Reunited

I was sitting in the back of my mother's car, strapped into a booster seat, complaining about having to go to some stupid class, with someone I don't even know. I was more than a little upset. Though it was mostly a front to hide my fear. How would I even talk to another child? I've interacted with kids before, but recently the extent has been like waving or saying a casual hello. Then again, It wasn't like this was all of a sudden sprung on me, and I had thought about this a lot.

My solution was to copy what the other kids did. I'm sure that I could replicate the actions of a five year old if I just watch them a bit. I, fortunately, will have someone I'm obligated to stay around, so I can just watch them and react appropriately. Besides it is supposed to be a class, so if I ever feel off I can just focus on the things I'm told to do.

My Idea had satisfied me, and I was no longer nervous, but as soon as we got in the car I started having doubts, and the closer we got, the more and more I'm starting to feel that it might not work. Logically speaking I had nothing to worry about, what really bad thing could happen. That didn't help me calm down. I was still nervous of what other people would think, of me.

My biggest issue is my eyes. When I was born I had dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes like my father. When I was around six months old however I started to notice I looked slightly different, my hair was turning lighter. I paid no mind to it because it's completely normal. I remember the same thing happened in my last life, I was born dirty blonde and I became a golden blond by the age of nine. When my mother pointed this out to my father, he said the same sort of thing happened to him. He was born with bright blond hair and his turned an almost brown color.

The issue came in my eyes. I started paying attention to this little phenomenon when I was two. Using photos and mirrors as a comparison, I noticed my eyes looked lighter and had started gaining a slight tint to it. The following year I saw some noticeable changes and now my eyes are this Blue, with a woven pattern of light Purple color. They are not overly distracting, and are really pretty, but that's only according to me, my mother, and my father. Now I was about to be judged by a bunch of little kids that think everything that isn't like them is weird. I can only hope they aren't too brutally honest.

We finally arrived at our destination. It was in a gym not too far from the house. Inside there were a series of exercise rooms one of which had been turned into a miniature gymnastics room for children. The entire floor was covered in rainbow gym mats. There was blue yellow, red and orange, purple, and there were even some green and pink ones. I'm pretty sure that each of the mats had to have been a different color or shade, and at first it was a little disorienting. Then there were a few silver bars that looked like pull-up bars all relatively close together in one corner of the room, the other having a little construct made with folded blue mats as barriers that seemed to be filled with foam blocks, there was two balance beams and a couple of little obstacles scattered around the room. There were also some fold out chairs along one of the walls.

We had of course arrived before anyone else but the teacher, so my mother decided to introduce us.

" Hello I'm Chloe, You must be Amanda." My mother shook the hand of the instructor.

" Oh, I didn't notice you come in. Yes I'm Amanda. You must be one of the new parents, it's a pleasure to meet you." The instructor responded and squatted down to my level.

" What's your name little one?" She asked with a smile.

" F-fenris" I stuttered as I instinctively hid behind my mother's leg. Socializing is going to be harder than I thought.

" Well that's a cute name isn't it. I like your eyes." She said her smile persisting as she looked me right in the eyes.

" Thank you" I whispered, gazing down at my feet.

" Sorry about him, he's just shy." My mother ruffled my hair.

" Well people don't typically start arriving for another five to ten minutes, so Mrs. Chloe feel free to take a seat, Fenris your welcome to play around, and greet the children as they come in."

My mother and I walked over to one of the seats and I sat in her lap. She wrapped her arms around me and whispered into my ear.

"I know meeting people can be scary, but try to make friends okay? I know your shy and this is going to be hard, but can you do that for me?" I looked up and our eyes met.

" Mn, I can try." I said, with no confidence.

" That's my, courageous little boy. Now go show them what you can do." My mom encouraged and gave me another hug, before putting me on the ground.

I turn and look at her, " You want me to speak to them in another language? Mom, I think that will confuse them." I was trying to distract myself from my growing unease.

" You know what I meant, just go make friends." My mom ruffled my hair and pushed me away with a giggle.

" But there's no one here"

"..." Just then the door to the room opened to a pair of mother and daughter. They both looked oddly familiar.

" Welcome, you must be the other new family to join us. Welcome."

" You must be the instructor, Amanda. It a pleasure to meet you." The mother responded, and turned to her daughter. "Now lilly why don't you introduce yourself."

" H-hello, I'm Lilly." The girl shyly hid behind her mother, much the same way I did.

A tap on my shoulder startled me out of my staring. " It's rude to stare, Fenris. Come-on let's go introduce ourselves." My mother grabbed my hand and pulled me over.

" You must be Vivillian, I've heard a lot about you. Quite the hot topic around our house." My mother let out a peculiar smile, she was teasing her.

" W-who are you and how do you know me." The woman started to look concerned.

"You know ..." I pinched her leg, before she could continue. " Ow, Fenris." I looked up at her "Don't be mean."

" Fenris? You wouldn't happen to be Ester's wife, Chloe was it?" The woman's face softened.

