Chapter 1 - Good news

Finally I was alone, safe in the only place I felt at ease. My room. It isn't that I don't love my family nor that I don't enjoy our interactions, but pretending to be a young boy for so long is exhausting. I need moments like this, just me and my desktop.

Thanks to my mom, I had a steady progress in my writing. But I couldn't relax when there was so many things to do. My deskop has definitely become a place where I felt the calmness necessary to keep practicing.

"Sammy!"

It was my sister. I turned around to see that she was already walking towards me with long and quick strides. She had this excited look on her face, that she usually has when she wants to work with me on something.

Like me and our father, she has black hair, with a hairstyle of two braids, that she should have requested from mom after breakfast. It definitely accentuated her young age.

"Sis! Do you need something?" I asked with a smile in my juvenile face. I had to look up to her, she was tall, even for her age.

"What? Can't I come to see my adorable little brother whenever I want?" She said, while hugging me tightly against her body. She locked her eyes on mine, demanding a favorable answer.

Looking at her, I couldn't help but envy her for getting mom's green eyes instead of the brown ones from father.

"Of course big sis. Whenever you want" I conceded after a while "I was just surprised, because I thought that you were going to be drawing" I wanted to write some new ideas I had on my mind, in the comfort of solitude preferably... There was no way I could say that though.

After hearing me out, she softened her embrace, although she still didn't let me go. I blame myself for her being so attached to me. I should have been like every normal sibling I know of, and fight with her every now and then. But I just didn't had it in me to bully a little girl. Even if she was my big sister, I was almost thirty mentally.

"Well, next week is when school starts, so I thought that we should finish our comic before that. I had already practiced enough, and I want to show a finished version to all my friends!" She said enthusiastically.

Not letting me give her a response, she was already dragging me by my hand towards her room.

It was a blessing that she's a prodigy at drawing. I couldn't even draw a decent stick person. If she ends liking it enough to make a living of it, I was already planning to make some comics with her. Although there was a risk involved.

There will not be internet for another couple of years, and it will be even more time for it being any useful. To obtain information I could only depend on the news via TV or paper. So I couldn't know if there was a similar concept already released to the public. I could only bet for it and hope for the best. 

"Look here Sammy. I drawed them just like you told me" Hanna said with a smile on her face, once we were in front of her desk.

On there were a lot of papers with different drawings. If someone from my previous world could see what I see, they would have recognized that those were characters from the animated series 'power puff girls'. It was kid friendly, easy to draw and with a lot of colors that my sister enjoyed a lot.

"You really put a lot of effort in getting better at it sis. It's so much better now, I'm proud of you"

"Hehe" She laughed a little, "Well, I need to step up to match my genius little brother"

Then she sat on the chair next to her desk, and brought over a bunch of papers from her drawer. Those papers were slightly bigger than the ones she used to practice. For the comic, we have requested those papers from our parents and they obliged.

I was surprised to find that the panels were already drawn. Even the background was ready in some of them, according to the embarrassing sketches I did for Hanna. It seemed that my sister asked for dad's help behind my back. Otherwise, I could only admire her insane progress, considering that she struggled with most of those things just last week.

"Yeah! Dad helped me. Now tell me how the story goes, I can't recognize the characters you drew" Hanna said, clearly knowing what was on my mind. And rubs once again my lack of talent at drawing.

She sighed softly "Drawing is my thing Sammy" My sister started while rubbing my head "So don't let it bother you that you have no talent for that. You are the most talented person I know" She finished with a little smile.

Her ability to read my mood was astonishing like always. In moments like this, is that I remember that she really is my big sister. Which sometimes I'll admit is nice to experience.

After the bonding moment, we dedicated ourselves to get going with the comic. I had already thought of the story, so my work was to explain what were the events that the characters were supposed to be experiencing in each panel.

It was a challenge for the both of us. She needed to draw the characters she already knew of according to my relate, and matching their scale constantly to an at least passable grade. For me, the challenge was to translate the cartoon I knew to a different entertainment medium. An excersise I thankfully took, because I may be doing something like this often in the future.

I could already tell that the end product was going to be mediocre at best, but for a couple of kids, doing their first comic ever, I think we're doing an amazing work.

"Kids, come downstairs!" Our mother suddenly called us. It was a good thing that I was done with my part, this way I'll be able to continue my work, before the day ends.

"The winner decides what to watch on tv" My sister said quickly, and before I could even proccess what she said, she had already left the room.

I really couldn't care less what tv show she decided to watch. But since I had spent a lot of time analyzing the available programs and their content, my family thinks that I really enjoy watching tv.

"Not fair! Wait for me" I didn't want that she tried another methods to annoy me. So play along was the best strategy I had.

With that on mind, I ran after her as quick as I could. And like it was an obvious conclusion, she was already there with our parents.

The mood was weird. Even my sister noticed, that she didn't celebrate her victory, as she would normally do.

Father left with a silent sigh, and mother signaled us to take a seat. When we sat at the cushion, she was already in front with a serious expression.

"Sammy... Do you know something about a test you did at school?" My mother asked.

Of course I did, I even begged to some teachers to let me take it. It was in my best interest to skip some grades, so I could graduate earlier. Besides the kids my age were too much for me to handle.

"Yes mommy. I really wanted to skip grades, so I did a test at the end of classes last year" I admitted.

My mother sighed softly, "Why you didn't tell me Sammy?"

Because you wouldn't have agreed, "If I failed, it would have been embarrassing hehe" I laughed awkwardly.

"Wait! Did he do well at it?... No, forget it. He obviously did...But, what does that mean? How many grades will he skip? Surely he will not go to a grade higher than mine, right? Right?!"

"Of course not dear" My mother said, and was all it took for my sister to release a breath of relief. "He will skip two grades, which means he will be at one grade lower than you"

Excellent! If I could choose I would have skipped one more, but this was a success nonetheless.

"Congrats Sammy!" My sister said happily, and gave me one of her crushing hugs. It seems that staying behind her on class grades was all she was worried about.

"I still don't understand it" My mother continued while using two fingers to rubb her temple, "Your father agrees to it, and after seeing your silly face I'll have to agree too... For the time being at least"

I felt my smile blossom when I heard her words. I was partially sure about how it all was going to play out, but hearing her say that, has confirmed it.