Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue:

 Prince and Pauper

              “What the fuck man…”

I mutter to myself as I walk from the Volcaldera Bluffs metro station to this posh as hell neighborhood that I clearly do not belong in. I reach into my pocket and decide to stow the knife I had into my satchel since I’m pretty certain this area doesn’t allow hobos and drug dealers to wander the streets. As if to answer my musings, a police car driven by what looks like a pterodon that looks two sizes too big for the cab from my glance. I shiver as the grizzled looking man flashed an icy glare my way as he drove by, making my blood run cold. As the car disappears around a turn, I shake my body slightly to knock loose the icicles that had formed on my internal organs and continue on my way to what is to be my home for the next year.

              ‘Anon, ya got one last chance. Either ya pass in school and go to college, or go into the service, I don’t care which. You got till the end of the school year y’hear?!’

I wince at the memory of my old man’s ultimatum. A master of compassion my dear old Dad is. Your own son was being targeted for bullying all last year and your answer to help me was to ship me to this temperate shithole with nary a dollar to my name and wish me the best of luck. Sucking air through gritted teeth, I look back down at my phone as my Gruugle Maps app led me to my destination. The surrounding area was your average suburban landscape, well-manicured lawns that led up to expensive looking houses that were spaced out pretty evenly. Most were two story domiciles that looked warm and inviting to somebody, but to someone like me that was better used to dingy apartments and hovels, this place was like a dream. That dream continued when I finally reached my destination with a musical ding coming from my phone.

I looked up at the house that was just small enough to not be called a mansion. A one-story brick rancher with dull blue roof greets me, with an equally dull blue door that is just a top three steps that connect the porch with the cement path that ends right at my feet, cutting a straight line through the freshly mowed lawn. Sighing, I stow my phone in my jeans pocket and stride slowly to the door, dreading each step as the blue door gets closer and closer. Coming to a stop, I contemplate my situation. I was shipped here to a costal area so my wonderful parents wouldn’t have to deal with a ‘whining miscreant’ just because I couldn’t deal with the constant bullying I was subjected to because of my…choice of hobbies. My Dad was going to put me up in an apartment somewhere in a dive called Skin Row, but then a chance call from my uncle gave him a free ticket to get rid of me. After a few words and a fake excuse that ‘Anon is so interested in the arts, we want him to be able to go to a good school like you’re sending your son to.’ One more fake pleasant conversation later, and soon I was plopped onto a plane and flown out to Volcaldera Bluffs, my few belongings in a cheap suitcase and my satchel. Just thinking about the whole thing puts a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach, making the next move I need to make feel so slow. My hand reaches up, closing into a fist as I rap my knuckles against the wooden blockade.

              “Hey Unc, I’m here!”

              I wait for an answer, which doesn’t seem to come. I arch an eyebrow and pull my phone out to double check the address. Yup, right place…so what gives? I knock again, louder this time.

              “Hey Unc, you home?” I yell to anyone that could hear in the palatial house.

              Still no answer, but as I strain my ears to hear anything a shuffling noise seems to be approaching from inside. The lock on the door slides open and the door knob twists, the door opening inward. Standing before me in all his pampered glory is my little cousin, Inco G. Nito. The bald wonder was dressed in what I could only guess was designer jeans and t-shirt, with a surprisingly forgettable blue jacket over his shirt. The last thing that is even remotely interesting about him is the pair of sunglasses that he always seems to wear, night as well as day. I grimace as I refuse to be the first to greet the trust fund child in front of me. Inco seems to be doing the same thing as he has yet to speak, an impromptu staring contest. After what seems like an eternity, Inco’s furrowed expression seems to soften as a small smile seems to splay on his lips.

              “Hey Anon, wasn’t expecting you for another hour!” He exclaims as he steps aside and thrusts his arm further inside, beckoning me in.

 I utter a murmur of greeting as I push past him into the house, my rolling luggage rolling over Inco’s socked toe. He stifles a grunt of pain as he brings his foot up into his hands, trying to soothe the attacked appendage. I ignored his plight as I took in my new surroundings, looking around the spacious open floor room. The living room lay ahead of me, a large L shaped sofa taking up the middle of the room facing a wall mounted flat screen TV that takes up a majority of the wall. The carpeting ends behind the couch into hardwood flooring that flows into a large kitchen. An island counter occupies the middle of the kitchen, several pieces of cooking equipment placed closer to the sink that is across on another counter that lines the wall. The clear side of the island has three bar chairs placed against it for people to sit at for possible meals and what not. The far wall is made up of large windows that bring in light from outside, giving the entire room a decent amount of natural light. Just past the end of the counter is a hallway that spans the rest of the house, at least four doors in view.

