“You sure you don’t want any help?”
Alexandria huffs and throws a pout over her shoulder at her mom. “No momma, I’m a big girl now. I can do my hair by myself.” They’ve gone over this about three separate times this morning already and she would really rather get her hair done and be out the door by now. She turns back to the mirror with another huff, her eyes narrowing in concentration. She’s already parted her hair and separated her bangs out, the cowlick she had inherited from her daddy allowing the right side of her bangs to sway outwards naturally.
Despite her assurances to her mom she has only done her hair by herself a few times now, usually when both her parents are busy in the morning with breakfast and the baby. Still, today is her first day of school officially and not just the entrance ceremony which means that she’s on her way to growing up. Carefully she reaches up to separate the left side of her hair into three even strands, braiding them together to fall over her shoulder before repeating it on the right side. She ties off the ends with pink ribbons that turn out a little crooked and uneven, just like the braids themselves but…
When she looks at herself in the mirror she can’t help but smile. The part isn’t the most straight, not like when her daddy does it and the bows are crooked in a way that they aren’t when her mom does her hair but she doesn’t focus on that for long. She did it, she did her hair all by herself without any help from her parents. It feels like a big step to take and seeing that she did a good job makes her smile and giggle to herself before hopping off the stool she dragged over to be able to see herself fully in the mirror. “I did it!” Alexandria called out with a sing-song voice, stepping out of the bathroom on light feet and throwing her arms out at her sides to present herself to her mom’s eyes. She gets to watch as the corner of her mom’s eyes crinkle up at the corners as a smile grows on her lips. She’s got Minerva in her arms to feed her, holding Alexandria’s younger sister close to her chest.
“You did it!” Her mom cheers happily in agreement. “Your dad has breakfast ready for you downstairs and a lunch for you to take with you. Your brother is going to walk with you today but his classes start later in the day so you’ll have to walk yourself the rest of the time, ok?”
Alexandria nods quickly, “Yes momma I know,” and fights not to roll her eyes. All week had been the same little speech on repeat as the plan was drilled into her head over and over again. Living in the Scholar’s Association Hall meant the school wasn’t a very far walk and Alexandria felt like she had explored plenty of the kingdom by now between visiting her mom’s side of the family up in the mountains and her dad’s side of the family that lived in the suburbs.
Her mom gave her a smaller smile and somehow Alexandria knew that her mom understood. “I’m your mother, I worry about you just like I did with your brother and just like I will with your sister. You know I walked your brother to and from school his entire first week, I could always do that for you too-”
“No!” Alexandria was quick to interrupt her mom, and perhaps a bit too loud given that her sister stopped feeding to let out a small squeal of her own. “Uh I mean… no thank you momma.” She corrected herself before quickly moving past her mom and down the stairs to see what her dad had made for breakfast. Thankfully her mom didn’t call after her with anything else and Alexandria almost breathed a sigh of relief.
Downstairs her brother was already sitting at the table, a plate of pancakes drizzled with bowa jam in front of him. “Yay, pancakes!” She cheered almost instantly at the sight, picking up her pace just a little more to claim a seat at the table. Her dad’s back was to them as he finished up at the stove, another plate with more pancakes resting on it sat on the counter next to him. Alexandria drummed her hands on the table in front of her as she eagerly awaited her own plate, eyes darting to the clock on the wall above the fireplace a few times.
It didn’t take long for her dad to set a plate down in front of her, the pancakes drizzled with more jam than was on her brother’s plate which was exactly how she liked it. “Ok, I can see that you’re just rip ready to go but try and slow down a little, yeah?” The laugh at the end of her dad’s voice was comforting, almost as much as the kiss he planted on the top of her head. “Finish breakfast and don’t forget your hat on the way out. Your mom is hosting the New Year’s Party for the scholars today so I’ll pick you up from school instead.”
Alexandria hummed absently to what her dad was saying while she took the first bite of her breakfast. “Mmm! So good!” She made sure to give her dad a big smile as she said this, his pancakes were always her favorite food to eat no matter what time of day it was. “What did you pack for lunch dad?”
