Sienna's legs bounced rapidly, shaking the whole bench, but Ethan didn't say anything. He was probably just as nervous as she was. Just a few metres away, just through that door, Teacher Dex was telling his class of eleven years olds about her and Ethan. Teacher Dex had seemed really nice when they had met him at lunch time. He had lots of questions - mostly about what information they were comfortable with him sharing with the other kids and checking his facts - and made them feel liked. He even made a special handshake for them to do when they came in. Apparently all the kids in the class knew it. Ethan and Sienna had practised it non-stop as soon as Teacher Dex had left, but they knew it really well now and had nothing else to do but wait. Audrey and Dr. Santos were with them. They had both managed to get the afternoon away from work - it was probably why they had both worked for most of the weekend - they felt this was too special a day to miss.
Finally, the door opened, Teacher Dex beconning them in, a big smile on his face. Sienna went first. She had her hand all ready to give the shake, but froze when she saw the room. It was bright and colorful, the walls filled with posters and kids work. But it was also filled with kids. Real, actual kids. One near her jumped to her feet. "My names Darah," she grinned, holding out her hand, clearly ready for the handshake. Sienna looked at her startled, but automatically did the movements she'd been practising. Many kids gasped, some clapped or called out. They were super impressed that she had learnt it already. "Welcome to our grade." Darah took sat back down and was replaced by another kid. Ethan had also squeezed through the door past her and another kid was offering for him to do the handshake too. More exclamations rose at his success. The words, "already part of our grade," jerked a smile across Sienna's face. She was suddenly swelling with joy like she had never experienced. It wanted to burst from her belly, her limbs, her back but mostly her face. She couldn't possibly smile any bigger and her eyes began to water.
Three kids did the handshakes with each of them, before Teacher Dex took his turn. "Come over here." He led them to a pair of wobbly stools in front of the kids. Sienna barely noticed Audrey's hand rub her back as she and Dr. Santos found seats behind the kids.
"We are all so excited for you to join us today. Some of the kids have worked out questions for you to answer." Teacher Dex scanned the kids on the floor, before returning his eyes to the guests. "Remember, if you don't want to answer anything, that is fine. Just tell us you don't want to answer. We will understand. And if at any point you want to leave, that is fine too."
"How old are you?" a boy in the back called. Many questions followed and Sienna and Ethan answered them all. The kids didn't mind when Sienna told them she would be uncomfortable with them touching her legs - though one kid did go further to ask if they were smooth like a snake or bumpy like a lizard. That was definitely not something she had ever considered herself before. She hadn't never touched either so couldn't answer that. Then the same kid offered for them to come visit her so they could touch her pets. She had a corn snake, basilisk and tegu for them to meet so she could feel them. Sienna was too curious to be embarrassed by the idea.
Every kid in the grade had questions for them. Some were even about the compound? "What was school like?" "Why is it a compound when it's in a building?" Again, Sienna had never considered it, but Dr. Santos answered for them, drawing a map on the board to show the part of the building the kids lived in that was actually mostly an outdoor space with a large room for an indoor learning space and a smaller room for their beds. Sienna noticed the much larger shape of the rest of the building. She hadn't realised it was quite so big. She had always assumed the whole place was for her and Ethan. Some of the questions made her seriously uncomfortable - "how do you poop?" and "Do you eat kids?". Others were really strange: "are you contagious?" It took a few extra questions from Teacher Dex to clarify what exactly they thought would be transmitted. Others again were things she had just never thought to ask of Ethan: "can you see through walls?"
Finally, the questions dried up. It was time for the parents, now. Dr. Santos stayed inside with Teacher Dex while Audrey and another teacher, Teacher Jude went outside with all of the kids.
"What do we do now?" Sienna asked Audrey staring at the colorful playground. The kids had all taken off at a run. Many had balls, several kept on running, others climbed. They all seemed to know exactly what they were doing."
"You can go play." Audrey smiled.
Sienna and Ethan inched towards some equipment that they could climb. They climbed a lot on the equipment in the compound. That was one of the reasons Sienna was so good at climbing trees.
"Wanna play compies on the ground?" a girl ran up to them, grabbed them each by the hand and dragged them much faster towards the equipment. "You can't touch the ground, otherwise the compies will get you!" She squealed before leaping onto the equipment and worked her way across it. That seemed pretty simple. Both her and Ethan jumped off the ground before the imaginary compies could get them.
Too soon the kids were being called back in. A couple were grabbed by their parents and ushered away, but most of them returned to the classroom to settle back onto the floor. Now though there were lots of seats behind the floor area, each one filled with an adult. This time there were less questions. A couple of adults gave speeches about welcoming them to the community and that no matter what travesties had brought them here, they could feel safe. One man did stand up though and asked, "how can you make sure you don't gut my little Ryan with that savage claw of yours?" Sienna's toe claws retracted instantly.
"As we discussed," Dr. Santos stepped forward so Sienna didn't have to answer. "Sienna has had them her whole life. She knows when to use them for climbing and when to retract them. Just like your fists. I would hope you don't punch people unintentionally." The man muttered an answer but sat down, crossing his arms tightly.
This second session wasn't too long, though afterwards, several families stayed behind to talk to the kids personally. Ryan's family was definitely not one of them. He grabbed hauled his kid to his feet and dragged him out as soon as the meeting ended. Sienna wasn't sad to see him go. He was the boy who had asked about the poop.
The ones who remained asked questions similar to the children. The reptile girl dragged her father up to introduce them and to ask when they could come visit her animals. By the time it was over and Sienna was climbing back into the car she felt relief. She hadn't realised just how tiring that was going to be! Ethan however seemed to be pumped. "There were so many kids and they were all so nice," he gushed. Sienna let his words wash over her as they drove back to Josh and Ruth's place. It really had been a great day. And tomorrow, they would get to spend the whole day as real students. They'd have to practise the handshake again before bed to make sure they didn't forget it. She yawned. An early night would be nice tonight.