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It had been an eventful year for the Palmer-Kelly family. Things had started off with Ivy being laid off and although having a parent at home ended up being helpful given what would happen with the kids, the loss of income wasn't easy. Then their oldest Avery told them he was actually their son and that was a whole new change to adjust to. Then after the family gotten acquainted with having two boys in the house Ellie announced that she had always felt like a girl two and now Jess and Ivy were raising two trans highschoolers. On top of all of that the rent went up, Jess was turned down for a raise citing budget cuts, and the state legislature was moving towards laws that would make things even harder for Avery and Ellie than they already were. Jess put out her application everywhere she could with no luck until she got a reply from the Clarke Institute. The Institute was based on a small island off the coast of Washington and was relatively famous, or infamous depending on who you asked. It started as a Department of Energy backed particle accelerator and since then the lab has grown and now has billionaires and corporations donating to fund research as well. The research that went on there was strictly need to know but the conspiracies that came out about the place were wild, including things like contacting parallel dimensions if you could believe it. Gibbs Island was beautiful and the Institute was going to not only pay over twice her teaching salary but help the family move and start renting a cute three bedroom home with an option to own down the line. The only issue was the school. The Foundation assured her that what they were promising was possible but Jess wouldn't have believed it without them flying her out there. It was all true. The Foundation school's experimental results spoke for themselves. Every kid who passed through came out a prodigy. Still, it was such a big change though she would only agree if both kids signed on. A month ago there had been a family meeting where Jess and Ivy had told Ellie and Avery. There was some confusion, upset, and more than a few tears from Ellie but in the end her big brother talked her into it. The decision was made, the family would be moving to Gibbs Island and both kids enrolled in the Gibbs Island School. Only instead of starting as a senior and a freshman they'd be starting as, well, it was hard to say exactly but physically at least they'd be indistinguishable from toddlers. Jess woke up early on moving day. She'd always been a morning person and that made her take point today. She started a pot of coffee and poured out a quick breakfast of cereal for each of the kids to eat before the movers came. Jess made knocks on both doors and called for the kids to get up, offering whoever woke up first the first dibs on a shower since she and Ivy had taken one the night prior. Once she heard stirring in both rooms, Jess got to work packing and sealing some of the final boxes. Ellie groggily sat up, brushing the sleep out of her eyes. She'd been sleeping terribly since she learned where they were going and what was going to happen once they got there. If it hadn't been for Avery, she would have dug in her heels and refused to ever go. Somehow he managed to convince her it wasn't going to be so bad though Ellie still had her doubts. Ellie spent her whole childhood quietly hating the lengths her moms went through to make her feel comfortable as the only 'boy' in a house presumed to be full of girls. Avery told her it offered a chance at doing things again the right way and though Ellie was intrigued, she wondered if idea might be motivating Avery more than he let on. She trudged to the bathroom with an arm full of towels as ready as she could be to start the day.