Chapter Two

Disclaimer: If I owned Tales of Symphonia, it would be a V-E-R-Y scary game. Trust me.

I finally got around to writing the next chapter! I'm happy that you guys liked it! And oh yeah, I made a mistake in the last chapter. Colette is not actually 14. She's 16. I knew that. I was just…testing the reviewers…yeah, that's it….so, without further ado!

&&Presea&&

"Guys! Wake up! As in NOW!"

Someone was banging on a frying pan. At least, that's what it sounded like. And they woke me up.

"Come ON!"

I identified the voice as Sheena's. Slowly, I sat up, tossing back the covers of my bed, wiping sleep out of my eyes. The bedroom in this strange new house of ours was dark. In the bed across the room, I spotted the dark shape of Colette rising as well.

"Good morning, Sheena!" Colette's cheery voice rang through our bedroom, "What are we doing today? It's our first day here, you know! We should do something fun!"

"You guys are going to school," Sheena appeared in the doorway, holding, indeed, a frying pan, "And—"

"—And I, the great Zelos, am going to a job interview," Zelos appeared in the hallway behind Sheena. She jumped and whipped around.

"What the…?" she spat, "How can you get a job? Raine said we needed papers! And who would hire you, anyways!"

"Observe," Zelos waved some papers in her face, "My legal papers. Or should I say…my forged legal papers. And I'm sure lots of people would hire me."

"You forged papers?" Sheena exclaimed, "How stupid can you get?"

"It will work," Zelos assured her, "Now goodbye, my hunnies! Wish me luck! As if I need it…"

He disappeared from view to the slamming of a door. Sheena sighed in exasperation.

"Anyways…" she looked at Colette and me again, "Get up and get dressed."

"Do we get to go to school?" Colette asked.

"Yes…" Sheena began to leave, "And your bus is coming in half an hour!"

"What's a…bus?"

"Don't ask questions!" Sheena snapped.

"Wait a minute," I finally decided to speak, something having just occurred to me, "Why must I go to school?"

Sheena paused.

"Sorry, Presea," she said, "But in the eyes of the law, you are a twelve-year-old…"

"But…" I started.

"But you've already wasted 10 minutes!" Sheena pointed at the clock, which read 6:15, "Just live through the day, okay? Okay!" She stomped out of the room, banging on the frying pan again.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Colette squealed, skipping over to the dresser, "We get to go to school in a whole new world!"

"Wahoo," I muttered. It had become a habit.

"Wahoo! Wahoo! Loodle-do!" Colette started dancing around the room, singing Klonoan words in a tuneless song. I began rummaging through our dresser. Obviously, I was going to wear what I always wore, but Colette had buried it in pile after pile of fluffy who-knows-whats.

Behind me, there was a loud thump.

"Are you okay, Colette?" I asked, not even looking up.

"Yep, I'm fine! Hehe…I just slipped…"

"I know," I answered.

A few minutes later, I made my way down the hallway in my everyday outfit. Raine was in the kitchen, sitting at the table and reading a book.

"Good morning, Professor," I greeted her, helping myself to pieces of toast sitting out on the counter.

"Good morning, Pres…oh. Are you really going to wear that to school?" I noticed Raine giving me a strange look.

"What's wrong with it? I wear it everyday," I took a bite of the toast. Ugh…obviously the Professor was the only one to grace the kitchen this morning. Must…swallow…

"Well, it's just that…according to my research, it's a bit of a strange thing to wear to an American school—"

"—What are you talking about, Professor? Presea's outfit is cool!" I jumped as a blur of red careened into the kitchen, narrowly missing plates on the wall, and skidded to stop in front of the food.

"That may be so, Lloyd," Raine closed her eyes impatiently, "But it's not typical of an American child. And don't even think about wearing that to a high school."

"Why not?" Lloyd managed to say before he started choking on his toast as well.

"Because you look…odd," Raine sighed in exasperation and picked up her book again, "For America."

"But—"

"—GO GET CHANGED!" the Professor bellowed, leaping up from the table with her book held high over her head. I raced out of the kitchen with Lloyd at my heels.

"That was close," Lloyd exhaled, leaning against the wall of the living room.

"Yes," I agreed, "Uh…Lloyd? Do we…have any other clothes?"

Lloyd froze.

