"By the way, Alexander. How are the kindergarten people?" Old Sullivan asked as the Creed trio were in their new home and having their usual dinner talk.
"Grandpa, shouldn't it be 'how's kindergarten?', not 'how are the kindergarten people?'" Alexander mirrored back and took a bit of his food after a while. He had long been scheduled to start schooling and his little charades during the Major assaults were done outside his school hours.
The summer season was gone but the seasons still continued to change. He may have skipped preschool but higher levels of education would still come his way.
"You are you, little Alex. I'm just worried for your classmates and teacher that would bear the brunt of your shenanigans!"
"For your enlightenment, I happen to be a quiet and well-behaved kid while in class." Young Alex's words were not that far from how his James Smith character would go about his preschool days. "All would have been perfect if it wasn't for a parent asking if I were in a certain movie."
"Then, it went downhill from there! With one nosy parent and another pointing out the dots, it didn't take long for them to realize that I am the 'ghost boy' they say I am."
"Were you found out? Everyone there must be quite crazy to relate you to that super famous Kid Psychic that almost all of the world knows." Mark chimed in sarcasm as his son's adamance on being low-key just would not work out for someone as famous as him.
"The entire class got so rowdy that the teacher had to take her time to calm everyone down." Alexander just got shivers when thinking about that scene. Every single classmate of his was closing in on him like he was a cute puppy to pet.
"I'm a year older and even changed my hairstyle to be student-ly neat from its popular shagginess! Those people must have paparazzi in their blood to notice the stark difference!"
"Haha! What kind of stark difference are those?! You only grew older for a year and did not evolve or have one of those disguise surgery!" Sullivan could only laugh at his grandson's rare moments of naivety.
Mark chimed in again. "Maybe they couldn't help themselves but memorize your name, face, and details because you got their kids hooked up into weird things. You will be surprised at how many households are coping with children trying to bend spoons with their minds or 'talking' to the ghost of their dead nanas, grandpas, and pets!"
The adult Creeds may not know it but Alexander is clear that this was the ghost phenomenon when the Ghostbusters and Casper became a thing.
"Maybe I should have gone schooling in India or somewhere in the countryside to stop this from happening. Is an early transfer still available?" The boy mutter with hopeful eyes, only to be turned down.
"This is the same thing as the independence and freedom talks. You can only soldier through the fame, little man!" Old Sullivan grinned at his grandson's plight. "And to think we were worried for them. I guess a little devil's weakness is being mobbed by fans."
"Funny you said that!" Mark remembered his encounters when picking up young Alex from school. "It really won't take long for Alexander to be independent and have a girlfriend! There were actually a couple of parents asking if we could set playdates for the little kids."
"Interesting! I didn't even know that that was a thing. Give me a list and maybe we will pick the right suitor for the lad." Old Sullivan joked along as he saw the pout of their little junior.
Alexander can only gritfully chew his food to vent his frustration.
He knew that the day would come when he would have to go to school. He feared relearning everything that basic education has to offer. Going through the same visions as Other Joe was enough to tell him that it would be tedious and boring.
It would be a constant repetition of the sensation whenever one would answer 1+1 when one knows how to find X.
He could jump school years like Sheldon Cooper but that situation is more troublesome than the last one!
Who would've thought that dumbing down his advanced knowledge would be the least of his worries?
He has to go through the awkwardness of getting to know new people, experiencing uncertainties, growing oneself, and developing his character. Basically, the process of living life and the school days that came along with it.
School is fun and all but going through those stereotypical and judging years with the stereotypical and judgy kids and teens of the 70s and 80s would be tough.
Film knowledge has already prepared him how to interact with any person in the school hierarchy and labeled groups. Be it a jock, nerd, weirdo, goth, or just the average guy, he prepared contingencies for whatever his development would lead him to.
He wasn't prepared for living any of those possible personal developments and interactions with the halo of being a child actor. It would seem that he would be restricted to being the popular kid!
Which was the hope of many but the bane of a self-diagnosed introvert like him. His hopes of being quiet, mysterious, and relatively undisturbed have been dashed.
He couldn't go on with living under a different name and wearing disguises all school period. Not anyone can pull off the tackiness of Hannah Montana's double life and Phunsukh Wangdu's secret, after all.
All that could be done is to experience and adapt. Maybe he was just overcomplicating things and being a child star isn't that much of a big deal at all.
With the way things are, his supposedly predictable and planned life has gotten an unpredictable mix to it. Knowing the general trend of pop culture and world technology is a source of strength and stability while being blind about the trajectories of his intricate life filled him with dread and expectation.
He was in between being bothered and looking forward to it. He may have the general foresight to manipulate his success but the unclear little details of tomorrow are what gives his day-to-day the flavor of life.
