Team8s and Counting

162. Defending a Friend

It was the start of another school year for the Team8s family. With the twins now in kindergarten, it meant all five kids were attending the same school, which kept things more simple for Coiny, since he could just send them all on the bus in the morning and then have the house to himself until they came back.

Dimey was now in first grade, and it was going pretty well for him. He liked his teacher and found most of the kids in his class to be pretty chill. The morning was filled mostly with icebreaks and sneak peaks of the upcoming year.

Eventually, it was time for the kids to go to lunch. Dimey ate lunch with his class, and eventually, it was off to recess. The first thing Dimey did was look for Capy. It didn't take him long to find her chatting away with Bladey.

Dimey approached the two girls. "Hey guys!"

Capy smiled. "Hey, how is 1st grade going so far."

Dimey grinned. "Pretty good! My teacher's nice, and we're gonna start learning to read chapter books soon. How's second grade?"

Bladey rolled her eyes a little. "It's okay, I guess. A lot of the kids are the same as last year, so it's not too different. But I got Ms. Tumbleweed, and she's kinda strict."

Capy nodded. "Yeah, Ms. Tumbleweed can be tough, but I heard she lets you do fun science projects later in the year. So maybe it'll get better!"

Dimey noticed Capy seemed excited to be back. "What about you, Capy? How's it going?"

Capy smiled. "It's good! We're doing some icebreakers, too, and Ms. Rainforest said we'll be learning about animals from all over the world. I can't wait! Oh, and..." she leaned in a little closer, "I get to be line leader next week!"

"Lucky!" Dimey laughed. "Maybe I'll get to be line leader someday."

Bladey smiled, watching the two of them chat. "You guys always make everything sound fun. Maybe second grade won't be so bad after all."

Just then, a group of kids came up to the group, all trying to look as intimidating as possible. Dimey had never seen these kids before, but Capy and Bladey knew them all to well.

One of the kids looked Capy right in the eyes, "Looks like we meet again, double dad girl." The rest of the kids started laughing a long with him.

"Cut it out guys." Capy said under clenched teeth, "Why do you care if I have two dads?"

The leader of the group sneered. "It's just weird. Normal families have a mom and a dad, not two dads."

Bladey stepped up beside Capy, crossing her arms. "That's stupid. Families can look however they want. At least Capy's dads are nice and don't go around bullying people for no reason."

Dimey clenched his fists, feeling anger bubble up inside him. He didn't like seeing Capy upset. "Yeah, you guys are the weird ones for being mean about something that's none of your business. One of her dads is my soccer coach, and he's pretty awesome !"

The leader looked taken aback, not expecting the pushback. He mumbled, "Well, whatever... it's still weird," but he didn't sound nearly as sure of himself.

"Whatever." Capy mumbled. "My parents love me and that's what matters, don't know if I can say the same about yours."

The kids turned around after hearing what Capy had to say. One of them grabbed her by the arm, pressing her face right against Capy's. "What did you just say?"

Capy swallowed, her heart racing, but she didn't let her fear show. She met the other kid's glare, unflinching. "You heard me. My family's not weird. They love me, and that's what really matters."