“Let’s go then,” Amanda announced as she turned to go to the opposite garage where the Earth vehicles were parked. Amanda was amused by listening to her children’s exclamations of surprise at their newest mode of transportation. They did not know what to make of the strange wheels and the loud engine. Amanda thought the engine was rather quiet herself, but, compared to a crystal drive, which was nearly silent, she could understand their concern.
She drove them slowly out the driveway and through the streets of the town. Everything was new and amazing to the girls, and she wanted them to be able to take the time to appreciate the details. After driving for fifteen minutes, they arrived at Coral Reef Senior High School. The parking lot was nearly empty except for a few different makes and models of cars which created even more exclamations from the girls. Amanda parked in the visitor’s parking near the main entrance and turned off the engine.
“This is it,” she announced unnecessarily. She opened her door and got out. She waited at the front of the truck for the girls to get out of the passenger side doors and meet up with her. Amanda held the envelope with their documents even as she wondered how Riccan had made them on such short notice.
The trio walked into the reception office after walking through two sets of double doors. The woman at the main desk greeted them warmly.
“Hello. How may I help you?” she asked.
“I’d like to register my girls for school,” Amanda replied easily.
The receptionist looked swiftly from Amanda to the twins and then back to Amanda. She could hardly imagine this woman was their mother; she barely looked old enough. They must be her step-children, the woman said to herself. “Just one moment and I’ll give you the packet of papers to be filled out,” she said and bent down to gather the documents.
Amanda was surprised when the woman set down two rather large stacks of paper, one for each child, which would need to be filled out in their entirety. One of her least favorite things to do was to fill out forms, and now she had twice the amount to complete. “Wow,” was all Amanda could think to say as she picked up the documents and went to sit in a chair along the back of the room.
After leafing through the separate pages, Amanda decided she would rather take the papers home and fill them out. Or rather, she’d have the girls fill out their own paperwork so they could familiarize themselves with the facts the school found important to know. She stood up, stuffed the papers into her oversized purse, and asked the receptionist, “I think we’ll take these home to fill out. Do you think we could get a tour of the school before classes begin?”
“Oh, sure! This next Wednesday is an open house. We will have many volunteer students coming in to take you around,” she answered cheerfully.
“That’s perfect!” Amanda was pleased to hear they had not missed out on anything important for the girls to be successful in their first Earth school. “What time is the open house?”
“It’s from six to eight in the evening. We’ll look forward to seeing you then.”
“Great! Thanks,” she turned away from the counter to go back to the truck, and the twins followed her more slowly.
The school was much larger than they had anticipated. They hoped they would not have too much trouble finding their way around. They were not sure what an ‘open house’ was, but their mother seemed pleased to hear about it. The three got back into the truck, and Juila asked, “What’s an open house?”
“It’s an event held at the school for new students. They introduce you to some teachers and students and then take you on a tour of the buildings and classrooms. They will tell about how the daily schedule is handled and answer any questions you may have,” Amanda absently answered as she navigated the busy streets back to their house.
Once they got back home, the girls returned to their daily ritual in the library.
Amanda pulled out the bundle of papers and left them on the kitchen counter to deal with later. She looked outside and saw the blue water of the pool and decided a morning swim would be a perfect activity. She went upstairs and changed into her bathing suit.
Tuesday evening Amanda instructed the girls to take a seat and gave them each a pen to fill out their own school admission forms. “If you have any questions, feel free to ask,” Amanda instructed as she sat on the stool next to Juila.
Riccan took the last bar stool on the far end next to Jena. Over the next couple of hours and hundreds of questions later, the girls managed to slog through the stacks. They now had an appreciation for the information they needed to know about themselves. Amanda was glad she had thought to have them do the work themselves. It was a good first learning tool.
By the end of the forms session, the girls were itching to do something active. Amanda suggested they all go out to the pool to enjoy the last of the day’s sunshine. The girls readily agreed, and everyone rushed to change into their bathing suits.
When they were all walking out to the pool deck, Riccan compared the figures of their children to his wife’s. They had almost the same figure which, for some reason, surprised Riccan. He kept trying to see any of his features in the children, but, over and over, he could only see Amanda’s traits in the girls.
One thing he thought odd was the fact the girls each had bright blue eyes, whereas both himself and Amanda had brown eyes. He knew how genetics worked, but he would have thought brown eyes would have had a better chance. His mother had blue eyes, and Amanda’s father had hazel eyes. They both carried the recessive blue-eyed gene.
Juila jumped right into the pool as well as Amanda. Riccan watched as Jena simply sat on the edge and dangled her feet into the cool water. He jumped in which splashed water all over Jena. He had believed she just wanted to get in slower and yelled, “Get in, Jena. Quicker is easier!”
Jena simply shook her head and said, “I’ll be fine right here.”
Juila yelled from the middle of the pool, “Jena’s afraid of the water.” She turned and kept swimming.
