Alberto "oh no" Scorfano (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
prontissimo) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kaisou2022-09-09 02:52 am
prontissimo) wrote in kaisou2022-09-09 02:52 am
Entry tags:
too cool for school; ota
WHO: Alberto Scorfano and ???
WHERE: Kaisou Middle School and nearby restaurants in Midtown
WHEN: First two weeks of school
WHAT: Alberto suffers unduly... though it's still mostly his fault.
WARNINGS: woof, yeah— eighth grade...
a. between classes / lunch
[ The forgetfulness brought on by the muses' creative influences really shoots him in the foot when Alberto starts attending school for the first time ever. Already he was going to struggle, but the fugue state this creative mania has left him in just spells trouble right away. Multiple times in his first week alone, he's snuck off on "bathroom breaks" to secretly explore the school, but then gotten lost in the halls and missed half his class. He's forgotten to do his homework, left his textbooks at home, forgot his backpack in his last classroom, you name it. And the hell with learning the teachers' names — or his classmates'... Everyone is "hey, you" for the first couple weeks. Now, mind you, none of this is at all unusual for Alberto in the first place. But it is unfortunate that the muses' enchantment happens to highlight the worst of his worries for his first impression at school.
Find him wandering the halls between classes (sometimes several minutes after class has started), searching for the same classrooms every day like it's the first day — maybe even holding his school map upside-down. Or perhaps he disturbs you on one of his frequent "bathroom" adventures, poking his nose in other classrooms and staff-only rooms snoopily; he can easily be found in all the places he's not supposed to be... Lunchtime is more enjoyable, though he's a little overwhelmed being in such a huge group of kids for the first time in his life. But he's thrilled to try all the human food in the cafeteria — probably their most enthusiastic diner... Though he also brings pasta from home every day because he's a bottomless pit — and in case he needs to share with a new friend, of course, should anyone come sit with him! Lunchtime is about the only time all day where things don't go wrong for him. ]
b. in the classroom
[ The rest of school is gonna be an uphill battle the rest of the year... He'd come in very hopeful and excited, but with some skewed expectations; it started to seem intimidating rather quickly, as he'd secretly feared it would. His best friend Luca once accused him of being too cowardly to go to human school — "you're just afraid you can't do it!" — and while that argument feels like a lifetime ago now, Luca wasn't completely off the mark back then. Alberto's extremely uncomfortable appearing ignorant, especially about human stuff (go figure, huh), so the whole first month strikes a deep, tender nerve, knocking new cracks in his armor of bravado every single day. He's drastically behind the modern American eighth grade learning level; that's the education a lifetime of isolation on an uninhabited island will get ya, I guess. Whether he volunteered or was called on, his answers in class often draw awkward pauses from the teachers and sniggers from some of the snottier kids, all day, all week. The unusual, Very Human™, and unfortunately eye-catching fashion sense he's developing doesn't do much to stave away potential bullies, and speckling himself with Sharpie doodle "tattoos" while distracted in class practically brands him as a Weird Kid right out the gate. Plus, uh, you know, all the weird things he says and does — more so that part, really... Middle school is tough, man. Especially when you're brazenly pretending to be human in another dimension in the future... Ahem.
Language Arts prompts a lot of mispronounced words and gaps in his vocabulary, showing off his terrible spelling and penmanship compared to most of his classmates; great way to start the morning, he loves it. Maths class is no less embarrassing, having been taught the most rudimentary arithmetic by his father and nothing more. His saving grace is Spanish class; he's already been informally studying Spanish for months, and it's come easily to his Italian mind. This is the only subject where he can actually give correct answers when called on; it's just enough of an ego boost to get him through the rest of the day. Because Science, fascinating as it is, proves even further beyond him than maths; if he didn't have science class with Luca, it'd be much more discouraging. Apart from Spanish, Social Studies piques his interest the most; but like with any other class, his strange responses and wild baseless guesses in class discussions keep building him a reputation amongst students and faculty alike. At the end of each day, Gym is a reprieve because he doesn't have to talk to anyone if he doesn't want to... He gets to move around finally, after sitting still (err, sort of) at his desk for hours on end... And he gets to smack people with volleyballs if he doesn't like them and say it was an accident. The only problem with Gym is that he's supposed to shower afterwards — no, thanks. He'd rather leave school smelling like fish. Like... sweaty fish... ]
c. detention / after school
[ But by far, Alberto's "favorite class...?" Detention. Alberto loves detention. Lucky for him! He seems to have a natural knack for it. Yes, yes, already in his first two weeks, he got issued detention... twice. For what? You'll have to ask him! On his first two Fridays, staying late for detention leaves him alone for the afternoon, so he decides to treat himself to restaurant food after school, something's he's never technically done before. But it's exactly the kind of soothing his spirit needs to bring him back to his vibrant, vivacious, vexing self after roughing it at school all week. Food is always where it's at for him.
