Properly

Chapter 2: Day With Dad

A couple of days after my discovery of the prodigal leopard cat who had a very nice rump after studying him, I was again laying in my bed with nothing fun to do rather than indulge in impressive dance videos or watch anything that caught my attention. That was my usual boring day until my dad busted into my room wearing clothing. Not just boxers and a tank top, actual clothes that you'd wear outside.

I was surprised that he was wearing clothes since he had already gotten off work and usually took naps around this late afternoon time. He smiled at me and announced, "Let's go shopping Zach! It's almost time for school to start and I've been busy getting you into a new school!"

I was taken back. "New school? You mean I'm not going to Maywood High anymore?"

"Well duh. I got you in....!", Dad stuck out his index fingers and imitated a drum roll, "Tobagco Academy!"

He presented a letter that was sent to Dad that basically said that I was accepted into Tobagco Academy and it would start on the 17th of August. It literally said that. For a modern school, they sure talked as though it was the 1700s.

"August 17th?! That's a week before Maywood! Not to mention it's in two days and the forecast says it's going to be 98 degrees!" I exclaimed, pulling out my phone and showing him the predicted forecast.

"Oh, don't act like you have other stuff to do. The last couple of days for you have been just been laying about and looking at your phone! Now come on, get up! I'm taking you to get clothes!" He tried picking me up the shoulders, but my teenage body wasn't like a child's.

"I'm going, I'm going! Can you tell me how you managed to get me into that school? We're not rich and I don't think I'm THAT level of good at anything." I asked as I slipped on shoes.

"Not good at anything? You're good at making clay stuff! I remember when I bought you some Play-Clay for you when you were little and you managed to make a pretty good model of me without my help!"

"Dad, I don't think playing with Play-Clay when I was 8 can get me into that school."

"Ah ah ah! Remember that video collection? The one you made by yourself?"

"The collection of me trying to be funny, scary, or instructional? The one where it had me fail at doing each of those things?"

"Zach, remember what I say-" He lifted a finger up and began saying it before I interrupted.

"If you have too many diamonds, they'll lose their credibility." He often told me that when I either brought home a bad grade or something similar.

"That's right! Not everything is going to be a gem, but the ones you do make are the most valuable of them all!" He patted my head before ushering me out. He still didn't answer my question on how he managed to get me into the school.

He drove us to one of the three malls in our city. Thankfully it was the lesser one of the three. The other two were filled with expensive brands and with my clothing consisting of some basketball shorts that I never used for actual basketball and a simple white shirt. If Dad actually took us to the other malls, I would've felt completely out of place.

After parking in the crowded parking lot and hurrying to avoid the constant stream of cars exiting, we got inside to a cool aired and new-clothes-smelling store. The store was a silent rush of people buying clothes, mainly teenagers with their parents.

"Come on, I'm getting you some nice clothes and shoes and hats and-" My dad began listing off all the things he wanted to buy me.

"Dad, dad! I don't need so many things! Just a few pairs of pants and a couple of shirts and maybe one pair of new shoes!" I silently spoke. He had money to gift himself, but buying me so many clothes was crazy, even to my standards. Plus, I didn't even like shopping.