After the problems with the loud room, they ate lunch in the classroom. Ike didn't mind. They all sat around a table. Ike got to sit between Boyd and Soren, and he made sure the person on the other side of Soren was someone quieter so Nephenee was there and that was okay. Miss Titania sat back so the kids could talk freely.

"So what are everyone's favorite animals?" Ike asked around his baloney sandwich. "I like rhinos and elephants. Soren likes jaguars and manatees."

"Stop answerin' for him," Boyd said, which caught Ike off guard. "He can talk now and he has a nice voice."

"Oh… right." Ike looked at Soren. "Sorry."

"It's okay," he said with a giggle. "But I like jaguars and manatees. Manatees swim by farting." He giggled more, and immediately the entire table cracked up because farting is hilarious (although that was something Ike had to teach Soren).

"I've never heard of a manatee!" Lyre exclaimed, in awe. Lethe looked surprised by her sister's comment for some reason. "They swim by farting? That's so funny! Are they real?"

Soren scurried to grab his sketch book, and he flipped to show them all a very good picture of what Ike liked to call a floaty potato. "This is what they look like. Aren't they cute?"

The class was appropriately awed. Even Miss Titania in the corner was impressed. They started to ask lots of questions ("Don't they get eaten by alligators?" "Nope, they're friends with alligators!" "Woah!") and Ike could have cried he was so happy. Soren had been his best friend for two months, and he had come so far and it was awesome.

Ike did see that Lethe was the only one who wasn't paying attention, instead she was focusing on her food. Man, she was really into ignoring Soren. Or she was hungry. He could appreciate that last one.

Coming back to school the next morning was super surprising, because the entire classroom had been decorated with a water theme. Lots of blue and sea animals all over the walls, it was so cool! Whales and dolphins and manatees and sharks and octopuses and….

Miss Titania explained once everyone was sitting for calendar. "So I didn't want to pick a theme without knowing what everyone liked!" she said with happiness. "Everyone in the class likes animals in the water. If I missed your favorite animal, let me know." Ike looked around. He didn't really have a favorite water animal but manatees were cute and orcas were cool so he was okay.

Calill was a fast learner and she raised her hand and was called on before she called out. "Jellyfish please!"

"Of course! I'll add them too. And guess what, everyone? As a class we're going to sponsor a manatee." Everyone was very excited even though Ike was pretty sure no one knew what that meant (he sure didn't!). She explained her new good listener chart, where kids would "clip up" on a chart if they were good, and "clip down" when they were bad. And whenever everyone in the class was "great" or "awesome," they would get to give more money to their manatee.

And that was the coolest part! They were adopting a manatee! Sure their manatee wasn't going to live with them or anything, but they would get to see videos and other cool stuff!

"And Soren, you gave me the idea, so you get to name our manatee," said Miss Titania happily. "It's a girl."

Everyone gasped and looked at Soren, in awe of his amazing privilege. Soren was shocked into silence.

"You don't need to decide now," she continued, "and –"

"Bubbles," said Soren with solemnity. "No, wait - Queen Bubbles."

It wasn't as cool as Sword Beam Prism Laser of Doom, but it was still pretty cool and it was almost unanimously accepted (Elincia pointed out that as a baby she would be Princess Bubbles first, which Soren agreed was a good point). To celebrate, Miss Titania also showed the class she had bought a giant plush manatee to represent their new class pet. Ike was shocked that they made stuffed animals that big! Ike resolved that he was gonna act his super best so that Princess Bubbles would get all the help she could ever need.

The playground here was awesome! It was big and had cool slides and climbing stuff and lots of cool swings. But Ike's favorite thing was playing tag in the field with all of his friends. He had so much energy he could run the whole time. And everyone played tag except for Soren and Calill. Soren liked to swing and watch the others play (his therapists said that was a good idea for him to do, to see how other kids did it), and Calill liked to sit on the swings too and have Miss Titania or another adult push her.

Everyone else played tag! Ike was super good at playing. The only one who sprinted as good as him was Mia, so he was never "it" very often. That was fine, he had more fun running around like crazy to stay away from everyone else.

Today the game ended early because Lethe was it and she didn't just tag Lucia, she pushed her down and she fell and landed on her arm. Lucia started crying and Lethe had to sit out for the rest of recess, and an adult took Lucia to the nurse. And when going to sit on the bench, Lethe purposely hit Soren on the back of the head to send his glasses flying. Ike realized something terrible: she was a BULLY. That wasn't okay with him. Bullies were awful. He would have to do something about it.

But now the game was over but recess wasn't. Ike wasn't sure what to do. Then he spotted a bunch of wild flowers nearby, in pretty purples and yellows, and he thought about it. He sister liked to pick flowers, but he didn't so much. But people gave flowers to people they liked, right? And he liked Soren. So he looked for the best flowers and made a little bunch of them and then ran to Soren on the swings. He'd gotten down to get his glasses and was giving Lethe a dirty look.