Jena felt her cheeks turning pink at her sister’s rude comment. She could not refute it, but she did not need it announced either.
Riccan saw her embarrassment and swam closer to her and said, “It’s okay, Jena. Swimming’s not for everyone. Do you know how to swim?”
“Not really,” Jena admitted. It was part of the problem, but certainly not all of it.
“I could teach you if you ever wanted to learn,” Riccan offered, but did not want to push.
“Thanks. Maybe some other time. I just want to enjoy the sun right now.”
“Okay. Just ask when you’re ready, alright?” Riccan reminded her as he pushed himself off of the side of the pool and easily swam the length of the pool and back.
Jena watched at how her father made it look so simple. She thought she might give it a try if her dad were right beside her to keep her safe. She moved her feet back and forth in the coolness and shivered at the thought of drowning. Maybe not, she said to herself as she changed her mind on learning to swim.
The family continued to swim while Jena sat on the edge. For the first time, she actually considered facing her fear of the water to join in on the fun. Instead, she thought about the fact they were on Earth, about to begin school, living with their parents, and basically living the life they had always dreamt of having.
She watched as everyone swam over to where she was sitting. They got out and invited her to join them in the hot tub. She eagerly stood up and climbed down into the warm, bubbling water.
Amanda asked, “So what kinds of things did you like to do for fun in Tuala?”
Juila answered, “We did a lot of things. Jena’s favorite thing is to read anything she can get her hands on. We rode horses pretty often. When we got a little older, we learned how to fly a telepod, which was really fun.” She looked at her sister to continue the list of activities.
“Let’s see,” Jena mused, “we used to make up games with the elemy. Remember Elemy Tide, Juila?”
Juila laughed and then had to s
hare the story, “We created a great big swath of elemy and let it roll across the ground. The last person standing would be the winner. It was a great idea until some of the house staff got caught up in it and we got in trouble for reckless use of the elemy.”
Riccan could well imagine the ideas these two could come up with given their inquisitive natures. He laughed at the misfortune of a game which actually sounded as though it could be quite fun. He suggested, “We might have to revive Elemy Tide here at the house. We just have to make sure all of the staff are off that day!”
Amanda chuckled at Riccan’s jest about having staff. She had yet to see a single person working at the house. She asked Jena, “What is your favorite thing to read? I think you’ve noticed your father has quite the library amassed here at the house. There might be some things you haven’t read yet.”
Riccan could relate to Jena’s need to read. He felt the same way about books which was why he had started collecting them.
“I’ll read anything, really. I like anything having to do with crystal skills. It’s amazing how much has changed over time about how we use our crystals. The people used to do just about everything with them and then something changed. Either it became out of fashion, or the people just forgot how, I’m still not sure, but more and more things were learned to do by hand and not with the elemy,” Jena stated.
“That’s an interesting observation,” Riccan mused. Between his father and himself, they had probably read every book on Acaim. He had never put together the idea which Jena was proposing. Now that he gave it more consideration, he could tell what she was saying was true. The people used to be more reliant on Jehoban and the skills He gave them. Now the people tended to be more selfish and believed their abilities were better on their own. He wondered what other insights Jena had put together with her unusual heritage.
Jena blushed at her father’s praise. It had seemed a rather obvious observation, but nobody seemed to appreciate the scope of it except her dad. She wondered if he liked to read as much as she did, his library seemed to suggest his interest.
“How often did you fly the telepods?” Riccan asked. If they really enjoyed flying, one or both of them might be interested in learning to fly his Cessna. It would be a fun activity for them to bond over. He still did not know how to relate to teenage girls. He was sure there would be many connections he could make if he asked enough questions.
“We just began learning last anon,” Juila said.
“We use the term year instead of anon on Earth,” Riccan corrected. “Likewise, month is used instead of mesan, and decade instead of declan.”
Both girls nodded at the impromptu language lesson. Juila asked, “What other terms should we know about?”
Amanda and Riccan looked at one another and tried to think of things they would need to know. Naturally, they drew a blank and Amanda suggested, “Why don’t we correct you as you go along?”
“You were talking about learning to fly the telepods?” Riccan prompted.
“Yes, we were finally certified to fly solo. Of course, the units we trained in were not nearly as nice as the one you own. I’d love to get a tour of your telepod sometime,” Juila said to Riccan.
“Oh, no. You don’t know what you just asked for, Juila!” Amanda rolled her eyes toward her husband. The telepod was his pride and joy, and he loved nothing more than to show it off to anyone willing to hear about it.
Riccan smiled broadly and countered, “It’s more fun to share with someone who appreciates the intricacies of the craftsmanship.”
“Oh, I can appreciate the amount of work you put into it, but you lost me when you started talking about the size of the crystal drive and how it’s connected to the power controls,” Amanda teased back.
“What size crystal do you have in there,” Juila asked, genuinely interested.
