"Hi," Adam said, smiling at the girl.
"This is Roland, Alexa, Christofer, Dima, and I'm Samantha." She said, introducing the group,
"Nice to meet you guys."
The other children nodded at him in response. Adam looked around the group he had joined. Samantha had introduced them based on rank. Adam tugged at his shirt collar uncomfortably. Now he needed to get a feel for their personalities and the bound—
"Is that a new shirt from Talis?" Roland asked, rubbing his fingers on Adam's collar.
"Yeah."
The group burst into laughter. Adam's face flushed beet red. Did he become their punching bag? Did Aurora set him up? Adam looked over to his parents; their backs were turned to him.
"I knew it!" snickered Dima.
"Bonding fibres," Alexa said, rolling her eyes.
Adam looked at the children, confused.
"Don't worry, we're not laughing at you." Christofer reassured.
"Talis shirts are annoyingly itchy the first few times you wear them." Samantha supplied.
"Oh," said Adam sheepishly.
"Congratulations on your debut, Adam." They said, patting him.
Adam settled in with the group, and the children talked at length. Despite appearances, Roland and the others were easy to get along with. Not that Adam had much to add to the conversation, but they didn't leave him out either, especially Sammy.
As the general conversation gave way to smaller talks, Samantha stuck with Adam.
"What's it like having Aurora as your mother?"
Her question caught Adam off guard, but looking at her, he saw her eyes gleaming with genuine curiosity. Adam knew the stark differences between his mother and Aurora.
"Normal?"
"I wish she was my mother." Samantha quietly admitted.
"Why?"
"She's a lot nicer than my mother and has a motherly feel about her."
Yeah, thought Adam.
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