Over the next few days, I got to know the family better.
Bowser's can really be a softie. He's just nearly always grumpy because he's way too overworked and doesn't realize what it's doing to him. Larry's big into sports, especially tennis and soccer. He flipped when I told him I've been playing soccer since pre-school. Morton loves talking, volleyball, and bullet bills. I learned the hard way what happens when you mention either volleyball or bullet bills. He was talking for three hours straight. Wendy… I refuse to be near Wendy. She's just bratty. Maybe if she didn't care so much about just herself, I might be friends with her. Roy, for the guy he is, is still better than Wendy. Sure, he can get annoying sometimes, especially the time he tried to lock Iggy and I in a room together, but overall, he's okay. Lemmy's a fine dude too. He's obsessed with the circus, and can do nearly every act in it. The only thing he can't do is the one we all know how to do. It's walk on two legs without a ball. He's still working on that one. BJ, I learned, stands for Bowser Junior, but they call all call him that, except for Bowser. Bowser calls him Junior. BJ loves drawing, painting, just any type of art.
And then there's Iggy and Ludwig. Oh, I don't know how to describe how I feel about these two.
Iggy's a mad scientist taken to a whole new level. He's really mentally unstable, and can go from really hyper to super depressed in the time it takes you to blink. He also gets really into his experiments, so into them that I usually have to beg him to eat, or sleep, or do anything that a living thing needs to do to survive.
And Ludwig's the classical composer. It often feels like he's stuck in a whole 'nother time period. He never knows what's going on on the media. But he's really sweet and a classical gentleman. I can't count how many different symphonies he's dedicated to different people, but I bet he'd know. He said he's composing one for me right now, even.
I meet a few new people in these past few days, too. Kamek the magikoopa, Bowser's childhood caretaker, who now helps take care of these children. Cookoopa, the chef in the kitchen. Stammers, the general of the goomba troop, and my brother's boss.
It's been hectic.
"Olive!" Roy, shouts right next to my ear. I jump, startled. Realizing it was just him, I elbow him. He just laughs.
"Kamek wants ta' talk to all of us," Roy says, gesturing over to Kamek floating over the front of the long dining table on his broom.
"So we've decided," he begins. "That Olive and Moss will be doing the private lessons like you guys have."
"Olive will be with Iggy, and Moss will be with Wendy, until we get someone else. This is all purely because of their ages, nothing else," he says, in a serious tone, staring at Roy as he says this. Roy just snickers, and stares at me.
"Break's over, and we're starting again. Ludwig, since you're the oldest, you're gonna help Olive get settled in. I'll help Moss get situated," Kamek explains, gesturing to Ludwig, who's sitting with his arms crossed, staring off into space. But apparently this isn't a problem, 'cause Kamek seems to think this.
Kamek starts flying away, shouting over his shoulder, "You should be there at 8:00 today, as usual!" Well, frick, I have to go to school here too.
It's not actually that school part that I'm worried about. It's the fact that I'm stuck with Iggy. I'm scared about what the others will think goes on in there. I've already seen what the slightest things seem to them.
I thank the Cookoopa as he hands me my breakfast, earning a weird glance from Roy, and say a silent prayer out of instinct, before eating. I finish quite fast, actually, mainly because of the fact that I'm worrying. Eating is one of the few things that comforts me.
Getting up, I put the dishes in the sink, getting even more weird glances. I walk to my room, quickly getting ready, before heading to the door.
Ludwig stands there, leaning against the wall, writing on a piece of paper, which is probably something he's composing. He looks up, hearing my footsteps.
"So, you are goink to be wis Iggy downstairs, around vhere zee labs are," Ludwig says, leading me towards wherever this place is, 'cause his explanation didn't help.
My nerves flare up suddenly, and I start internally freaking out. So what do I do? I start singing.
Under my breath, I start with La Da Dee, by Cody SImpson. It does help considerably, distracting me from what I'm doing. It's always helped.
The classroom-place was apparently not that far from where we were. By the end of La Da Dee, we were there.
Inside is a sort of science-y looking place. It looks like the middle school science labs. The ones that are the classroom and the lab at the same time. An older looking Koopa, with crazed grey hair, is mixing some different chemicals. It doesn't look too safe.
Smoke comes billowing out, and he covers the little hole with a cork, not allowing any more to escape. That's when he finally notices I'm in the room.
"You must be Olive, are you not?" He asks, giving a warm, understanding smile. It calms me a bit.
"Yeah, I'm Olive," I say, smiling shyly.
"Well, I'm Charles Vanin. You can call me Charles, if you want to," he says. "Or you can call me Mr. Vanin."
"I think I'm gonna stick with Mr. Vanin," I say quietly. He chuckles, patting me on the back.
"G'morning Mr. Vanin," I hear Iggy say, as he wanders in. He sits down at a random desk in the front row.
Mr. Vanin grabs a binder, some papers, and three laptops, and sits down next to Iggy. Patting the seat next to him, he gestures for me to sit down.
And so schools begins. Math's first, and neither of us have any trouble with it. Then comes history. Iggy seems to not care about history at all, and barely pays attention.
And know, right before lunch, we have a weird free period, where we get to do anything we want, as long as it doesn't hurt anything or anyone.
Iggy spends this time inventing, as he's grabbed his journal and a pencil, and has started messing with tools, materials, and a multitude of different chemicals that a fourteen-year-old is probably not even allowed to get within three feet of.