Anyone out for a late lunch might notice a tall, freckled preteen boy all by himself looking a bit baffled and lost as he enters the restaurants, not really sure what to... do... He's winging it. His first Friday he can be found at the Madrigals' Colombian restaurant, Nuestra Casita, visiting alone for the first time as a real diner, so he's a little more careful to be polite on his own — since usually he's just trailing behind Bruno getting takeout... His second Friday, though, he tries Wanmin Restaurant. It's his first foray into Asian cuisine, just on a whim — and that whim led him right; it's incredible. He might even catch someone else's eye because he eats his meal with such, um... gusto...No, it's gross, disgusting table decorum, omg child stop you're in public ]
WHERE: Kaisou Middle School and nearby restaurants in Midtown
WHEN: First two weeks of school
WHAT: Alberto suffers unduly... though it's still mostly his fault.
WARNINGS: woof, yeah— eighth grade...
a. between classes / lunch
[ The forgetfulness brought on by the muses' creative influences really shoots him in the foot when Alberto starts attending school for the first time ever. Already he was going to struggle, but the fugue state this creative mania has left him in just spells trouble right away. Multiple times in his first week alone, he's snuck off on "bathroom breaks" to secretly explore the school, but then gotten lost in the halls and missed half his class. He's forgotten to do his homework, left his textbooks at home, forgot his backpack in his last classroom, you name it. And the hell with learning the teachers' names — or his classmates'... Everyone is "hey, you" for the first couple weeks. Now, mind you, none of this is at all unusual for Alberto in the first place. But it is unfortunate that the muses' enchantment happens to highlight the worst of his worries for his first impression at school.
Find him wandering the halls between classes (sometimes several minutes after class has started), searching for the same classrooms every day like it's the first day — maybe even holding his school map upside-down. Or perhaps he disturbs you on one of his frequent "bathroom" adventures, poking his nose in other classrooms and staff-only rooms snoopily; he can easily be found in all the places he's not supposed to be... Lunchtime is more enjoyable, though he's a little overwhelmed being in such a huge group of kids for the first time in his life. But he's thrilled to try all the human food in the cafeteria — probably their most enthusiastic diner... Though he also brings pasta from home every day because he's a bottomless pit — and in case he needs to share with a new friend, of course, should anyone come sit with him! Lunchtime is about the only time all day where things don't go wrong for him. ]
b. in the classroom
[ The rest of school is gonna be an uphill battle the rest of the year... He'd come in very hopeful and excited, but with some skewed expectations; it started to seem intimidating rather quickly, as he'd secretly feared it would. His best friend Luca once accused him of being too cowardly to go to human school — "you're just afraid you can't do it!" — and while that argument feels like a lifetime ago now, Luca wasn't completely off the mark back then. Alberto's extremely uncomfortable appearing ignorant, especially about human stuff (go figure, huh), so the whole first month strikes a deep, tender nerve, knocking new cracks in his armor of bravado every single day. He's drastically behind the modern American eighth grade learning level; that's the education a lifetime of isolation on an uninhabited island will get ya, I guess. Whether he volunteered or was called on, his answers in class often draw awkward pauses from the teachers and sniggers from some of the snottier kids, all day, all week. The unusual, Very Human™, and unfortunately eye-catching fashion sense he's developing doesn't do much to stave away potential bullies, and speckling himself with Sharpie doodle "tattoos" while distracted in class practically brands him as a Weird Kid right out the gate. Plus, uh, you know, all the weird things he says and does — more so that part, really... Middle school is tough, man. Especially when you're brazenly pretending to be human in another dimension in the future... Ahem.
Language Arts prompts a lot of mispronounced words and gaps in his vocabulary, showing off his terrible spelling and penmanship compared to most of his classmates; great way to start the morning, he loves it. Maths class is no less embarrassing, having been taught the most rudimentary arithmetic by his father and nothing more. His saving grace is Spanish class; he's already been informally studying Spanish for months, and it's come easily to his Italian mind. This is the only subject where he can actually give correct answers when called on; it's just enough of an ego boost to get him through the rest of the day. Because Science, fascinating as it is, proves even further beyond him than maths; if he didn't have science class with Luca, it'd be much more discouraging. Apart from Spanish, Social Studies piques his interest the most; but like with any other class, his strange responses and wild baseless guesses in class discussions keep building him a reputation amongst students and faculty alike. At the end of each day, Gym is a reprieve because he doesn't have to talk to anyone if he doesn't want to... He gets to move around finally, after sitting still (err, sort of) at his desk for hours on end... And he gets to smack people with volleyballs if he doesn't like them and say it was an accident. The only problem with Gym is that he's supposed to shower afterwards — no, thanks. He'd rather leave school smelling like fish. Like... sweaty fish... ]
c. detention / after school
[ But by far, Alberto's "favorite class...?" Detention. Alberto loves detention. Lucky for him! He seems to have a natural knack for it. Yes, yes, already in his first two weeks, he got issued detention... twice. For what? You'll have to ask him! On his first two Fridays, staying late for detention leaves him alone for the afternoon, so he decides to treat himself to restaurant food after school, something's he's never technically done before. But it's exactly the kind of soothing his spirit needs to bring him back to his vibrant, vivacious, vexing self after roughing it at school all week. Food is always where it's at for him.
