Ta-da. Nepeta's going to school! :3 Yippee!
Nepeta was giddy with excitement the next day. She was going to school! She could hardly wait! She hoped she made lots of friends! Karkat had lent her a spare mattress to sleep on since the ladybug bed hadn't gotten there yet. For her first day to school, Nepeta was wearing a black shirt, dark pants, her blue shoes, the blue cat hat and her olive green coat.
At that moment, Nepeta was eating breakfast with Karkat and Kanaya. Breakfast was strawberry yogurt with granola and blueberries in it. Nepeta found it delicious! She had never eaten anything except cold porridge and dry cereal for breakfast when she lived with Mommy and Daddy. Nepeta wondered if all people had food this good, or if it was because Car kitty was rich.
"By the way Kanaya, how did you do that ninja flip yesterday?" Karkat asked. Kanaya smiled.
"I was not always a maid. We shall leave it at that."
"Ooookay." Karkat said. "Any other skills of yours I should know about?"
"If the need arises, I can be very handy with a chainsaw." Kanaya answered, grinning.
"What's a chainsaw?" Nepeta asked.
"A type of weapon." Kanaya said. "Are you excited for school?"
"Yeah!" Nepeta cried. "Really excited!"
"Well, it doesn't start until 12:30, so you still have another six and a half hours to wait." Karkat said. "So calm down."
"I wanna go sooner!" Nepeta whined.
"I apologize." Kanaya said. "There was only room for another person in the afternoon class."
"Okay." Nepeta said. Karkat finished his breakfast and put his dishes in the kitchen sink. He hugged Nepeta and Kanaya handed him his backpack.
"I'm off to school. Good luck Nepeta." Karkat said.
"Thank you big brother." Nepeta said. She liked to switch from calling him big brother and Car kitty. Karkat went off and Nepeta finished her breakfast. She sighed. Still so long until she could go to school.
"How about you draw while waiting for school?" Kanaya suggested.
"Okay!" Nepeta said. She ran to her room, which still had the mattress in it and opened the box in the corner. It had paper and crayons in it. Nepeta took them out and picked up a crayon. What would she draw first?
At school, Karkat was texting Terezi during homeroom, while the teacher ranted.
CG: SO GAMZEE IS GOING TO COUNSELLING AND IS SUSPENDED FOR SOME TIME.
GC: S3RV3S H1M R1GHT! TH4T SOUNDS 4WFUL! HOW'S N3P3T4?
CG: SHE'S FINE. SHE STARTS SCHOOL TODAY.
GC: OH! TH4T'S GR34T!
CG: YEAH. I HOPE SHE HAS A GOOD TIME.
GC: 1'M SUR3 SH3'LL B3 F1N3.
GC: H4S SH3 C4LL3D YOU B1G BROTH3R Y3T?
CG: YEAH, SHE HAS.
GC: 4WWW!
BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNG!
CG: AW, CRAP. BELL RANG. GOTTA GO.
GC: OK4Y.
CG: LOVE YOU.
GC: YOU TOO. 3
Karkat put his phone away and walked over to science class. The science teacher, Mr. Egbert, was already there, as usual. School had only been going on for three weeks and already everyone knew the new teacher was a nerd. And some people were pretty sure he was homosexual. But he denied it when asked.
Karkat was pleased to see Gamzee wasn't in his science class. So Karkat sat at his table alone and Mr. Egbert handed out a test. Science wasn't Karkat's best subject but the test wasn't too difficult. After the test Mr. Egbert had them all read pages 23-30 of their science textbooks and do the questions on page 31 for homework.
Second class of the day was Math. Karkat didn't really like math class, but he dealt with it. After all, he had to. Gamzee turned out to be in Karkat's math class, though he was still suspended. But his name was still called with the attendance, and Karkat was silently happy for once during math. Usually he was bored.
There was suddenly a math test that class, but everyone got twenty minutes to study. Karkat cursed under his breath and flipped through his text book. They were doing the unit on cubes and other shapes and sometimes with shapes on top of them and having to figure out the area of it all. Karkat wasn't very good at it. No matter how carefully he calculated, he somehow usually got it wrong! A few times he'd get it right, but that wasn't often. When Karkat got the test he sighed. He hoped he didn't fail it.
