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Octonauts - A new Generation

Chapter 4

Getting along

Periwinkle’s pov

Periwinkle finds it hard to make new friends. Everyone else just doesn’t have the same interests as he does. They always call him a nerd or teacher’s pet. Now he’s slowly walking to a big group of kids his age, all clearly not interested in anything other than adventure. Every now and then, Peri notices the artic fox’s hesitation as they walk side by side. Seeing how much more nervous she is kind of calms him down. After what feels like eons, the two finally reach the group of kids.

“Hi Peri, hi Ella”, Pinto happily greats his companions.

“Please don’t call me that”, the fox practically whispers.

“Sorry”, Pinto replies.

“What’s your name then?”, Orson asks.

“Stella”, the fox replies.

“And you’re Periwinkle, right?”, Ursa asks.

“Y-Yeah”, Peri answers.

“We were talking about our families and our homes, would you like to join us?”, Orson asks.

“Yeah! Join us!”, Ursa enthusiastically adds.

Peri shoots a glance at Stella to see what she’ll do. She avoids his stare and looks at her shoes.

“What are your interests?”, Squirt questions, noticing the hesitation of the sea otter and the fox.

“W-Well”, Periwinkle begins after Stella still refuses to look up from her shoes, “I’m interested in marine biology, just like my mother and my uncle. I’d like to travel around the world, discover new things, maybe even have the opportunity to name a new species the way my uncle named the Vegimals.” Peri could feel himself getting jumpy with excitement. He had completely forgotten why he agreed to come out of his comfort zone until now. With hope that the same will happen to her, Peri returns the question towards Stella.

“Oh, uhhh…I’m interested in science, specifically biology and physics. I’m also interested in exploring.”, she said calmly. It certainly was not the type of reaction Peri was expecting, but it will have to do.

“What do you do in your free time?”, Squirt asks.

“Reading mystery books!”, Koshi yells in excitement.

“Trying to build the tallest watchtower out of snow”, Pinto says proudly.

“Polar bear wrestling!”, the twins reply in unison.

“Helping my mom”, Peri answers while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Cool! I love reading science fiction books. What about you Stella?”, Squirk asks. The whole group turns towards the pup. Her face goes from white to bright pink at an alarming rate.

“Oh, uhhh…I also like reading. A-And I like helping my uncle”, she stutters in response. The group does not keep their stare off her; they can all tell that she’s not done listing what she does in her free time. Stella nervously shifts her gaze rapidly from one group member to the other.

“Okay, fine, I also play the guitar and write short stories”, she quickly answers. Silence fills the room as the group processes what they’ve just heard.

“You write stories?”, Orson slowly cuts the silence. After a few more quiet seconds, everyone else starts bombarding Stella with questions and requests to read her stories. Noticing the clear uncomfortable and panic in the pup’s facial expression, Peri pulls her out of the small crowd. The plan was to comfort the pup and tell the group to calm down, but now that he’s got everyone’s attention on him, he froze.

“Um, maybe we should leave her be?”, he manages the squeak. The group says their apologies towards the pup. Peri tries to read her facial expression, but all that he can see is her left side, which is covered by her hair. Despite this, he can tell that she’s still a little nervous by the way she’s squeezing his hand. Not knowing how to comfort her, all that he could think of is returning a small squeeze. Her grip slowly loosens and she becomes less tense.

“It’s fine”, she finally manages to say to the crowd that was still apologizing. Koshi and Squirt still look guilty, and Pinto refuses to accept that ‘it’s fine’.

“It’s fine, really, it’s normal to get excited. I don’t blame you one bit”, Stella said in a soft and calming tone. The twins exchange a look. Awkwardness fills the room once again. Peri shoots a glance towards Squirt, hoping that he still has some questions left. The octopus notices the unspoken requests and awkwardly asks another question: “So…is there a particular reason why you joined this Octonauts training?”

“Our uncle of course!”, Orson exclaims with joy.

“Speak for yourself. I joined simply because I want to explore the Ocean”, Ursa says with a dreamy tone.

“I joined for the mysteries. And to help other creatures of course”, Koshi says with a twinkle in her eye.

“Explore, rescue and protect. That’s the Octonauts motto, and that’s exactly what I want to do. I’ll swashbuckle and shwash-bandage! Kwazzi and Peso taught me that”, Pinto explains proudly.

“I joined because of my uncle. It sounds cool to be able to discover new things”, Peri says, before mumbling to himself: “Although I’d prefer to help mom.”

“I joined because I would love to have the opportunity to help others and explore the open Ocean”, Squirt answers. All attention is once again shifted on Stella.

“ *sigh* It was a last minute decision done by my uncle. I think he wants me to make more friends my age or something like that”, Stella replies, while noticeably avoiding eye contact. Despite this, it is clear that she’s getting more comfortable speaking to the group.

“So…you don’t want to be here?”, Pinto asks, slightly confused.

“No, no, I don’t mind. I’ll certainly learn a lot from this experience”, Stella quickly replies. Pinto gives her an uncertain look. Peri himself is not sure wether he believes her. “I’m telling the truth!”, she exclaims in an effort to make the others believe her. The doubt in the crowd does not change. Stella sighs as her gaze falls upon an Octo-shoot. Noticing this, Peri tries to stop her from leaving by grabbing her hand, before noticing that he never let go of it in the first place. He simply squeezes her hand to grab her attention. She looks away from the Octo-shoot and shifts her gaze towards her shoes.

The kids continue talking to each other for a while, trying to learn more about each other. Peri and Stella stay quiet, only talking when spoken too. After what feels like a decade, the group is finally called to the HQ by captain Barnacles.

“Welcome aboard the Octopod, future Octo-agents. Each and every one of us is glad that you have decided to spend these next few months with us. We hope that you feel comfortable here and enjoy your time being an Octo-agent in training. We are currently traveling to Octo-agent Min to help her with her work. This will give you the opportunity to experience what it is like working in her field of expertise. You will have the opportunity to do the same with the other Octo-agents and the rest of our crew while we travel around the world exploring, rescuing and protecting along the way.”

The twins started applauding as soon as their uncle finished his speech, while the others speak excitedly amongst themselves. This training program is starting to sound more and more interesting. No wonder this was a valuable excuse for missing school, one that the principle accepted. The fact that they would be studying with the Octo-agents also meant that Peri would be able to spend some time with his mother during this program after all.

Maybe this won’t be as bad as he thought it would be.

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"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not."

Dr. Seuss, "The Lorax"