"Here!" Ike said to Soren, holding out his makeshift bouquet.

Soren was visibly surprised. "Oh, for me? Thank you?" He took them. He was used to getting flowers because Mist loved to give them to everyone, but Ike had never done it before and Soren was confused.

"It's 'cause I like you," he explained.

"OH." He blushed heavily. "Me?"

"Yep! You give flowers to people you like and I like you so I got you flowers."

"Thank you," he whispered, smiling and looking away.

Ike took his glasses and cleaned off the dirt before putting them back on him. "There you go! I'mma go tell Lethe to not be a bully!" He ran off to the bench. "Hey Lethe, you gotta not be a bully."

"I'm not a bully," she said shortly, scowling. Lyre was sitting next to her sister in solidarity although she looked nervous.

"Yes you are, you're pushin' people and bein' mean. So you gotta stop 'cause you won't get any friends that way," he counseled. "Also we'll have to fight if you keep bein' a bully."

She huffed and looked away. Ike figured the point had gotten through though. He looked around and saw Mia and Boyd on the slides and so he ran to them to play some more.

"Ike and Soren sittin' in a tree," Boyd sang.

" G!" Mia crooned.

Ike was caught off guard but then he said, "Huh? I mean we're not cuz Soren's afraid of climbin' trees."

"But you liiiiiiiike him," said Boyd with a smirk. "Gettin' him flowers."

"Is he your giiiiiiirlfriend?" Mia sing-sang.

"Huh? He's a boy."

"But boys can't have boyfriends," Mia said. Then she thought about it. "I think."

"No, they can," Boyd said. "Oscar has a boyfriend and my dad hasn't talked to him in a week."

"Oh no," Ike said, worried. Oscar was super cool and his favorite of his friends' family.

"Man Boyd no wonder our dads are friends, they're both jerks," Mia observed. This made Boyd laugh and Ike feel awkward because Ike's dad was not a jerk. He instead encouraged them both to play again so he didn't have to think about it.

On the ride home, Ike asked the question. "Can boys have boyfriends?"

"Ewwwww," said Mist, "Boys are gross." Ike playfully pushed her and Soren giggled.

"Yes they can," Daddy explained as he drove. "Why?"

"Well I got Soren flowers and so Boyd said he was my boyfriend but also said that his daddy isn't talking to his brother because his brother has a boyfriend," Ike explained. Soren gasped.

Daddy was quiet for a few minutes. "Okay. So, just because you got Soren flowers does not mean he's your boyfriend. You're both too young for that kind of stuff."

"Oh."

"And it sounds like Boyd's daddy is closed-minded. There's nothing wrong when boys like other boys. It just doesn't happen as often as boys liking girls, that's all. But some people think that's bad, and they're the bad ones."

"So Boyd's daddy really is a jerk like Boyd said," Ike mused.

"I'm not saying anything," Daddy said with a sideways grin.

"And do you wanna be my boyfriend?" Ike asked Soren. "Then we can get married."

Soren was entirely red.

"No, you're both too young," Daddy said again. "You're only six!"

"Six is plenty old enough," said Ike.

"No," Daddy said with a shaky laugh.

"You can say no if you wanna but you're a boy and a friend and I love you so you should be my boyfriend," Ike said to Soren.

"Ike, NO," Daddy said more firmly from the front seat.

Ike sighed but went quiet. This stuff was confusing. Soren looked out the window and blushed.

Things fell into a pattern, and Ike was happy. Everyone was helpful and did their work so the clip chart almost always said all of them were great or better. Soren was getting braver every day. Ike was getting to know Geoffrey and Lucia a little better too. And Lethe was angry. Ike wasn't sure at what, though. She always pouted and scowled and Ike was really worried that they weren't going to ever be friends at this rate which was NOT GOOD considering he was friends with everyone else, even Lyre who wasn't as mean. When it came to learning Ike wasn't sure if he was dumb or Soren was just a genius, but that was okay too. He'd just try his best.

But other than that, things were great!

Every once in awhile something would happen that reminded Ike that Soren wasn't like other kids.

"What do you mean, what's Halloween?" He hung his head over the side of the top bunk so he could look at Soren with all the shock in the world. "How do you not know what Halloween is?! It's one of the best holidays ever!"

Soren was in the bottom bunk curled up, ready for bed. "Ma'am didn't let me go outside."

"Oh right, sorry." Ike didn't hate anyone except for Mean Lady. He hoped she stayed in jail forever and ever. "So we get in costumes, go around the neighborhood and ask people for candy!"

"… And that's a holiday?"

"Yep!"

Soren was very confused and it made Ike giggle. "People are weird."

"Yep! So like I was sayin' we gotta come up with costumes to go together! I was thinkin' we should be superheroes!"