"Caught red handed. Sorry about the first impressions, I do like a good joke." My mother said with a laugh and less than remorseful tone.

' And I thought I was the one who needed to worry about making friends.' I couldn't help but drop my head at her awful first impressions.

"Don't worry about it, I'll just get you back later." The woman replied with a sigh, obviously relieved.

My mother smiled, and so did the other woman. They shook hands and simultaneously said " Nice to meet you, I think we'll be great friends."

Did I miss something? How did ...? You know what? I don't care. All's well that ends well I suppose.

I looked down from the two ladies that had now stared another conversation my brain couldn't follow, and I was met with a curious gaze. A little girl was staring straight at me from behind her mother.

She had a face that looked oddly familiar, she had bleach blond hair that reached her shoulder, and the most beautiful, red amber eyes I've ever seen. She was about the same size as me, and I couldn't figure out were I knew her from. The only thing I could think was my old friend lilly. The name matched, the face basically matched, I just don't remember her eyes being that red, they were always a red tinted amber, but it's like the red and brown in her eyes switched.

Also, there's no way that that's the lilly I was friends with. Even if they look pretty close to the same, and have the same name, what are the odds that my dad conveniently works with her new dad.

No, I had proof she was, the Lilly I knew, her mother was standing right there. Now, I know why they seemed familiar.

" Ahem." I heard my mother clear her voice. Simultaneously me and Lilly break eye contact and look at her.

" Now I know you both look really cute when you just stare at each other, but if you don't talk you won't ever become friends." My mom pulled me out from behind her, and pushed me between her and Mrs. Vivillian.

Lilly tried to escape further behind her mother, but she was caught much the same way I was, and forced into the open.

" I-i'm Fenris" I said extremely nervous. I didn't know what to do, now that I'm actually facing her, although she is much smaller than the last time I saw her.

" L-l-lilly" She finally managed to get out. her gaze at the floor.

We made eye contact again, and quickly averted our gazes. She was super adorable, and her red eyes were really pretty, I just want to hug her.

" How cute." Vivillian voiced

" I know aren't they just darling." My mother added

* Click* Simultaneously the flash of two cameras lit catching the exchange from both sides.

" Your sending that to me right?" My mother asked.

" Naturally, What's a good email?"

" MyadorableFenFen@Msn.com"

I flinched when I heard that. Fen-Fen is an annoying nickname, and I hate it.

" Fen-Fen? Is that your nickname for Fenris? That's adorable!" Vivillian exclaimed " And sent. You can forward your picture to me with the same ema-, Oh, your pretty quick."

" Fen-Fen." I heard the accursed nickname and looked towards it's childish origins. We locked eyes.

" Fen-Fen's, eye's pretty." She said as she got closer to my face, being pretty brazen for a moment.

" T-tanks, Lilly's eyes are pretty too." She immediately shrinked back, embarrassed by the statement.

Thankfully our awkward moment was interrupted by the arrival of new people.

~Creak~

" Hello, Amanda how have you been recently." A voice called from the door.

" Ah, Catie. I've been well, but your timing couldn't be better. I would like to introduce you to the two new moms to the little group." Miss Amanda beaconed her over to us.

In tow three children followed her in, one seemed to be about my age, and the other two were older.

" Pleasure to meet you both, I'm Catie Zimmerman."

" Chloe Stubenvol, it's a pleasure."

" Vivillian Katz, It's nice to meet you too."

" Catie is like the unofficial second in command here. She's had her kids in this class, since I started six years ago. If you have any questions, she may know if you can't get ahold of me." Amanda said.

" Yep. I've been here for a while and I got five kids at home. If you need advice, or help feel free to ask. Any excuse is a good excuse to get away from my little gremlins for an hour or two." She them turned to her kids that were playing around with the equipment out on the mats.

" Martha, Penelope, George. Come introduce yourself to these two." The older one, the only boy of the group groaned, but all three headed over.

"Hello I'm Martha, nice to meet you two." Martha smiled as she spoke to both me and Lilly. We were a little hesitant.

" It's okay I don't bite. I stopped that when I was three." She continued when she saw our reservation, but another voice ended our interaction.

" Hello, I'm Penelope, are you two my new friends. I love new friends! Why are your eyes so weird? Both of you have weird eyes. ~Gasp~ are you two ... "

~ Flick~

"Owww, Moooom, Georgie hit me." Penelope winned

" Penelope you were being rude, you don't call people weird. And stop calling me Georgie, I hate it." George scolded his sister

" Your not my dad, I don't have to listen to you." Penelope snarked back

" Penelope, listen to your brother or you will get a spanking on the way home." Catie said.

" B-but mom."

" No buts."

" Ha ha, Now you have to listen to me."

" George, don't test my patients."

" I wasn't going to do anything." George said dejected.

" Uh huh, sure."

