Field Trip?

Aurora started laughing upon hearing Shirley's bold declaration.

"You have weird taste," Aurora said as she finished her work.

Shirley blinked, her face looking genuinely puzzled.

"But everyone says the same thing," Shirley replied. "Alex is cute."

"I. Am. NOT. Cute," Alex said, emphasizing each word.

What guy likes being called cute?! It made him feel like he was a little boy.

Shirley just grinned widely and with sparkling eyes, she emphasized, nodding her head, "Yup. Cute."

Just seeing how annoyed Alex looked upon being called cute made him even cuter.

"Face it, Alex," Aurora said with a grin, "That's a compliment."

Then, turning to twin speech, she continued, "Even if I disagree with her and agree with you. You really are not cute."

Alex glared at his sister.

"Alex is right," piped up Fleur, "Cute means someone who is adorable. Someone you feel like you want to either hug or pinch his cheeks."

She looked at Alex and said in disbelief, "You think someone would actually want to do any of that to Alex?"

Fleur shuddered, not needing to continue the sentence.

Ziad just nodded in agreement.

Alex rolled his eyes while Aurora giggled.

Shane ignored all of them, focusing on his paper.

Shirley turned to Fleur, saying, "But I do want to pinch his cheeks."

"What on Earth for?" Aurora said with obvious disgust, "It's not like he has these chubby cheeks that you just can't help pinching. Shane, on the other hand, does."

Shane, who heard that, was so shocked that his pencil went straight across the paper. He quickly covered his gaffe and turned his body aside to hide him taking his eraser out.

"But he has this really adorable dimple there," Shirley said, pointing to Alex, "And you just want to squish his cheeks."

Aurora looked at Fleur, and both of them just shook their heads, unable to understand Shirley's train of thought.

Fleur blinked then said with a sigh, "Rory is right. You are weird."

"Different people, different tastes," Ziad said, "So there will definitely be someone who finds Alex cute."

"So he has hope in getting a girlfriend then," Aurora said, nodding her head.

Alex couldn't believe where the conversation was going.

"What has that got to do with anything?" he said in exasperation, "Why would you even think of that right now? Girlfriend? Seriously?!"

Aurora couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Really, Alex?" she said in twin speech with a smile, putting her chin on the palm of her hand while her elbow was resting on the table, "You know that we're not here to learn the syllabus of school. It's to get you out there. Meet people. Do you really think it's only to make you a more sociable person?"

Alex frowned, asking in twin-speech, "What do you mean?"

"We're the Smiths," Aurora told him and repeated what their mother told her, "People will do what they want to get married into the family. We're going to have to learn to know the good from the bad."

Alex's frown got deeper.

"Plus, with our looks and background? People will suck up to us a lot," Aurora said with a sigh and returned to normal speech, "So even if you're such a cranky, anti-social person, you'll have tons of people around you."

Shirley and Shane were used to the fact that sometimes the twins talked in a language they didn't know so they weren't bothered by it now. At first, Shirley was curious and kept on asking what they were saying but after a while, she gave up.

Luckily, Fleur had explained that it would never be anything about them. It was just that there were things they didn't like sharing openly.

Shirley, being the open-minded person that she is, accepted it while Shane just didn't really care. He was just glad it was not them bad-mouthing him.

"Yes, yes. I agree," Shirley said to Aurora.

"What? That he's a cranky, anti-social person?" Aurora asked.

"No no no!" Shirley replied, with a laugh while shaking her hand in front of her, "That he has a ton of people around him, He's very popular."

She pointed at Fleur and Ziad, "Both of you, too. Shane and I are popular as well but it's only because we sit at the same table."

"They just want to sit here," Shane finally said something as he closed his exercises.

With trembling hands, he clasped them in a firm grip, saying, "It's not me that they want to know. It's my chair they want to sit on."

Shirley patted him on the back, causing him to flinch a bit but he didn't move away like he would have normally done.

"Not really," Shirley told him, "They also want to know alllllll about them. Especially Alex."

"Sad life," Aurora said, "I know why Daddy was popular but Alex?"

Alex just had this sour look on his face.

Teacher Lee came then and they handed him the completed exercises. He gave each child a smile as he took the papers from them.

"Alright Class," Teacher Lee said as he stood at the front of the class, "You've done well."

He looked out and noted that Teacher Alba had arrived, so he walked out with the students chorusing, "Thank you, Teacher Lee."

After he left, Teacher Alba came and the class chorused, "Good morning, Teacher Alba."

"Good morning, Class," Teacher Alba replied with a smile, "Today, I have an announcement to make."

Everyone sat up straight, curious about it as Teacher Alba looked pretty excited. Was it going to be a fun thing?

"Retsu Primary School will have its annual field trip in two months' time," Teacher Alba said.

"What is a field trip? Does anyone know?" Teacher Alba asked after a short pause.

Several hands shot up.

"Yes, Jack," Teacher Alba called out.

Putting down his hand, Jack said with excitement, "It's where we get to go out of school!"

Teacher Alba gave a small laugh, "Yes, you are right but that's not all."

More hands shot up.

"Yes, Elisa," Teacher Alba said, nodding to the girl.

"We go to fun places!" she said, nodding in excitement.

"That's right," Teacher Alba replied, "Field trips are not just for fun, but it's also to learn. So we learn while having fun!"

Everyone cheered.

"Where are we going, Teacher Alba?" asked Elisa.

Alba looked at the girl silently, not answering when Elisa realised what she did wrong.

"I'm sorry!" she said, then raised her hand.

"Yes, Elisa?" Teacher Alba responded, upon which Elisa repeated her question.

"Well, it's a place that has lots of animals," Teacher Alba said, "Can anyone guess?"

The answer that came up was 'zoo' and everyone was confused when Teacher Alba shook her head.

What other places could there be that would have lots of animals, yet is not a zoo?

"It's a shelter," Teacher Alba said, "Do you know what a shelter is?"

No one raised their hands.

Teacher Alba's gaze fell on the Fantastic Four group briefly, nothing that they weren't really paying attention - or, to be more accurate, they did not really look interested.

Alex had a slightly bored look on his face and though he was facing her, she could see that his gaze was not focused on her. Aurora was sitting and looking at her, but though she did not appear to be daydreaming, she showed no indication of wanting to take the initiative to answer. She just sat there, with a small smile on her face.

Fleur, as usual, was busy staring at the piece of paper in front of her, while Ziad was preoccupied with making sure Fleur had her stationary nearby.

Alba suspected that these four children knew the answer, but like always, they would not say a word. Alba decided that being quiet all the time was not good, so she called out.

"Alex?"

Alex's eyes flickered a bit upon being called and he focused upon Teacher Alba's face. He had been busy calculating the distance between the window and table, wondering where an item, if had been thrown into the classroom, would land.

As such, he had not heard Teacher Alba's question at all.

Teacher Alba's eyes narrowed upon seeing Alex's hesitation and figured he had not been paying attention at all. This would be a good time to give them a gentle reminder and have them participate more in class.

Aurora, naturally, noticed her brother's slight abnormal expression. Without changing her facial expression, she repeated Teacher Alba's question under her breath without moving her lips.

"Yes, Teacher Alba," Alex said after a moment of silence, "It's a place that rescued and abandoned animals are taken care of. You can also adopt a pet from a shelter."

Alba was slightly surprised at Alex being able to answer and put it down to her having misunderstood him and nodded her head.

"Very good, Alex," Teacher Alba praised him, "Yes, we are going to Paws Shelter where you can visit and see these animals."

Everyone in class became excited.