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The next morning at the Tsukino house
DING DONG! The front doorbell rang at exactly seven o'clock. Mrs. Tsukino opened the door. Standing on the doorstep was a young man. "Well, hello, you must be Travis." she said smiling. "Serena said you would be coming by this morning, why don't you come in and I'll see if she's awake."
Travis smiled back at Serena's mother. "Try telling her I decided to add some ice cubes to the water, just in case," he said grinning. "That will probably get her up!"
"It might, indeed." Mrs. Tsukino agreed. She could tell that she would like this boy, even though she was a little surprised at how well he seemed to know her daughter. She seated him on the couch as she went upstairs.
Mr. Tsukino came into the room. "So you're the young man who actually got my daughter to do her homework, hmm? Why did you want her up so early?"
"Well sir," Travis said, with no hint of his usual joking manner, "I bet Serena that I could beat her on any game she chose at the arcade. I won, and her forfeit is that she has to show me around town every afternoon this week. So I told her that her time was mine and not Miss Haruna's and I would be by to make sure she didn't have detention."
"Do you like my daughter, Travis?" Mr. Tsukino asked, still serious, although he had smiled at Travis's explanation. "She's a very nice girl and fun to be with," Travis answered carefully. "She's my first new friend in this town and at the moment I need 'friends'." He stressed the last word carefully and Mr. Tsukino understood.
"Yes," he agreed, "friends are always a nice thing to have." From upstairs a voice was heard, it was a voice that had very rarely, if ever, been heard at this time of the morning. "ICE! I'm up, I'm up!"
Five minutes later Serena came downstairs. She glared at Travis. "Are you happy now? I'm up." She stomped into the kitchen. "Hey," he answered, "think of it this way, at least you have time for breakfast."
"That's right, Serena" her mother calmly said "now sit down before it gets cold. Travis would you like something to eat?"
"I don't want to impose." Travis said declining. Unfortunately his gesture was negated when his stomach grumbled. Loudly.
"It won't be any imposition." Serena's mother answered. "It sounds like you need some food in you, didn't you eat before you came over here?"
"Um, no" Travis mumbled "Ikindofoverslept" "What was that," Serena's mother asked. "I couldn't quite hear you."
"I said, I kind of overslept." Serena burst out laughing, spraying food over half the table.
"Serena please don't laugh with your mouth full." Mrs. Tsukino corrected as she placed a plate full of food in front of Travis. "I understand you just moved here, Travis, where from?"
Travis waited until he swallowed before answering. "I lived in Virginia from the time I was two, but I was born here." "Why did you move back?" Travis was quiet for several seconds.
"My parents died in a terrorist attack in Iran and my new guardian lives here." "Oh, I'm sorry Travis, I didn't mean to bring back bad memories." Serena's mother looked embarrassed at having asked so sensitive a question.
"Actually, I barely knew my parents, I was raised by the staff until I was five and then I went to boarding schools." Travis hurriedly stuffed more food into his mouth."Boarding schools! And so young too. I guess you're parents were very busy people." It was almost a question, but not quite, leaving it entirely up to Travis whether to answer or not.
"Father was a diplomat, he went all over the world. However, it was made very clear to me when I was younger that even if they had lived in the U.S.
I would still have been in the boarding schools." At the expression on Travis's face, Mrs. Tsukino decided to stop asking questions. Serena was not that sensitive.
"Why?" Serena asked after swallowing her food. Her mother tried to hush her but it was too late.
"Several reasons, I think." Travis answered quietly, forgetting his breakfast for a moment. "Number one, I'm adopted and they never let me forget that the only reason they adopted me was because Father needed an heir. They said I should be thankful that they had taken me in and not to expect anything except a home and name from them, but that that should be enough for anyone." He looked at his watch. "We need to leave soon if we want to be at school on time," he said to Serena.
They both gave their attention to their food, and the rest of the family looked on in disbelief at the amount of food they could eat in five minutes. Sammy commented on it, "He can eat as much as Serena."
As they finished, Travis said "Go get your homework, Serena then we can go."
"Homework? Where did I put my homework? I've got to go look for it." With that Serena ran upstairs and the sounds of a room being torn apart could be heard. Travis shook his head and dropped it into his hands. Mrs. Tsukino laughed as she looked at Travis. He looked like a picture of dejection.
"You get used to this if you spend much more time with her. Be proud, you may not get her to school in time, but you 'were' able to get her to do her homework and wake up. No one else has ever managed that much." Her voice got serious again, "I'm sorry she asked you to talk about your past. She can be a little insensitive at times."
Travis smiled at Serena's mother. "If I hadn't wanted to answer, I wouldn't have." he answered. "Besides she talked about herself yesterday, it's only right I do the same. I'll tell you the rest tomorrow morning, okay?"
Just then Serena ran down the stairs with her homework clasped in her hands. She grabbed her lunch and Travis's hand as she ran through the kitchen. "Thanks for the delicious breakfast Mom. Gotta go or we'll be late." And they ran out the door and down the street.
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