Chapter 147: Parent-Teacher Conference. 2008 CE

A/N: I’m using the Wiki’s timeline by the way, much more organised, so Iron man starts in 2009 instead of 2008.

—

Pluto and a policeman are now standing in front of a rather peculiar picture in front of them. It was a painting of two penguins, with an egg in the middle of them. The penguins are not black and white however, it was more of an abstract depiction of penguins, as they were… colourful…

“What do you think?” Helios sighed in front of his dad, not knowing what he was thinking.

“Well boy…” George spoke suddenly. “I personally think it looks… unique…”

“What’s that supposed to mean dad?” Gwen questioned curiously.

“He said that it’s bad.” Helios said with a deadpan look.

“No, sweetheart, I didn’t say it looks bad…” George murmured. “It’s unique.”

“Eh, it’s good in my opinion.” Pluto shrugged. “I thought you’ll be going with the boring black and white look, looks like I misjudged you.”

“You like it?” Helios was surprised. “Huh…”

“I told you it worked!” Gwen exclaimed. “It’s better to be colourful!”

Helios stuck out his tongue to Gwen, and she answered back with her own tongue sticking out of her mouth.

“Hey, Theo…” Thena suddenly called, making Pluto and Helios turn. “It’s our turn, come on.”

Helios gulped nervously, and walked to his mother, leaving his father alone with the Stacy’s.

—

Thena was now sitting in front of a teacher with Helios sitting beside her, rather nervous at the event.

“So… Theo…” the teacher smiled as she put a paper on the table, making Helios more and more nervous. “I just saw your art project outside… it’s certainly… unique…”

“It’s all Gweny’s fault…” Helios murmured.

The teacher chuckled. “I’m sure it is…” the teacher then turned to Mrs. Smith, who smiled at her gaze, and she showed the papers to her.

“I must say Mrs. Smith, he’s the most intelligent student I’ve ever taught, the way he does things just… seemed natural to him, especially with art, he’ll often just sit in the corner drawing the classroom for hours…”

“That… doesn’t sound good…” Thena frowned as she gazed at Helios, who gulped at the gaze.

“Yes Theo, you need to be more active with your classmates, you can’t just ignore them altogether.” said the teacher with a smile.

“Theo, we’ve been over this…” Thena sighed.

“I just… don’t like talking to them…” Helios murmured in guilt.

“Why?”

“It makes me uncomfortable…”

Thena raised her eyebrow as she looked at his teacher, and she also nodded.

“Anyway, Mrs. Smith, moving on.” she said, changing the papers right away. “Because of Theo’s rather bright intelligence that he has shown so far, I believe that he could skip a couple of grades to quickly advance his studies…”

“I believe it’s unnecessary.” Thena smiled. “I put him to school isn’t really to educate formal things like math and science, because we have plenty of that at home, but what we need for him to just… well… be a kid… let him explore himself, find out about what he wants to do, and develop his social skills, skipping grades won’t do him any good.”

The teacher was quite surprised, and she looked at Helios, who somehow had a smug smile on his face.

“The thing is Mrs. Smith…” The teacher continued. “He just excels in every subject that makes the other children be discouraged…”

Thena raised her eyebrow in confusion. “I miss the part where that’s my child’s problem? Is there some kind of practice in this school that involves comparing children’s achievement?”

“Oh, I assure you, there’s nothing like that Mrs. Smith.” said the teacher in cold sweat. “I’m just saying that it’s a missed opportunity for him not to pursue his study faster…”

“Well, let’s just ask Theo about it, shall we?” Thena smiled. “What do you think Helios? Do you want to skip a couple grades?”

“If I skip grades… do I have to be in the same room as those smelly sixth graders?” he questioned.

“Yes,” said Thena with a deadpan face.

“Then no.” answered Helios, also with a deadpan face.

The teacher was baffled, a mother and son duo that looks similar in terms of acting… what a rarity…

—

Thena and Helios then came out of the classroom, walking towards Pluto who was still talking with George. Helios saw Gwen hugging their painting while standing besides her father, looking around aimlessly.

As soon as she saw Helios, she smiled, but didn’t say anything.

“All done?” Pluto questioned as both of them arrived.

“Yeah, the teacher told him to skip a couple of grades…” Thena said as she patted Helios’s head. “I refuse.”

“Good.” Pluto nodded in agreement. Helen then soon came towards them, asking for Gwen.

“Gwen, come here, it’s our turn now.” she said, making Gwen nod.

Gwen turned towards Helios, and waved her hand while still hugging the painting. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Helios answered, also waving his hand a bit, and Gwen left with her mother.

“Right George, always a pleasure meeting you.” said Pluto as he shook hands with the policeman.

“Always a pleasure meeting you as well John.”

“Right, see you around Captain.” Pluto said as the family walked away from the policeman, intending to leave the school.

“You’ve got good grades bud?” Pluto questioned Helios as he raised him to his head, making him sit on Pluto’s shoulder.

Helios giggled. “Of course.”

Pluto held Thena’s hand as the family went out of the school. “Then let’s go get some ice cream.”