Author's Note:
A little shorter, this chapter. Mostly wanted to get the whole FFA thing established and then the second part was mostly just fun. I'm getting flashbacks to my own FFA days writing this and it makes me happy.
I dunno how I can crank out a chapter of this in a day but I can't manage to get anything of House Call written.
Anyway, sorry for the utter crack. Hope you're still entertained!
He was apprehensive for a few reasons staying after school the next week. There had been a routine for long enough that it had gotten comfortable and now, suddenly not getting on the bus straight away, threw off everything. Sergio had been rather tempted to catch it anyway, claim that he'd forgotten or something, but that excuse wouldn't last forever and it seemed like it would be easier to just get it over with.
Sarah at least seemed a little sympathetic. A little. She hadn't mentioned his probation again yet, which he was grateful for, and held back the smirk he knew was brewing when she went to catch her usual bus. Sergio put that out of his mind and made the trek across campus to the Ag building - one he had seen but never been inside of.
It was already busy when he got in. A lot of the people he recognized more by sight than anything else. A kid from his Spanish class - his name was Haven or something similar - was pulling bags out of a closet. He saw Julia Walker sitting at a table with a few other girls that weren't familiar. At least two guys from PE were chatting as they flipped through thick binders. No one actually seemed to have noticed him yet, which was preferable. Sergio realized after a moment that he had stopped in the doorway and pulled in a breath before actually going into the room.
The place was bigger than expected This part was obviously just a classroom, but he could see another door that led into what looked to be some kind of small office, and a door there that probably opened into the shop. He'd heard from people who actually took the classes that there was a good deal of woodwork involved in the first semester, and welding later on, so it would make sense to have a good-sized facility to manage all of that in. Still, he couldn't help but be a little impressed.
"Ah, new kid, right?" Sergio started a little at the voice behind him and looked around. He saw the monkey first, and then focused on its owner. Ms. Boyle had apparently changed sometime between Biology and now into something a decent bit less formal and far more stained. The monkey, whose name was apparently Bryce and whose legality was still questionable, was examining an apple core as if willing it to refill itself. Ms. Boyle was looking over something on a clipboard and it took a few seconds for her to look back up. "Angela - Mrs. Reagan - is working with a team already, so I'm going to get you started."
"Started with what, exactly?" It took him a few moments to remember why she was here in the first place. When he'd talked to Reagan before, the club's advisor, she'd mentioned having a few teachers or parents come in to help with team practices. If they had any sort of animal-related events, it'd make sense to call in the Biology teacher.
"Depends on where you end up, I suppose." Ms. Boyle flipped the paper over and then did a look-over of the room. "Some teams have limits, most don't. Apparently you're to just dive right in and we'll work out logistics like the uniform order later. If I remember correctly there was someone...Oi!" Her voice rose a few levels within a split second and Sergio was slightly relieved to see he wasn't the only one in the room who jumped. "There was someone down a member - who was that?"
A hand flew up immediately and the rest of Julia Walker followed with it. "We're down to three since Sam moved. Just need one more before regionals."
"Perfect." Ms. Boyle nodded briskly toward the three girls, reaching up to scratch Bryce's head as he climbed to her other shoulder. "Start out with them. Try it out, get a feel for the place, and you can look into other teams later if any seem interesting. Julia will explain semantics."
Sergio found himself glancing between the teacher and the table a few times before realizing that he was supposed to be moving. His grip on his bag's strap tightened instinctively when he crossed the room and sank into the open chair. Three sets of eyes were leveled on him immediately and, once again, he found himself briefly considering a dramatic escape from the city.
"You're that kid who punched Daniel, aren't you?" one of the girls asked, and he looked up with what he hoped was a fairly patronizing expression. The remnants of the black eye seemed to answer that well enough and she snorted, glancing around quickly before leaning forward, her tone hushed. "That took some balls."
"Haley," Julia cut in, almost scolding as the third girl barely contained a snort, "you can't flirt with every single new person - that's how we scared off the last guy." She sat back down and gave Sergio a considering look. "Julia," a quick gesture to herself, and then to the other girls in succession, "Haley, and Anna. You?"
"I assumed everyone knew me - I'm the plant hybrid kid or something, aren't I?" That was met with blank looks and the boy let out a breath. "Sergio."
"Good." Julia reached under her chair and pulled out a binder - just as thick as the ones he'd seen earlier - and quickly flipped it to a page near the beginning. A pen had somehow appeared in her hand and was hovering expectantly. "Last name?"
"Balleseros." He spelled it out for her quickly when she hesitated, vaguely wondering when he had last given his full name to someone less than twenty years older than him.
"Good." She settled back in her chair, arms folding. "Well, welcome to the team, Sergio. We barely scraped our way into regionals, but the judges were pretty biased anyway, so I'm not too worried. You'll just have to do a little catch-up on the basics and some of the identification, and we need the review anyway so that can be fit in easily."
"Hang on, I still don't..." Sergio glanced around the group and down at the binder, hoping to find some clue. "What team, exactly? No one told me what I was joining."
