Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Sheldon! Delilah! You’re going to miss the bus!” Blythe yells, setting their breakfast on the table.
She has her apron over her pjs. Her children may be old enough to fend for themselves, but they still find ways to stress her out. Her hair is always fluffy, but when she first wakes up she always looks like she has blue cotton candy on her head.

Rex smirks playfully teasing her, “They get that from you.” He sips his coffee while he has his newspaper opened.

Rex is a bald man that always makes sure his uniform is nice and well put together. But of course he can go anywhere without his loophole red tie. The dress code says it had to be a nice tie, it didn’t specify what ‘nice’ meant. Rex looks stronger than average despite being under average height.

“And Sheldon gets his mouth from you.” Blythe teases back.

Delilah comes down the stairs, she looks like she was rushing. Blythe goes over to help her straighten out her knitted sweater and adjusts her backpack.

“Where’s your brother?” Blythe asks

“Finishing homework for next week.” Delilah says

“I told that boy he doesn’t have to stress so hard.” Blythe sighs, “He’s going to end up like his dad.”

“HEY!” Rex says as he snaps his head over at them

Delilah laughs, “Want me to yell at him?”

Blythe smiles and shakes her head lovingly, “No, he’ll come down when he’s ready.”

Sheldon comes down with a notepad as he mumbles to himself, “Math assignment, Check. History project, Check. Reading assignment, finished the entire book yesterday.”

Sheldon has curly brown hair and freckles on his face, he wears glasses that look real and always has a single curl that’s out of place. It never stays with the rest of his hair, he’s grown to accept it. He always has his sweater vest over a plain white sleeve shirt and jeans.

“Poindexter.” Delilah teases as she pushes his shoulder lightly. Sheldon stares unamused.

“You two gonna walk with the neighbors today?” Blythe asks as the two sit at the table to eat their breakfast

“Oh ya, you haven’t met them yet.” Delilah says to her brother as she adjusts her glasses.

“I don’t want to walk with a herd of girls.” Sheldon squints

“You’re 14 you’re too old for the whole ‘girls have cooties’ act.” Rex teases, “Besides, the oldest of the family is Eliot.”

“I’m only walking with them for Del.” Sheldon pouts.

Delilah smiles knowing he’s just acting tough, “I’m older than you tho.”

Sheldon stands up, “And yet I always get to the door first. C’mon let's go!”

“Bye my babies!” Blythe says proudly as she waves to them.

“Don’t get suspended!” Rex calls to them as they race to the door.

Once they are outside they see Vera helping her children out the door.
Vera is wearing an expensive looking suit jacket and skirt. She has a pale green button up shirt underneath. Her shoes are very clearly Jimmy Choo heels. Her dark green hair was perfectly slicked back into a bun. She has big giant Prada sunglasses on.
They finally got to see Eliot. He is a tall brown haired boy covered in freckles, He has his hood over his head and one untied shoe. His backpack is plain black with pins all over it. He’s got to be at least 6’ 5”!
Noémie has a backpack made out of jeans, the french flag sewn onto the front. She has a white collared shirt under a black sweater. Her jeans are baggy and have holes on the knees.
Nia has a jacket on that’s a little too big, it’s purple with yellow dots, underneath is a white shirt that looks professionally printed despite looking like NIa designed it herself. The words say, “I want that collector’s club”. She has jeans with pink and purple heart patches all over it. A kiddie necklace of pastel rainbow beads, and some new teal beads in her hair. Only half of the front of her hair is braided, the other 3/4ths is pulled back in a puffy ponytail. Her backpack is clear with teal zippers, everything on the inside is bright colors.
Quinn has the same striped sweater from the day before and the same cargo pants. She has a brown backpack that looks like it came from an Indiana Jones movie. She’s kneeling on the ground to put her orange bento box in her backpack. Her copper curly hair is not helping her at all. Getting into her irritated green eyes.

“How are you my child AND you don’t know how to match your clothes?” Vera asks as she hands her a teal bento box with her name engraved on the top.

