ILBA - Chapter 3

As soon as we finished dinner, Lulu and I ran off to the swings. Since the adults wanted to discuss all sorts of boring adulty things, it was easy for us to head to our favorite location.

“Can I see your horns?” I asked Lulu once we sat down.

I’m sure for almost anyone else, except her family she would have rejected, but pulled back her hair to let me see. On the side of her head she now had two rounded horns, but her poofy hair was so thick they were pretty much hidden away from most people.

“Soooo cool,” I said as I inspected them.

“Why’d you keep them? Your mom said you’d have to talk to a paleontologist to decide what to do. Was it tough? Did it hurt?”

Lulu giggled. “All she did was ask questions,” she replied quietly. “I don’t hate the horns, although they were scary at first, and the lady said it’s better to try then immediately revert them. The system knows best.” 

“And what if they, I dunno, get caught in trees or something?” I asked rocking back and forth gently.

“Then I can get something else when we get our next systems,” Lulu replied, slowly matching my pace. “I just hope no one laughs at me for them.”

“If they do, I’ll tell them they’re a big idiot!” I said, jumping off the swing. I stepped in front of my friend, hands on my hips, “The only opinion that matters is yours! And your mom’s! And maybe your dads…” I said, starting strong but slowly growing unsure of myself.

“What about teachers?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted as I sat back down. “We couldn’t go to school until we got our systems, so I’ve never met a teacher before. You’ll have to ask your mom about that,” I replied seriously.

Lulu nodded. We were quiet for a minute, “What do you think school will be like?” Lulu asked quietly. “I’ve heard our families can’t be there, don’t you find that scary?”

“A little,” I admitted. “But I’m a big girl now, and I can handle it! Plus, we’ll have each other, so we won’t totally be alone.”

“And maybe we’ll make some new friends there too,” Lulu said hopefully.

“Maybe…” I admitted skeptically. “We’ll find out in a few days, one way or another,” I said, swinging back and forth slowly.

“Together!” Lulu added with a shy smile.

“Yeah, together!” I replied, as we broke into giggles. 

We continued to swing for another hour or so until Lulu’s mom came to pick her up. I kinda expected that the next few days would continue as normal, playing around the house with Lulu, but to my surprise I was super busy. Jane and Angeline took turns dragging Lulu and I to stores to pick up clothes, note books, pencils and various other things. Every time I thought we were done, and I could sit down again, I’d be dragged off again.

Thankfully I did get a hold of a lovely frog themed backpack, notebook, and froggy pencil topper, so it wasn’t a complete waste. Lulu was much happier to receive a massive puffy jacket in her favorite color, cotton candy.

“Why we doing this again?” I finally asked Jane when we arrived home one day.

She looked down at me, concerned. “I told you that you needed all this stuff for school,” she said. “Did you think I was joking?”

“All of it? There’s like four books in here,” I asked opening up my backpack and looking inside. “And isn’t school in like…”

“It’s tomorrow,” Jane finished.

“Tomorrow?” I scrunched up my face. “That’s too soon.”

“Well I’m sorry you feel like I just dropped this on you, despite knowing for months, but the school schedule is set. You start tomorrow.”

“I didn’t get to enjoy my last few days of freedom with Lulu,” I pouted. 

“You still spent pretty much the entire day with each other, while we were shopping, and if you hadn’t you probably would have spent the time coloring, or playing games,” Jane said gently pushing me further into the house.

“Coloring is important!” I reminded her.

“Yes, but not as important as school. Trust me, once school starts you’ll be happy we spent these last few days preparing,” Jane assured me.

“Alright I’ll trust you… this time,” I said.

“Well I’m glad you show so much trust in your primary caregiver,” Jane said with a sigh. As she slowly guided me towards the kitchen Jane checked her watch. “You know what? There’s some time before the others get home, and I have to start dinner. I have been dragging you around a lot the last few days, why don’t I teach you something fun?” 

I glanced at her, uncertain. “Like what?”

“You’ll see,” she replied with a smile, “go get your new frog plushy.”

I immediately ran off to do what she said, returning with Sir Froggington. Since Jane was at the table I carefully placed him on top of the table, before climbing up into a chair.

“Now, do you remember when you opened your system and showed Teddy and I?” she asked.

“Sure, it was important! I’m a Stuffy Shuffler!” I replied as I rested my chin on top of Sir Froggington.

“Do you remember any of the other things on that screen?” she asked with a smile.

“You mean the bonuses? A-Chair-Mints?”  

“That’s achievements honey, and no I'm talking about the third thing, skills.”

I sat back, “Ohhhh… the Annotate Stuffy thingy,” I said, nodding my head.

Jane sighed, “Animate Issi, it means to move.”

I opened my mouth in awe, “How do I do that?” 

“I’m getting to that sweety,” Jane said with a smile. “It’s not that hard. Since you’re just learning, you need to do two things. Concentrate on your frog, and say the name of your skill.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“That’s it,” she replied, her smile growing wider.

I glanced between her and Sir Froggington a couple times before finally concentrating on the frog. “Animate,” I mumbled. The frog immediately raised an arm and waved, before going still again.

“HE MOVED!” I cheered, “I made him move!” 

“See, I knew you could do it,” Jane said.

“But… he only moved one arm, and only enough to wave, why can’t I make him get up? I want him to follow me, and dance for Lulu,” I told her.

“Well… in order to do that you need to both practice, and learn how to make your skill advance. You’ll learn how to do that in school tomorrow,” Jane said as she left the table.

I stared at her back, eyes narrowing. “You’re just did this to try and convince me that going to school tomorrow is a good thing,” I said suspiciously.

“Really? Is that so?” she replied with fake surprise. “Did it work?”

“...Yes,” I admitted after a couple seconds. I concentrated on Sir Froggington again and whispered “Animate” again. This time he kicked a leg.

“Good! In that case, make sure you don’t get your frog too dirty, he has to go to school with you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be careful,” I promised as I carefully pulled Froggington off the table. I carried Froggington back to my room, and placed him on my bed next to Duckington. 

“Animate,” I chanted, making Duckington kick. “Animate,” I chanted again. This time Froggington waved. I did it over and over, making them twitch in hundreds of different ways, until Jane finally called me for dinner.

As I left my room I took one last look at my stuffies and smiled, maybe school wouldn't be that bad after all.