Chapter Ten

Summer, like all good things, came to an end, of course. Which left Kili standing in front of his new school, gripping his backpack straps tightly in trepidation.

It wasn't fair. He thought that, with his new family, he wouldn't have to face school alone anymore. But with Fili at the middle school and Frodo at preschool, Kili was left to face the horrors of elementary school on his own.

He took a deep breath as he walked into the building. He knew where his homeroom was. He had come here with Bilbo for "Meet the Teachers" day last week. He had hoped to meet at least one of his future classmates then, but hadn't had the opportunity. It would have been nice to know at least one person going into class.

He froze as he walked into his classroom and saw a familiar blond and redhead sitting by themselves in the back corner of the class. Well, he had wanted to know someone, he thought with an internal groan. Why did it have to be them? He had thought he would be walking into a room where nobody liked him yet because nobody knew him. Instead, he was walking into a room where two people already disliked him.

Maybe if he steered clear of them, he could still make some friends in his class. Or at least not alienate everyone from him.

With that in mind, he chose a desk in the nearest front corner, as far away from Legolas and Tauriel as possible. He wasn't super thrilled with sitting in the front of the room. He usually tried not to sit so close to the teacher. In his experience, they never tended to like him anymore than his classmates did. However, maybe if he stayed away from those two, maybe they'd leave him alone.

Most of the other children were gathering in their groups of friends, obviously catching up and talking about their summers. It was tough to realize that most of his classmates had known each other for years probably. The notable exceptions were Tauriel and Legolas, who seemed content to sit alone in the back, and a small, redheaded boy sitting in the opposite back corner.

Kili hesitated by the desk he initially chose, biting his lip as he thought. On one hand, if this boy was sitting by himself, he might be feeling just as alone as Kili. It would be nice to be able to make a friend on the first day of school. On the other hand, though, he might be sitting alone out of choice and might be upset if Kili sat near him. Then he would have to deal with the embarrassment of having been rejected, which Legolas and Tauriel would definitely see.

However, if the boy was as lonely as Kili, he could very well just ignore him out of fear of rejection. Steeling his nerves, he marched down the row to where the boy was sitting alone and tentatively sat his backpack down in the desk next to his.

"Hi," he said with a shaky smile. "Do you mind if I sit by you?"

The boy looked at him with wide grey eyes. "Um, okay," he answered uncertainly.

Kili's smile brightened as he settled down and eyed at his potential new friend with interest. He wanted to ask why the other boy was wearing long sleeves when it was so warm outside, but he figured that was probably none of his business. "My name is Kili," he said instead. "My family just moved to the neighborhood. What's your name?"

"Faramir," he replied softly.

Kili opened his mouth to ask why Faramir kept looking at him like he was going to disappear, but a voice interrupted him.

"Faramir, don't tell me you're trying to trick the new kid into actually being friends with a loser like you?" The kid who spoke was sneering down at Kili's new friend while his two friends laughed meanly at his question.

"Just leave me alone, Billy," Faramir muttered, looking down in shame.

"I'd rather be friends with him than a bully like you," Kili retorted though, standing up and giving the three the dirtiest look he could muster.

Billy and his friends' eyes shifted to look for the teacher, and seeing her otherwise occupied with another teacher in the hallway, smirked at Kili. "Looks like the new kid thinks he can take all of us," Billy told the others.

By now the other kids had started to observe them, but Kili didn't expect any of them to step forward and stand up for him and Faramir. Nobody had ever stood up for him before. It came as a surprise, then, when someone shoved past Billy and his friends to stand next to him.

"Let's even up the odds then," the newcomer all but growled, bushy red hair all but quivering in indignation.

The blond behind Billy rolled his eyes. "Guess all the new kids think they're something special," he sneered.

"We'll just have to show them how things are around here," Billy stated.

"Or you could just go be pathetic somewhere else," Tauriel suggested, coming up behind Kili with an obviously reluctant Legolas standing at her back.

Kili was rather nervous about what would happen next. It may have been five to three, but he had no idea if the kids standing near him would stick with him if things escalated further. Thankfully, the teacher chose that moment to step back into the room and call for the students to find their seats. To his surprise, the redheaded boy he didn't know immediately took the desk in front of Faramir.

"Gimli," he said with a nod to both of them.

It took a moment for Kili in his dumbfounded state to realize he was introducing himself.

"I'm Kili, and this is Faramir," he returned before being shocked as Tauriel slid gracefully into the desk in front of him. She looked back at him with a smile before turning her attention to the teacher in the front of the room. Legolas frowned at her seating choice but followed her lead and took the desk in front of her.

Kili really wasn't sure what had just happened. He glanced at Faramir, who looked just as lost as he felt.

Neither of them, though, got a chance to really talk to any of the other three until lunchtime.