Nia takes the box and says, “I’m nine. I just want to wear colors.”

Vera smiles and giggles to herself, “That’s my girl.”

Vera stands up to talk to the two older ones, “Got your cups?”

“I am not bringing a Stanley to school mom.” Noémie says in her angsty french accent

“Whatever just don’t get dehydrated, you have PE classes this year.” Vera rolls her eyes, “And drop the attitude.”

Delilah walks over, “Want to walk to school with us?”

Quinn smiles seeing Delilah again, “Sure!”

Sheldon just looks bored, trying to look like a cool boy. Noémie smirks seeing this kid knowing full well it’s an act.

Vera waves goodbye as Quinn, Nia, and Delilah run ahead. Leaving Sheldon, Noémie, and Eliot to stay further back.
The three in front slow down so the others can catch up before they start talking.

“I can’t wait to show you guys around. Even though I’m pretty sure we have different classes.” Delilah says

“How old are you?” Quinn asks

“Sixteen. Aren’t you thirteen?” Delilah responds

“Ya I am, and we are in different classes.” Quinn states, “Noémie and Eliot will have to take you to those ones.”

Delilah shrugs, “No worries.”

“I see what you’re doing.” Noémie smirks whispering to Sheldon

“I’m not doing anything.” He grumps, crossing his arms

“You’re showing off for my sister.” She quietly teases, She’s trying her best not to let Quinn hear.

“I am not.” He says a bit louder as he puts his head down.

Noémie is enjoying messing with him, Eliot is silently trying to get her to leave the poor kid be.

“C’mon you three keep up.” Quinn calls as she hugs Nia goodbye.

Nia runs off to her class excited to make new friends. Quinn and Delilah slow down enough to be with the rest of the group. Delilah sees her brother looking at the pavement and gets concerned, she doesn’t say anything at the moment.
Delilah leads the fellow older children to their class.
Sheldon just keeps walking as she follows along. She doesn’t understand why he’s so cold. Maybe he’s just a bit socially awkward.

Chapter Text

Nia was already very popular after mentioning who her mom is. She doesn’t mind the attention, in fact she loves that people are already so nice to her.
The room was covered in drawings students had lovingly drawn for their teacher. Pastel colors are on everything, chairs, carpets, boxes of color pencils. The classroom was nice and warm compared to the chilly air outside.
The teacher walks in, a woman with long blond hair and a cozy white sweater. The sweater has pastel rainbow colors on the neckline and cuffs. She also has black jeans on. Her hair is pulled back in a half ponytail and a white ribbon around it.

“Good morning kiddos!” She says as everyone goes to their tables.

Everyone responds in different styles of “Good morning, mis Ryleigh.” as they get to their seats.

Nia is pulled by her new friends to sit at their table.

“We have a new student. I know making you kids stand up in front of each other to talk is scary so if you don’t want to talk you can just wave.” Ryleigh says, trying to make sure she’s comfortable.

Nia stands up excitedly, “I don’t get scared! I’m Nia Aridam!”

There’s a gasp by everyone. Even the teacher looks shocked.
“Wow, so glad to see you then.” Ryleigh smiles, trying to make sure she’s treated the same as the other students.

Nia sat down as she looked around the classroom, every child there was staring back. Nia didn’t understand why everyone loved her, she just drank it in. Typical youngest syndrome.

“I see you plan to start a club.” Ryleigh says motioning to her shirt.

“This is the one I made at my old school.” Nia says confused. Since she was pretty close to the front, Ryleigh hands her a flier.

“You can make one here too.” She smiles.

Nia takes the flier and reads it as quickly as she can. It’s brightly colored and explains how students can make their own club. She always felt that being the leader of a club was following in her mom’s footsteps. After all that’s what her mom does anyways right?
During the lesson she wasn’t paying much attention, she started doodling in her notebook. To be fair, no one really was, they're all nine.

Once everyone was sent off to recess the girls that had been sitting with her started talking to her.

