Now, let's get your boys measured for their uniforms.
As Nathaniel and Andy stood still, Raine took their measurements and noted them down. She then said to Judy that before tomorrow, their uniforms would be ready.
"Also, we are strict with the students who are not following the uniform, so don't forget that, kids."
"So what is done to the person who doesn't follow?" asks Andy.
"When you enter, you will see that. You are very lucky that this year started very recently. One of your educators hates people who are late."
When they exited, Nathaniel collided with a redheaded girl as both of them were distracted. "Ouch, can't you watch where you're going?!" shouted Nathaniel.
"And can't you watch who you're bumping into?!" replied the girl.
"You haven't even started school yet, and you're already causing trouble," said Andy with a smile as he helped Nathaniel up.
"Hey boys, can you hurry up? I need to finish dinner quickly," urged Judy.
"Yes, Mom. Yes, Aunt Judy," replied the boys as Gabriella appeared. "I see that I finished in time before you leave," said Gabriella.
When they got home, they ate their dinner in their new house.
"So what do you think about our new place? Do you like it?" said the dad, eating at the same time.
"Slurp, it's old. I like that," already forgetting the event earlier while eating the soup.
"I can't say I don't like it until here," said Andy.
"A very charming place," said Gabriella.
"For me, a little bit of modernity would be appreciative," said Judy.
"So tomorrow will be the first time here where I will not be here," said George.
They continued discussing until eight. After that, the Dad said that they needed to sleep as they would have school the next day and headed to their rooms - Andy with Nathaniel, Aunt Gabriella with Kevin.
In Nathaniel's bed, Andy asked him a question, "Are you ready for tomorrow? We will begin a new life."
"Honestly, no. It reminds me of the time with Shawn," said Nathaniel.
"You still miss him, huh? When I think of it, you hung out with him more than you did with me when he was alive. At that time, we were five and seven. Now that you're eight and I'm ten, he was your best friend," said Andy.
"I'm sorry to make you feel that way. I just can't forget that moment when he..." Nathaniel broke down sobbing.
"It's fine, guy. Don't feel guilty. We know that this is not your fault," said Andy, also feeling sad.
After that, Nathaniel hugged him and cried with all his heart.
The next morning, Judy woke up the boys early.
"Boys, wake up! Today is your first day of school," said Judy.
Andy had been awake for 30 minutes, but Nathaniel was still sleeping. "30 minutes more, Mom."
"We don't have that here. Wake up, lazy boy," said his mom.
"Okay, okay, but what would we wear since the uniform is at school?" said Nathaniel.
"He's right, Aunt Judy. What would we wear, and we don't even have materials," said Andy.
"Ah, for that, the school will give you that. Just be prepared as usual. There you will change," confirmed Judy.
After doing their baths, they got dressed and went downstairs.
"Is Dad already at work?" said Nathaniel.
"Yes, he got up earlier than you," joked Judy, kissing her son.
They sat down at the dining table and enjoyed a hearty meal together. Nathaniel couldn't help but feel a mix of excitement and nervousness about starting school in a new place.
After that, Judy walked with them to guide them to the school. Next time they would go alone.
When they arrived, Judy wished them the best day and returned home, as for the boys, they headed to Raine to get their uniforms.
"Hello, is someone there? We are here to take our uniforms," said Nathaniel.
After some seconds, Raine appeared. "Come here, young men."
When they got closer, Raine took the uniforms from the box room and showed them.
"This is your uniform, so I will give you the instructions now. You need to follow them; otherwise, you will be penalized," said Raine in a serious tone.
"You must wear the complete uniform every day. This includes the shirt, pants, and blazer. Make sure they are clean, ironed, and properly fitted. Any missing or improperly worn items will be considered a violation. Understand?" Raine explained.
"Yes, sir," said Nathaniel, not happy to wear it, contrary to Andy, who appreciated it.
"You will get your clothes after you finish school," said Raine.
After they changed, the bell rang, announcing that the children must line up.
