OMG I AM ACTUALLY UPLOADING CHAPTER TWO!!!!111!!!11 XD

Erm…I dunno what to say. Except that Andrew Stanton is, like, awesome and stuff…

And this chapter was somewhat…boring…to write. I guess because nothing is really happening yet. Except for a description of sea gypsies. And the fact that I realized I know Mr. Ray's songs by memory.

---One---

The next morning, Matthew "Marlin" Clonish awoke to the sensation of his son jumping on his gut.

"First day of school! First day of school!" the lad cheered, "Daddy! Time to get up!"

Marlin was not entirely focused when his son pounced on him. In a dreamlike state, his mind traveled back in time, when he was his son's age. "I don't wanna go to school," the man muttered, "Five more minutes."

Nemo Clonish laughed at his father's sluggishness. "Not you, Dad! Me! It's time for me to go to school!" With that, he jumped off of his father, running excitedly about his father's bedroom, chanting, "Time for school! Time for school!"

Marlin sat up, trying to rub the slumber from his eyes. "Okay, it's time for school," he muttered, "And it is a good thing."

At that moment, Nemo tripped, tumbling out of his father's open doorway. Immediately, Marlin was awake. Leaping to his feet, he ran towards the doorway; he saw that Nemo had fallen into a nearby trash bucket; only his legs were visible, sticking out into the air. From inside the bucket, Marlin could hear his soon still chanting that it was time for school. Had he been as carefree as he had been before Coral's death, Marlin would have thought it a funny moment. However, he was not at all carefree.

"Nemo!" Marlin gasped, "Are you okay?"

"Time for school!" Nemo replied.

Marlin shook his head. "There's no way you can get out of there on your own. Hang on." He grabbed Nemo's swinging ankles, pulling him out feet first and laying him on the floor. Nemo was quick to jump to his feet.

"Okay, are you hurt?" Marlin asked.

"Nope!" Nemo replied. He bounced from foot to foot to show he was okay.

"Are you sure? Are you bleeding? Do you feel woozy?" Marlin pressed.

"Nope," Nemo replied, his bouncing slowing. His father was always worrying about him like this. Why couldn't he just admit Nemo was unharmed and forget about it?

"How many stripes are on this clownfish?" Marlin asked, pointing to the adjacent picture on the wall.

"I'm fine, Dad," Nemo said, but his father would not rest until he was sure.

"Answer the stripe question!" Marlin snapped.

"Three," Nemo replied.

"No!" Marlin gasped, hands on his head, "Something's wrong with you! That clownfish has…" He quickly counted the stripes on the clownfish. "…three stripes? Really? That's all?" Relief flowed through Marlin's veins. "You're all right."

"I told you so!" Nemo chirped; he wasn't being rude, simply truthful.

Marlin decided to change the subject. "How's the lucky limb?" he asked, gesturing towards Nemo's right arm.

Nemo wiggled the stump to the best of his ability; all that was left of it was his shoulder and half of his upper arm. "It feels lucky!" he stated, proving it to his dad by giving him a modified high-five with it.

Marlin gazed at his son; Nemo's red eyes still shocked him. They looked exactly like Coral's. How could he let this young lad go? Why didn't he choose to home school him? What had he been thinking?!

"Are you sure you want to go to school?" Marlin asked, "I could home school you. Or you could wait five or six more years…"

At the mention of school, Nemo's cheerful chant began again. "Time for school! Time for school!"

Marlin thought frantically for something, anything, to keep his son at school for a little while longer. "Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yep!" Nemo replied.

"Did you comb your hair?"

"Yep!"

"Is your backpack and school supplies all ready?"

"Yep!"

"Did you use the bathroom?"

Nemo's smile faded. "Oh, yeah! That's what I forgot!" With that, Nemo ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut in his urgency.

---

Five minutes later, the father and son were in the car, driving to school. Nemo was excited beyond belief; Marlin wondered if any of the other children were this ecstatic to be going to school.

"Dad! Maybe when I'm at school, I'll meet a scary guy!" Nemo gasped.

"I highly doubt that," Marlin replied, checking his blind spots of the umpteenth time.

"Have you ever met a scary guy?" Nemo asked, still bouncing in his seat.

"No, and I don't plan to," Marlin replied, and then decided it was time to teach his son a quick driving lesson. As he came to the stop sign, he asked, "Now, Nemo, what's the one thing we say about driving around town?"

"It ain't safe," Nemo replied.

Marlin ruffled his son's hair proudly. "That's my boy!" Marlin placed his hand back at the wheel. "So, when we're at the stop sign, we gotta make sure we're safe before we pull out. First, we look to the left…" Marlin looked to the left; from the corner of his eye, he saw Nemo look, as well. "…and then to the right…" The two changed their gaze to the right. "…and then to the left….and then to the right…and then, if you want to do it three more times --"

The car behind them began to honk impatiently; no one had been coming since Marlin had pulled up to the sign. "Da-ad!" Nemo groaned; he was as impatient as the driver behind them.

"Okay, here we go, on our adventure!" Marlin cheered, feigning happiness as the car pulled onto the road.

Nemo began his excited chatter anew. "How old are sea gypsies?"

