Chapter 1: (After the) First Day of School

Disclaimer: I only own Daniel, Alex, Ethan, Becca, and Catherine. I own nothing else. The addresses used in this fanfic were randomly generated. Warning: Transgender Character. Also:

Kindergarten-Grade 5=Elementary School

Grade 6-8=Middle School

Grade 9-12=High School

Chapter 1: (After the) First Day of School

"How was the first day of school, kids?" Trent asked his kids as they came home from school. "It was good," a short boy with short, light brown hair and light brown eyes answered. He was wearing a blue t-shirt, black jeans, blue Velcro shoes, and had a black backpack. "How was your day, Alex?" Trent asked the older kid. The short boy with short black hair and light brown eyes sighed. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt, brown jeans, black sneakers, and yellow backpack. "Fine," was the reply. "Good. Since you probably don't have homework, put your stuff in your rooms and then you can either hang out in the store, your rooms, or at the park. You have to be back before its dark if you go to the park," Trent told his sons. "Okay, dad," the brothers replied.

"Ethan, want to go to the park with me?" Alex asked his little brother. "Okay!" Ethan agreed. The boys put their things in their rooms and went to the park about ten minutes from the boy's house.

They got to the park, and there were three other people there. There was one boy was in the grass with some jars, most likely looking for bugs. One girl was sitting on a rock a little ways away. Lastly, there was a girl with a video camera and a bunch of stuffed animals over on the play structure.

"What's that girl doing?'" Ethan asked, pointing at the girl with the stuffed animals. "Don't point," Alex told him quietly. Ethan went over to the girl as Alex went to a swing, hoping that either Ethan wouldn't ask the girl what she was doing, or that the girl wouldn't think Alex was being a bad sibling, not watching his little brother.

As he started to swing, he saw the girl on Big Rock staring at him. When she saw him looking back, she blushed slightly and looked away. Alex continued swinging, and the girl kept staring and looking away when she saw Alex slow to see if she was staring.

He stopped and walked over to the girl. "Hi," he said. "Hi," she replied. Alex wasn't sure what to say, so he chose a general topic. "I'm Alex. How was your first day of school?" he asked. She smiled at him. "I'm Becca. It was…I don't know. How does the first day of middle school usually go?"

"Uh…show up just on time, get lost looking for homeroom and or your locker, be late to your first class, be hesitant during lunchtime, and want to leave before lunch is even over because by then something humiliating should happen to you," Alex remembered his first day of school. "Then it was pretty normal," Becca thought about her first day of school and what Alex had explained.

"What was the humiliating thing that happened to you?" Alex asked. "Not bringing money and bringing a lunch instead when every one of my friends brought money instead and…ugh," Becca answered. Alex assumed the 'ugh' was her 'friends' teasing her for bringing a lunch.

Then again, there's probably nothing-at least nothing obvious-to tease Becca about. She had on a red t-shirt, black and white polka dot skirt with black leggings, her red backpack, and on her feet were blue vans. She had dark brown hair that goes to her shoulders, and brown eyes.

"That's not so bad. On my first day of middle school, nobody wanted to sit with me, period. Not at lunch, not in class, not in the library or computer lab," Alex remembered. "Why not?" Becca asked. "I don't know. It's middle school. That was one year ago and I still don't understand it."