When the lunch bell rang Karkat quickly finished the last question and handed the test in. He was pretty sure he did terrible on that. He grabbed his lunch money and walked down to the cafeteria. He always ordered the same food: ramen, grape juice and half a grilled cheese sandwich. And he never got sick of them.
Karkat ate quietly at his table, ignoring the chatter of the lunch room. He glanced at Feferi, who was sitting at a table with her friends nearby. Her right arm was in a cast, but she was otherwise fine and cheery. Karkat was actually glad, which surprised him. He didn't usually care about other classmates except for Terezi. His life was definitely changing. Karkat finished his lunch after awhile and glanced at the clock. It was 12:27. Karkat grinned. Nepeta would be going to school now.
Meanwhile, Nepeta was giddy with excitement. She was walking with Kanaya to school. It was a bright sunny day with no clouds in the sky, and Nepeta could hardly wait! Kanaya had given her one of Car cat's old backpacks and put her lunch in it. Nepeta wondered what sort of teacher Mr. Scratch was. And what would Horrus be like? And the other kids? Nepeta was bursting with questions about the day.
When they got to the school Nepeta gasped. The school was big! And there were lots of kids, most of them older than Nepeta. Nepeta clutched Kanaya's skirt, hiding behind the fabric. She didn't know there would be so many people.
"It is alright." Kanaya said. "They are simply playing, because it is recess."
"Recess?" Nepeta asked.
"A break where they go out and play." Kanaya explained.
"Oh." Nepeta said. Kanaya led her into the building. The inside reminded Nepeta of Car cat's home. It was big and clean, and there were stairs.
"Oh, yes. Nepeta?" Kanaya said. "Now that you have been adopted, your last name is Vantas, alright?"
"Vantas?" Nepeta asked.
"Yes, so you're full name is now Nepeta Vantas." Kanaya said.
"Okay!" Nepeta said. She still thought Leijon sounded nicer, but she didn't complain. Vantas was fine.
Kanaya led Nepeta to a classroom. As she did, a loud ringing filled the building. Nepeta squealed and hid behind Kanaya's skirt. Kanaya stroked her head. "That was just the bell. It rings when school starts and when it is over, alright?"
"Okay." Nepeta said. She continued to hide behind Kanaya's skirt as she was led into a classroom. Kanaya knocked on the door and entered.
"Hello, I am just bringing Nepeta here." She said. She tapped Nepeta on the shoulder and Nepeta peeked out from behind her skirt. There were about fourteen kids sitting on a carpet, all facing Nepeta. Standing in front of the students at the front of the class was a man. He had pale white skin, no hair (or even eyebrows) and wore a bright green suit.
"Hello Nepeta." he said. "I am Mr. Scratch. But please call me Doc Scratch."
"O-okay." Nepeta said.
"Please come sit down, Nepeta." Doc Scratch said. Nepeta clutched Kanaya's skirt.
"It is alright Nepeta." Kanaya said. "The teacher and students are nice, and you'll be home in three hours." Nepeta looked up at Kanaya.
"I'm shy." she whispered.
"I know." Kanaya said, patting her head. "But you need to go sit with the other children. Alright?"
"Alright." Nepeta said.
"Good luck." Kanaya said. She hugged Nepeta and left the classroom. Nepeta glanced at the kids staring at her and nearly ran back to Kanaya. But she pushed down her fear and tried to smile. She managed a small smile, and sat down on the carpet. Next to her was a girl with blond hair and cobalt blue eyes and glasses. She was wearing a blue dress and matching shoes. She smiled and Nepeta when she sat down.
"Hi, I'm Aranea." She said.
"I'm Nepeta."
"Alright, students. We'll start off with the alphabet." Doc Scratch said. He pointed to letters written on the chalkboard. "Repeat after me, alright? A, b, c, d, e, f, g…" Nepeta did her best to keep up, but she didn't really understand the letters. The alphabet was long! Did she really have to memorize all those letters? Nepeta sighed quietly. A boy with black hair and wearing goggles that was sitting in front of her turned around and smiled at her. Had he heard her sigh? Nepeta smiled shyly back to him. Okay, school was going well so far.