Julia glanced over at Anna quickly who grinned, reaching under the table and hauling up some large bag. Just in the side pockets he could quickly spot pliers, a spool of thin green wire, and some kind of knife. It looked fairly dangerous as a whole.
"Floriculture," Anna informed him briskly. "We need four to a team and according to Ms. Boyle, you're our man."
"Non-negotiable," Julia added. "We're not getting to regionals without four and we need to at least get to state level for once. Now," she turned her attention back to the massive binder, turning a few more pages in, "we can get the basics out of the way today."
It took a good deal of self-control to not just bury his head in his hands. Of course it would be flowers. Out of all of the different events Mrs. Reagan had mentioned, of course he got dragged into flowers...
"Doesn't seem like it'd be that bad," Mr. Redford told him. "No one knows how flower arrangements are supposed to look, as long as there are flowers in them."
"The judges know, apparently." Sergio stabbed a piece of broccoli a little harder than necessary, barely noticing what he was actually eating as he went on. "And it's not just the arrangements - that's just the stuff you have to have done before you get to the competition. The rest - hang on." He could see the Redfords exchange a glance before he started rifling through the bag at his feet. The stack of papers Julia had given him was already creased and he flattened it out quickly before flipping to a random page and holding it out. "You know what this plant is?"
The man peered at it a few moments and Ramsay craned his neck around to try and see.
"A pinecone!" Mark chimed in suddenly, nearly losing his entire mouthful of food in the process.
"You didn't even see it, stupid," Ramsay snapped back. "And pinecones are seeds, not plants."
"Seeds count as plants!"
"Boys." Mr. Redford was surprisingly good at silencing a table with one word, and he glanced between the two younger kids quickly. "Mark, chew. Ramsay, tone. Anyway," he looked back at the picture and shrugged. "Seems like a tree to me."
"Pine tree, actually," his wife added, shooting a look at Mark quickly to quell his shout of satisfaction.
"Technically, to get it right you need..." Sergio turned the page over quickly and scoffed. "Western White pine, pinus monticola. You gotta know that. You gotta know what specific breed of pine tree that is. And they've got hundreds of these."
"Well challenges are good," Mrs. Redford noted. "And you'll be meeting people. Socializing is a nice change."
"Already get enough mandatory socializing as it is," he muttered. "They just call it public school. Dunno why I couldn't have done it online like Donny's doing."
The eldest boy looked up briefly at his name before his attention returned to his plate as usual. Donny very rarely said anything past the initial "how was your day" part of meals. Of course, normally Sergio didn't either. Most dinners consisted of Mark and Ramsay firing back and forth with the occasional warning to be polite. Today was odd in that he'd actually initiating a conversation, and he could tell the Redfords had noticed even if they didn't bring it up specifically.
"Donny just had a few specific credits to get through," Mr. Redford pointed out. "Not worth going to Ilaria for just a class or two. You've still got a couple years."
"Mandatory socializing." Sergio shoved his papers back into the bag and sighed. "They've got these competitions, too, couple hours away. I didn't know I was even allowed to travel."
"School sanctioned, approved by Otis beforehand, with proper supervision. Doesn't seem to be a problem."
"Don't suppose you can just forbid me to go."
"Afraid not." It went relatively quiet around the table for a minute or two - a real feat, given the two younger boys - but apparently Mr. Redford was determined to keep a conversation going. "You make up with that Daniel kid?"
Sergio snorted, a little louder than he'd intended, sending a piece of chicken launching off the side of the plate as his attempted stab missed its target."Babaca..."
"What was that?"
"No, he's been avoiding me." For more than one reason now, too, but that didn't need to be brought up. "Don't worry, Sarah's been restraining me from going on any more murderous rampages." The look that got told him the sarcasm wasn't appreciated, but Ramsay cut in before any comment could be made.
"Who's Sarah? Does Serge have a girlfriend?" He drew the last word out and somehow managed not to flinch under the glare.
"I swear, I'll duct tape you to the ceiling."
"Can you actually do that?" Mark asked quickly. "That sounds awesome!"
"You offering to be a guinea pig?"
"Boys." It fell quiet again and managed to stay that way long enough for Sergio to finish his dinner and excuse himself, retreating to his room even before Donny did.
The room itself was still pretty bare. He'd gotten into the habit very early on of keeping as few possessions as possible; moving around didn't allow for sentimentality, and even now in an actual house he still had a few bags of clothes that the Redfords had bought sitting unopened in the closet.
Don't get attached, don't get invested, don't owe any favors.
Sergio tossed his bag onto the bed and then followed it, staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. He could hear Mark and Ramsay downstairs arguing over the dishes as was customary when it was their night to clean up.
It took a little while for him to consider actually doing any work. Green eyes considered the bag critically before he gave a slightly resigned sigh and pulled the stack of papers out again, turning it back to the first picture. Bird of paradise, strelitzia reginae.
Stupid plants...
I don't usually put ending notes, but I just want to encourage you to go and GoogleImage search FFA Floriculture teams. Take in those pictures. Take in that official dress. Use your best imagination to put Sergio on one of those teams in that official dress surrounded by flowers.
And just imagine the scowl.
That is all.