“What club are you planning on making?” Asked the loudest of them all
She has blonde hair dyed pink at the ends. She has brown eyes and looks like she came out of a barbie store. She has a Barbie sweater, pink tennis shoes, and pink heart shaped sunglasses. Everyone at the school nicknamed her Barbie

“Same one I already made! My collector’s club!” Nia cheers

“That’s so boring! You’re making a nerd group? We already have some of those!” Barbie says in pure disgust.

Nia is taken aback. Never in her life has anyone spoken like this. The tone in Barbie’s voice hits Nia deep.

“Ya, I was just kidding. I still need time to think.” She says with a fake smile.

“Well we have hundreds of ideas!” Barbie says. The other girls aren’t speaking, they're just silently listening, “We could be the club of pretty girls!”

“You need to actually want to do things. You can’t just make a group.” Nia says

“We can do what we want!” Barbie says in a condescending tone.

“I don’t like how you’re talking.” Nia says flatly

“Fine then, you can make yours by yourself.” She stomps off taking her herd of girls with her.

Nia didn’t understand why she was acting like that. She must be a grumpy person. She never understood popularity or anything of the sort. Nia had the rest of the class to play with, she didn’t need them.
Nia saw three kids by themselves and went to play with them, “Hello! I’m Nia.”

The three stare at her in pure amazement. The boys look at each other and then back

“You’re talking to us?” The girl in the group asks.
She has a green and red plaid skirt and a black sweater on. Her brown hair braided back into a hair crown. Her backpack has ninja turtles on it.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Nia asks

“Have you seen us? We aren’t like everyone else.” One boy asks, he has dark skin and short curly hair. He has a Harry Potter sweater and jeans. His jeans have a Gryffendor keychain on the belt loops.

“Besides, you were just talking to [Barbie] why are you talking to us now?” The last boy asks
He has a sunflower lanyard. It has some cards in it. The cards are something Nia had never seen before, communication cards. The first one says “I have Autism, I become mute when I’m overwhelmed.” He has a plain gray sweater with pins all over it.

“She’s a bit grumpy.” Nia says with a shrug, “She didn’t like my club idea. Maybe you guys would!”

“Depends, what’s the idea?” Turtle Girl asks

“Collectors club!” Nia cheers

“No way!” Gryffin says excitedly

“That’s a great idea. Why wouldn’t [Barbie] like it?” Pins tilts his head.

“She wanted a club of pretty girls.” Nia explains looking back at the little herd

“Oh ya, she was rejected, remember?” Turtle asks Pins

“She was really mad.” Pins says patting one of his hands into the other gently.

Nia stands up tall, “You guys thinking what I’m thinking?”

“We should talk to Miss Ryleigh!” Turtle says standing up with her.

“But I always go quiet when I have to talk to her.” Pins holds his own arms closer to himself

Griffin stands up, then holds his hand out to help him up, “I can help ya buddy. There’s four of us.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve seen my mom in meetings. I can be a Boss!” Nia says proudly. She dramatically puts an arm in the air. Turtle laughs and copies her.
Nia and Turtle run off while the boys struggle to keep up. They rush into the classroom. Ryleigh smiles when she sees them.
“Slow down children. What’s with all the excitement?” She says standing up to make sure no one falls over.

“Wedecidedonaclub!” Nia says

Turtle speaks with the same speed, “It’ssocool!You’dloveit!”

Ryleigh tries to calm them down so she can understand, “If this is about the club there’s some things you need. You need to fill out a paper, and you need four members.”

“We have four!” Griffin says

Ryleigh smiles, “I can see that.” She then hands them a paper

They take it then lay on the ground nearby despite the fact there’s at least six tables with eight chairs each.

“First thing is our names.” Nia says writing her name in one of the blanks, She passes it to Turtle, then Gryffin signs for both him and Pins.

