#ezra al-hashimi

[belsasim]

Zinnia couldn't wait to take Momo to the park to meet all her close friends. Everyone was very welcoming and curious about the mysterious Islander who bravely had rescued their friend and casually stolen her heart in the process.

After chatting for a while and asking all their questions, the friends set out to rollerskate together. For Momo, this was a first, but he did a remarkably good job at keeping his balance and even managed to cheekily wink a few at Zinnia. She got so flustered that she almost ungraciously lost her balance.

Kit eventually got a little hungry and decided to grill some fruit for the gang. He had a girlfriend and a guest to impress, so he carefully turned each piece and grilled it to perfection. When he had plated up the still succulent and slightly caramelised fruits, he knew this would be a real treat. And he just knew that you, yes you, would want a piece too!

[belsasim]

A few days later, Ezra came over to the Dreamers' place to hang out with Kit and as it was a hot day, the boys decided to enjoy the pool. After swimming a few laps, Ezra suddenly stopped. Kit, used to worry over his siblings when using the pool, immediately swam to Ezra to make sure everything was ok.

Kit (worried): "Bro, you ok there?" Ezra (a painful look on his face): "Yeah, just a leg cramp all of a sudden. So annoying." Kit (relieved): "As long as I don't need to give you mouth to mouth, it's fine!" Ezra (happy with this open goal, giving Kit a wink): "You wouldn't mind it though if I was Penelope, right." Kit (caught off guard): "What? Nu-uh! Why?" Ezra (squinting his eyes a little): "Come on, bro, you like her." Kit (looking away): "Nooo, I... Nooo, of course not... We're just friends... Seriously" Ezra (faceplanting): "Bro... are you delusional? Why don't you just admit it? She's into you too!" Kit (frowning): "No way!" (after a short silence, with a softer voice) "And even if... I mean... She's a Landgraab. They're living across the street. And they do not like me."

Ezra raised one eyebrow and shrugged: "Since when do you care what the w**h**ing Landgraabs think?" Kit answered in a soft voice, staring into the water. "I don't. But I don't want them to punish her for dating me. Being friends, that's already pushing it a little, but they're just ignoring her mostly at the moment. But dating... They could send her off to another boarding school or something."

Ezra slowly nodded, he had to admit there was some logic in Kit's reasoning. Those nasty Landgraabs could very well do something shitty like that. Then he reacted: "I see... But maybe you could hide it from them? Like a Romeo and Juliet kinda thing?" "You've been watching too much romantic telenovelas, bro," Kit laughed. Ezra splashed him and yelled: "I haven't! I'm just trying to help you, ok? Whatever, you don't deserve my expert advice, dumbass!" Kit, protecting himself against the splashes, quickly retaliated with a barrage of splashes: "I'll show you who's a dumbass!"

[belsasim]

Since they were kids, Kit and Zinnia had a tight knit friend group with whom they often hung out at the Desert Bloom Park. After meeting Penelope and immediately hitting it off with her, Zinnia invited Penelope to join them and Penelope eagerly accepted. She never really had friends growing up and she visible enjoyed spending time with everyone. But whenever she could, she'd team up with Kit for an activity. Making homework together, having a ping pong match or whatever.

In time, it became a running joke amongst Billy Ray and Ezra to interrupt Kit and Penelope in whatever they were doing, just to see Kit try his best to remain casual and friendly, but trying to make whoever talked to him move on to something else.

When Zinnia commented to Elisabeth about those antics, Elisabeth shrugged and giggled. "Zin, your brother is obviously in love with her and she with him. They should just make a move. The boys wil continue to tease until they do." Zinnia shook her head. "I don't think Kit realises it, to be honest." Elisabeth gave Zinnia a conspiring look. "Maybe... we should give them a tiny push?"

---

I SWEAR I didn't realise I had styled the friends to match so perfectly when I gave them their makeovers. Only when I posed them for the group photo, did I notice. Oh well, in the end, they were all made for each other 😂

[belsasim]

Towards the end of Summer Break, Kit and Zinnia invited their friends over for a slumber party. Rayne spent a good chunk of time preparing the tastiest healthy chickpea spaghetti for his children and their guests. Chatting, joking and laughing, they enjoyed this wonderful meal.

[belsasim]

After dinner, the twins and their friends played some video games . Elisabeth got eliminated first from their mockup championship, but was happy to join Zinnia to cheer for the boys. When darkness had fallen, they moved to the second floor terrace, where Sarah and Rayne had built them a makeshift outdoor cinema area.

After the movie, as it was a warm and clear night, they rolled out their sleeping bags on the terrace to sleep under the starry sky. A successful slumber party.

[belsasim]

Kit and Zinnia also had great times at the Desert Bloom park, as they met up with a few friends from school (not all kids teased Zinnia at school, luckily).

Elisabeth Nicholas was actually the daughter of Zinnia's specialist, Doctor Philip Nicholas. She quickly became a close friend to Zinnia, as she had seen her in her father's practice and Doctor Nicholas had educated his daughter about what diabetes was and how uncomfortable it could make Zinnia. She often stood up for Zinnia together with Kit.

Ezra Al-Hashimi lived in the same neighbourhood as Elisabeth and the both of them had been friends since they were toddlers. So it was natural that Ezra also hung out with the Dreamer twins. And he secretly was quite fond of Zinnia 🫣

Kit and Billy Ray Rose had bonded over getting into trouble regularly, Kit for protecting his sister a little too aggressively and Billy Ray for having a slightly too loud mouth and talking back to their teachers. The five of them loved playing astronauts on the jungle gym, conquering all sorts of imaginary worlds.