“Well, I packed a marlin sandwich for your brother since he likes spicy food but I wasn’t sure if you would want the same thing. I have extra of the fried swordfish though,” her dad offered and Alexandria took another bite of the pancakes to think about it. She wasn’t as big a fan of spicy food as her brother was, he could eat a peppi, red or green, all by itself. “There’s some leftover quiche if you want that instead.”
“Quiche please daddy!” Well that was a relief. Trying a new food on the first day of school was a little scary, what if she didn’t like it and the other kids laughed at her? It was a silly thought to have, she knew that, but it was still a scary one. “Oh, oh can we walk with Asanta to school? I wanna make sure I sit next to her in class.” Just the thought of sitting next to her best friend in class was enough to have her wiggling in her seat, almost spilling her next few bites of breakfast.
Her dad stopped for a moment where he was splitting the rest of the pancakes up, probably for him and mom. “Well…you’re walking with your brother today, remember? Why don’t you ask her after class today if you two can walk together the rest of the week, hmm?”
Alexandria’s eyes darted over to her brother and she suppressed a sigh. She knew her brother and her best friend didn’t get along well even though there was only two years of difference between them. Asanta had a tendency to brag about being an only child while Petrarch simply didn’t have a tendency to brag at all. Momma was always complimenting him on how humble he was, especially since he was one of the top students in his age group. “Yeah…okay.” Knowing this didn’t make it any easier to hide her disappointment. Still another thought allowed her to perk back up almost instantly. “That’s fine though because Asanta and I are matching today! Both of us are in fur!” She shoved her chair back quickly and jumped up to show off her outfit. While it was a rule that students had to wear the uniform to the entrance ceremony and the introduction to school, after that there was no real dress code. Alexandria smoothed out the skirt of her dress and beamed at her dad before doing a small spin. It had the effect of making him laugh again and clap a little.
“Don’t you look precious! I’m sure you two will look very cute next to each other.” Alexandria couldn’t help but feel warm inside at the comment, practically glowing under the praise from her dad.
Of course, the moment was interrupted by her brother. “Are you done? We need to leave soon.” Alexandria’s eyes darted up to look at the clock again and she gasped, rushing to shovel the last few bites of her breakfast into her mouth. “Hey wait- Don’t choke! We’re not in that much of a hurry!” She ignored her brother’s words as she finished off her plate and deposited it in the sink. “Jeez, did you even taste it?”
Her brother was eyeing her with something close to suspicion from close to the door, his own hat already in hand, and it gave Alexandria a moment to look at him. She was going to be three this year but Petrarch was gonna be turning five soon. Already he was much taller than her and his hair had grown out enough to rival her own. He still wore it tied back into a ponytail like their mom did but his bangs resembled their dad more. This was his last year of schooling before he was officially recognized as an adult, next year he’d be part of the coming of age ceremony held in the castle and would start thinking about things like getting a job, going on dates, and eventually moving out entirely. It was…scary to think about. A lot scarier than thinking about kids at school laughing at her for not liking a new food.
For a moment Alexandria felt like she was too close to tears and in an effort to keep that from happening she rushed her brother and threw her arms around him. Her face which had once been able to rest comfortably on his shoulder now only reached his chest. “Lexie?” Petrarch didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her too but she could hear the hesitance in his voice. No one in their family is exactly reserved about giving affection but she guesses it is odd for her to suddenly throw herself at him.
“You're not allowed to grow up without me!” The fierceness in her voice surprised even herself and she felt the jolt that went through Petrarch’s body. “You can't leave me behind…” Tears hadn't quite reached her eyes but they had reached her voice, making it quiet and small in a way she normally wasn't. Busybody had been the word used to describe her for as long as she could remember, quiet and small didn't exactly fit into that.
The arms around her tightened for just a moment before Petrarch was releasing her and bending down a little to look her in the eye. “I'm not gonna leave you behind Lexie, even when I'm an adult I'll always be your big brother before anything else.” And maybe Alexandria understood a little bit why her brother always ended up getting in an argument with her best friend about whether having siblings was better or not. Asanta wasn't going to have this conversation with an older sibling, heck she might not even have it with a younger sibling if she ever got one. “C’mon, you ready for your first day of school?” Petrarch held out her hat to her and Alexandria took it with a determined nod. “Good, then let's go.”