Marlin was surprised that Nemo knew about the sea gypsies. The sea gypsies were kind and caring humans who were expert healers and rehabilitators of both humans and sea creatures, as well as knowing the ocean and its contents by heart. They wore outfits made from the soft silk of the byssus of bivalve shells, decorating their clothes to match the appearance of the marine animal that they believed most represented them. They were almost never seen in public, except at aquariums or beaches; even then, one couldn't tell a sea gypsy apart from a normal human unless they stared very hard at them; it was claimed that they had a magic that kept them from being recognized by those who hated the ocean. Sea gypsies were rumored to be descendants of the sea nymphs and sirens of Greek mythology, which attributed to their long lengths of lives and the ability to speak to sea creatures; Marlin, however, highly doubted that. In fact, the entire thing seemed like just a myth to him.

"Sea gypsies?" Marlin repeated, not wanting to squash his son's belief in them, "I have no idea."

"Sandy Pank, from next door?" Nemo hiccupped, his excitement getting to him, "He told me tha-that, the sea gypsies? The can live to be two hundred years old!"

"Well, I'll tell you what," Marlin said, "If I ever meet a sea gypsy, I'll ask him how old he is." He chuckled. "Right after I'm done talking to the scary guy, of course."

They had, at that moment, arrived at Nemo's school. Parking in a nearby slot, Marlin and Nemo stepped out onto the school grounds. Children ran about like wild animals, screaming and screeching in pure joy. Nemo began to run after them, but Marlin held his hand tightly.

Nemo looked up worriedly at his father. "You're not gonna freak out like you did at that petting zoo, are you?"

Marlin defended himself quickly. "That fawn was about to charge!" He then saw three men, leaning against a pickup truck; one of normal build, one lean and lanky, and one short and somewhat fat. "I wonder if they know what to do now," Marlin muttered, approaching them.

"Excuse me?" he said, clearing his throat as he approached them, "I'm wondering if this is where we meet the teacher…?"

"Yes, it is," the lean man said. Marlin could now see that he was dressed in an entire rancher outfit; cowboy hat, boots, shirt, jeans, the works. He suddenly seemed to recognize Marlin. A sardonic grin crept across his face. "Well, would you look who's out in the open?"

Marlin tried to smile and take the joke, but failed visibly. "Yes. Shocking, I know --"

"It's Marty, right?" the thin man asked?

"Matthew," Marlin corrected, "but my acquaintances call me Marlin."

"I'm Ted," the thin man said. He pointed to the short man and introduced him as Bob, then to the man of normal build and introduced him as Phil.

Phil's eyes lit up with recognition. "I know you!" he declared, "Yeah, you're that comedian who spoke at our church dinner a couple of months back! Man, you were hilarious! Hey, you mind telling us some jokes now?"

Ted and Bob agreed to this idea; Marlin, however, did not. "I would, but," he stuttered, "I haven't reviewed any of my material in awhile, and I, you know, I'm not really all that good, unless I'm on stage…"

"Well, if it's a stage you need," Ted declared, "you can stand in the bed of my truck."

"N-no thanks, Ted," Marlin said, "I'll just try my best. I do remember one that I haven't used yet, but it's pretty funny."

Nemo groaned, hiding his head in his hand.

"Now, you see," Marlin said, "there's this mollusk, and this sea cucumber. Its during high tide, when they meet, you know…or maybe it was at low tide. No, yeah, it was at low tide, they would've been hiding at high tide, cuz, you know, that's when the sharks and rays come around…"

The three dads began to wonder if asking Marlin to tell a joke was a wise maneuver.

Marlin continued on, doggedly, "Anyways, the sea cucumber, or no wait, the mollusk, yeah, that's it. The mollusk, he's singing a little ditty; because, you know, in a joke, everyone talks. Anyways, the mollusk is singing and they…wait…no, wait, the sea cucumber!"

By now, the three dads were positive they had made a mistake.

"But the sea cucumber, he turns to the mollusk and say, 'Hey…not during low tide.' Heh heh, isn't that, you know…um…well, you know, the joke itself doesn't have to be funny. It's all about the delivery!"

"SHELDON!" Ted suddenly barked, "Get off that girl, right now!"

Marlin whirled around in horror; thankfully, he realized that the boy Ted had shouted at had simply jumped onto a small girl for a piggyback ride. Another boy was pointing at them and laughing, at which the two immediately tackled him to the ground. He wiggled out from under them, scrambling towards them. The other boy and the girl followed close behind, giggling and snorting with happiness.

The little girl poked at Nemo's lucky limb and asked, "Ew! What's wrong with your arm?"

"He looks funny!" shouted the second boy.

Before Ted's son could make any remarks, Ted pulled his ear. "OWCH!" the boy whimpered, "What'd I do?"

"Be nice," Ted snapped, "It's his first day of school."

Marlin, meanwhile, decided to explain his son's appearance to the three kids. "Nemo was born with it. We call it his lucky limb."

