fleets: So I felt bad about leaving you guys with just that one really short intro chapter, so here's the second one to get things started.

Chapter 2: Nice to Meet You Weirdo

His ears heard the bell ring and he picked up his pace. Dang, first day of school and I'm going to be late, he thought bitterly. Vaati scampered over the pebbled path and made a sharp left into the blades of grass to take a shortcut to the school. Forget about messing up his clothes: he'd rather make it on time with the rest of the kids instead of have tons of awkward stares directed at him when he walked in late. He was going to have awkward stares anyway, but he might as well decrease the number he knew he was going to receive. New kids always got the awkward stare treatment.

Why did Miss Britta make him go to school anyway? If he'd wanted to learn something he could have managed perfectly well by asking the older kids at the orphanage, which was technically everybody because he had been the youngest one there. Oh wait…right, the goal wasn't about learning. It was about 'meeting kids his age.'

"Vaati, you're going to go to school starting next week."

"What? Why Miss Britta? I can just learn here like I've been doing since…since forever!"

Vaati watched the middle-aged orphanage caretaker shake her head and chuckle. "I agree that you can learn everything you want about math and writing right here without taking one step outside. BUT – " She held out a finger to stop the 8 year old Minish from leaving. "BUT…you only learn the most important things in life by spending time with peers."

Vaati frowned. "Ugh, Miss Britta, kids my age are so boring to talk to though."

"I don't think so young man. You've never really met anyone your age so you wouldn't know."

"Can't I just let Glen teach me everything?"

"Glen is ten years older than you and by next season he's leaving the orphanage for Holodrum to work."

Vaati's heart sank. "…Glen's leaving?" Glen had been the person Vaati would go to for advice, for help, for fun and games…he couldn't imagine him gone and so far away. He'd never really considered the possibility of the older orphans leaving once they were ready to work and make a living in the world. He'd imagined everyone he knew to stay with him forever. It was a depressing thought. Glen had been like a brother. Wait…

"Glen was more like your brother, Vaati, not a friend your age," Miss Britta said, practically reading his mind. She stood up and pat him on the head. "Don't worry about it kiddo, just give school a chance. I'm sure you'll make wonderful friends."

Vaati stopped and peeked around the stalk of a flower to look at the school before he walked in. Some other late stragglers were just going through the doors. Oh good, I'm not the last one, he thought in relief and scurried over to blend in with the rest of the late group. He was glad he had said goodbye to Miss Britta before they had come in sight of the school. Boy, that would have been embarrassing; he wasn't a baby who needed mommy to hold his hand. Well, it had taken quite a lot of convincing to get her to leave earlier – that was mostly the reason why he was almost late.

He followed his fellow tardy kids into the classroom and stood by the corner of the room because he didn't know if he should sit. Most of the students seemed to know where they were assigned. Should I stand here until the teacher comes? But that's so awkward! Maybe I should just sit somewhere random and…ugh, but what if someone busts me out because it had been their seat? Great, now everyone's sitting down and I'm the only one standing. And…yup, here comes the staring. So much for trying to avoid the staring. Who's actually not looking at me? Anyone? Anyone? Of course not, I'm the NEW KID.

Vaati fidgeted, overly self-conscious of his every move. He didn't know where to look because it seemed that everywhere he looked he would meet a pair of curious eyes. Uncomfortable, he finally resorted to looking at his feet.

He noticed a large rip in the side of the bottom of his poncho. Just what I need, a tear in my clothes. It was then he realized the green stains he had gotten on his clothes from squeezing around through the grass forest. Even better, I look like I have bug throw up all over me.

"Are you perhaps Vaati Rimer?"

Vaati felt a soft hand tap him on the shoulder and he audibly squeaked from surprise, generating a few sniggers from the class. He whirled around and bumped his nose into the person who had addressed him, and he hurriedly jumped back and bobbed his head in apology.

"It's ok to be nervous. I know I was on my first day of school." The Minish teacher was still young. She had her hair clipped back in a tight bun and she walked to her desk with a pencil in her mouth and an armful of textbooks. She dropped the books onto the desk. "You may call me Ms. Tutari. I heard from Miss Britta that today is the first day you've ever gone to school?"

Vaati nodded.

"Well in that case," she clapped her hands together. "Let's everyone go around and introduce ourselves. Make sure you include one interesting fact to share for everyone to remember you by. Yes Delta?" She asked a slouching Minish who had raised his hand. Though he appeared to be one of the younger students in the room (perhaps the same age as Vaati) he held himself with an air of supreme confidence. Vaati could just tell he was the typical troublemaker.

"Do we have to? We all know each other."

"Yes Delta. You may all know each other but Vaati here is new to this school. Let's give him a warm welcome."

Delta shrugged and whispered something to the boy sitting next to them. Vaati knew he was definitely going to come to hate Delta in the months ahead. Heck, he disliked him already.

From prompting from Ms. Tutari, Vaati snapped to attention. Right, he needed to introduce himself. This shouldn't be too bad. All he had to do was say his name and say something interesting about himself. Hmmm…something…interesting? Uh oh.