Meanwhile, Karkat was now in computer class. He was terrible with computers if they had to code or design things. Karkat would rather listen to music or play a video game. The kid who always sat next to Karkat was really good though. He had brown hair, was wearing 3D coloured glasses and had a yellow shirt with a cartoon bee on it. Karkat recognized him from the group Feferi ate lunch with. He would come to the high school for computer class and to eat lunch, but really he was only eleven years old. He was just such a genius with computers he was in a grade ten computer class.
Halfway through computer class the door to the computer lab opened and Principal Megido walked in. Instantly kids who had been goofing off tried to make themselves look productive. Megido tapped the kid with the bee shirt on the shoulder and he looked up at her with an annoyed expression.
"What?!" he snapped.
"Sollux, shut the attitude." Principal Megido said. "Being my son doesn't give you extra privileges." Wait, what? Sollux was the principal's son? But during attendance, his name called out had been Sollux Captor. Where his parents divorced, or did Megido just not want to change her name?
"What'th tho important?" Sollux asked, lisping.
"Your dad's on the phone." Sollux instantly leapt off his chair and bolted out of the computer lab. Principal Megido followed him, yelling at him "Don't run in the hallway!" but Karkat thought it sounded rather half hearted.
"Is everything okay Aradia?" the computer teacher, Miss Lalonde (the older sister of our English teacher Mrs. Lalonde) asked.
"I think so Roxy." Principal Megido said. "Have a good class." She left the computer room, shutting the door quickly. The class was silent as Miss Lalonde logged off Sollux's computer for him.
"Class, get back to work! And actually do work this time!" Miss Lalonde said, snapping her fingers. Everyone turned back to their computer screens and some at least pretended to do work. Karkat couldn't really focus on his work though. He wondered if something had happened. He didn't know Sollux at all, but he still found himself wondering. Jeez, what was with him? Maybe he was getting lonely without Terezi here? Or maybe because Nepeta was off at school. Karkat glanced at the clock. 1:52. Nepeta would be having lunch in eight minutes.
Nepeta was currently writing words with the rest of the class. Groups of kids were each sitting at a round table in their assigned spots. Nepeta made sure to remember where hers was for next class. She was sitting at her table with five other kids. Aranea was there, along with Horrus who was the kid with the goggles. There was also a boy named Rufioh who had spiky-ish black hair with a bright red stripe down the middle of it. Then there was Jane, who had short black hair down to her chin and wore a white shirt with an image of a strange blue thing on it and Casey, a girl with rich honey-blond hair and blue eyes with a black hoodie, a black and purple striped scarf and jeans. She also carried a small brown bunny plushie that was dirty and had some weird black stains.
"When I'm an adult, I wanna make machines that are powered by steam!" Horrus said. They were talking about what they would all do as adults.
"I want to be a storyteller." Aranea said. "I'll tell stories from all around the world!"
"I want to be a detective!" Jane said.
"I wanna be a necromancer!" Casey declared.
"A what?" Nepeta asked.
"A necromancer! Someone who brings dead things back to life and can command an army of dead people!" Casey explained. Nepeta thought that was a bit scary.
"What do you want to do Rufioh?" Horrus asked. Rufioh shrugged and looked at the ground.
"I don't know. I'm not really sure if I could do something very impressive." he said.
"Sure you can!" Horrus said. "Just have confidence in yourself!"
"Nepeta, what about you?" Aranea asked. Nepeta stopped. She had never really thought about that.
"Um…I wanna do lots of drawing!" Nepeta decided.
"You could be a cartoonist!" Casey said.
"A cartoonist?" Nepeta asked. Casey nodded.
"Yeah! They draw cartoons, which are stories that are pictures of people with balloons that have the words they say in them and all the pictures tell a story." Casey pulled a thin book out of her bag and handed it to Nepeta.
"This is a comic book. I can't really read it yet, but you can look at the pictures." Nepeta opened the comic book and stared at the pages. The drawings were really good! There were some people and some of those talk balloons Casey had mentioned. Nepeta flipped through the comic book, not really understanding what was going on in it, but enjoyed it anyway.
