Beyond: Snillotia Trilogy Book One by Donna Wagner (books you have to read TXT) 📕

my dear lady,” Grandpa Cire said smiling, sadly, “And now Tim will join my wife and I, as well.”

Miss Potter, smiled once, wondering if the same tragic fate had befallen this other boy’s parents as well. She was too polite to ask of course, just as she didn’t want to outright ask why it took so long to travel here. She couldn’t recall ever hearing what country they were coming from. “I do hope your trip from… well from where you came from was okay? It must have been such a long journey.”

“Yes. Yes, it was.” Grandpa Cire replied, giving nothing away.

Miss Potter waited for a moment to see if Grandpa Cire would elaborate. Frowning slightly when he did not, she turned to Retep. “What is your name, young man? I’ll start creating your schedule while we wait for the paperwork.”

“Pete Miller.”

Tim smiled, proud that his cousin hadn’t even hesitated when giving his name. “Miss Potter, if it’s possible, it might be easiest if you put Pete in classes with me or Anna Ellis, since he’s met her already.”

“I’ll try, Tim. That is a good idea.”

The bell rang then. “You better get to your first class. I’ll definitely add him to that class with you, and you can take him with you now.”

Tim nodded and turned to Grandpa Cire. “You’ll be okay finishing here, and getting home, Grandpa?”

“Yes, my boy. Have a good day, lads!” Grandpa Cire said, waiving them towards the door.

Before they could leave the office, the door opened, and Tim hesitated when he saw who walked through. “Hey, Ollie,” he said quietly.

Ollie looked up from the note in his hand and saw Tim standing there with a boy he didn’t know. “Um, hi.”

“This is my cousin, Pete. He’s going to be going to school with us now.”

Ollie’s eyes narrowed. As long as he’d known Tim, Tim had no family, but his parents. “I know, Ollie,” Tim tried to explain, seeing Ollie’s suspicion, “Things are different now. I have grandparents and a cousin.”

“Oh. Well, nice to meet you, Pete. See you around,” Ollie said, as he moved toward the desk.

“Ollie?” Tim called after him, “Do you want to maybe come over after school? You could meet everyone, and I can explain.”

Ollie stared at him a moment, then turned away without saying a word. Tim’s shoulders sagged a bit, then he pushed Retep in front of him and let him to his first class of high school. It was geometry class. Tim hated it. Math was one of the things he was still struggling to catch up with after his first trip to Snillotia. Sometimes he really wished there was a way to figure out how the time difference between the worlds worked. “What are we going to learn first?” Retep asked, trying to contain his excitement.

Tim was surprised and he raised his eyebrows. Not bothering to comment on his cousin’s excitement, he simply said, “Geometry.”

The excitement on Retep’s face rapidly dimmed. He didn’t know what geometry was. Seeing the sudden change, Tim couldn’t help but try to reassure him. “Don’t worry. Geometry is just math. Math can’t be that different here than it is in Snillotia, can it?”

Retep smiled and his excitement returned. He loved math! He hoped this was a good sign of what was to come. They reached the classroom and Tim motioned for Retep to go in front of him. “Hi, Mr. Abrams, this is my cousin, Pete. Miss Potter is working on his schedule, but said she’s going to add him to this class,” Tim said, introducing Retep to the teacher.

Retep held out his hand for Mr. Abram’s to shake. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

Surprised, and only after a moment’s hesitation, Mr. Abrams shook Retep’s hand. “Very well then, take your seats.”

For Tim, the hour-long class felt like it took forever, but Retep was happier than Tim had ever seen him. Math was, indeed, the same in both worlds and Retep answered almost every question Mr. Abrams had asked. Mr. Abrams seemed overjoyed to finally have a student excited about geometry.

Tim spent the class thinking about Ollie. He knew he never should have disappeared through the wall right in front of him. Adam had told him that Ollie had freaked out. Adam had tried to explain, but Ollie was so scared he ran home and told his mom. He was so adamant that Tim had disappeared into a wall and wouldn’t let it go that his mother had made him start seeing a psychologist. The kids at school found out about his claims about Tim and never let him forget it. It didn’t help matters that Adam had filed a false report that Tim had been placed in a foster home two hours away. When he’d returned, he’d tried to talk to Ollie, but Ollie wanted nothing to do with him and told Tim he’d ruined his life. Over two years later, Tim was still trying to get his former best friend to talk to him for more than a few seconds at a time. Tim sighed to himself and tried to listen to what Mr. Abrams was saying.

Right before the bell was about to ring, a very bored looking senior came to the door with Retep’s finished schedule. Tim glanced at it quickly. “Great, you’re in the rest of my morning classes. Anna is also in English with us, right before lunch. It looks like you’re in her Art class after lunch and her French class, last period, as well.”

Retep looked slightly fearful. “I’ll be with Anna, without you?”

Tim gave his cousin an odd look. “Well yeah, but other kids will be in the class too. Art should be easy enough for you. I don’t know about French, though. Does Snillotia even have different languages?”

“What is “languages”?” Retep asked, confused by the word, itself.

Tim gave a quick laugh. “I guess that answers that question. Um, well language is what we call what people speak- the words we say. We are speaking in English,”