Nemo blushed with embarrassment, but the girl spoke before he could chastise his father. "It's nice to meet you, Nemo!" she said, giving a little curtsey as she did so. "My name is Pearl, and I have a lucky limb, too! Well, kind of." She picked up her foot. "See this foot? It's actually shorter than my other one, but you can't really tell." She began to spin in a ballerina's circle. "Especially when I spin like this!"

While Pearl continued to spin, Ted's son made his greeting. "I'm Sheldon," he said, "and I have really bad ah…ahl…ah-CHOOOO!" He sneezed powerfully, knocking himself off balance on onto the ground, landing on his behind. "Allergies."

The final boy jumped in front of Nemo, staring directly into his eyes; Nemo felt that he was a bit too close for comfort. "I'm Tad," he declared, "and I'm ob-oh-nox-she-us!"

As Tad had introduced himself, a bus had pulled up to the pavement. All of the children had immediately swarmed towards it, like a school of aquarium fish who know when they are about to be fed. The bus parked, and a man stepped out from its opposite side, singing loudly. "Ohhhhh, let's name the zones, the zones, the zones, let's name the zones of the open seeeeeeeeea!"

"Mr. Ray!" cheered Nemo's three new friends, darting to join the group of children. Tad beckoned to Nemo to follow, but Marlin held him back. He was not quite ready to turn his son over to the teacher.

"Theeeeeeeeere's…" Mr. Ray continued, "…epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, abyssyopelagic. All the rest are too deep for you and me to seeeeeeeeeee!"

Mr. Ray finally made his way to the side of the bus where his class stood. He was a tall, thickly-set man with glasses. His brown hair was flecked with white, as was his beard. In spite of his somewhat imposing appearance, his eyes gleamed with a friendly nature that appealed to all ages. This was a man worthy of trust.

"So, kids!" Mr. Ray said, "You ready for adventures?"

"YAY!" cheered the throng of kids.

"Well, then, what are you waiting for?" Mr. Ray declared, opening the bus door. He began another song: "Ohhhh, knowledge exploring is oh-so-lyrical, when you think thoughts that are empiricaaaaaal!"

Nemo wiggled free from his father's grasp. "You can go now, dad," he said, jumping onto the bus.

Mr. Ray, who had returned to the driver's seat, smiled at him. "Well, hello there! What's your name?"

Well, surely, he should know that, Marlin thought, He should have, like, a roster or something. He should be taking roll call. Why isn't he? I shouldn't have let Nemo go to school!

"I'm Nemo!" he replied, grinning proudly.

"Well, Nemo," Mr. Ray said, "All my new students must answer a science question: what do clownfish live in?"

"I know that one!" Nemo cheered, "They live in an anemonnemoneee…an anmenonemanemone? Amnemno…" Nemo struggled to find the right pronuciation; what if Mr. Ray didn't let him join the class if he couldn't say it right?

"Okay, okay, kid," Mr. Ray said, "Don't hurt yourself. Find yourself a seat, Nemo!"

As Nemo sat down in the empty seat next to Sheldon, Marlin stuck his head through the door; he couldn't hold back any longer. "Excuse me, sir," Marlin said, "my son, he has only one arm. That makes things a bit difficult for him; I find that, if he's having trouble, just give him a five or ten minute break, you know?"

"Um, Dad?" Nemo's voice popped up, "You can go now."

Mr. Ray perceived Marlin's fears and alleviated them. "Don't worry, Mr. Clonish, we'll be staying together as a group."

Marlin tried to relax upon hearing that. He backed out of the bus as the doors closed, and it began to pull out of the school parking lot. "Bye, Nemo!" Marlin called after it; from the window, he saw his son wave cheerfully back.

Marlin watched the bus until it vanished out of sight, down the road and towards its destination…wherever that was. Marlin was vaguely aware of signing a permission sheet for a field trip, but he could not recall where the trip was to.

A hand clamped down on Marlin's shoulder, causing him to jump in fright. Whirling around, he relaxed when he saw that it was just Ted. "You're doing really well for a first-timer."

Marlin gave him a shaky smile. "Well, you know," he said, "you can't keep them around forever, right?"

Phil gave a reminiscing laugh. "I had a hard time when my oldest, Alyssa, went on the first-day field trip to Galveston."

That word clicked in Marlin's mind; he saw, as though it had happened only yesterday, his wife, lying dead, her white dress splattered with blood, her throat and chest gaping open, her heart and other organs clearly visible, her lovely red eyes closed forever…

"Galveston?!" Marlin repeated, "They're going to Galveston?! What, what are you insane?" Marlin stormed towards his car, yanking the door open angrily. "What kind of teacher takes his students on a field trip the first day back from summer break, anyway?"

"Hey, Marty!" Ted called, "calm down! They're safe!"

Marlin gnashed his teeth at Ted, glaring angrily at his cowboy outfit. "Don't tell me to be calm, Ennis!" he bellowed, slamming the door shut, starting the car, and peeling out of the driveway in the direction the bus had gone.

Ted, Phil, and Bob, meanwhile were still recovering from the shock of Marlin's outburst. "…Ennis?" Ted repeated disgustedly, touching the rim of his hat.

"You know," Phil declared, "for a comedian, he ain't that funny offstage."

Bob clicked his tongue. "Pity."

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