Turning back to Inco, I catch his annoyed expression disappear as he saw me turn, a smirk splaying on my own face. He’s closed the door and started to slightly hobble closer to me, adjusting his shades.

“Sorry Inky, didn’t see ya there,” I ribbed him, probably a little too mean spirited than meant but I didn’t care. ‘Inky’ arched an eyebrow disapprovingly at my nickname, but shook his head as he dismissed whatever retort he had.

“Whatever man, it’s still good to have you.” Inco sighs as he walks past me, waving his hand to me as a sign to follow him down the hall. Grabbing my luggage, I trundle after.

“We set up your stuff that your dad mailed here in the guest room next to mine, here,” He opens one of the doors to his left and walks inside, I follow close behind and are greeted by a room that was at least two times bigger than the one I had at home. A large comfy looking bed was resting in the far-left corner of the room, the bedding neatly made with two pillows placed at the head. Next to it, sitting under a large window that has its blackout curtains drawn is my old wooden desk, my computer monitor, mouse, and keyboard placed on the surface. Across the way on the right wall is a closet with most of my clothes already hanging on hangers (My wonderful collection of the same shirt and pants) as well as a small stand where another flat screen tv is placed on the top. I give an impressed whistle.

“Man, thanks Inco, you guys didn’t have to set it up for me like this.” I drop my luggage and satchel at the foot of my new bed and give an appreciative slap on Inco’s back. Slightly humbled, Inco starts to rub the back of his head, chuckling slightly.

“Well, I figured you’d want to feel at home when you got here, so I took care of it.” A self-important grin forming. He turns to look at me. “Don’t worry, only turned the computer on to check it was working, didn’t look through anything at all!”

I narrowed my eyes at his explanation that seemed a little unneeded. Inco chuckles nervously as I scrutinize him intently. Playing with his collar, he starts to make for the door.

“I’ll…I’ll let ya get settled in...” He quips. I turn to watch him go.

“So are Unc and Antie at work or...?”

Inco stops in his tracks, his back to me. I can’t see his face, but I can almost feel the hint of unease coming from him. I feel a pang of familiarity pain…ahh him too huh. Well, whatever.

“Forget it man, I’ll see them later I guess,” I say indifferently, not sure what else to say.

Inco nods slowly as he closes the door. “At least someone else is around…”

That last answer was so quiet, I had to strain my ears to catch it, but it didn’t stop that pain from hitting that weird pit that had been forming. Ahh well, alone in an unfamiliar room. I guess it isn’t too unfamiliar since most of my stuff is in a familiar arrangement, but the extra space of the room makes me feel small. Shaking my head of these awful thoughts, I flop onto my bed on my back, staring up at the ceiling. I pull my phone out of my pocket and jump onto a familiar Hungarian cow milking forum. I insert myself into a flame war and proceed to get myself IP banned from the site after a few well-placed comments that the admin took notice. Heh, what a record! I look out the window and see the sun setting past the horizon. Man, shitposting is a time-consuming pastime! I looked back at the ceiling and thought about my next conquest and a half smile splays on my face. When I was traveling here on the plane, I looked up various sites that were dino centric, deciding which ones would be good shitposting potential. One of these such sites was a female dino centric sites that funnily enough did not allow male human in. Challenge accepted.

I had spent a few hours setting up a fake account, complete with traceable extra accounts on other sites to make it seem believable and was just waiting for approval. I check the fake email I set up for just such occasion and was delighted to find my acceptance email to the “Lizard Lounge”. Cracking my knuckles, I accept the invitation and proceed to and plan on how I am going to infect this site from top down.

This is gonna be fun!

* * *

I left Anon to get acquainted with his new room and closed the door behind me. I leaned against the door as I could hear a faint ‘whump’ sound from inside the room. Guess he’s testing out the bed. I shrug as I get back onto my feet and head towards my own room. Considering Mom and Dad are never around when it counts, it’s nice to have another person around…even if it is Anon. To be honest, I really would love to connect with him, but every time we’d ever meet at family gatherings, he was always so closed off from everyone. I chalked it up to him not knowing how to interact with people, but knowing how he is…online, I know he at least knows how to tick people off.

