Family Bonding

Bonding can be interesting. It comes in many forms.

It was Friday, school had just let out, and hell week for Andrew had finally 
come to an end. His firstw eek of school had been almost like a cold war. After 
his confrontation with Nikolai, the schools split. A large portion of the 
students remained loyal to Nikolai, while others seemed to have decided to take 
a stand and follow Andrew. This would have made the week actually good were it 
not for all the threats He and Luke received oer the course of the week.

Bu that was all over, he and the other kids were finally going home, or at 
least, tothe foster home for he weekend, something Andrew hadn't been as exited 
for in a long time.

As they walked in the door they found Mrs. Smith in the entryway.
"All of you to the Living room. Now."
"Um, okay?" Andrew said, dropping his stuff and walking into the living room.
"Whats going on?" Tim asked as hey all took seats.
"Mr. Smith and I have noticed that the seven if you have not really bonded yet. 
In fact i'm sure you know very little about each other."
"That's not exactly true." Luke said.
"What's Andrew's last name?"
"Oh, um, well..." Luke fell silent.
"That proves my point. The seven of you will spend the next hour locked in here. 
You have the living room, dining room, and a bathroom at your disposal."
"Isn't this illegal?" Kyle asked.
"Not at all, it's team building." Mrs. Smith said. She exited the room and 
locked the sliding glass doors to the living room.

"So what do we do now?" Luke asked.
"I have an idea, lets learn about each other. That's what Mrs. Smith wants 
right?" Andrew said.
"Yeah so?" Kyle answered.
"We go around the room. And everyone says their name, age, where they are from, 
their favorite activity, and an interesting fact about themselves." Andrew said.
"Sounds easy enough." Tim responded. Luke raised his hand.
"What, Luke?" Andrew asked.
"Are we going in a clockwise circle or a counter-clockwise circle?"
"It doesn't matter." Andrew said.
"Well of course it matters!" Kyle said "Because then you could end with two 
people trying to speak at the same time and continuously arguing about who 
should go first."
"Then again this isn't really a circle." Tim said.
"It's more like a square." Hallie said.
"Polygon." Luke responded.
"Squiggly!" Andy shouted.
"Okay enough!" Andrew said "If it's really bothering you guys this much we can 
get in a circle and then go clock-wise okay?" 
"Yeah." Luke said. The group re-arranged themselves into a large circle.

"Okay, now that that is settled. How about Tim starts us off." Andrew said. 
"Uh, I'm Tim. I'm 8 years old, i'm from Boston, my favorite activity is building 
things and reading, and i'm hyper-observant."
"Yeah we knew all that." Luke said.
"Okay then how bout you go!" Tim said.
"I will, since I'm next." Luke said, proudly "My name is Luke, I'm 12 years old, 
but short for my age. I'm from Miami and my favorite activity is playing 
videogames."
"Well what's an interesting fact about yourself?" Andrew asked.
"I already said it. I'm short for my age." Luke snapped.
"Alright, alright." Andrew said "Next?"
"My turn!" Andy shouted "My name is Andy, i'm six years old, I'm from New York 
City, my favorite activity is watching cartoons and... I'm.... Happy!"
"Alright, I guess that counts." Andrew said, he and the others giggled a little 
"My turn. My name is Andrew. I'm 15, I'm from Peakdale N.Y, my favorite activity 
is skiing and I am a little bit of a fighter."
"Yeah no kidding." Luke muttered.
"How are you supposed to ski in Florida?" Hallie asked.
"I'm not. It's just something that I like to do. Kyle your turn."
"Alright, my name is Kylie, but call me Kyle, I'm 15 years old, I'm from 
Chicago, and I'm interested in criminal activity. Also I'm a bit of tom-boy."
"Really? Criminal activity?" Andrew asked in a disbeleiving tone.
"Boy we've only known each other for five days. You haven't seen anything yet."
"Alright whatever, Hallie you go." Andrew said.
"My name is Hallie. I'm 10 years old and I'm from New Jersey. I like dresses and 
makeup and doing makeovers, but I also really like to play sports!"
"Like what kind?" Luke asked.
"The tough ones! Like football, soccer, basketball."
"Wow, thats pretty cool." Luke said.
"Yeah I know."
"Alright." Andrew said "That just leaves JJ. Come on, tell us about yourself."
JJ looked up from akwardly twidling his fingers, than looked back down.
"Don't bother Andrew." Tim said "I haven't heard him say a single word yet."
Andrew looked at JJ, "Guys go over there for a second." He motioned for the 
other five kids to move into the dining room area and sit around the table. 
While the kids sat they could see Andrew whispered a few things quietly to JJ, 
and then the two joined the rest at the dining room table.
"Name?" Andrew asked.
"John James" JJ answered.
"Nick-name."
"JJ"
"How old are you?"
"15."
"Were are you from?"
"Detroit."
"What do you find fun?"
"Sleep."
"Interesting fact."
"I don't talk much."
"Okay." Andrew said.
"Well, this has been very productive." Luke said, giving Andrew an annoyed look.
"Yeah well, we did what Mrs. smith wanted us to do. How much longer do we have?"
Kyle checked her watch "45 minutes."
"Damn."
"How about, and I know this is a stretch." Kyoe began to say, "We could talk 
about why we are all in the foster home."
The room became silent after that and he kids all began looking away from each 
other.
"I don't know if..." Andrew began to say.
"If what?" Kyle asked, annoyed.
"If I really trust you guys enough."
"What are you saying?" Kyle, again, asked.
"I mean I know that we all live in the same house, and probably are goig to for 
awhile, hell maybe the rest of our childhood, but I just... Really am not that 
close to you guys yet. I've only known you all for five days, and thats even a 
stretch since Mrs. Smith is making us have this conversation because we don't 
talk. I don't know if I want to tell you why I am here."
It was quiet then, and it stayed quiet for another 45 minutes.