"Nepeta, you are supposed to be writing, not reading." Doc Scratch said. Nepeta handed Casey back her comic book and went back to writing. When Doc Scratch walked off she nodded to Casey.
"I'm gonna be a cartoonist!" she declared.
BRIIIIIIING! Nepeta jumped at the sound of the lunch bell. Rufioh jumped too and Horrus patted his shoulder. Nepeta followed everyone to where they had hung up their backpacks. She got her lunch and followed her new friends outside. They sat under a big cedar tree by the swings and ate lunch.
In her lunch Nepeta found some sliced apple, a cheese and lettuce sandwich, some crackers, a juice box and a chocolate chip cookie! Casey had some raw mushrooms in her lunch. She said most people didn't like them, but she found them delicious. Jane had a cupcake in her lunch that she said she had helped bake. Rufioh had a note from his dad in his lunch, which he found embarrassing. Horrus had a lot of food that was tough to chew. He said his dad wanted him to have strong teeth. And instead of a juice box, Horrus had a bottle of milk.
"My dad wants me to drink lots of milk so I have strong bones and grow tall." he said.
"Oh, my mum made cookies that look like spiders." Aranea complained. She held up a small cookie covered in black icing with eight little legs.
"Your mom really likes spiders." Casey commented. Aranea nodded and bit into the cookie. They talked and ate their lunches until the bell rang again and they went inside. Doc Scratch took them all to another room that had lots of musical instruments. A woman with long black hair and round glasses was waiting for them.
"Good afternoon class!" she said as we all sat down on benches. "I'm your music teacher, Mrs. Strider. But please just call me Jade."
"Do you stride?" a small boy in the corner asked. Jade laughed lightly.
"Er, no I don't. My husband and son probably do though." she said. "Now, we are going to be singing some basic songs that I'm sure you all know. We'll start with 'Twinkle, twinkle little star', okay?" Nepeta nodded with everyone. "Alright, I'll sing first, and I want you all to just listen." So the class quieted down as Jade sang.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky! Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are."
"Alright! Now it's your turn!" Jade said. "On the count of three. Ready? One…two…three!"
Nepeta did her best to sing, but she didn't think her voice sounded very good. And some boys started singing too fast and the song got out of tune and Nepeta and some other kids got confused and the song just fell apart. But Jade just smiled and clapped like they'd done wonderful.
"Alright, let's try again, ready?" she said. Nepeta looked up at the clock, but she still didn't know how to read it. She wondered what Car kitty was doing.
Karkat was in Personal Planning class. It was definitely the dumbest class in existence. Karkat had no idea what he wanted to do for a living. He was rich anyway, he could just buy a really successful company. Actually, could he buy Google? He'd have to check, that could be a worthwhile goal.
But Karkat was pretty sure he couldn't put that down on the form he was filling out, or was supposed to be. It had two questions: What career(s) do you want to do in the future? and How do you plan to achieve them? Karkat had no clue. He wanted to buy Google! But that probably would get handed back to him if he wrote that down.
CG: HEY, WHAT SHOULD I DO FOR A CAREER IN THE FUTURE?
GC: YOU H4V3 TO D3C1D3 TH4T ON YOUR OWN! 1 C4N'T TH1NK OF SOM3TH1NG FOR YOU!
CG: WELL, I GOT NOTHING. THIS IS A STUPID CLASS ASSIGNMENT!
GC: JUST B34R W1TH 1T. 1'LL H4V3 TO DO 1T TOO WH3N 1 G3T B4CK.
CG: THREE MORE DAYS. MAY THEY PASS QUICKLY.
GC: Y34H.
BRIIIIIIIIING!
CG: AW, CRAP. BELL RANG AND I HAVEN'T EVEN WRITTEN SOMETHING YET.
GC: W3LL, NOW YOU h4V3 HOM3WORK. 4ND DON'T 4SK M3 FOR 4NSW3RS 4NYMOR3!
CG: OKAY. LOVE YOU.
GC: YOU TOO.
Karkat took the paper up to his locker and shoved it in his backpack. He put his science book in his bag as well. He grabbed his backpack and shut his locker. As he was walking down the stairs his phone went off.
