4 Chapter 4: Being a kid

Jeffrey recalled an old memory, during the tail end of elementary school he was still doing martial arts. In this after school martial arts program he spend a majority of the time reading and writing.

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Returning to 2007

Various punches and kicks were practiced, friendships formed and it was here where his relationship with his siblings were at its deepest.

In Jeffrey's current life, they were all quite independent. Age does that sometimes, it's never like in anime or TV shows were you're so close enough to do fun activities together. Those sibling bonds are rare. However whether in life or in the past, shared suffering always created strong bonds and it's those opportunities that shape relationships.

"Jeffrey, you have anything to eat?", his younger sister asked him.

"Sorry Raine, I don't have any snacks today", Jeffrey responded.

At that age, Jeffrey was shy and he felt to ashamed to ask the other kids for food. At some level kids vaguely experience the gaps between people.

Some kids had lunchables packs, while others had no snacks at all. Most times Jeffrey would rather go hungry then ask for food. These were some of the small problems Jeffrey faced in life and one his sister had to deal with as well.

Looking back, these were just small incidents forgotten to time. However Jeffrey wanted to change that, there were many things Jeffrey wanted to change.

Looking around, Jeffrey noticed this Ethan kid. Orange hair, freckled face, his uniform in a mess and his yellow belt dragging on the floor.

The one thing Jeffrey knew is that kids don't like fruit, Raine didn't like fruit and Ethan didn't like it either. However Ethan's mom always packed him a banana or an apple.

Most kids usually throw away that apple. During school lunches at the cafeteria Jeffrey always threw the piece of fruit away. The salad bar was all you can eat, and even ranch dressing was available.

Bush and Obama, they had tax dollars go to schools so that kids could eat. Others had Parents packed school lunches and leave them half eaten. Jeffrey sighed in his head, "maybe I can change that."

Jeffrey walked up to Ethan and asked, "Hey Ethan, can I have that apple?"

Ethan thought about it for a moment and gave it to him, however that moment stuck in Ethan's mind. "Why would Jeffrey want that apple? Maybe apples taste good?"

Jeffrey showed Raine what he received, "look it's an apple."

Raine wasn't too excited about the fruit in his hands, "I'm not hungry I don't want your stupid apple."

Jeffrey feeling his stomach grumbling asked again, "Are you sure?"

Raine without hesitation agreed, "I don't want it."

Jeffrey started to bite into the apple, there was a brown soggy spot on it. Otherwise though it was perfectly fine to eat. The juice dripped down his chin and the way Jeffrey ate the apple looked delicious.

Like all younger siblings they copy their older siblings. So seeing as Jeffrey was eating it made her want to eat it.

Raine was embarrassed, but seeing as how Jeffrey was enjoying eating it she asked, "umm, can I have some?"

Jeffrey answered, "Of course you can have some, you're my little sister after all."

Jeffrey was only a few bites in, so he found a plastic fork and started to divide pieces of the apples between them. Before long they were both chewing the fruit. There was still a waxy taste to it. Seeing Raine eating with him and enjoying it was a happy memory he'd cherish this time around.

Jeffrey having made a personal decision said to Raine,

"Well I asked for this apple from Ethan, we should say thank you."

Raine felt it was unnecessary and embarrassing, "I don't want to, plus didn't he give it to you?"

Jeffrey said, "I'm a little embarrassed, but it's the right thing to do. Ethan was nice to us, so we should thank him. Now am I going to have to say it all alone or are you coming with me?"

Raine sighed, "I'm going with you."

Jeffrey smiled at his sister, "Thanks Raine, I appreciate you doing it with me."

Raine didn't show it, but she was happy. Her big brother felt different somehow, he seemed taller.

So they walked to where Ethan was sitting. Jeffrey used to look down on this brash and energetic kid. He often thought "Why couldn't he be like the Parth brothers? Stopping making trouble for Ms. Julia." The Parth brothers were another two kids in the after school program, one was good at chess and the other was good at reading.

Whereas Ethan was an only child and overly excited. Although he seemed annoying and uncontrollable at times, he was also quite lonely. However he did have a good heart, if you asked him to do something he'd try his best.

Jeffrey wanted his sister to learn a little from Ethan, to be more outspoken. Jeffrey studied too much and was terribly introverted. As a role model, his sister wasn't going to make many friends if she followed him. It was because he read so much, he pushed his sister away from him. Young Jeffrey couldn't have known it, but he had so much influence that he didn't know of.

Ethan was making a lot of noise and bothering some kids. When he played with others, he really invaded personal space and didn't consider others. He also avoided girls.

"Hey Ethan", Jeffrey called out to him.

"Yeah?", Ethan turned towards him.

"My sister and I have something to say to you", Jeffrey looked at Raine.

"Thank you for the apple Ethan, It was delicious", Jeffrey said.

"Thanks Ethan", Raine said behind Jeffrey

Ethan blushed, "yeah, no problem." Then Ethan had an idea, "Hey Jeffrey want to play with me?"

"Yeah, I'd like to. Can Raine play with us as well?"

Ethan felt that she'd get in the way, but she was Jeffrey's sister and they did say thank you.

So Ethan said, "NO."

Raine didn't want to stop her brother, but she was sad. "It's ok Jeffrey, you can go with Ethan."

Ethan was excited, "let's go play legos!"

Jeffrey wouldn't make the same mistake this time. "What's wrong with Raine?", he asked.

"umm... she's a girl", Ethan said loudly.

"What's wrong with girls?", Jeffrey pushed back.

"you know, they're girls.", Ethan was waiting impatiently for Jeffrey.

"Hey Ethan I'd love to play with you and I think having Raine would be awesome. She has so many cool ideas!", Jeffrey responded.

Ethan tried one last time, "but I gave you that apple."

Jeffrey calmly said, "and both of us said thank you for it. That was really nice of you Ethan."

Seeing as Jeffrey wasn't going to budge Ethan gave in.

"Ok... Raine can play too."

Raine followed behind her older brother and didn't talk very much.

Going to the lego table Ethan was building a spaceship, Raine was building a small house, and Jeffrey decided to build a sword.

Soon they were making noises and playing around. Ethan really wanted to play with Jeffrey, but Jeffrey tried his best to always include Raine's small house.

Ethan kept saying that he blew up the house and that the roof fell off. So Jeffrey kept restoring the house with magic and asked Raine what she thought the house was going to do next.

Raine trying her best said, "the house turned into a magical tower."

Ethan said, "you can't do that."

Jeffrey siding with his sister asked, "Why not."

Ethan getting upset retorted, "you just can't."

Jeffrey pleaded with Ethan, "please?"

Ethan gave in, "fine..."

Jeffrey smiled at Raine and said, "Nice idea Raine, speak up a little more. You always come up with things I can't think of."

After a while Ethan ran around and got tired and Raine wanted to do other things.

Eventually they did their martial arts class and later in the evening the parents started picking everyone up.