The collision

"What are you doing?" Lyre opened his eyes just at the time Rain made to kiss him.

It was just his luck to be caught before he could steal the intended kiss.

"Nothing." Rain pecked Lyre on the lips before he rose from the bed, and ran into the bathroom. He didn't wait for Lyre to either question or condemn his actions.

"Why did he do that, today?" Lyre mussed. With his finger on his lips, he wondered why Rain kissed him on the mouth. "I think I will ask Clar about that."

But he didn't get the chance to do just that.

After their breakfast, the father drove them to their schools, to register them for the term.

"I can't believe it. I'm going to be in grade four!" Clar jumped in the car.

"That's what you get for being smarter than the others. You are supposed to be in grade three, I hope you know that?" Jewel rolled her eyes at Clar who was still happily jumping.

"Yeah, I heard that, Sophomore. But who cares? I'm going to be in a grade higher than my mates! It's an achievement!" Clark jumped on her seat.

"Oh, shut up." Jewel rolled her eyes at her young sister

"My heart, don't roll your eyes at me again. Else, I will tell mother!"

"I'm right here, you know that, right? Why don't you report to me?" Their father pursed his lips.

"No, I will report to mother! You are partial!" Clar folded her arms and pursed her lips.

"Oh, dear. You are funny." Their father laughed, "don't worry, I won't be partial any more. I will judge things fair and square."

"That's what you say all the time, but you end up eating all the cookies instead of giving them to me!" Clar turned on the car seat, to face Jewel, who was sitting in the back with Rain and Lyre.

"I was supposed to be the one who eats the cookies. You are a thief, Clar!" Jewel clicked her tongue on her teeth.

And like that, they started another round of argument.

Rain and Lyre watched them as they argued. And none of them tried to separate the two.

"Don't mind those two, Lyre. This is how they bicker back and forth almost all the time." Their father sighed, "what I won't do to be out of the car now."

"Drive faster, then." Rain urged him, "you know they won't cease their arguments until they find something of interest here."

"Don't mind them, Lyre. This is a sign of a happy family," their father winked at Lyre.

*********

"You will be in the same class as Rain. I don't know which class you were in before you came, and you said you don't understand what a class is. So—"

"What of the exams? They will want to evaluate him before he is assigned a class." Rain hugged Lyre to himself.

He was worried they might not place Lyre in the same class as him.

"I will ask them to put him on trial. His monthly assessment will determine the class they will put him in.

Trust your dad, he knows the right way to do things."

"Then, have them put him in the same class as me." Rain grinned.

"I will." Their father winked at him before he walked into the office, to get his kids registered for the next term.

Clar was the first he registered at her school.

Jewel, Rain and Lyre were to be registered in one.

"I can't wait until I'm ten, to join your school." Clar laughed at Jewel, "I will make your senior year, hell." She laughed maniacally, "wait and see."

Content after the threats, she rose from the seat she was sitting on and ran over to where Lyre was. "Brother, don't miss me too much when you are in school, okay? I will have mom pick you—"

"I will do that." Rain flicked her nose, "you need to focus on your studies. Stop thinking about your brother all the time."

"Let me go, you meanie! Don't you ever try to talk to me! We are enemies." She took a squat on the ground, in front of Lyre, and placed her head on his thighs. "You are the only friend I have, brother. I don't—"

Their father stepped out of the office, and closed the door behind him, with a sigh.

"Father, how was it?" Rain stood up from the chair he was sitting on.

"They—" Their father sighed, "they accepted!"

"Yay!" Rain smiled, causing Lyre to do the same.

"But, they said he will be assessed and interviewed after the first month. His performances will determine what will happen to him. It will tell whether he should be in the class or not."

"It's not a problem. I will make sure I prepare him for it." Rain smiled, "thanks, dad. You are the best."

"Am I not always one?" Their father chuckled. "Let's go back. Your mum must be waiting for us."

"Yeah, it's time for back-to-school shopping!"

*********

"What's wrong?" Rain asked Lyre when he noticed the frown on his face.

Jewel and Clar were back to arguing while their father tried to separate them.

"Nothing." Lyre shrugged as he glanced out through the window.

This was the fifth time he has been in a car, but he was yet to get used to the feeling of being in something that easily transports him from one place to another.

"It's not 'nothing' if you look like something the witches experimented with." Rain chuckled, hoping to get a rise from Lyre, however, he got nothing.

Aside from a blank look, he got no expression from Lyre.

"What's it like to go to school?" Lyre asked in a small voice.

He has been worried since they left the school.

"A school is—"

"Dad! Look out!" Clar shouted, to alert their father of the incoming vehicle.

But it was too late. With the father diverted, and his attention partially on the road, he wasn't able to move out of the way before the bang.