Luca stomped into Jack’s room and threw the paper plate on the bed. “What’s this?” Jack was lying propped against a pillow and typing on his new school issued laptop. He glanced around the open screen at the paper plate. “Looks like you glued macaroni to a paper plate.” Luca narrowed his eyes and glared at Jack. Jack threw his hands up. “Okay, okay, you glued macaroni in the shape of a dodecahedral tessellation with four dodecahedra meeting at each edge, and eight dodecahedra meeting at each vertex.” “Exactly!” Luca shouted. “I got a green star for it.” “Is that good?” asked Jack. “No, a gold star is good, a green star is a participation award.” “Well, you probably should have made a particle wave harmonic, it would have made more sense with the curvature of the macaroni then a representation of hyperbolic space.” Luca let out an exasperated breath and propped Mr. Buckles up on the bed. “Mr. Buckles, show Jack a picture of what the other kids made.” Mr. Buckles projected the image Luca had taken of the other kids’ macaroni art. “Oh, how pretty, lopsided flowers,” said Jack, admiring the art. “You’re hilarious,” retorted Luca. “Do you know what they have us doing besides gluing food to paper plates? Basic addition and subtraction, that’s what! I thought at first they were doing some kind of review to warm us up, but no, it’s all we do. I’m in second grade for heaven’s sake, I’m supposed to be doing algebra.” Jack lifted the laptop. “Do you know what this is?” Luca leaned over and inspected the odd device. “No idea.” “It’s a computer,” said Jack. “Are you sure?” “It’s an antique, and I’m supposed to do my homework on it.” Luca waved a hand towards Mr. Buckles and smiled at Jack’s laptop. “Hi, pleased to meet you, this is my computer, Mr. Buckles, what’s your name?” Jack pushed the lid of the laptop up and down as if it were talking. “Hello, Luca, my name is Useless, pleased to make your acquaintance, I’m Jack’s new computer.” Luca pursed his lips and frowned. “Useless, huh, just like your owner.” Jack ignored the jab. “I might as well get a big pile of rocks to count with, they’d be more useful than this thing.” Luca grabbed the macaroni art and Mr. Buckles, and headed out of the bedroom. “Close the door, and knock next time,” said Jack. Luca raised the hand holding the macaroni plate and waved it in the air. “Oh, oh, I know the answer. Things that aren’t going to happen.” “I should have adopted a cat instead of a little brother, cat’s listen better,” replied Jack. Luca left the room meowing in response. Tan sat in his favorite chair reading a Ruk newspaper, or at least trying. Luca tossed the macaroni plate on the coffee table, sending several pieces of macaroni skipping across the table, then flopped down on the couch with a heavy sigh. “Careful with that,” said Tan. “It’s going up on the fridge.” Luca squinted an eye at Tan. “Why?” “Because you made it,” replied Tan. “And it’s the most beautiful dodecahedral tessellation with four dodecahedra meeting at each edge, and eight dodecahedra meeting at each vertex I’ve ever seen.” “You overheard Jack say what it is,” said Luca rolling his eyes. “And you pronounced dodecahedra wrong.” “I’ll talk with your teacher about getting you in some advanced classes,” said Tan. “Based on what I’ve seen so far, you’ll have to put me in college just for me to get a decent 2nd Grade education.” Tan lowered his newspaper. “I already know how brilliant you are, but I don’t have you and Jack in normal school to learn basic math, I have you there to learn how to socialize and act right.” “I know how to act right,” Luca countered with a pout. “Really? You spent fifteen minutes yesterday scolding the grocer because the peas were on the wrong shelf.” “Well they were,” said Luca. “Peas are a fruit, so they should be with the other fruit.” Tan chuckled. “Do your homework.” Luca snatched a piece of paper off the floor and held it up. “It’s basic addition, I could do this if I were in a coma. And look how big the print is. Do they think I’m blind?” Tan lifted his newspaper back up. “Do your homework.” Luca sighed. Tan already knew what the problem was with the Ruk school system. He’d had a long talk with Chief Dagas over lunch. The Ruk civilization had stagnated and was beginning to decline. Chief believed that if the Ruk didn’t change their isolation policy and got an infusion of new blood and ideas, the Ruk would be extinct in the next twenty thousand years or so.” Tan looked up as the front door banged open. A Ruk boy the same age as Luca bounced through the door with a wide happy grin. The kind of grin that says, I'm actually oblivious to everything around me, but I'm happy in my oblivion. Tan frowned and went back to his newspaper. "Hey hey L man, I got the new Sky Knights episode!" declared the boy waving a data disk in front of him. Sky Knights was the current and most popular cartoon with the seven-year old crowd. The cartoon featured a team of Sky Knights that fly around on jet boots and save everyone from whatever evil has arisen today from the Darkverse. "Hey Renuk, that’s awesome!" said Luca. "I'm almost done with the homework." Renuk’s face clouded slightly with concern. "We have homework?" Luca shrugged. "Don't worry about it, you can copy mine." Tan's eyes glanced up from his newspaper and was about to say something, but decided to let the boys figure it out on their own. No doubt he'd be getting a call from the teacher in the next few weeks to discuss the boys’ homework assignments. Renuk’s face lit up. "Cool, you're awesome L man." The boy pointed a finger at Mr. Buckles. "Hey hey Mr. B. you're looking good." Mr. Buckles pushed a thought into the boy's mind. "Tan made fresh cookies, they're in the kitchen, now go away so my boy can finish his, and your homework." Renuk turned and smiled at Tan. "Hey Mr. T, can I have a cookie?" Tan glanced at Mr. Buckles. The bear’s expression seemed to feign innocence and say, ‘I didn’t tell him’. "They're on the table, help yourself,” said Tan. The boy bounced out of the room while attempting to whistle a tune. A new voice called out from the front door. “Hello? Your door is open.” Luca craned his head around and shouted. “Jack, your lovey dovey is here.” Jack sprinted out of his room for the front door, smacking Luca on the head as he ran past. “Shut up, what’s wrong with you?” Three more of Luca’s classmates pushed around Kalu at the door and flooded into the apartment. “Hey, are we going to watch Sky Knights or what?” one of the new boys shouted. Tan lifted his newspaper back up and ignored the chaos. Whether the boys liked their new school or not, the plan was working. They were making real friends and socializing, and that’s what they needed most.