The Brave Little Toaster: the Little Master in school

Almost Summer

The Master's Household

It was a beautiful sunny day outside of Rob and Chris's home. Years had passed since the birth of the 'Little Master' and he was already turning into a young adult. Toaster, Kirby, Blankey, Radio, and Lampy couldn't believe it themselves that their little friend had already grown up so fast. They were sitting in their spots in the house for a while, since the mistress was just on her way outside. The moment she left the house, the appliances started heading toward Rob's room to look through some of his things, remembering how fast time had flown by.

(OBJECT POV)

"Our little Robbie is almost done with middle school, can you believe it?" Said Toaster as he looked at the framed picture of Robbie. The kid was dressed in his school best for picture day that was taken recently. Toaster sighed as he let a sense of nostalgia settle in. "It felt like it was only yesterday when we rescued him from space, and brought him home for Christmas."
Blankey came to his side.
"Or when we saved him from being shocked by Lampy's bulb." He said, staring at the picture. "That scared me...but after we got him safe, he picked me up and hugged me tight. It felt so good to save the little Master..."
Lampy, who was standing behind them, nodded his head. "We just wanted the little guy to be safe and sound...my bulb is not a toy."
"Of course it's not a toy," said Kirby, vacuuming a corner of Rob's room. "None of us are...excluding Blankey." After a few moments, he began to grin a little. "Hmm... the Master's hygiene has definitely improved in his room." He grunted as he sucked in something sticky. He made an expression of disgust. "Ugh!"
"What's hygiene?" asked Blankey.
"Cleanliness." Kirby muttered aloud.
"Guys, look how bright and beautiful it is!" Lamp exclaimed. "The sun is just smiling today!" He was looking out Rob's bedroom window. Blankey carefully joined Lampy on the windowsill.
"I bet the grass is soft...like me!" He began to hug himself. "Look, there's the mistress watering the plants." Radio eventually came to Blankey's side.
"Ahh...this weather reminds me of a song!" Everyone in the room could hear bits of static start up inside of him. After a couple of seconds, Radio managed to find a song.

Summer Breeze, makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind... Before he could continue, Blankey lifted his head and shouted,
"Car! I hear a car!" Everyone turned to Blankey, surprised.
"The Master must be home!" Everyone scrambled as fast as they could to their usual places before the Master drove up to the driveway. Toaster and his friends succeeded in getting back in place before they could hear him running up the porch steps. Rob unlocked the door and swung it open, smiling really wide. 

(HUMAN POV)

"Chris! Hey Chris!"  He called to his wife.
Christine happily came back inside the house, hearing her husband's voice.
"Rob? You're home early! What's going on?"
"I've just been having such a good day," Rob chirped. "I got wonderful news from my job! I feel like luck has been with me all along!"
Christine began to smirk and put a hand on her hip.
"Luck?" She said, raising a brow. "Since when did you start believing in that? I mean... I haven't gotten much luck today..."
"Well, our boss is about to give our science team a raise for all of our hard troubles, and..."  
Rob was about to continue, until he saw the look on her face.
"Chris? Are you okay?"
"Hmm? Yeah, fine. Just trying to get lunch done before I have to go pick up our son, Robbie, from school."
Rob began to scratch his head. A look of confusion began to grow on his face. "Why does Robbie need a pickup–" Then he jumped a little and widened his eyes. "His parent-teacher conference! That's today!" He took a quick glance at his watch. "AH! Thank you for the reminder, honey! Here, you've been working too hard." He began to reach for the cutting knives that she uses for cooking. "Want me to finish this up while you go get him?"
Chris shook her head, looked at Rob, and her smirk turned into a smile. She grabbed the knives from Rob's hands, grabbed a cutting board, and began to cook lunch.
"No sweetie, I'm just fine! Really! I just didn't want you to forget that -- like last time."
Rob raised an eyebrow.
"Last time?"
"Mhmm..." she said, pouring the cut food into a big soup pot. "Last time you got so caught up with your work you ended up arriving as the teachers were leaving. The only one that remained until you showed up was the councilor and Robbie. You were almost 20 minutes late."
Rob let out a sigh, thinking back on that memory that only happened a couple of weeks back.
"Oh, yikes. Well, I better be on my way then. By the way, you're an excellent cook. Another lucky thing for me today." Rob quickly kissed his wife on the cheek, then headed back outside.