“Ugh, not you, too!” Amanda turned to her other daughter and asked, “Are you going to abandon me in this as well?”
Jena smiled at her mother’s playful banter and reassured her, “Nope, you’ll be safe with me. I find the whole thing rather tedious and boring. I’d rather read the manual on how it works rather than poke around the structure looking at it.”
“Hmm, that doesn’t sound much better, Jena. It looks like I’m the odd man out in this discussion,” Amanda said.
The girls looked at their mother strangely at her last statement. Amanda realized they did not understand the colloquialism of ‘odd man out’ and said, “It just means I’m the only one who’s not interested.”
The girls nodded, but were still uncertain how the phrase could mean what she suggested if she were a girl.
Riccan laughed at their serious expressions while trying to understand the strange phrase. He remembered having the same thoughts as he learned the oddities of the new culture. He replied to Juila’s question about the crystal with, “Since it seems to be such a boring topic, I’ll tell you all about it when I give you a tour later.”
Juila nodded eagerly. She was glad she had a common interest with her father. She had been scared her parents would not like any of the same things as she and her sister. They had spent many a day discussing what it would be like to finally be reunited and if it would be awkward. So far, it had been as easy as breathing, and they were still waiting to find where the difficulties would lie.
The evening went by swiftly, and soon enough it was time for bed. The family went up the stairs together, distributing hugs and kisses all around, before the two pairs went their separate ways.
Juila followed Jena into her room and sat down on her bed while Jena changed into her nightgown. She had been troubled by the knowledge they shared between them regarding the samaras and wanted to discuss it with her sister.
“When do you think we should tell our parents about the samaras?” Juila asked.
“I’d like to get to know them and Earth first before we go and change everything,” Jena replied smartly.
“Do you really think just telling them about it would keep us from staying here?”
Jena stared at her like she had gone crazy and folded her arms as she considered answering her sister. “I don’t really know, and I don’t want to find out. Please just drop this for now, okay? We have plenty of time before circumstances will force us to talk about it.”
“Jena, what are you not telling me? Did you find out something new in the archives?”
“Maybe, but I’m not sure what it means yet. I’ll tell you about it when you need to know.”
Juila hated it when Jena put her off like that. Her sister did have a powerful, intuitive nature, but sometimes she had to have all the pieces before something made sense. This must be one of those times. She still did not have to like it.
Jena smiled to get her sister to think about something else. “What did you think about those school forms?”
“Could you believe all of the questions they ask just to let you go to school? I thought we were never going to get through those stacks.” She was silent for a moment and then changed the subject again as she wondered aloud, “I wonder what gets served for lunch at the school.”
Jena had found the forms rather fascinating. It gave her a better idea of what was going to be expected of them when they went there the next day for the open house. She did think the number of hours the students attended school was rather ridiculous. On Tuala, they only had classes in the mornings, except for the special classes they had added on to learn about their crystal skills. Those only lasted for an hour or two in the afternoons, depending on how complex the course of study.
Chapter Eight
WEDNESDAY EVENING ARRIVED all too fast. The girls were nervous about what to expect. After driving to the school, Amanda followed the eager girls, while holding the folder containing their admission paperwork. They checked in at the front desk where Amanda handed the forms over to the same receptionist they had met previously.
“Welcome to our open house. Thank you for the forms. I’ll get them p
rocessed before classes begin. We start school on Friday, August 7th this year.” The receptionist smiled at Amanda.
She snapped her fingers at a young girl to get her attention. The girl stepped forward and was told, “Sofia, please take these people on a tour of the school.” She turned back to Amanda and said, “Sofia will escort you. Please wear these visitor badges while you are here. When you are ready to leave, return the badges to my desk.” She handed them each a rather large plastic tag which had to be pinned to their clothes.
The woman stared as the girls clumsily pinned the badges. It was then she realized their clothing was very odd. She wondered what their story was and could not wait to read their admission papers. This job was perfect for her inquisitive nature. Very soon she would have the answers to her questions. She watched the four ladies leave her office as her phone rang.
Sofia led the way out of the front office before she said, “I’m in the eleventh grade. What grade will you be in?”
Juila answered, “The same as you.” She was glad to have already met someone their own age.
“Are you two twins?” Sofia could not help but ask.
The girls looked at one another and then giggled before answering in unison, “Yes!”
Sofia chuckled, too, and said, “I thought it was pretty obvious, but I had to ask. Cool outfits, by the way.”
The girls looked down on themselves comically and wondered what ‘cool’ meant.
Amanda saw the confused look and made a mental note to tell them common lingo for them to learn. She also appraised their clothing and decided a shopping trip would also happen on their way home. The girls would have to fit in better. Amanda was so used to Tualan clothing she had not even thought about how different they must look.
They walked to the end of the hall and Sofia began telling them about the layout of the school. She enjoyed talking to people about the facilities.
“How many students attend here?” Amanda asked.
“Around two thousand,” Sofia answered easily.
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