It wasn’t on purpose; I wasn’t trying to pry. It happened when I was setting up his computer after Mom’s sticky note tasked me with setting up Anon’s room when his stuff showed up at the door. I set up the wires and placed everything as best I could and made sure it was working. The computer started with a loud hum and his desktop came to life, displaying what looked like some weird website forum. Curiosity got the better of me and I scrolled through, aghast at Anon’s less than savory dealings on these forums. Realizing I my mistake, I scrolled back to where I found it and shut off the power. My heart was racing and I hoped to Raptor Jesus that he doesn’t find out. As soon as I had powered it down, I heard the knocks on the door and got a bit scared. I played it off the best I could and don’t think he caught on…but I guess time will tell.

I adjust my shades and straighten out my best jacket and opened the door to my room. It’s not too different from the guest room Anon is in now, but with more movie posters and some of my more favorite photos that I have taken of various things. Landscapes, animals, and other subjects that really spoke to me. I look over to my desk and see my prepared backpack for the start of school tomorrow. My beloved DSLR in its bag is placed in it neatly with a few binders and pencil case, ready to be used.

I think about it, we only really just moved here towards the end of the summer and honestly, I’m still not really used to the area. Most of our shopping is through Rockmates and Dinodash so I haven’t really gotten the lay of the land. I plan on figuring that out though and making sure that I fix my current social predicament. Considering we are constantly on the move; I haven’t really been able to make friends…But that will change tomorrow! This is senior year dammit and I am going to make my mark!

After I psyche myself up, I feel and hear the growl of my stomach, letting me know of my hunger. I rub my belly and decide I’ll rustle up some grub from the freezer. I head out of my room and start toward the kitchen, but stop in my tracks. The thought of Anon being here reminded me that I’m not alone, social activity! I turn around and knock on his door, first step in operations friends, secure the cousin…start!

“Hey Anon, ya hungry? We got pizza pockets and chicken nuggets!” There isn’t an answer at first, but a low grunt signaled he heard me at least. I wait a little bit for a more concrete answer, my stomach growling in protest.

Silence.

I knock on the door impatiently, but doing my best to hide that fact.

“Anon?”

Nothing. Well cool, just ignore me…

Irritation starts to rise as I reach for the doorknob, twisting it and pushing it open to see… a flying object aimed directly at my face. Before I get a chance to react, one of the pillows from the bed had been launched at me, followed by an angry roar.

“HEY, SOME FUCKIN’ PRIVACY?!”

The pillow slams into my face and I’m caught off balance as I crash to the ground against the opposite wall. My shades fall from my face and land neatly on the pillow on my lap as pain radiates from where the back of my head hit the wall. My hand reflexively goes to massage the sore spot as I dumbly stare into the doorway at my assailant. Anon is red faced, his face screwed up in a furious mask of someone who just had his privacy trampled over. He had gotten under the sheets of and was sitting straight up, his phone discarded to his side near the pillow that was still on the bed. Sudden realization of the situation made the color in my face drain as if someone had turned a faucet and the color just washed away.

There was a deathly quiet between us, neither moving. Goody, another staring contest, and this one had higher stakes than the first. Slowly, I watched Anon’s hand reach over to his phone behind him. Suddenly, a high-pitched moan emits from his phone, causing Anon’s angry mask to crack into one of sudden horror as he turned his head towards the snitching device, his hands fumbling around on the screen trying to silence it. I finally got the feeling in my legs back as I scrambled to my feet and picked up the pillow and tossed it into the room and go to quickly slam the door shut.

“IMSORRYANONIFUCKEDUPHAVEAGOODTIMENIGHTIMEANSORRY!!!!!!!!!”

I launch myself into my room and slam the door shut, locking it in the process. My heart is literally bursting from my chest. I can hear Anon mumble yelling in my direction, but the wall we share muffles whatever is said. Soon the yelling stops and there is silence. I groan in defeat as I drag myself to my bed, stomach still growling. Flopping onto the comfy sheets I bury my head into the pillow and groan again. So much for Operation: Acquire Friendly Cousin, failure by pillow missile. I grasp at my eyes with both hands and rub them roughly. No, this is just a minor setback, I’ll fix this…somehow…

I look out my window and see the sun has set, darkness rolling over the other houses of the neighborhood. Once again, my stomach angerly lets me know its grievances, I drag myself out of bed to the kitchen. Cautiously, I open my door and peek to make sure the coast is clear. Once I see the hall is quiet, I slink out and move as silently to alleviate my poor tum-tum. Flipping the light on, I move towards the freezer and acquire my prize, a full bag of dino nuggies. I pull out a paper plate and place about 15 of the funny little nuggets of chicken and put it in the microwave. Dialing in the timer, the machine hums to life as I take a seat at the island and await my meal. Taking my phone out, I scroll through YouSnoot and find a video to pass the time. Another noise catches my attention that comes from the hallway, causing my blood to chill as I see Anon walking towards me. I looked to his face and am at least relieved that there doesn’t seem to be anger anymore, but what’s there is still makes me feel uneasy. It’s almost as if he is just looking through me as if I’m not here. He stops in the middle of the kitchen and spies the microwave. I tilt my head to the side, just watching to see what he’s planning. ‘Say something, fix it!’