“Club name. Hmm, at my last school, I called it ‘I want that’.” Nia says

“That’s perfect! It’s not lying.” Turtle jokes

Nia giggles lightly as she puts the name on the blank.

“For line four, I think Pins and I should do that.” Gryffin says pointing
“We should all be four!” Turtle says, “It’s an excuse to go to the thrift store!”

“Hold on.” Nia says louder than the others, “We need to go in order. Three, who’s the leader?”

The three go silent. Waiting for Nia to demand to be the leader. Nia tilts her head, “Do you guys not want to be leader?”

“I do, but you’re better.” Turtle says

“I’m not better than you.” Nia says playfully pushing her.

The two girls get into a kitty fight. If they weren't laughing so loud it would look like a real fight.

Gryffin takes the paper, “You both are the leaders.”

Pins and Ryleigh just enjoy the free entertainment.

“Am I putting all of us for the fourth one?” Gryffin says as Nia tackles Turtle.

“Girls.” Pins tries

“Come on girls. Help the boys out.” Ryleigh laughs.

Turtle rolls and sits up, Nia struggling to follow.. “Obviously! It sounds like fun!”
Turtle helps Nia sit up and they stop for now.

“Last one. What does our club do?” Pins says, sliding the paper to himself despite the fact he struggles to spell.

“Help people find things for their collection.” Nia says leaning on Turtle.

“Should we make it trading? Or should they have to buy it from us?” Gryffin asks as he corrects Pin’s spelling.

“We’re nine. You can’t expect everyone to have money.” Turtle says flatly, “We’ll do both otherwise we’d need fundraisers.”

“You want to do the honors [Pin]?” Gryffin asks handing him the paper

Pin snaps his fingers as he grabs the paper with the other hand, “I-”

Gryffin helps him stand, “I’ll come with you don’t worry.”

Gryffin and Pin give Ryleigh the paper and she nods in approval as she reads it.

“Very strong idea. I love it!” She puts the paper on her laptop’s keyboard, “I’ll take it to the principal today. He’ll review the clubs and choose the most thought out four tomorrow.”

Nia and Turtle cheer and jump, while Gryffin pats Pin’s shoulder.

Chapter Text

“Welcome in.” Noémie says as she wipes up a milkshake spill.

Blythe and Delilah walk into the Mcdonalds after a shopping trip. They weren't expecting to see her.

“Hi Noémie.” Delilah smiles

“Mon dieu s'il te plait non..” She mumbles under her breath, “Hello Del.”

“Got a job here huh?” Blythe asks making small talk

“Oui, I immigrated for this.” She says in a very annoyed tone.

“At least you're making extra cash.” Blythe tries getting her to see a bright side.

“My mom is rich.” Noémie says flatly, “What do you two want?”

“Chicken burger for me. What do you want Del?” Blythe responds

“Fries and a small milkshake please.” She says with a smile.

“Je jure devant Dieu lui-même que si tu en renversés un autre, je deviendrai sauvage.” She mumbles as she puts the order in the computer.

“23.57.” She says as Blythe hands her cash.

“You should get a job Del.” Blythe teases

“No.” Delilah says the idea alone makes her anxious.

Blythe laughs and messes up her hair.

Noemi hands them the bag and the milkshake, “There you two go, partir vite.”

Blythe and Delilah wave goodbye, then they go to the parking lot to enjoy their lunch.

Noémie leans back against the wall, she’d rather be asleep.

“Aridam.’ Her boss says coming up behind her

“Yes Madame?” She says looking over

“You need to be a liiiitttlllee more happy about being here.” The boss says

“I’m thrilled.” She responds in her usual tone.

“Noeemee, you’re impossible.” The boss sighs

“Quand les fans de ma mère réalisent que tu prononces mal mon nom, c'est fini pour toi.” Noémie says with a slight smirk
“Tu sais que je comprends tes conneries, n'est-ce pas?” One co-worker asks

“Est-ce que je vous l'ai demandé??” Noémie, complains to them.

“You two please. Let’s just get back to work.” The boss sighs