"Huh?"

"Whaaaaaaat!" Ike swung out of the bunkbed (he never used the ladder) and landed on the floor. "C'mon! We need to have a marathon!"

"It's bedtime," Soren said with judgment.

"C'mon, it'll be fine!"

"It's time for bed," Soren said more firmly.

Ike siiiiiighed. Soren was the most stubborn person ever and Ike knew it. There was no victory here. "Fiiiine. But this weekend we're gonna marathon!"

"We have three weeks until Halloween, calm down." Soren giggled even as Ike climbed back into bed.

"We're gonna blow your mind," Ike assured him, excited.

The class had their Halloween party on Halloween, which was so cool. It was a Friday, which was even cooler.

Ike and Soren had debated a lot about who they were going to be for Halloween, but decided on Captain America and Iron Man (although neither wore the masks) which was awesome . They were almost Thor and Loki except they were brothers (but not really) and Ike and Soren weren't brothers at all. Ike had even gotten to take in his cool shield although it wasn't allowed to leave the classroom which was lame. Mist was Thanos (which Ike thought was hilarious although Mist was not happy he laughed at her) although she didn't come to school, she was just going to go around the neighborhood with them later that night.

Boyd was a lumberjack, which was very silly, although he looked pretty good and had a fake beard and everything. Mia was a fencer although her sword was made of paper because she'd had to make it herself. Elincia was Rapunzel and Geoffrey was Flynn, and Lucia was a horse which was hilarious and made Ike laugh for like ten minutes because it was so funny. Nephenee was a cow which was also funny but not as funny because she was being a cow because she lived on a farm and not because she was part of the Tangled theme. Calill was a librarian and she looked almost exactly like it except she was in kindergarten so she didn't look like an adult yet and was way too short. Lethe and Lyre were dressed as wolves which was hilarious too and everyone laughed, and even they were trying to not laugh and it made Ike like Lethe a little bit because any kitty who would dress up as a doggie had to be okay.

But of course Ike and Soren had the best costumes!

Soren was afraid to go out.

Ike, Soren and Mist were in their costumes and ready to go. Ike had laughed at Misthanos and she had hit him, but because she was a baby she was still allowed to go although she'd had to apologize. But Soren was frozen inside. "It's after dark," he said, eyes wide. "And it's chilly. We shouldn't go out."

"It's Halloween," Ike pointed out. "We gotta go out to get our candy."

"It's – you don't know what's out there," Soren argued. "There's monsters in the dark."

"There's no monsters except kids in costumes."

"You don't know that!"

"I do know that. I like to play after dark and never once got eaten." In fact, Ike realized that he had never once seen Soren play outside after dark! He always went in at sunset. That was pretty silly.

Daddy and Mama looked at each other. "Would you feel safer if both of us went?" Mama asked Soren, gentle. Ike was surprised because usually one of them stayed home to hand out candy (which Ike thought was a waste because he would eat that candy!).

"Ummmm…"

Soren looked embarrassed, so Ike stepped in. "Yeah! Let's all go! And Aether too!" The dog perked up at hearing his name. "And Soren you know I'll always keep you safe too! C'mon!" He took Soren's hand and smiled at him. Soren was still shaking, but he smiled back.

When he took one step out of the house, Ike thought it was way better than any candy.

Ike showed Mist and Soren the ropes on how to trick-or-treat. It took an hour for him to stop laughing at seeing his newly-four-year-old sister dressed up as the big bad of Marvel. They saw the parents of all of his friends – Elincia's daddy gave out a TON of candy – and a bunch of people he didn't know.

The only weird thing was an old man who was very interested in Soren's forehead. "Fascinating! A spirit charmer, and so young!"

Soren said nothing, eyes wide as he held out his trick or treat bag.

The man reached out and touched Soren's forehead. "The spirits have chosen you, it seems! Wonderful, wonderful! Where are your parents?"

Ike scowled but he was too slow, Mama and Daddy stepped up, Mama pulling Soren back and Daddy moving between him and the old man. "That's none of your business, sir. Have a happy Halloween. Come on, Ike, Mist." It was the Serious Voice again so Ike and Mist followed with no argument, not that Ike would have argued because the man had touched Soren. He didn't want this guy's stupid candy anyway.

When they were back on the street, Soren smiled at all of them and petted Aether (who was not in a costume, but was wearing his cool vest). "It's okay! Now I know what my face means!"

"It's a birthmark, and they happen all the time," Mama corrected. "He shouldn't have touched you at all, no matter how excited he was."

"I was gonna beat him up for you," Ike offered. This made Soren giggle and hug him, candy bag and all.

"It's 7:45, so it's time for heroes to walk home," Daddy said, ruffling Ike's hair.

Ike gasped. "I'll be the hero and lead the way!" He announced, and began the march back home, the weird old man forgotten.