"You good now? Anything else?" Asked Toby.
"I'm good. I know we're a real family, I know they're just close minded. I told you kids were stupid, daddy. I told you I didn't want to go to school with kids. I told you adults and geniuses were better." Said Lucas as Happy and Toby got off the bed and went to leave his room.
Toby and Happy both tried to hold back a laugh. "I know buddy, but you have to go to school." Said Toby as he closed the door.
They went to their room to get ready for bed themselves. It had been a long day.
"Were you like that as a kid?" Asked Happy. "You skipped a bunch of grades, you must have hated the other kids, you with your big inflated genius ego."
"I did think most of them were stupid, which is why I was an MD by the time I was 16. Maybe skipping grades would be good for him. Kind of like what I did. I turned out alright, I can make friends, I'm a social person and I've got an alright EQ. He's a social person, his age just hasn't caught up to his mentality yet. That's how I was." Responded Toby as he was changing into his PJ's.
"Maybe that might be best for him. Ralph needed to develop his EQ, that's why he's staying in the right grades. Lucas had a good amount of EQ, he's good with people, just not kids. He's a very busy child, his minds always running. Hands on stuff is his strong suit, class rooms aren't going to be, even though he can ace everything." Said Happy as she changed into some boy shorts and one of Toby's old T-shirts and climbing into bed.
Toby joined her and spoke up "Our son broke a kids nose today because they dissed our family. I wasn't even mad. The reason he lashed out, is more than that. The kid did something he didn't like, he knows better than to hurt people, but when the kid grabbed his shoulder, his fight or flight instincts kicked in and he fought. It subconsciously brought up the memories of always having to watch his back. Even at 2 years old, it stuck with him. He's a fighter." Said Toby explaining the psychology of why Lucas acted so harshly at school.
"It's not like him. I knew it had something to do with having been in foster care before. I was like that, I still am. That doesn't go away." She said as she snuggled in closer to Toby.
she continued to speak up, "I hate that people are going to pick on him because we're all different races. Why the hell do people care so much about stuff that doesn't concern them? I don't care about what people at the grocery store think of us, it's fairly clear he isn't our shared biological child. I care that my 4 year old gets picked on by 6 year olds who don't know anything. I care that people are going to judge our family a million different ways instead of seeing it as something wonderful. I'm used to being stereotyped, I don't want him to feel like that." Said Happy.
He pulled her closer "People like to put people into boxes. People like to label people. It's human nature. We are defying a lot of those boxes, as a family and as individuals, and they don't know where to put us. People like to think they know everything. Some are just plain ignorant." He paused and then continued "It bothers me that when we go to pick him up, people assume we're not his parents, just because of the way we all look. People assume that we're babysitting. Some people assume things about you and me as a couple at first glance, but throw in a black child and they don't understand anything anymore. It's kind of funny to watch actually." They both let out a small laugh.
"People are failing to see how wonderful it is. Two parents who aren't the same race, raising a child who's a different race. As long as he turns into a good person we've done well. Who cares about anything else?" She said snuggling in loser to him."Our son is going to be picked on his entire life for so many things, being a genius, being black, being adopted, being small and so many other things. It's not fair. And we still don't know what we're going to do about his schooling. People just suck and I wish we could protect him from them and their judgement." She said pulling Toby's arm around her.
"Racism and stereotyping is an unfortunate thing that people just won't let go of. We can talk to him about school tomorrow and get his input on the matter." he responded.
"That sounds like a good idea." Said Happy "Remember when you dragged me to that get together with some of your friends from your teen years and you really actually experienced discrimination with me for the first time? That was a blast." She said in a dry and sarcastic tone.
"Remember how we left 20 minutes in, and I haven't spoken to them since?" He responded dryly.
"What was it again? Oh right," she said dryly and prepared herself to make a sarcastic impression ""Toby, what you couldn't get a girl on your own so you bought a hot Asian one online?" which was followed by "Does she even speak English? Does she understand us, she hasn't said anything?" Yeah that was a great time." She rolled her eyes. "I'm just glad that happened before we had Luke, I can't imagine what they would have said then."
Toby cringed listening to her make the impressions. He remembered how shocked and angry he was when they spoke about Happy that way. Not only was it demeaning to her as a person, but she was also his wife who was an incredible person. These people were his old friends, he had expected higher from them.
"Remember how I lashed out on them after those remarks and we left right away. I haven't spoken to them since, because we don't need those kind of people in our lives, even if they thought they were joking, it was offensive to you and I wasn't going to put up with it." He responded.
He smiled "You know I love you for you, right? Your amazing talents, your tough on the outside, mush on the inside attitude, your incredible mind, your lack of comedy skills and everything that you are. You're like a real superhero." He pulled her in for a quick kiss.
She smiled and let out a small laugh "And I love you for your dorkiness, your big heart, your sarcastic humour, you're an amazing father to our son, you also save the world. I love you, you tall sexy white boy who thinks he can dance." She smiled and kissed him quickly again before he had a chance to interject.
"Tall sexy white boy? That's the first time I've ever heard you say that one." He said with a confused look on his face and they both laughed.
*The next day*
"Luke, what do you want to do for school? We want your input." Asked Toby as he sat the boy down on the couch at the garage.
"What do you mean? I don't have to go to school if I don't want to?" He asked innocently.
"No, you have to go to school. How you want to do school, stay in pre-K, skip to first grade or fly through the grades like I did." Said Toby as he sat on the coffee table across from Lucas with his elbows on his knees and his hands under his chin.
Happy was next to him in a similar position, except her hands were out in front of her.
