Jet Lagged

Chapter 4

It's been a while since the language competency test, and as anticipated, Isaac would not need to take EFL. Sightseeing and getting to know the city had been fun, but it was now time for school preparations.

Normally the Back to school rush consisted of stationary and book hunting, with many subjects allowing students to digitalise the textbooks if they had the money and ability to do so.

Private school, as Isaac was about to learn, was a whole other ball game.

For the subjects he was taking he required both a Laptop of selected trusted brands and a tablet of selected trusted brands. Not to mention the restriction on the minimum specifications for these two things, and the necessary accessories.

The tablet needed a flip case, a compatible pen stylus that you could write with and a screen protector.

Coleman and Isaac spent the day at tech stores browsing the possible options, to Isaacs dismay the options he could choose from did not come with orange colour options. He eventually settled on a grey with the cover being a metallic purple.

"Okay, so we got the tablet. The laptop and its accessories will arrive next week for us to pick up. What is next on the list son?" Coleman asked Isaac as they left the store. They were in a massive shopping district recommended by the school to find the necessary items. Isaac looked at his phone to read the list.

"Hmmmm, It still confuses me that they have no textbooks listed on here. Okay, Tablet is a check. Screen cover, yip, flip cover, yeah, stylis is a yes. Laptop is next week's problem." Coleman snickered at his son's way of reading a list, 'so much like his mother but he does not even realise it' He thought to himself.

"Okay, looks like the next section is the uniforms. Shawn is sooo gonna tease me about this." A deep, defeated sigh escaped the boy's mouth before he continued. "Dad, I need ...... Shoes." The last word was said with a hint of distaste.

"But you have shoes, what's wrong with them?" Coleman said to his son, oblivious to the point Isaac was trying to convey with as little embarrassment as possible.

"I have flip-flops, I need SHOES." Isaac hoped emphasising the word would help convey the message.

It did not.

Coleman stared at his son, befuddled by his words.

With a deep sigh and a red face Isaac said it the one way he was trying to avoid.

"I need black leather lace up shoes, the kind of shoes that you hate the most." Isaac got out.

At this Coleman pulled a disgusted face and let out a very appropriate, "Oh, you need those things. Where do they recommend we get them?" Coleman was clearly not enthusiastic about this.

"The same place we get the rest of the uniform, according to this. That's good though." Isaac answered. With that they began hunting down the store.

The store took ten minutes to locate, inside it was a bit more fancy compared to other stores that sold clothing. They seemed to be a main supplier to the school, but also sold and tailored formal suits of clothing. There was a section for the shoes, a section for the shirts, a section for pants and skirts, a section for the blazers and then another one for the pull-overs and jerseys. The ties were put under the label of accessories, this was also where headbands and appropriate hair ties could be found. The sporting uniform was absent from this store, which made sense since it would not fit very well with the aesthetic of this store.

"Hello there and welcome. How may we be of assistance today?" The two were approached by someone that looked like she was fresh out of high school. The store assistant had some obviously dyed dark blue to cyan hair that was tied in a ponytail and wore the store's uniform.

"Ummm, I need a school uniform." Isaac said, not really sure what one does when buying a uniform.

"First time needing one? That's okay, It's why we are here." the clerk said, sincere but without the forced cheeriness from earlier.

"What we'll do is Xavier here" at this she gestured towards an older gentleman wearing a similar uniform to her "He is going to take your measurements for everything, he is then going to get some pieces for you to try on and he is going to see what adjustments would be needed." The girl said, then left Isaac and Dr. Coleman with Xavier as she went to check up on some other customers.

Xavier was very patient with Isaac, he started by measuring his feet to get the best shoe size. After writing the measurements in a book that he put into a pocket he did the measurements for the clothing. After what felt like hours of strange poses Xavier went off to collect the necessary items, upon his return he showed Isaac to the changing room. Isaac had a relatively easy time getting dressed in the summer uniform, that was until he tried putting the tie on. After five minutes of struggling he came out of the changing room, completely defeated. The tie had won the battle.

Fortunately for Isaac the battle of the tie was one Xavier knew well, and one many patrons tend to lose. Xavier tied the tie, and showed Isaac a neat trick on how he can avoid the battle altogether. With the tie attached, Xavier began adjusting the uniform and how it fit.

The uniform needed some tailor changes to be acceptable so Isaac had to endure standing still for the man to do his work.

To fill this boredom Isaac asked his father to hand him his phone so he could read the supply list over. The universe seemed to have it in for Isaac, because as he got his phone a group video call started coming through on Bubble. Giving into his misfortune Isaac answered the call, Showing every member of his team him adorned with a short sleeve white button up shirt and a sky blue tie.

It seemed Isaac still held some good fortune, since Sophie was not part of the call.

"Well, you look good once you clean up. Tell me will you be wearing your slippers, or are you finally going to be wearing real shoes for a change?" Shawn, not one to give up on the opportunity to make a jab at Isaac, was the first to remark on Isaac's appearance.

"As stuck up as ever, and I was just getting delusioned into thinking I missed you" Isaac retorted, Shawn always had a way of getting under his skin which only added to Isaacs confusion on how he felt for the slightly older boy.

"Now no need for that Isaac, I must say you look quite good in your uniform, süß ist genauer." Shawn had become an expert at diffusing possible pointless arguments when they were not needed, though he hoped no one would press for what the last part ment.

"Wait, Cat why are you Karl and Timmy even up at this hour. Isn't it like 2 am for you?" Isaac asked, dumbfounded at how they are even awake.

"We wanted to call, but it's really hard for us to arrange a time to talk now that you have the worst timezone ever." Karl said, being his usual self.

After that, the group spoke until everyone else could not stay awake any longer and had to sign off.

After two hours Xavier had finished marking all the needed adjustments to all of Isaacs uniforms and they were finally ready to leave.

"Here are your items, and your slip. The clothing that needs adjustment will take one to two business weeks, we will call you when they are ready to collect. Enjoy the rest of your day, sirs." The blue haired clerc said, before attending to the next customers.

The woman had an asymmetrical bob cut and it was not soon after she came to the check out that she started chewing into the poor store clerc, all because the school accessories were 'so expensive' and began demanding a discount. The poor girl just kept repeating the same sentence in a monotone. Isaac really felt bad for the clerc.

Isaac and his father left to get some food before continuing the search for the needed equipment. All that was left was for him to get a school bag and to set up the apps onto the tablet.

With that, Isaac was one step closer to starting his high school life.

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Mytherina