Chapter 16: A Familiar Face

Time passed, and the day Ryan had been preparing for finally arrived.

As planned, Ryan headed to the principal's office to get permission to skip the last self-study class and head out for a volunteering program.

Principle Davis – "No worries, your parents have already sent me an email. How could I deny such a good cause? "

The real reason the principal gave permission to Ryan was simple just look at Ryan's background.

He is an academic genius who has won trophies for his last school and a sports genius who plays for two separate teams at school.

His father also wasn't some ordinary fellow but a big shot in the movie industry.

Additionally, it wasn't like Ryan was skipping an essential class for no reason. He was just missing a self-study class to go out and volunteer.

If it were any other student, maybe it wouldn't be easy, but this was Ryan, a student who was expected to ace his ACT.

The school would use Ryan to promote their school after his graduation to bring in more students, which would bring in more donations. It was all about the long-term view.

As the principal was lost in his dreamy thoughts, Ryan thanked him.

Ryan – "Thank you, sir."

Principle Davis – "No, thank you for taking the time to help in the community."

"If all children your age were as good as you, we would have achieved world peace by now."

Ryan was embarrassed, so he quickly took his leave and exited the Principles office.

He had already gotten permission from his parents, so a car was waiting for him outside the school. He soon arrived at the correct toddler's play class.

That's right, it was the one Mitchell and Cam would visit this afternoon.

During a phone conversation between Claire and Mitchell, Ryan had overheard the name of the play class while he was at the Dunphy household.

Originally, he would only participate in Dunphy's part of the episode with this new information. His initial plan underwent a change.

You see, when he googled the play class, he found that teens could volunteer and earn a certificate for working there.

So after filling out and submitting a form, Ryan smoothly got the volunteering job, and it turned out it had a pretty flexible system.

As he was still a teen and needed to go to school, he could opt to come and leave anytime.

All he needed to do was stay a minimum of one hour every time he visited while receiving a certificate required six hours of work.

You couldn't necessarily call it working. Ryan's job was to ensure that all the babies had fun and to assist when needed.

Ryan soon started filling out his entry form. It was a simple form.

He had to write his full name, time, and day of entry. Then have it signed by a faculty before leaving.

Ryan looked at the black clock on the wall and found it was 2:55 pm, meaning he had to work till 3:55 pm.

As predicted, it fit perfectly as he needed to be free to catch the Dunphy's cycling at 4:30.

Ryan then kept his thoughts aside and started helping different parents to play with their kids.

Mitchell and Cameron shortly arrived at the toddler's play class, and Ryan welcomed them, marking his first appearance on the new episode.

Ryan - "Hi, are you here for toddler time?"

Mitchell - "Yes, I am Mitchell, and this is, wait a second, aren't you, Ryan?"

Ryan - "Yes, have we met before?"

Cameron - "Don't you remember us? Cameron and Mitchell, you had dinner at our house."

Ryan - "Oh yes, I recall now Alex's uncles."

Mitchell - "Yup, that's us, a bunch of normal guys with a baby."

Cameron - "Stop acting so uptight, will you. Anyways what are you doing here, Ryan."

Ryan - "Oh, I am volunteering here."

Seeing Ryan taking his time in welcoming the new family, Danielle called him out.

Danielle - "What taking so long, Ryan?"

Ryan turned around and replied, "Nothing. I will be there in a second. "

"I think we should get going."

Mitchell - "Yes."

Danielle - "Alright, now that everyone is here, let's form a big circle and sit down, shall we."

After all the parents and kids sat down, forming a vast circle, Danielle spoke, "Ryan would you like to do the honors."

Ryan clapped his hands and spoke, "Everyone, we have a new family joining us today."

Mitchell - "I am Mitchell, and I am a lawyer."

Cameron - "Hi, I am Cameron. I am currently not working, which leaves me more time to grill and shoot baskets."

Mitchell - "And this is Lily."

Danielle - "Okay, we are gonna start with the hello dance. Then we will move onto blocks and finger painting and do our family dance."

Ryan - "Dance us in PJ."

Ryan plays music leading to PJ and his mother dancing.

Helen - "She is adorable."

Mitchell - "Oh, thank you."

Helen - "Seven months?"

Mitchell - "Oh, eight."

Helen - "Is she grabbing or scooting yet?"

Mitchell - "Yes, yes, absolutely she is."

Ryan - "Dance us in Tyler."

Helen looks at her son and whispers, "Are you ready? Here we go."

Mitchell - "Cam Lily is not grabbing or scooting yet."

Cameron - "Oh, she not doing it now, but she will eventually."

Mitchell - "No, but you see a lot of these other kids they are grabbing."

Mitchell - "Here, Lily, look at the block. Grab the block, Lily, grab the block."

Ryan - "And Lily."

Cameron - "I got this."

Mitchell - "Cam."

Cameron - "Yes, I know. Turn down my natural gifts and dance like a straight guy."

Mitchell - "No slapping your own butt."

Cameron - "But that's how I make my horsy go."

Cam does a relatively normal dance with Lily in his hands. The crowd cheered by clapping their hands.

Ryan - "Alright, let's move on to blocks."

Ten minutes pass and the babies start playing with the blocks. Lily has difficulty trying to grab hold of a single block, and Mitchell is getting frustrated.

Mitchell - "Come on, honey, grab the block. Grab the block, sweetheart. You are not even interested in it."

Ryan and Danielle started going about and appreciating the kids who were stacking their blocks.

Ryan - "Is Henry stacking. Good job, Henry. Good Job."

Seeing Henry be appreciated made Mitchell jealous, so he stole Tyler's blocks and replaced them with Lily's.

Mitchell - "Woah, Lily, not so high."

Danielle - "That is a big moment for her. Would you like a videotape?"

Mitchell - "You know, I don't know if we can actually get her to do it again so."

Danielle - "Well, we tape all of our classes. We don't like parents bringing a camera. It takes them out of the moment. I will get you a copy after class."

Mitchell - "That's super. Yeah, thank you."

Mitchell visibly panics and looks around for help.

Mitchell - "Ryan, can you come here a moment."

Ryan - "Yeah, sure. What's up."

Mitchell - "I kind of need a favor to ask."

Ryan - "What favor."

Mitchell - "You see, Lily just wasn't grabbing the block, and then I got jealous, so I may have stolen a baby's intellectual property."

Ryan - "What?"

Mitchell - "Intellectual property is like someone's creative work, like the blocks in this case."

Ryan - "I know what intellectual property is. I am a published writer, for god sake."

Mitchell - "You are?"

Ryan - "Yeah, but don't try to change the subject. Did you really steal another kid's block to get a well done?"

Mitchell - "I did alright I am ashamed."

Ryan - "Damn, you must have some serious childhood issues."

Mitchell - "So, can you erase the camera footage?"

Ryan - "Nope, I don't have that kind of access. Only the teachers are allowed to access it."

Mitchell - "Then what shall we do?"

Ryan - "It's fine nobody checks that footage. It will be deleted after 48 hours anyway."

Mitchel - "That's the issue. Danielle said she would give me a recording of Lily's footage after the class."

Ryan - "Seems like I won't be getting that volunteering certificate after all."

Mitchell - "What?"

Ryan - "Being related to you, I will probably end up losing it."

Mitchell - "There must be something we can do."

Ryan - "I could access the footage with a card that Mrs. Danielle has in her purse, but we would have to steal it."

Mitchell and Ryan looked at each other for a moment.

Ryan - "Don't look at me. You are the block-stealing expert here. You steal the card while I will distract her."

Mitchell - "Fine."