I use this time to draw. I had told Mr. Vanin during a sidetrack, that I loved to write and draw, and especially loved to do it with music playing, and he had said that I was allowed to play music from the laptop during this time. Being me, I grab a pair of headphones, so I won't disturb anyone.
Running out of ideas to draw, I just draw Mr. Vanin and Iggy, in what it probably had been like before I came into the picture. Glancing up sometimes, using them as references, I get the drawing down. Now I just need a really thin sharpie to outline it, and if I can find some actually good markers or colored pencils, I could color this…
Someone hugs me from behind. He comes and stands next to me, his arm still around my waist. It's Iggy.
"Can I see what 'cha doing?" He asks, sitting in the chair next to me. I move my arms, letting him see. He doesn't say anything, and just stares at it for a while. Okay, we get it, you don't like, don't rub it in.
"How?" He says astonished. I stare at him, surprised. He stares at it a while longer, unable to form words.
"It's amazing," he breathes.
I smile and offer, "I can give it to you when I finish it."
"No, you keep it," he insists quickly. I nod.
Something changes in his eyes, and he looks scared and frantic. He starts wrapping an arm around me, but stops for suddenly, and asks, "Can I hug you?"
"Yeah, you can," I answer. He continues, pulling me towards him. When he can't get me any closer, he picks me up, and puts me in his lap, hugging me.
I rest my head on him, as it's the most comfortable position. His heart's beating at an unnatural beat, and he's breathing really heavily. He starts muttering to himself, saying that he'll be alright, and that there is nothing to worry about. This isn't right. Is he okay?
"Are you alright?" I whisper frantically. I'm worried about him. Does he have some sort of, like, problem? Is it a heart attack or something?!
"I was having a panic attack," Iggy mumbles in my hair. "Touch calms me down the best."
"You good now, right?" I ask, worried. He nods, pulling away. Setting me back in my seat, he grabs his stuff that he was working on, and moves it next to me. It's a little mechanic that I don't understand.
He picks it up, places a little piece of metal covering up the wires, and places it in a small cushioned box. He picks up another box, messes with the contents for a moment, before taking off his glasses, and adding the little machine into the rim.
I don't know if he saw me, but if he did, he didn't say anything, and told me nothing about what he was doing.
Lunch came next, and it was just like any other time I'd eaten here. Roy threw something or other at someone, Wendy was bratty, y'know, just the usual.
We basically all have a mutual agreement on where everyone sits. Everyone sits next to each other, with four on each side, plus Moss and I, so five one each side. Moss and I sit at the farthest we can while still being right next to someone. So, like the middle of the table. I sit next to Morton, and Moss sits next to Lemmy.
"How's school been?" Morton asks me, a sandwich in hand.
I shrug, answering, "It's been alright." Morton nods.
"Roy said he walked in on you guys hugging and stuff." Morton asks, turning himself towards me. "I just want to know why you guys would start doing that now." He leans his head on his hand, staring at me, expecting an answer.
"He was having a panic attack, okay! He said touch calms him the most!" I say, utterly repulsed at the idea that they would even think that I would go that direction so quickly. Morton looks at me, surprised.
"He had a panic attack? Ya' sure?" He asks, eyebrows raised. I glare at him for not believing me. For goodness sakes, I can tell when something's wrong!
"He was breathing heavily and he was literally talking himself, trying to calm himself down!" I say angrily. Letting out an exasperated sigh, I rest my face in my hand.
Someone starts breathing heavily. It literally sounds like someone in a room that has no oxygen trying to gasp for it. Muttering follows, talking to themselves.
Iggy puts his hands behind his head, trying to open up his chest. He's having another panic attack. He's having. Another. Panic attack.
He stands up, and starts pacing, trying to stay away from everyone. No one seems to think this is a problem at first, until Iggy starts audibly talking. Talking as loud as a teacher does in a normal classroom.
Iggy starts looking visibly panicked, almost to the point of pure terror. He then literally climbs over the table, standing next to me, and he hugs me.
And we just stand there in an embrace.
"Shh, you're gonna be alright," I whisper, listening to his breathing slow down. "There's nothing to worry about. Nobody's going to hurt you. You're not crazy. We all care about you. We love you." He holds me for a moment longer, before stepping away, a tear rolling down his cheek.
He wipes it away, before saying quietly, "Thank you." He them walks away, taking my brother's, his, and my dishes to the kitchen.
When we continue school, doing good ole' ELA. Iggy seems to struggle with this, and Mr. Vanin goes easy on him, but as soon as he learned that I was a whiz in it, he handed me some harder stuff for me to work on. We then did Phys. Ed., which neither of us were enthusiastic about. The only kinda good thing about it is that we all do it at the same time. Everyone also does art at the same time, where Iggy made me show the unfinished drawing of Mr. Vanin and him. By unfinished, I mean it was all sketched and outlined, but I want to color it. Everyone thought it was amazing, however. We ended on science. Mr. Vanin basically did two separate classes for us. He had Iggy go off and do some really complicated chemistry-aerospace-engineering-type thing, and he taught me a separate lesson. He said that he might just have Iggy teach me, since he basically knows more than the teacher.
At the end of class, Ludwig was there to pick me up, since I still don't know my way around this bloody complicated place. We walked back in silence, dropping off to get ready to eat, and then get a good night's sleep.