All the noise seemed to be making Lilly a bit reclusive. Now I was feeling it a bit too, but I promised mom I would try to be social. I grabbed her hand and gave her a smile. She flinched a little then when she realized it was me, she relaxed a bit. I then noticed her fidgeting slightly and her eyes looked a little red.

" What's wrong?" I asked looking at her.

" She called my eyes weird." Lilly had tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

" I think your eyes are pretty." I remarked, as a squeezed her hand in mine and wiped her tears away.

She looked up at me and I stared into her eyes. I put my hands on her cheeks and quickly threw them up into the air while saying, " Now, sadness go away."

I made sure it was as extra and dramatic as I could make it hoping to elicit a smile or a giggle to make her feel better.

She started crying harder, She hugged me and cried into my shoulder. " I think your eyes are pretty too." she said between sniffles.

I was shocked at first, but returned the hug and we stood there for a bit. Her crying didn't last that long and I wiped her tears away again once she was finished, giving her the warmest smile I could muster.

" Are you ok now?" I asked.

" Ya, I'm ok" she said rubbing her eyes

" Good!" I exclaimed with a smile.

Not expecting what happened next, She kissed me right on the mouth.

"" Eww"" "" Gross"" I heard a couple of voices that sounded like kids, voicing their disgust. I also heard a squeal from a few parents, ours included.

I was panicking, My first kiss was with a four year old, I'm four too, but still. I was frozen from shock, but tried to focus on something else. I had come to realize we had gained a little audience from the crying and the fact we were new here.

" W-why" I managed to get out, my face was strawberry red.

" M-mommy does it wit daddy sometimes and she said people do it with the ones they really like. I really like you Fen-Fen." Her face was really red too when she was talking.

" Sweetheart, Please don't do that again. I know what I said but save it for when your older." Mrs Vivillian seemed a little embarrassed. Yet also a little, proud? Weird.

" Huh? Why?" Lilly sounded like she was afraid.

" Your not in trouble, just promise me you won't do it again, ok?" Vivillian smiled at lilly.

" Ok, Mommy."

" Now come give your momma, a hug."

She ran into her mother's arms, and they gave each other a big hug.

I looked over at my mom, and she had this smirk, and gave me an encouraging thumbs up. I just looked at her confused.

" Well, that's quite the way to start a class. Everyone circle up, for stretching, don't be shy and be sure to welcome our new friends."

The kids who had gathered around me and lily, ran over to Ms. Amanda and formed a circle around her. She beaconed us to join them so we did.

" Everyone we have two new friends joining us today so be sure to give them a warm welcome. Now, new friends, why don't you introduce yourselves. " She smiled at me and lilly as she motioned to us, and everyone's eyes became glued on the both of us.

" I-i'm L-lilly" Lilly was nervous, you could tell by her shaky voice and stuttering, not that I was doing much better.

" and I'm F Fenris." I was nervous too, but I did my best to not show it much. I did stammer a bit at the end, and it was a bit quiet but it was satisfactory in my opinion.

" Now why don't we go around the circle and have everyone introduce themselves." Miss. Amanda asked. "Well start with the oldest."

" George." George looked a little annoyed. George was a dark skinned boy, like the rest of his family, with black hair, and dark eyes. Though he was only a kid he had a large nose, and a very pronounced face.

" Hello, I'm Martha" Martha had similar hair and eyes to George, but her hair was longer and her face was both smaller and softer.

" Hi!! I'm Penelope, sorry about earlier but I can get really excited to meet new people." Penelope was like a photo copy of Martha, only her hair was far more curly, and they had polar opposite temperaments.

" I'm Summer, and this shy one here is Winter."

" I'm Juno, and I'm Yuna." The two girls looked identical from their green eyes, and facial features down to the way their black hair laid, They sounded exactly the same, not to mention their sentences melded together perfectly, you almost couldn't tell when one stopped and the other began if you weren't watching their mouths. It was equally creepy as it was impressive.

" Nice too meet you, I'm Josey."

" Luthrena, but you can call me lulu."

" Wonderful! Its nice to see you all getting along so well. George look happier you finally have another boy in the class now. You wont be so lonely anymore." Miss Amanda smiled, she seemed to have found something funny.

"Wait, One of them is a guy?!" George seemed completely surprised.

"Wait who's a boy? I don't see one. Miss Amanda are you lying." Penelope joined in.

My head dropped, I didn't look like a girl did I? I'll admit my hair is a little long, but its not something unusual. I mean I've seen plenty of guys with longer hair, and mines not even that long, it barely reached the middle of the back of my neck. I need a haircut.

My distress must have shown on my face because I felt a hand tap me on the head. " It's ok, I know you were a boy." I looked up at lilly. She smiled at me. She was trying to cheer me up.

" I'm ok," I reciprocated her smile.

" So, Fenris was the boy ... I guess I see it now." George was looking intensely at me. I started to get uncomfortable.

"Now, now, there have been too many distractions. Back into the circle its time for stretching." Miss Amanda, clapped her hands to get our attention.

The After that class began.