"My name is Vaati Rimer and uh, I uh…I…crud…hold on." Vaati could feel his face start to burn up in a bright shade of pink. He began to feel nervous with each second that ticked by. All those expectant faces looking at him wasn't helping either. "I'm Vaati. I'm Vaati and…and…. Hm."

"Don't think too hard on it Vaati," Ms. Tutari said reassuringly. "It doesn't have to be anything amazing. It can even be something as simple as saying your favorite color." She smiled warmly. "Anything we can learn about you. Just say the first thing that comes to mind."

First thing that comes to mind huh? That's not difficult at all! He began again with renewed confidence. "My name is Vaati Rimer and I want to sit down."

There was a burst of laughter from the room and it was then that Vaati realized how ridiculous he had sounded. Oh geez. He shrunk down into his shoulders and knew he was beet red from the burning sensation around his cheeks. He'd been so nervous that he'd really said the first thing that had come to mind, which was that he'd wanted to sit down instead of stay standing in front of the class. Ok, now I REALLY want to sit down.

"Of…of course," Ms. Tutari stammered. She took him gently by the shoulders and guided him towards a seat by the window. She gave him a worried glance to make sure he felt all right. "What is it?" She asked after she saw Vaati's lips quiver from whispering something. The noise of the kids' laughter carried his voice away.

Vaati bit his lip. "I didn't mean…I wasn't trying to be funny or…or rude to you but it was just that you told me to say the first thing that came to mind and the first thing that came to mind was – "

"Hush," she smiled, stopping him in the middle of his rambling outburst. "Everyone makes mistakes when they're nervous. I'm sorry I put you in the spotlight today." She walked back to the middle of the class and raised her voice to get the class's attention. "Who wants to introduce themselves next?"

XXXXXXXXX

Vaati didn't really remember the rest of the introductions after that because he had been too absorbed in his earlier embarrassment. He mentally kicked himself for screwing up so much. The other kids would tease him relentlessly for sure.

After the introductions were over with, Vaati vaguely remembered Ms. Tutari handing out books to each student. He'd been happy he was going to finally be able to own his own books for the year instead of having to borrow them from the older kids at the orphanage, but he'd been a little disappointed when he realized how elementary they were compared to what he had been reading. I came here to meet kids my age, not to learn, Vaati told himself over and over again. At least the arithmetic had looked challenging. Glen hadn't really taught him that yet.

Vaati sighed. It was recess now and he didn't really know what to do. He didn't know anyone to hang out with yet so all he was doing now was stand by himself in the shade of a lone blade of grass trying to figure out what to do. It was very awkward. That word was becoming his theme today.

Maybe he should make the effort to talk to someone. People were usually nice once you got to know them. That was the first step – he needed to meet people. Vaati clenched his pale little paw into a fist of determination. That's it! He would say hello to the first person he bumped into.

"Hey, you seem fun. Let's get to know each other."

Vaati perked up. Someone wanted to be his friend? Wow, things were looking up already. He turned around with a grin on his face. "Sure! I'm…" he hesitated. The person who had come up to him was none other than the last person he had wanted to talk to: Delta.

Delta returned his own grin, but it wasn't anything Vaati would've describe as 'friendly.' Delta was surrounded by most of the kids who had been in Vaati's class this morning. Vaati had a bad feeling that Delta's followers did not come here to be friends. He had a hunch that Delta had gathered them to see the entertainment show he was going to set up with Vaati as the star.

"You're Vaati who wants to sit down," Delta smirked, cocking his head towards his audience to prompt some giggles. Vaati remained silent, refusing to show any signs of discomfort. Delta continued. "I don't think you remember me from class though."

"I do."

"Yeah, but I should introduce myself again." Delta took a step forward so that their noses were almost touching. Vaati stayed put, knowing that if he backed down he would just let the jerk run all over him. There was a fleeting look of annoyance on Delta's face before he broke into smiles again. "My name is Delta Esen. Some interesting things about me are that I don't have creepy eyes, I don't have weird skin color, and I don't have girly hair." Delta stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you, weirdo."

This was going to be a long school year.

fleets: I swear this will not be the stereotypical 'bullied childhood' story (even though it looks like it's going to be one). IT'S NOT!!!
I tried to keep the Minish names ending in '~lta' or '~ari' because that's what most of them tend to be. They also have meanings, too. Like, Vaati's last name Rimer is just the letters of the word "good wind" in some language that's rearrranged a bit. Delta is "change" (which won't make sense right now) and Esen is also "wind" in Turkish (or so I've heard).

And now (yawn) I need sleep...badly.

Darkwind: Hello! Thanks, and don't worry about it! I'm glad to hear you like my stories - that's good enough news for me! :D

Velk: I pity Vaati too...

Astral S. Kepeire: Yes it worked! It's hard trying to write for someone who's supposed to be smarter than you, but I guess I got the sophistication part down. That's good to hear. :D