"Well…" he began, making that pained face where he closes one eye, "You have your mascot outfit, and I have my pirate suit…and our formal clothes and bathing suits, but other than that…"

"What should we do?" I asked.

"I dunno," he answered. Figures. "Uh…let's just go to school in these clothes anyway. How bad can it be?"

"I wonder…" I mused.

"I don't!" Lloyd skipped happily back into the kitchen. His voice soon mingled with those of Colette, Genis, and the Professor. I sank onto the couch, feeling tired and dismayed. Why did I have to go to school? Back in Ozette, all I was at school was an outcast. Maybe here would be different. Here, no one knew of the research conducted on me…

Lloyd came barging back into the living room, with a bookbag slung over one shoulder, leading an equally happy Colette and an annoyed looking Genis.

"Here you go, Presea!" a grinning Colette threw a pink bookbag on me. It was fairly heavy, but nothing I couldn't handle. Raine came hurrying out of the kitchen.

"Now, what you do is you turn left out of the driveway until you reach a bench," she spoke hurriedly, "And you wait there until a big yellow vehicle with the number 617 on it comes. Genis and Presea get on that bus. Colette and Lloyd, your bus will say 543. Now when you get to school, go straight to the offices and tell them that you're new. I've put all your stuff in your book bags so you should be okay—"

"—Okay, Raine," Genis interrupted, "We'll be fine. Well, me and Presea at least…" He gave Lloyd and Colette, who were square dancing at the moment, an uneasy glance.

"I hope you will," Raine muttered, "What with those clothes and all. And try not to stand out too much, okay?"

"Will the teacher make me stand in the back with buckets of water and throw erasers at me?" Lloyd asked as she shoved us out the door and slammed it in our faces. We stood there uselessly.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Colette clapped her hands, "Come on!" She raced down the driveway with Lloyd at her heels. Genis stared at his feet.

"Let's go, Genis," I said to him, stepping forward, brushing my hand against his. He jumped and started walking.

"I'm afraid for them," he muttered.

"For who?" I asked. Genis inclined his head in the direction of Lloyd and Colette, who were now chasing squirrels.

"You're not afraid for us?" I gave him a sideways glance.

"Well…uh…" he was looking at the ground again, "I'll protect you, Presea!"

"Thank you, Genis," I allowed myself to say. Why he kept saying that was a mystery to me, but it seemed polite to thank him, though I had no need of his protection, really.

When the bus 617 finally came, an old lady in the driver's seat gave us a long look when Genis and I climbed on.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Uh…" Genis cast about for an answer, looking frantically at me.

"Not here," I supplied. The old lady grunted.

"I'll say," she muttered, "Sit in seat 10." She jerked her elbow towards a seat a few rows down. This was very strange. Why were we being taken to school in a giant machine with lots of seats? If it was just us, why so many?

Several minutes later, I was proved wrong. Apparently, lots of kids came to school this way. Lots of noisy kids, filling up every seat on the thing. Lots more kids than in the school at Ozette. Everyone was giving us odd looks.

"Why is your hair white?" the kid in front of us turned around and peered curiously over the seat at Genis.

"Because I'm an elf," he replied evenly, which seemed like a reasonable answer to me. The kid, however, started cracking up.

"Hey, Ryan," he nudged the boy next to him, "This kid here says he's an elf!"

"What's wrong with that?" I demanded. Both boys were looking at us now.

"What's wrong with that?" the kid repeated, "Elves don't exist, you idiot! God, everyone knows that! How stupid are you, anyway?"

Genis and I exchanged looks. Elves didn't exist? Raine hadn't told us about that…

"And why is your hair pink?" the kid turned on me now.

"It's natural," I replied. Did pink hair not exist in this world either?

"Wait…you mean you were born with it like that?" his eyes widened.

"Yes," I answered, "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, of course not…" the kids were smirking at each other. Genis was giving them a death glare.

"Hey! Stay away from Presea!" he growled menacingly.

"Genis…" I began.

"Genis?" the kid asked, "Your name is Genis?"

Genis didn't say anything. He looked out the window instead.

"Genis, hmm," the kid had a thoughtful look on his face, "Sounds like…"

&&

Ugh…I'm so mean. Poor Genis. Ah well, that's seventh-grade boys for you. Anyways, please review! Reviews make me happy! (Not to mention they give me ideas…) Until next time!