School Campus

Rob got there a few minutes late, and his teachers were still there by the time he had arrived. "Sorry everyone!" He said as he entered one of Robbie's classrooms where the meeting was being held. "Hey kiddo!" He looked at his son, who didn't make eye contact back. Rob leaned over to see his son's face, who didn't look very happy. "What's wrong?"
"Your son is the brightest kid in all of his classes, Mr. McGroarty," explained his math teacher. "However, when it comes to his work, he starts it..." He gently tossed some papers to Rob. "but he doesn't ever quite finish them. He explains to me that they are too hard for him and he simply doesn't want to do it anymore. He does perfectly fine through most of the assignments until it hits a certain part of the lesson. That's all he has told us."
Rob looked at his son, concerned. "Robbie, is there something going on?"
Robbie finally made eye contact with his dad. "Dad, I stop because I don't want to look stupid if I get any answers wrong. So I only write the answers down if I know they are right."
Rob was about to say something, but he was interrupted.
"That's not the only thing, Mr. McGroarty." his science teacher, who was sitting next to his math teacher, began to explain more, but Rob spoke up first.
"You can call me Rob." He said, pulling up a chair so he could sit next to his son.
"Well, Rob," his science teacher continued. "Your son is going through the ups and downs in his classes. In some classes he is barley passing, while other classes he is...unfortunately failing." Rob raised his eyebrows a little, then looked at Robbie, who stopped making direct eye contact with him.
"It's also the last semester of the school year." Added in his history teacher. "We told Robbie that if he doesn't pass all his classes by the end of the semester, he will have to attend summer school, and finish his work there. If he doesn't succeed, he will have to take another year here. If he does succeed, he will become a Freshmen in high school."

(OBJECT POV)

A pencil was leaning out of Robbie's backpack, just enough to where he could hear everything the humans were talking about.
"Hey, Cal! Calcula! You in there?" Pencil's friend, Calcula the calculator was peeking out from the inside of Robbie's small front pocket on his backpack.
"Pencil, what's going on?" She whispered to him.
"Robbie uses me every day in all his classes, up to a certain point that is. No pun intended!" He started to laugh, but Calcula didn't grin. "Anyways, if he doesn't keep using me and the rest of the gang enough the rest of the semester, he's doomed for summer!"
Calcula gasped. "What? Are you sure your numbers are right?"
Pencil was about to answer, when a deep voice was heard from inside his bag.
"I believe it's something bigger," said the textbook. "I think Robbie may have a condition going on. He does fine working on most of his assignments until it gets too difficult."
"Since I'm out in the open all the time, I see everything, hear everything, and pretty much do everything." The pencil said as he continued listening to the teachers conversations with Rob and his son. "I hardly ever hear the boy call for help when he's struggling. His teachers say he sits there trying to think of the right answer since he can't cheat, ya know?"
"Yeah, Robbie always called for help before..." Calcula softly recalled. "This...this isn't like him. I don't think Robbie would ever cheat." Then, she began punching some numbers into her database.
"What are you doing?" Pencil asked, turning himself around.
"I'm calculating how many days Robbie has to get things in shape before summer starts," Calcula answered. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to go through summer school."

(HUMAN POV)

"Well, son..." Rob began as he turned to his son. "What do you say, are you going to try your best?"
Robbie made direct contact with his dad again. This time, he was scowling. "Are you saying that I haven't?"
Rob sighed and shook his head. "Robbie, we are already proud that you study hard enough to get answers right, but you shouldn't worry about what other students think about you. Your mother and I are here for you, and so are your teachers. They are here to help you in any way they can to help you pass your classes."
Robbie shrugged a little, then he turned his head away from his dad.
Rob put his hand on his son's shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"Robbie, are you--" then he noticed something about his face. You've gotta be kidding me... he thought to himself.
His son didn't turn his head, but his eyes looked in his dad's direction. "...What? Don't look at me like that, dad."
Rob's face began to show concern again. "Um...okay lets go out in the hall," He said. "Right now." This made Robbie confused. "What? Why? What for?"
Rob got up from his chair without giving him a straight forward answer. "Come on, son." Then he turned to his teachers and said, "We will be back." To which his teachers just nodded their heads.
Rob lead his son out of the classroom, stopping at the side of the hallway. Robbie felt he didn't have a choice, and he certainly didn't like arguing with his parents, so he followed his dad out the hallway.