AN: Long time no update. I know I feel really bad but here you have then next installment of New Family New Life. I'll try to update faster next time but I make no promises. I base this off my own personal experiences with high school registration, so it's fairly accurate, at least in my mind. On a different note, I also have a fictionpresss account if anyone is interested. Reviews are always welcomed and as always I appreciate constructive criticism. I would love to know how I can improve.
Peace
McFudge
Disclaimer: I own nothing! I swear! I wish, but sadly no.
Ziva and Abby walked through the doors of DC North High School. Abby had her phone out texting Tony and McGee trying to find them. They came across Tony and Kate in the main lobby and they found McGee near the gymnasium where registration was taking place. Abby led the group squealing as she led them through to go pick up their registration materials. McGee, Kate and Tony were used to it, but Ziva was still a bit confused by Abby and her mannerisms. They reached the packet pick up table and Kate, Tony, McGee, and Abby were able to get their stuff, but Ziva still needed to talk to one of the people in charge of registration and figure her transfer out. As Abby ran around catching up with friends from last year, Jen led Ziva over to the table for new students. To Ziva's slight puzzlement Tony came with them. He offered no explanation.
Jen approached the table and talked with the lady in charge of delegating everything. The Gibbs had already sent in a registration form for Ziva, but there were still details to take care of. They got financial stuff taken care of, but then the lady directed them to one of the counselors to get Ziva's courses sorted out. The counselors name was Ms. Slater and she was a perky young woman who looked to over energetic to be dealing with teenagers on a daily basis.
"Alright, hi Ziva my name is Ms. Slater and I'll be your counselor for the next three years. I received a transcript but I can't quite read what it says. What language is it in?
"It is most likely in Hebrew. I am from Israel and my school did teach English but we primarily spoke in Hebrew."
"Oh alright then. It looks like you'll just have to tell me what level you're at in all of your classes. As a sophomore you are required to take English, Health/Drivers Ed, US History, Math, and Science. Most students have a lunch and then you have two elective slots, most students fill one of them with a language. Shall we start with English? How proficient are you in the language?"
"I have been speaking English since I was 4. I am fluent. But what is this English class? Are you still teaching high school students to speak their native language?"
"Ah, I am sorry, English class works with grammar, literature, writing and analysis. Did your old school have leveled classes?"
"Oh that makes more sense. I had a similar class last year and I was in the top class. I have read some American literature and I was on my school's newspaper when I had time away from my training."
"Alright, we may have to have you take some preliminary exams at the start of the year, but I believe we'll put you in Honors English. How does that sound?"
"What does honors mean?"
"Ah, I'm sorry it is the accelerated level. More advanced. "
"Well than that should be fine. What other classes do I have to take?"
Ms. Slater and Ziva went through the history, math and science options and Ziva ended up taking the normal US history as she knew nothing about it, Honors Precalculus and Honors Chemistry. The concept of drivers ed and health, however, confused Ziva to no end.
"Wait, I have to take a class to learn to drive? I already know how to drive. My father taught me how to drive the Humvee as girls aren't supposed to be directly involved in combat but he wanted me to further my battlefield training."
Jen, who was listening in on their conversation, and Ms. Slater were both shocked by this comment.
"Wait, I'm sorry, I think I heard you wrong. Did you just say Humvee, combat and battlefield training?" Ms. Slater asked with an incredulous tone.
Ziva was confused as to why she was confused. "Why yes, in Israel all citizens are expected to provide military service, and as my father was the director of Mossad, my training began earlier than most, but there were still a few kids my age in training with me."
Ms. Slater tried to regain composure as she took this information in. "Wait, you're the daughter of the Eli David who died a month ago?"
Ziva replied with a solemn nod.
Jen was shocked and reminded herself to have a chat with Ziva later. This girl needed help sorting out the demons from her past and Jen had a sneaking suspicion that Ziva would not adapt easily to American culture.
"Where were we?" Ms. Slater asked, still perplexed by the girl who sat in front of her.
"You were explaining to me this concept of drivers ed. It does not make sense."
"Ah, well drivers ed is a required class that teaches students the rules of the roads and how to be a safe driver. You have to take it if you want to get your driver's license when you turn 16. I see here that your birthday is October 17th so you qualify to take drivers ed this semester. How does that sound?"
"I guess I'll take your word for it. It sounds like it could be interesting."
"Alright we'll get that set for you. You'll take health class 2nd semester. Health educates students on healthy lifestyle choices and is also mandatory if you would like to graduate."
Ziva was still confused by the concept of Health class, but she decided to just go with it. She had been barraged with so much new information in the last couple days that she was becoming slightly overwhelmed. She simply nodded and Ms. Slater took that as her cue to move on.
"Now we offer courses in three different languages; French, Spanish and German. We also offer English as a second language. Are you interested in any of those?"
"Well, I already speak Hebrew, English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Farsi, Russian, German, and Italian with a degree of fluency, so I'd like to know what this English as a second-language class is."
Yet again, Ziva had succeeded in shocking Ms. Slater. She didn't know any adults who spoke that many languages and she certainly didn't know any 15 year olds with that high of a proficiency in languages. Ziva was certainly unique. "Well we have a few different levels of English as a second language. We have a class for students who are still working on learning English and need help simply comprehending the language, and then we have a class for students who have mastered English but have issues with certain elements of the American culture such as idioms and slang. I've heard that that class can really help make student's transition period easier. "
Ziva had issues with the subtleties of colloquial English so she thought that the second class sounded like a great idea. "I think I'll take the second option. Now you said I had one more elective spot open?"
Ms. Slater and Ziva worked on getting her final electives sorted out and Ziva ended up taking consumer education and jewelry making because she needed consumer education to graduate and jewelry sounded fun. Ms. Slater printed off a copy of her schedule and Ziva and Jen rejoined Tony who had been talking with some of his buddies while he waited for them. The three of them found Abby Kate and McGee and then they went over to sports registration. Abby wasn't big on the whole sports thing, but Tony played football and basketball and Kate ran cross-country. McGee was on the chess team and math team with Abby.
Ziva looked at all of the options for fall sports and she actually ended up choosing to join the swim team, with hopes of convincing the school to let her join the martial arts program when their practices began. Then Abby grabbed Ziva and Kate and dragged them over to get yearbook pictures taken, leaving McGee and Tony to jog after them. While they got pictures taken care of, Jen bought the necessary gym uniforms and picked up the rest of Ziva's information.
Spearheaded by Abby, the rest of the teenagers ran around the school, showing Ziva around and finding their lockers and classes. Abby would have run them all around on excitement if Jen had not put her foot down and, after a few calls home, Abby, Ziva, Tony, Kate and McGee piled into Jen's car and they headed back to the Gibbs household to hang out and enjoy what summer they had left.