Anyone out for a late lunch might notice a tall, freckled preteen boy all by himself looking a bit baffled and lost as he enters the restaurants, not really sure what to... do... He's winging it. His first Friday he can be found at the Madrigals' Colombian restaurant, Nuestra Casita, visiting alone for the first time as a real diner, so he's a little more careful to be polite on his own — since usually he's just trailing behind Bruno getting takeout... His second Friday, though, he tries Wanmin Restaurant. It's his first foray into Asian cuisine, just on a whim — and that whim led him right; it's incredible. He might even catch someone else's eye because he eats his meal with such, um... gusto...
no subject
Although Luca had a lot of fun with several of the classes. Sure, he might be going into science knowing next to nothing, but he was so eager to learn that he quickly made up for that by listening closely to the teacher and doing far more than the assigned reading. Classes that talked about government and things like that tended to be harder for him, though.
no subject
He goes to take a bite of pasta, but pauses with an uncertain glance at Luca just before putting it in his mouth, fork frozen in midair.
"...Can you win a class?"
He... legitimately doesn't know.
no subject
no subject
"So can one of the kids pass the most, more than the other kids? What do they get if they're the best student?"
Like a prize... He figures if there's a scoring system in place — AKA "grades" — then there's a clear winner in the end. And there must be incentive to win, so... of course his mind goes to 'how to beat everyone else.'
And now I had to google the Italian grading system
"Well, I guess so. I don't know if it's the same here because I didn't get the same kind of grades in summer school, but in Genova they gave you a number score between zero and thirty. Anything eighteen or above was passing. So...if you got a thirty you did much better than someone who got a twenty-five, but there's no reason only one person would get a thirty. They're not really comparing you to the other students, it's just how you did individually. They don't really do anything for the 'best student', you just pass or fail. When I was in summer school here, though, they seemed to have a letter system. But they still weren't comparing you to other students."
Which makes sense to Luca, since the goal is to teach them so they could all learn, not to have a competition.
lmao we're learning so much about Italy, right
"Makes sense, I guess... But I still think the kids who get thirties should get a prize or something. They worked the hardest, right?"
He's seen how much effort Luca put into his homework and studying over the summer, and that was just 'practice school;' so he imagines the actual workload of real school is going to be even more intense than that... There are so many misunderstandings about the mechanics of school that aren't being revealed here, but he'll get there.
"What happens when you fail a class? You get in trouble?"
no subject
He takes another bite of his food.
"You have to retake it. Well, maybe have to retake it. Some of the people in summer school were there because apparently they let you try again there, and if you pass that time they let you go to the next grade, but otherwise they hold you back and you have to be in that grade again."
By 'some' he really means 'everyone but people who showed up from other worlds and were weird enough to actually want extra school/needed to catch up to where people would be in this world with their education'.
no subject
"Okay. Well, I'm going to pass all my classes, so we don't have to worry about that."
Same confidence as he'd had when they first decided to join the Portorosso Cup — they were going to win. And they did! While it may be exaggerated confidence, it's not false. These two are great at putting their minds to whatever it is they're trying to achieve. At least this goal is... normal and safe...
no subject
He appreciates Alberto's enthusiasm.
"And we can study together, so if either of us have any trouble we can help each other!"
Okay, realistically it would probably be mostly Luca helping Alberto, but who knows? Maybe Alberto will find a subject he's great at that Luca struggles with.
wrap?
Alberto's feeling more inspired now, more optimistic and empowered about doing well in school. It's a feeling that unfortunately may not last long, but he's got his resolve set to do well in his studies so he and Luca can stay together. And studying with Luca and their friends sounds like just another fun-ish activity they can do together... At least, it probably makes it funner than studying alone, he figures.
And wrap!
Between Luz having done this before and knowing all about humaning and their own determination, he knows they'll be able to pull this off.