Your scars remain

Chapter 11: There's a First Time for Everything

Karl is bad at social interaction while surrounded by kids his age

You asked for it @Wilbys_socks

*A wild Fluff Chapter appears!*

Karl held a panda print pencil in his hands. Yesterday Phil had taken him out shopping for school supplies, everything on the list Tommy had read to him. He got a few other themed notebooks, colored pencils, regular pencils, a swirl themed bag, and his favorite thing he got was the matching panda print pencil pouch and pencils he was holding right now.

Yesterday also marked the second month since he was rescued by Phil, so that's nice I guess.

Currently he was sitting in the passenger's seat of Phil's car while the avian drove him to his first day of school.

Was he excited? Quite a bit. Was he nervous? He won't lie, yes he was. There were so many things that could go wrong. What if they find him again?

No, don't think about that.

"And we're here," Phil announced, pulling into a half circle in front of

There were so many kids outside that looked his age, and many more who looked younger.

Right, Tommy said he was going to be part of the highest grade. So he'd be a part of the older kids.

Gosh, even the smallest still looked scary.

Phil somehow seemed to pick up on this.

"You can do it," He reassured, stopping the car behind a line of other cars dropping off kids. Karl nodded weakly.

"Look at me, kid." Karl obeyed, meeting Phil's eyes. "You. Can. Do. It. If you need me to come in with you for a few days I can do that. If you want to postpone for another day or two, that's okay. We'll take things at your pace."

Karl shook his head. He didn't want to wait. He wanted to go now. He didn't want to disappoint Phil.

The man in question gave a small smile.

"Remember the two most important things. Make sure you're comfortable. And have some fun, maybe make a few friends while you're at it?"

Karl nodded.

"I don't care about grades as long as you do your best. And if at any time you'd like to go back to homeschooling, don't be afraid to say so."

Karl nodded again.

"That's all I have to say. Head inside whenever you feel ready," Phil gave another one of his strangely reassuring smiles.

Karl took a deep breath, stuffed the pencil pouch in his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and opened the car door.

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Karl scrambled to get to an empty seat. It took him a while to find the class and he burst into the classroom right as the blaring sounds of the ALARM-WARNING bell rang. It was supposed to signify the start and end of classes, but it hurt his ears quite a bit.

The teacher, Professor Mumbo, waited another five minutes as the last stragglers filtered in before getting up and smiling.

"It's the second quarter everybody!" There was no reaction.

"Well alright then, open your notebooks, we're going to be learning about piston doors in this class, then you can get into groups and work on your own miniature version during the next few classes," Professor Mumbo clicked a tiny remote and the TV-like thing clicked to life. Karl reeled back slightly at the sudden change, but luckily nobody noticed.