I may be different, Pinocchio thought as he walked towards school the next day, But I'll show them that we're really just the same.

How was he going to do this? By being himself and showing what he could do to be seen as their equal.

His heart was beating fast that day as he sat in class and their teacher Mr. Liguiny was going over some advanced math. The puppet had no idea what was going on with the numbers, and how the equations added up and formed unchangeable answers.

"Sir! Sir!"

The teacher sighed heavily when Pinocchio waved his wooden hand about to get his attention and help.

"What."

"How does that six when added to that five make eleven?"

"It's called addition, dumb boy,"

"Yes!" Pinocchio then whispered to himself in glee, He called me BOY just now! I am being seen as a boy!

"Here, Pinocchio-" Candlewick whispered from the desk beside the puppet's own, "I'll teach you maths at our next lunch break,"

"Oh, please do!" Pinocchio said back in happiness of this agreement.

"Please do!" Augustin mimicked from down the classroom and the boys around him all laughed and chuckled meanly at Pinocchio's words and actions.

The wooden puppet looked back at them, hurt at their teasing, and as his wooden eyes looked that way, he felt a weird feeling come upon him.

Like tears were coming to his eyes and he couldn't explain why. He had never had tears before.

"ENOUGH." Mr. Liguiny called at them, rattling his long ruler to the blackboard and he looked at the naughty boys in rage, "Whoever disrupts the class will be given a spanking!"

That made all the boys quickly shut up and Pinocchio smiled relieved, saying to the man.

"Thank you, sir-"

"And that means YOU TOO, puppet."

Pinocchio then sighed out, sad for being degraded back into being seen as a puppet. A toy. Not a real boy though that was what he was. And he knew that one day, he WOULD be the same as the other children… one day… one day soon.

When lunch period came Pinocchio and Candlewick found themselves in the wood shop room, their books on the desks as Candlewick went over the very basics of letters and the alphabet.

"But is it really necessary to learn the alphabet?" The puppet asked him as he wrote down the letters on the parched paper. Candlewick nodded quickly in reply.

"Yes, Pinocchio, because you need to know it so you can write and make sentences."

"Really?" Pinocchio asked back, amazed at the letters now. He continued to write them, both in lowercase of the letters next to the uppercase. It was a long ordeal but after two weeks had passed, he was able to grab the bare necessities and form basic words.

When class came around on his third week of schooling, Mr. Liguiny looked astonished at what the wooden boy could accomplish.

When he handed Pinocchio back his results from their last test, the puppet looked down at the grade and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"A D?"

"Yes," The man told him coldly and only shook his head as he uttered out, "I don't know how you did it… but, you PASSED the test."

"That's because Candlewick is helping me!" Pinocchio said in glee and the boys at the back of the room laughed at him. Candlewick was a bit annoyed at their response, but when Pinocchio glanced over at him, he gave a forced smile, trying to show his friend that he was fine.

"I don't care who helps you, Pinocchio," Mr. Liguiny replied then, walking away from him in tight strung-up steps, "As long as you don't fail, that's all that matters to me."

"Oh…" The puppet peeped out, surprised to hear this indifference from the man, "Yes… sir…"

At lunch break that day, Pinocchio was very much in his own head, thinking of those words the teacher had said.

His head was leaning on his wooden hand, as he sat at the desk and Candlewick was pointing to the numbers now to help him understand math.

But Pinocchio didn't want to understand that right now. He wanted to understand why that man didn't care for him one bit.

"Pinocchio?" His friend called to him and the puppet only stared ahead into empty space, "PINOCCHIO?"

"Wha..?" He murmured back and Candlewick exhaled exasperated.

"Are you even paying attention?!"

"Why did Mr Liguiny not care for my learning?" The puppet then asked, blinking his eyes calmly and eventually landing his gaze on his friend, "Shouldn't he want me to be good at it in his class?"

"You've got to understand one thing, boy,"

The two of them looked over to Angelo as he sliced wood with a saw, the grating of the plank being loud as he cut off a bit.

"Teachers get new kids in every year… and some just lose the ability to care when those boys will be gone in the following year." Angelo just huffed a sad grunt as he picked up the cut-off board and placed it on the metal table with all his tools, "That's just life… most people you know will be gone different paths… some sooner than what you think."

The two boys remained quiet then after the man's sad truthful words, and Pinocchio thought of this, despairingly in his head.

"Did that…" He finally began to ask, getting up and walking over to Angelo who was now smoothing the wood with sandpaper, "Did that happen to you?"

"Happens to us all," The man responded sadly and wiped the sweat from his brow from all the exertion of energy he was using.

"Will you?"

Candlewick blinked his eyes puzzled when his friend directed this question to him and Candlewick replied, as honestly as he could.

"I will always try to be there for you, Pinocchio." The puppet looked at him, his wooden expression so very still with deep thinking inside his core, "You're my best friend… of course, I will be there always."

"Always?" The puppet peeped and Candlewick nodded his head hard, trying to reassure him.