"Sir, which class are we going to? We don't really know," said Andy.
After telling her which grade they were in, she said, "For Andy, you see the corner there? That's your class. As for you, Nathaniel, you see this redheaded girl? You are there."
"Her again, I'm not lucky," said Nathaniel, grunting.
"Come, Nath, let's line up before having trouble," said Andy.
They ran as fast as they could and were able to line up with their corresponding classes just in time.
After some minutes, a tall man appeared, and everybody went silent as he scanned to check if any student was breaking the uniform regulations, which made Nathaniel stressed.
After seeing that nobody broke the rule, he went back and made a sign that they could enter.
Nathaniel exhaled in relief. When they entered, he saw a classic school like any other.
After they entered their classroom, a boy exclaimed, "Finally, we can talk!"
"Yes, I can't take it anymore," said another girl.
Because the village was small, there were only a few kids, six in total. And because Nathaniel was new, he didn't know where to sit until one boy remarked to him, "Come next to me, there is one here."
"Thanks," said Nathaniel.
"I'm Leo."
"I'm Nathaniel, but you can call me Nath or Nathan," said Nathaniel.
"So you're the new one because here, we know everybody," said Leo.
"I can see that. So what are we doing now?" said Nathan.
"I think it's History now," said Leo.
"Cool." Nathan liked history.
After some minutes, someone entered, and everybody stood up.
"Hello, Ms. Kael."
"Hello, kids. Take a seat."
"Before we begin the class, I'd like you to introduce our new friend." Pointing at Nathaniel, he went to the teacher.
"Can you introduce yourself to us?"
"My name is Nathaniel Stuart Anderson. I'm eight, and I lived in Minnesota before coming here. I have one little brother, and that's all, I think," said Nathaniel.
"Thanks, Nathaniel. Alexander, Leo, can you summarize what we did during the last five days to help Nathaniel catch up?" said the teacher to them.
They nodded and began to explain it to him. After that, she continued normally. The day passed as expected until dinner when Nathan joined Leo and Alexander.
Alexander asked him, "Why did you quit Minnesota?"
"My father has a new job at the Avelonia company," said Nathaniel.
"Ah, I see. Welcome to Green Hills. After school, do you want to join us playing games at the cemetery? Don't worry; there's nothing that will make you freak out there," said Leo.
"Okay, just can I invite the boys? There is my cousin," pointed Nathaniel.
"We don't see any problem," said both Leo and Alexander.
After class, Nathaniel headed to Andy, "Come with me to the cemetery with my friends as we're playing."
"Sorry, dude, I have plans with mine. We are going to go biking now. Maybe later, is it okay for you?"
"I don't see any problem, but make sure you are home by seven; otherwise, our mom will be mad at us," said Nathaniel.
"Don't worry; I will not risk that."
When he got there, Nathaniel saw a lot of tombs and crypts. After some minutes, he found Leo and Alexander.
"So what are we playing?" said Alexander.
"Maybe hide and seek? Are you okay with that, Nathan?" said Leo.
"I'm okay, just don't go too far if I am the seeker," said Nathaniel.
They nodded.
To decide who would be the hunter, they played rock-paper-scissors, and it was Alexander who became the hunter.
"So we fix it to fifty minutes on the clock to find. If the player doesn't find you before the time runs out, you win. Otherwise, if he does find you, he wins. Is that okay for you two?" said Leo.
"Clear," said the other two.
"To avoid getting caught, I have to hide in the blind spots where the eye passes without paying attention while being close enough to see what moves the hunter will make," thought Nathaniel.
Nathan spotted white tombs with inscriptions, some worn down, some still clear, but he didn't pay much attention. He just hid behind one of them. After counting, Alexander turned by reflex. Nathan made sure to hide enough so his shadow wouldn't appear, as he could be spotted quickly. But as he saw Alexander, he didn't predict that he would count the tombs and reject the impossible hiding spots, reducing the margin of error. "I need to be careful if I don't want to get spotted." In that instant, he had an idea - he would make a false trail to induce Alexander into error. First, with that, he could make a false idea of his hiding style, and second, to separate their distance. But the thing he didn't know was that Leo was watching him and made a note in his head, "So I need to run to avoid this trap later, so he doesn't think..."