"So are we friends now?" Kili asked, too curious to worry about his bluntness. Faramir looked terrified at the question, whether because he was afraid of the answer or because he was scared of the others' reaction, Kili didn't know.

Tauriel laughed at the question though, which left Kili amazed at how musical her laughter was. "I suppose we are," she replied. Her brother, though, didn't look too thrilled at the prospect, but he didn't refute her answer.

"Of course we are," Gimli declared as if it were a foregone conclusion. "Why wouldn't we be?"

Kili just shrugged and pushed around the peas on his tray with his fork. "Just never really had friends at school before," he said, not counting Fili, of course. Fili was always in a category by himself.

"Me neither," Faramir admitted, giving Kili a small understanding smile.

"Never had… Well, that ends now!" Gimli blustered as if personally offended on their behalves.

"Yes, it does," Tauriel seconded in a calm but firm voice, green eyes flinty as they flickered to where their classmates were sitting.

Kili smiled at their support but couldn't help but feel a bit nervous as Legolas surveyed both him and Faramir with appraising eyes. He could only guess what was going on in the blond's head, but he was probably trying to figure out what it was about the two of them that had scared off so many people in the past.

Kili met his eyes head-on, deciding he didn't care what the other thought of him. Faramir he could probably count on to be his friend, given their newfound kinship in alienation. Gimli didn't look like he would be scared away by anyone, let alone a scrawny boy like Legolas. The only one the blond's appraisal might scare off would be Tauriel, but Kili didn't think Tauriel was the type of person to let her decision be influenced by anyone else.

So he'd let Legolas size him up all he wanted. He couldn't hurt him.

It came as a shock to him, then, when the blond's lip curved into an approving smile.

This was probably the most confusing days of school Kili had ever had.

"So how'd it go?" Fili asked him as soon as he walked through the door, dropping his bag by the door and flopping down on the couch next to Kili.

"It was… different," he answered, scrunching up his nose as he searched for the words to describe his day. "I guess I made friends?"

"You mean you don't know for sure?" he teased, blue eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Well, I mean, they said they were my friends now, but it's just weird, you know? I've never had friends before," Kili tried to explain.

"And what do you call me?" Fili cried in half-feigned affront. "And Ori?"

"I mean friends in school," he backpedaled quickly. "Obviously I've had Ori as a friend. And you're much more than a friend," he said with a roll of his eyes.

Fili leaned back in satisfaction and threw an arm over his shoulders. "So how'd you make these friends then?"

Kili related the story of the bullies that morning, but regretted it when Fili's eyes flashed with anger. "It wasn't a big deal though," he assured quickly, not wanting Fili to be upset.

"I don't like other kids picking on you," the blond stated with a frown.

"Well, technically, they were picking on Faramir," he pointed out. "But I couldn't not do anything! I had to stand up for him, Fili!"

Fili smiled at him. "I know you did. And I'm proud of you for that. But if it comes to actual fighting, try and postpone it to after school, okay? That way I can help," he said with a wink.

Kili laughed. "I'll try," he promised. "But what about you? You didn't make any new friends you're gonna spend all your time with now, are you?"

That was Kili's not-so-secret fear. That Fili would make new friends and forget all about him. It was silly, he knew. Fili loved him and he could never forget all about him because Kili slept in the room next to him, but it still worried him all the same.

"You know no one could ever replace you in my heart, Kee," Fili reassured him. "But I did make a few new friends."

Of course, he knew that. It was just nice to hear it again. "What are their names?" he asked. "What do they look like? Are they nice?"

"Well, if they weren't nice, I wouldn't be friends with them," Fili replied with a chuckle. "But let's see, they're all taller than me," he said with mock exasperation. Kili grinned at that, knowing Fili was a little annoyed at his lack of a substantial growth spurt, especially since Kili himself had shot up a couple of inches over the summer and was now slightly taller than him. "Aragorn has dark hair and grey eyes, and Eomer and Eowyn, who are twins, are both blonde with blue eyes."

"Like you?" Kili asked, trying to picture Fili's friends in his mind.

"Well, Eomer's blond is a bit darker than mine, while Eowyn's is a little paler. And their eyes are a little lighter than mine," Fili described.

"So not as nice as yours," Kili declared with a smirk.

Fili chuckled. "If you say so. I'm sure you're speaking as an unbiased party, after all. There's no reason for you to prefer my color over anyone else's."

"None whatsoever," he replied serenely. "Do you have homework?"

"Not for the first day," Fili answered.

"Then come on," Kili said, standing up and tugging him impatiently to his feet. "Let's go outside!"

Fili laughed but followed him anyway. Kili grinned back at him. No matter how different things were at school now that he had friends, he was glad that Fili was one constant in his life he knew wouldn't change.

Tbc…

Kinda short, but I hope you enjoyed Kili's first day at his new school. We'll learn more about Kili and Fili's new friends as the story progresses, I promise.