Battle Heroes X: S02E03

Zack and Julius is the second episode of Battle Heroes X Season Two and the eighth episode overall. The episode revolves around Zack and Julius meeting for the first time. 
== The Episode ==
Clouds were forming in the sky as a young boy walked with his mother to the bus stop for his first day of school. At the bus stop, kids were with their parents, smiling and happy. When they arrived, the boy attached himself to his mother's leg.
"I don't wanna leave you, mommy!" He began, tears streaming down his face. His mother ruffled his head of brown hair.
"You'll be ok, kiddo! You're gonna love school! There's a ton of fun things to do there, like learning, playing, and making new friends!"
A few feet away from the boy and his mother, another boy was sitting and waiting quietly for the bus. This one, however, was alone.
"Friends like that boy over there! Why don't you go say hi to him!" The mother began the process of trying to pull her son off her leg.
"B-but I wanna be with you!" He said.
"You have to be brave for me, alright?" She said, finally detaching him and setting him down.
"Alright, I guess..." He agreed, wiping his nose with his sleeve.
"You can do this, we believe in you! Just walk over to that boy and ask him for his name!" The mother kissed him on the forehead and looked at her son for a few more moments before walking away. The boy turned to the other one waiting by himself and slowly walked towards him.
H-hi..." He started. "Excited for the first day of school?"
"Yeah, sure," He answered, grimly, already from first sight he seemed pretty sad. He had messy black hair and a backpack with a discolored patch on it.
"What's wrong?"
"Today's really gloomy and I couldn't eat breakfast because of how far I live from here," He stammered. "This school doesn't really seem like it'll be fun. I don't even know anyone there."
The brown-headed boy brightened up a little. "Just like me! I don't know anyone either!"
Rain began to fall from the sky and the black-haired boy sighed. "Now I'll be sad and wet."
The brown-haired boy put his bag down and pulled out an umbrella, opening it. It was large enough to cover the two of them.
"Thanks," The black-haired boy said.
"You're welcome. Hey, maybe we can be fr...frie…frieds!" The other boy struggled to pronounce the word.
This prompted the black-haired boy to laugh a little. "Friends?"
"Yeah!" The two boys smiled at each other. A few moments later, the bus arrived and opened up its doors.
"Well, if we're gonna be friends, we gotta know each others names! Mommy told me that!" The two ascended the steps to enter the bus. "My name's Julius!"
"Nice to meet you, Julius! My name's Zack." They took their seats and the bus started its journey to school.
Zack and Julius had just got off the bus and entered the school with the rest of the children. Teachers guided the children through the halls and to their first classes for the day.
"What class do you have first, Zack?" Julius asked.
"Reading. What about you?"
"Me too!" Julius replied excitedly. The boys entered the class and had a seat at a table with some other children. The reading teacher made his way to the front of the class.
"Good morning, students. My name is Mr. Robbins. I'm so excited to be teaching you all reading this year! Before we start learning, we're going to do a little activity where we'll all read a few sentences from a story!" Mr. Robbins picked up a stack of papers and passed one out to each child.
"Alright, who would like to read first?" Not one of the students raised their hand. After a few seconds, a hand went up. "Perfect! What's your name?"
The volunteer nervously answered. "J-Julius, my name is Julius."
"Well, Julius, start us off with our reading!"
Julius was silent, thinking to himself. "Come on, mommy said be brave...but I'm scared..."
Zack patted him on the shoulder. "You can do it, Julius!"
A confident smile appeared on Julius' face. "Thanks, Zack." He turned to the class. "Once upon a time, there were tree little pigs."
"Three, Julius, it's three little pigs," Mr. Robbins corrected. A giggle escaped a child.
"O-oh, sorry. There were three little pigs. One little pig made his house out of sticks, one out of straw, and one out of breeks."
Now multiple children were giggling. "Bricks, Julius."
"Okay. One day a big bad wolf appaired..."
"Alright, how about we have someone else read instead?" Now even more of the students were laughing at Julius, who looked down at the table in embarrassment. A single tear fell from his eye. Zack got up, raising his voice. "Hey! Don't laugh at him! At least he was brave enough to try!"
"Quiet down now, students." The children stopped laughing slowly. Mr. Robbins pointed to another child. "Alright, how about you there. Let's have you read..."
The school day progressed and soon ended. All the children exited the school and were getting picked up by their parents or going back on the bus. Zack and Julius made their way to the bus stop.
"Thanks for that time in reading, Zack," Julius said.
"We're friends, Julius. Friends stick up for each other and stuff," Zack replied. As the two talked, Julius' mother appeared in her car.
She got out of the car and hugged her son. "Julius, my brave little boy! You did it!" She looked at Zack, who gave a smile. "And you made a new friend!"
"Yeah, this is my fr...friend, Zack!" Julius looked to his mom. "Mommy, can Zack come to our house and play with me?"
"I don't know, Julius. I'd have to call his parents and see if its ok with them..."
Zack quickly interrupted. "They'll be ok with it. If it's ok with you, I can call them when I get to your house."
Julius tugged at his mom's dress and began to beg. "Pleeeeeeeessee?"
His mother smiled. "Ok, he can come over, but only because you were such a brave boy today!"
"Yay! Come in, Zack!" Julius took Zack's hand and led him to the car, where Julius' mom helped them in and drove off to the Vladmire residence.
...
Playing with Julius was the most fun Zack had had in a long while. The two sat on the floor around a game board. Zack was inspecting one of his action figures.
"Wow, Julius, you sure have a lot of toys..."
The brown haired boy looked up from examining a pair of dice. "You think this is a lot? What kinda toys do you have at your house?"
As if the question struck a nerve, Zack loooked away. "As, welll..."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Julius' mom popped her head in.
"Zack, I just wanted to ask if you had called your family yet?"
Zack got up. "No, I'm sorry. Julius is too much fun."
The mother and child walked downstairs to the living room, where the house phone was located. Zack took the phone and dialed in a number.
"Hello?" A voice said on the other end.
"It's Zack," Zack said.
"Zack? Where have you been? Where are you right now?"
"At a friend's house," The boy answered.
"A friend? That's good, you barely speak to anyone in the orphanage."
"Yes, well..." Zack trailed off. "Is it okay if I stay with Julius this afternoon?
"Julius? That's his name, hm? Of course you can stay with him. Stay as long as long as you want. Do you think this Julius' home could be a place for you to stay?"
"I don't know, we just met today. But I like him."
"Well, think about it. The faster you find a home to stay, the quicker you'll be out of here."
And with that, the line went dead. Zack put the phone back on the hook and sighed. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Zack?" Julius called out. "Can you still stay?"
The black-haired boy shook himself out of his mood and turned to his friend. "It looks like it."
"Yay!" Julius celebrated. "Let's get back upstairs, then! We gotta finish our game!"
"Right!" Zack agreed, a small smile growing on his face. Together, the boys went back upstairs to enjoy the rest of their day.