Separated

Searching

A few weeks had passed since Roman got adopted, and the family had finally started getting used to being, well, a family. Emile had introduced Roman to Disney, which he adored, and Remy had gotten him to drink coffee, which he liked less, but still enjoyed. High school started today for him, and he was honestly excited at the prospect. He had carefully chosen his outfit, a white shirt that said Disney in red letters, a jacket that was mostly red with white sleeves and a few gold accents, and jeans.

"Alright Roman, just remember that everything will be okay, alright? Your dad and I will use today as an opportunity to search online for your brother. Hopefully we'll find some leads. He's 12 right? That's old enough to have social media. Anyway, don't worry about that right now, go off and enjoy school!" Emile said to his son, hugging him tight before sending him out the door.

"Bye Pops! Bye Dad! Don't worry, I'll be fine!" Roman said excitedly before practically racing off on his way to school. His high spirits kept up all the way there, but then there was the issue of actually going inside. He stopped right outside the front of the school, almost too nervous to take another step.

I've never been to a real school before. What if I'm behind because the orphanage didn't teach the right things? What if nobody likes me because I'm new? How does a normal school even work? Roman stood and thought for what felt like hours, but was really only a minute, before finally plucking up the courage to step inside the building. He was supposed to head to the office because someone was going to help him with getting to all his classes. The moment he got into the office, most of his doubts vanished. There was another kid in there already, chatting with the secretary and wearing a huge grin on his face.

"Oh! You must be Roman, correct?" The secretary asked, seeing him come in.

"Oh, um, yeah." Roman said, shuffling his feet a little bit.

"Oh good! Hi, I'm Patton, I'll be helping you out today!" Patton smiled, holding out his hand for a shake, a big goofy smile on his face

"Hi. Thanks for doing this, I'm kinda new to this whole school thing." Roman said, taking the hand in front of him and shaking it.

"Well you two seem like you'll be okay. You both have the same schedules, so as long as you stay with Patton, Roman, you'll get to the right place. Alright, that's all I needed from you two, now you can go to the cafeteria to wait for the bell." The secretary said, waving the boys out of her office.

"Alright, I promise I'll make sure you get to your classes on time Roman! I'm a freshman, but I've got friends who are sophomores and juniors so I know my way around this school a little bit." Patton said, skipping along on the way to the cafeteria. Roman couldn't help but smile at the boy, he just radiated positive energy. They reached their destination quickly and sat at one of the tables.

"Alright, cool. Yeah. It's good to know that I'll have a good friend with me when I'm struggling." Roman said, the last little bits of nervousness evaporating into thin air.

"We're friends?!" Patton asked, stars dancing in his eyes.

"I mean yeah, why wouldn't we be?" Roman shrugged, an awkward smile on his face.

"Great! Another friend! I can't wait for you to meet-"

"Meet who Patton? And who is this?" Another boy, also wearing glasses, interrupted, sitting down opposite Roman and Patton.

"Oh! Logie! I was gonna say you! This is Roman, he's new to school and I'm gonna be helping him out today. Roman, this is Logie! He's a sophomore, but we've been good friends for a while." Patton said, somehow smiling even wider now that Logan had appeared.