"Hey! I need that one now!" a girl's voice said, getting the attention of the others at the park. A girl with really long brown hair in a ponytail, and brown eyes, was trying to run, though with her white t-shirt, light pink frilly skirt, white leggings, black 1-inch heels, and her light pink backpack on the ground, she wasn't very good at running after Ethan, who was holding a stuffed yellow dog with floppy ears and was wearing a white dress with angel wings attacked. There was a multicoloured 'W' on one of its paws.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"Ugh. Ethan!" Alex got up and ran after his brother. Once he was under the bridge of the play structure, and was beginning to get cornered by a small wall setup with a window, the ten-year-old stopped. He gave his big brother the stuffed dog, who gave it back to the girl. "Thanks," the girl came over and took the stuffed dog. "Well?" Alex said to Ethan and raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to say something to her, like an apology?" "I-I'm sorry," Ethan stuttered. "It's okay," the girl said. She checked to make sure the stuffed animal was still in decent condition.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">There was a weird silence in the park, and then a voice spoke. "No! Ugh!" the four saw the boy looking for bugs trying to catch a bug in a jar. Ethan went over to see the bug. "What are you doing?" he asked, and then Ethan saw a ladybug. He got it on his finger and it moved around on the kid's hands. "Here, lead it over…" the older boy was trying to get the ladybug in a jar and moved away the kid's hand and got a lid on the jar.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">The older kids came over to see what they were doing. "Is it really that hard to catch a ladybug?" Becca asked before she saw the jar. There were three ladybugs in the same jar with a few leaves and grass. "Never mind." "They're so cute!" the girl wearing pink said happily. "That one has eight dots!" Alex noticed. "Yep. I'm gonna find eight dollars for that one. By the way," the boy said.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"I'm Daniel." "I'm Catherine," the girl wearing pink introduced herself. "Daniel, why're you gonna get eight dollars for that ladybug?" Ethan asked. "Well, I believe that if you find a ladybug and count the dots on it, that you'll find that many dollars," Daniel explained.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"Alex?" "Yeah, Ethan?" "Can I collect ladybugs too?" "You have to ask Mom and Dad. I don't think you'll be allowed, though," Alex laughed as he explained. "Why?" "Yeah, why wouldn't he be allowed?" "Well first of all, responsibility and whatnot, second of all, I can see it now. You inside, in your room, opening a jar and then it flies downstairs, to the store, and-" "Store?" Catherine interrupted. "Yeah! Our parents own a music store and we live above it!" Ethan explained happily. "Anyways, if you let a ladybug fly out into the store, something bad would probably happen and either the store would close or you'd be grounded," Alex finished.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"What time is it?" Becca wondered. Catherine checked using her camera. "4:00!" "Already?" "I have to get home by 4:15! I dunno if I can walk that fast…" Catherine realized. "Where do you live?" "On that big apartment on Forest Street," Catherine answered Alex. "We're on Laurel Drive," Ethan sighed. "I'm all the way on Elm Avenue," Becca realized. "I'm on Fairview Road," Daniel said.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"Hey-your parents own a store right?" Becca remembered. "Yeah, why?" Alex asked. "Could we all go to the store, and call our parents from there?" "Sure. It's about ten minutes away though," Alex said. "Let's go!" Ethan said, impatient. The older kids laughed. "We should go," Alex laughed.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">About ten minutes later, the kids all showed up at the store. They went in the front entrance. "It's quicker to go through the back, though nobody's supposed to use it except us," Alex explained as he led the way to the stairs at the back of the store, near the keyboards. They went up and Alex unlocked the door and went into the house.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"Hey kids," Kira greeted her sons and the other kids from the living room, where she was writing a song. "Who're they?" she asked. "They just need to call their parents for rides back home-" "They're my friends!" Alex started but was interrupted by Ethan.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"By the way Mommy-" "Say no." "Can I collect ladybugs like this one?" Ethan took one of the jars Daniel had brought. Daniel took the jar back. "Oh….I don't think so. I'll talk about it with Daddy, okay?" Kira didn't want to say yes to that. Ever.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"Anyways, can I call my parents?" "Oh, yeah." Catherine, Daniel, and Becca called their parents and their parents came to pick them up. "See you tomorrow?" Alex asked the others. "Yeah." "See you tomorrow!" "Yeah, bye!" Daniel, Catherine, and Becca replied as their parents picked them up and they left.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;">"How was it at the park?" Kira asked her kids. "It was good!" Ethan said happily. "It was great," Alex answered honestly.