The son of Aladdin and Jasmine

Chapter 38

"Are you ready, Aziz?" Aladdin asked again as they pulled up in front of the school, "You have everything?"

"A good majority of my clothes should already be in the dorm," Aziz said with a nod, picking his bag off the ground and shouldering it, "You guys don't have to go in with me, I know where everything is, I didn't forget."

"I'm sure you didn't," His father said gently, "I won't deny that, however we do want to make sure you adjust alright."

"Oh, so now you care about me," Aziz scoffed, rolling his eyes as he eyed the large school in front of him, "You didn't care that much when you dropped me off at the asylum."

"Aziz, we were angry and that clouded our judgement," His mother said, reaching over and gently taking his hand, "We never should have treated you like that."

Aziz turned back to them, studying them for a long moment. They felt awful, that much Aziz knew. They'd made that glaringly clear over the past few months. He could tell that the guilt was eating at them, and they'd apologized to him already, relentlessly. But still...

"No, you shouldn't have," Aziz grumbled, pulling his hand away and opening the car and stepping out, wincing at the brightness of the sun. 

The car had been much dimmer than it usually was, mostly due to his parents. They had tinted the windows more after seeing his discomfort with brightness after they had taken him out. He was grateful, of course, it helped his eyes. He almost felt bad that he couldn't forgive his parents, it was so clear that they were sorry. Of course, their guilt wouldn't wash away any of the pain that he had gone through in that asylum. No number of apologies were going to make that go away.

His parents climbed out after him, giving a nod to the driver to dismiss him as they turned back to Aziz. 

"We know you're upset," His father sighed out, "And you have every right to be. We didn't listen to you when we should have." 

"That seems to be a pattern, doesn't it?" Aziz snapped before taking a breath and glancing back at them, "I'm sorry. I don't want to fight over this, not now." he turned back to the school, "Can we just go in?"

"Of course," He heard his father say as he rested his hands gently on Aziz's shoulder, "Come on."

Aziz took a breath and nodded, walking in silence with his parents. Thankfully, the hallways were near empty, and those who were in the halls really didn't care enough to pay them any mind. As they entered the hallway where his dorm with Xavier was, Aziz paused in front of the door, hesitating at first to open it.

"Are you ok?" His mother asked, gently.

Aziz gave a silent nod, reaching to the doorknob and taking a deep breath before he pushed it open.

"Hey guys... I'm back."