When he was distracted, he didn't see Alexander changing his position, and when he realized it, it was too late. "Ah, I found you, Leo!"
"Damn, I need to focus next time," said Leo.
After fifty minutes, Alexander lost the game due to Nathaniel's strategy.
"It was really difficult to hide, but I'm glad it worked on you," said Nathaniel.
"Now it's my turn to spot you," said Leo.
As they began, after counting, Leo directly sprinted to the place where he had seen Nathaniel make a move, making it linear to see any movement if there was any.
It took Nathaniel by surprise, but he improvised a quick plan. "The only way I can save myself here is that the moment he runs, he can't turn his head while running, and he can't hear any footsteps as he will hear himself." But the theory wasn't working at the moment. As Andy ran, he couldn't be fast enough to hide somewhere else, as Leo was too quick to check any spot. Nathaniel thought and had an idea.
"I need to make Alexander get caught first, but I need to spot him before Leo." So he made the conclusion that Alexander was not in the tombs but in the tree, and he was using the blind spot method, as he knew that Leo would only think of the tombs. He was doomed, but at least he would make sure Alexander would get caught. He risked making a sound near enough to the wood to make Leo think of it. As Leo heard that, he instantly turned his eyes to the wood, making Alexander panic. Profiting from that inattention, Nathaniel made a turn to be placed back to back with him but made an involuntary error of cracking a branch and was irremediably spotted. "If you didn't make that noise, you would have been saved, you know," said Leo. "I don't think so. I will explain to you after Alexander is caught." After some minutes, Alexander was caught due to the simple fact that he was not in the tombs.
"It was cool today," said Leo.
"Yes, it was very cool. We will do that again tomorrow," said Alexander.
"If you have the courage," said Nathaniel as they all laughed.
After some minutes, they made their goodbyes and returned home. On the way, Nathaniel perceived a person that he wouldn't want to see - it was the waitress.
"How can I avoid her?" When he thought of how he saw a path. Without thinking, he turned to it, but it was too late. The waitress called him, "Oi, hi there," said the waitress.
He tried to ignore her as hard as he could, but as close as she was, he knew he could not avoid her.
"Ah, finally I caught up. You're pretty quick, so where are you going?"
"Iii huh, I want to return home," said Nathaniel, terrified.
"Why are you so panicked? Don't worry; I won't bite you," said the waitress.
Nathaniel didn't believe her. All his body told him to run.
"Watch here, to prove to you that I'm as good as a rabbit, I will share this candy with you, and I will eat first to prove to you that it is not poisonous." After eating it, she waited 5 minutes. "See, nothing happened, so can you trust me?"
Nathaniel didn't let his guard down but accepted the candy.
"Let's eat together there on that rock."
"So why are you far from your home? My name is Kathy, by the way," questioned Kathy.
"How did she know where I live?" he said in his mind.
"I played with my friends and want to return home," said Nathaniel.
"It's cool that you have a home," Kathy said, biting her candy. "Mine was devoured by the flames two years ago," said Kathy.
"I'm sorry, I'm sad for you," said Nathaniel.
"Oh, it's not your fault. life is cruel sometimes," said Kathy.
Suddenly, he remembered the event with Shawn. "Yeah, life is unfair."
Then she took out a bag of chips from her bag. "Do you want more?" said Kathy.
"Thanks," said Nathan.
"I think you need to go home now," said Kathy.
After some minutes, he got home.
"How was it, kids?" said his dad.
"Fine, I have new friends," said Nathaniel.
"Me too," said Andy.
"I'm happy for you," said Judy.
"I have another piece of news," said Gabriella. "The local farm accepted us, so tomorrow, me and Andy will live there."