GA: Karkat, I Am Unfortunately Preoccupied. Could You Please Go Pick Up Nepeta?
CG: OKAY, WHAT'RE YOU PREOCCUPIED WITH?
GA: The Furniture For Nepeta's Bedroom Has Arrived. I Am Helping Bringing It Inside.
CG: OH, THANKS. I'LL TELL NEPETA.
Karkat glanced at a clock. Oh, crap! It was 3:40! Nepeta's school day ended at 3:30. Karkat ran down the stairs and through the hallway. He stopped suddenly in front of the counseling office because he saw someone he recognized in there. Gamzee. He was sitting slouched in a chair, his hands running through his hair. The counselor, Miss Calliope, was talking to him patiently. She noticed Karkat staring and waved at him. Gamzee started to turn around and Karkat waved quickly to Miss Calliope before running off.
When he got to the elementary school, Karkat found Nepeta talking with two other girls. Nepeta waved to Karkat when she saw him. Karkat waved to her and walked up. Nepeta jumped on him when he was close enough and Karkat almost fell over.
"Car kitty! I made friends!" she said.
"I can see that. Great job Nepeta." Karkat said, patting her head. Nepeta let go of him and pointed at her two friends.
"That's Aranea, and that's Casey." she pointed first at the girl with pale blond hair and a blue dress, then at the girl with honey blond hair, a black hoodie and a scarf. Casey was blowing bubbles. She smiled at Karkat and waved the bubble blower at him. Wasn't she too hot in that outfit? It was still early fall.
"Nice to meet you." Karkat said. The two girls nodded and smiled.
"If you were here sooner, you could have met Rufioh and Horrus and Casey's cousin Jane. They left just a few minutes ago." Nepeta said.
"Well, I'll try to come sooner next time." Karkat promised.
"Casey!" Karkat turned to see Mr. Egbert running up. Casey ran up to him and he picked her up and spun her around. "Yay! How was school today?" he asked.
"Great! I made a new friend." Casey said as Mr. Egbert put her down. She pointed at Nepeta, who hid behind Karkat's leg.
"Oh, hello!" Egbert said. "Who are you?"
"Um, Nepeta."
"That's a cute name! And what are you doing here Karkat?"
"I'm taking Nepeta home." Karkat said.
"Oh! Is she your cousin?" Egbert asked.
"No, she's my little sister." Karkat said. "Adopted."
"Oh! That's great! I-"
"John! Roxy says to hurry up if we want a ride!" Karkat turned to see Mrs. Lalonde running up to them.
"Mom!" Casey said, hugging her. Wait, mom?
"Wait, you two are married?" Karkat asked.
"Yes, I just didn't want to change my last name." Mrs. Lalonde said. "Rose Egbert would just sound a bit weird."
"Hey! Is that an insult?" Mr. Egbert demanded.
"Of course not John. It's just you're the only person who sounds good with the name Egbert."
HONK! HONK! A car horn beeped and Karkat heard Miss Lalonde yell.
"I'm leaving in twenty seconds!" Mrs. Lalonde picked up Casey and Mr. Egbert took off to the car Miss Lalonde was in.
"It was nice seeing you Karkat." Mrs. Lalonde said before running up to the car. Karkat watched as they got in and the car drove off. Well, he learnt something new.
"Well, let's go home Nepeta." Karkat said. Nepeta nodded.
"Okay. Bye Aranea!" Nepeta said.
"Bye!" Aranea called to her. Karkat led Nepeta out of the school grounds and the way home.
"By the way, the furniture for your room arrived. Kanaya's helping the people with it." Karkat said.
"Yay!" Nepeta cried. She ran forward, pulling Karkat behind her. "Let's go! Let's go! I wanna see my new stuff!" Karkat laughed and ran with her. She was so cute when she was excited.
And I put JohnRose there because Casey. :)
Okay, ages: John: 36, Sollux: 11, Roxy: 37 Calliope: 37(just thought that up now), Jade: 36, Aranea: 6, Horrus: 6, Rufioh: 6, Jane: 6, Casey: 6.
Hope you all liked the chapter.