"We want to know what you'd feel comfortable doing, or what you really don't want to do." Said Happy.
"I don't want to be with the babies in pre-K" Said Lucas "I get too bored, and lots of them can't even count or read."
Happy and Toby looked at each other and then nodded to Lucas.
Just then Walter and Paige walked in with Isabelle.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" Asked Paige standing next to Toby and handing him the baby. He always loved to play with her.
"We're trying to decide what's best for this kid in terms of schooling, because clearly something isn't working." Said Happy.
"Home school him." Said Walter taking a sip of his coffee.
Toby, Happy and Paige glared at him "Not a chance. He needs some form of social interaction outside of Scorpion. That's the worst idea you have ever had." Said Toby before looking down at the baby sitting on his lap "Your daddy's funny isn't he?"
Walter backed away and went to work on one of his projects.
"For what it's worth, I kept Ralph in the right grades because he needed the social aspect. He needed to develop his EQ. Now that he's in high school, he's got friends his age and he doesn't want to skip ahead. Lucas' social skills are miles ahead of Ralph's at that age." Said Paige.
"He doesn't want to be with the –quote- babies in pre-K. He's been very vocal about that. He gets too bored and then gets disruptive. The kids in first grade picked on him and busted his lip." Said Happy, looking up at Paige and gesturing to the cut on Lucas' lip.
Isabelle started to fuss "What's the matter with you?" said Toby looking down at her. "Alright, if you're going to fuss, you're going back to your mom." He said as he handed the baby off to Paige. "Bye-bye" he gestured with his hand and Happy did the same thing.
"Okay, now. What do you want to do with this school dilemma?" Toby looked back at Lucas.
"Can I fly through it like you did daddy? I want to work in robotics and engineering though. I want to work in engineering like mom." Asked Lucas.
"Well, mom and I are going to have to talk about it. But if that's what you want to do, we'll consider it, alright?" Said Toby.
Lucas agreed and went off to try and put together a motor Happy had taken apart. He was trying to see how fast he could do it.
"Maybe we should let him do what he wants." Said Happy turning to face Toby.
She continued "If we sent him to an alternative school, he would go to class every day, and meet people. He could work at his own speed. He would have smaller class sizes and more individualized help. He wouldn't have to be there all day long if he got too bored, but he could be. He'd finish elementary school in a few years and high school in another few, he'd probably be in college around the same age as you were."
"An alternative school might be good for him. He would still be interacting with people. He would have teachers and smaller class sizes and he probably wouldn't get picked on, they could monitor him more." Said Toby he took a pause while he thought about it for a few moments. "I'll go look some up and call them and set up meetings." He said getting up to go over to his desk.
*Two days later*
They dropped Lucas off at school and sent him in to the small class room. The alternative school had accepted him, and he was starting his first day with them.
As they walked out Happy spoke up "Let's hope we don't get a phone call today."
It was his third first day of school in almost as many weeks, but they both still got nervous dropping him off.
Happy got anxious every time her phone would make a sound, but they never got a phone call.
They were waiting outside his classroom at 3pm when his day was over. The school was open longer, students could come and go as they pleased between the hours of 8am and 4pm, but Happy and Toby decided that from 9 to 3 was long enough for Lucas' first day.
He came out of the class room with a big smile on his face.
"I like this school!" he said as he stood in front of them.
They both smiled at him and Toby ruffled the boy's hair.
One of the teacher's assistants came out to greet them a few moments after.
"Hi, Dr. and Mrs. Curtis, nice to see you again." She said as she approached them.
"Nice to see you again. And please, our first names are fine." Said Toby.
She nodded.
"Lucas did great today. He's already done a lot of the Pre-K work, he should be moving on to kindergarten work by the end of next week. He works really quickly, I'm very impressed at his willingness to get it done. He did complain about how tedious it was, and he got a little bored and restless but we took breaks and he kept working through it. He's a great kid." She said with a smile looking down at Lucas.
"That's the kid I know!" Said Toby as he picked up Lucas "That's what I want to hear, buddy!"
Lucas smiled at all of them "I like this school, I can work at my own speed. I made some friends with the older kids. And I don't have to deal with babies who can't read." He said factually.
They all let out a small laugh.
"Okay, ready to head home? We have to stop and see grandpa first." Said Happy as she took her son's backpack off and Toby put him down so he could walk.
"Yeah! I want to ask him if he has another motor I can put together. I finished the one you gave me momma." Said Lucas as they were turning to walk out "Bye Ms. Alex, see you tomorrow." He said as he waved to his teachers' assistant. She waved back. Toby, Lucas and Happy headed out.
He ran to the car while Toby and Happy walked behind him.
"I think this place is going to work for him. We've got it right this time." Said Happy.
"I think we've got this parenting thing figured out." Toby said with a small smile.
"Don't get ahead of yourself he's 4." She deadpanned.
Toby reached out and put his arm around her shoulder. "Yeah, but he's got the mindset of a 30 year old man sometimes. You heard him talk about those "Stupid babies who have the fine motor skills of elephants, and can't count or read yet." They both smiled.
"Mom! Daddy! hurry up! I have to pee and I don't want to have dinner late tonight." He yelled from the car as he waited for them to unlock the doors.
"And then he says something like that, and I remember he's 4 and has an attitude." Said Toby and they both burst out laughing.
"Chill out, kid!" yelled Happy.
Lucas just rolled his eyes and let out a dramatic sigh leaning against the car.
*It was mentioned the first time they met Lucas that he was dark skinned, just never had a reason to come up again.*
*Sorry about the time jumps, I know they can get confusing to keep up with.*