"Yes, always…"

One thing Candlewick never told his friend was that by sharing a life, they would always be there for one another… in more ways than just as friends… but family. Pinocchio was becoming like a brother to him now.

The puppet slowly smiled back weakly and nodded his own head in return, "Thank you, Candlewick,"

As this revelation went through the wooden boy that moment, he knew deep down what he had to do now.

He had to not be afraid of the other boys in his class, but show them, that he didn't need their approval. He wasn't scared of them.

So he stood there straight, leveling out his posture as he began to walk to the door and Candlewick's eyes opened wide when he saw him pull it open and walk bravely outside.

"Better go after him," Angelo told Candlewick in a quiet but affirmative way and he nodded instantly, chasing after his friend as Pinocchio came outside to the yard and spotted the boys from their class hanging around at the corner of the cement yard.

As he approached them, Candlewick was nearly biting his fingernails off in pure anxiety and the puppet waved to the boys, who only stared back at him mystified.

"What do you want, Pinocchio?"

"I just want us to be on good terms with each other."

"And," Augustin smirked, walking in front of the group and continuing to say out loud, "Why? You're not even a real boy!"

The other boys all laughed at these words and Candlewick tried to grab Pinocchio's arm to pull him away from danger, but the puppet wasn't afraid.

"Okay," He suddenly said back, a big gleam on his mouth, and the group of boys all looked back at him confused, "But can I ask?"

"Ask what?" One of the boys in the group yelled out harshly.

"If I'm not a real boy… what does it take TO become one?"

"Er…"

No one knew for a second how to answer that so Pinocchio went on.

"Bravery..?"

"Yes." Augustin said back, "But also strength!"

"Okay," Pinocchio answered them and asked, "And what else?"

"Smarts!"

"Got that," The puppet responded, and added with a cheeky smile, "I'm all those things…"

The boys all grew quiet then, and Augustin finally spat out the last requirement.

"A HEART AND SOUL!"

It was with those words, that Pinocchio smiled even wider.

"Come here," He said to Augustin, waving his wooden hand to his chest and the boy stumbled back frightened before Pinocchio repeated, "Are you not brave and not a real boy?"

The others chuckled nervously behind their leader and Augustin only growled under his breath as he approached the puppet in forced steps.

He slowly pressed his ear awkwardly to the wood of Pinocchio's chest and heard it.

Bum bum, bum bum…

His eyes became wide and he slowly pushed away from Pinocchio, staring with amazement into the wooden boy's eyes.

"How…?"

"Am I a real boy in your definition of one?"

Augustin had to admit the truth to himself… Pinocchio was alive with a heart and soul… was brave and strong… and getting smart quickly.

"I guess…" He mumbled and Pinocchio smiled so relieved, "So what? What does that prove?"

"Nothing!" Pinocchio only laughed back and turned to leave, Candlewick having witnessed the whole scene and was mightily lost in what he had seen.

"Just that we're the same,"

All the boys went 'ooo' at this revelation and from that day on, they stopped bullying and teasing the wooden boy.

I will show them we're the same, Pinocchio had promised himself, whether they stay in my life or not… I will not be afraid of them anymore.

And as the fear he once had started to simmer, he found that his fellow classmates weren't as scary or bad as he once thought.

It was at the end of the year that he and Candlewick found they were embraced by the other boys, the teasing completely gone now and a common comradery forming between them all.

He didn't realize it until he got his results back at the end of the school year, just how much he had learnt and advanced.

Mr Liguiny handed the sheet over to Pinocchio, a B plus on it and the puppet just squeaked in delight.

"I have to say, boy," The teacher said to Pinocchio as the wooden boy looked over his score and results eagerly, "You are smarter than you look… you have learned well. Your friend is a good teacher,"

Candlewick and Pinocchio smiled between one another and the teacher wrote some words with chalk on the blackboard for all of them to see.

"You are all growing up so fast," Mr Liguiny admitted as he turned from the blackboard to his class full of students. They all looked at the white chalk words as it spelled.

I'm proud of you.

Have great summer holidays.

And just like that, the bell began to chime and the whole classroom cheered as they packed their books away into their backpacks and left the room in excited chatter.

As Pinocchio and Candlewick walked out with the other boys, one of them came over to the two and said with eagerness.

"If you two want to join us at the beach, we're heading there after school,"

"Yes!" Pinocchio cheered and Candlewick only smirked a small smile, replying back.

"I guess,"

And as the two joined the other boys from their class at the beach, it was then how included the two of them had ever felt.

As they swam in the waves and kicked soccer balls around on the sand, Pinocchio just watched it all, his head just bobbing a bit above the water.

But as he turned to face the sea, a deep hidden fear began to make his heart speed up scared, as he remembered the creature that had been out there.

The sea monster… but he had exploded him.

But he feared there could be others.

He shook his head quickly, snapping out of this worry… as he was with his peers and he was accepted now as one of them… a real boy.

He was a real boy… and the most scary but exciting thing about that was…

… he was actually growing older like them. His wood was aging as bones were starting to stretch him taller… till the day when he would not just be a boy, but a man.

A real man when the time would come.

A real man...