“H…hey Anon! Hungry?”

Anon doesn’t even nod my way, just silently watching the microwave. My eyebrows knit as I am just at a loss. The microwave beeps as it signals the dino shaped morsels are cooked, I slide of my chair to go collect my food. Then, to my surprise, Anon opens the machine and takes the food out. He then proceeds to walk back towards the hallway, my food in tow. I sputter a protest as I follow after him.

“Hey that’s!”

He turns and I stop in my tracks. The anger was back, a deep venom laced in. I fall silent as he turns back around and disappears into his room, the door closing with a thud. I’m left in complete confusion.

“But...my nugs…”

I’m starving.

* * *

Grumbling, I popped a nugget into my mouth as I scrolled through the online brochure of my soon to be new school, St Hammond High. I grimace at the overly artsy presentation of all the different classes that were on display, mostly geared towards the...well, arts. I shudder at the prospect of having to be ‘creative’ in this awful situation.

‘Just gotta get through a year without causing a fuss. No need to put myself out there, just cruise on by.’

After my little…incident…with that shaded ass, I made sure to check my computer to see if he had done any snooping like I suspected. Not noticing anything in particular, I make sure to reactivate my password protection to log on and shut it down. I sigh as I think about it again. All I had done was get comfortable and was just settling my nerves after the hard work of my prep for Lizard Lounge, and was watching some trash on Netstix to pass the time. It wasn’t particularly perverted…but Konosuba can push the limits sometimes. It had gotten to one of those Darkness centric scenes when I noticed the door start to open on its own.

My power level…have to play it cool…he mustn’t know!

 The alarms blare in my head and my cool level headed action was to chuck my pillow at Inco and scream like a spurg. Cursing my reaction, I can see the judging expression plastered on his face. That face, the ridicule in there…just like everyone back in Rock Bottom. I can feel the grimace on my face as I stare him down. Distracting him with my glower, I deftly reach back to grasp my phone and close the app so he wouldn’t see. Not really deft however, when I hear Darkness cry out like she does when she is just being a spaz, and my blood freezes. I give him the win on that contest and fumble with my phone, cursing my clumsy fingers as I fling it under my pillow.

“IMSORRYANONIFUCKEDUPHAVEAGOODTIMENIGHTIMEANSORRY!!!!!!!!!”

I look back at the door as my makeshift weapon was flung back in and my door slammed shut, Inco had taken the opportunity to nope the fuck out. The expletives start to run from my mouth aimed at the closed door as I angerly yell at myself in all honesty. Fan fuckingtastic, now my cuz thinks I’m a spurging asswipe. I calm down after a few more choice words, still angry at the situation.

‘Well, step one of being left the hell alone successful I guess...’

I’m shaken from my reminiscing as I can hear the faint closing of the door next to mine and the slight sound of bedsprings from the wall. I sigh as I pop another nugget into my mouth and chew slowly. Yeah man, stealing his food as he had just been trying to be friendly, best way to alienate someone that has opened their home to me. I pick up another nugget and stare at it in contemplation. This particular one is in the shape of a pterodactyl, albeit closer to an amorphous blob. The wings and what I can almost assume is a head crest on top are really it’s only signifiers. I scrutinize it more as if it will reveal the secret to how to not be a complete loser, but naturally it doesn’t reply. I sigh and bite it in half, crunching on the somewhat crisp but soggy breading.

School tomorrow is going to be hell. Not to mention I’m going to have to commute with Inky. The thought makes me shudder after the misunderstanding.  Yeah, gonna have to try and keep some distance from him so I don’t have to deal with that minefield. Luckily, I’m pretty good at waking up early and all that so I should be able to pull it off. I finish off the last of my stolen valor and place the plate on my desk, leaning back onto my new bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Just coast till June...then everything will be fine. I shut my eyes, letting my post meal sleepies take me. This will be my mantra.

No complications. No fuss. Just me against the world.

Perfect.

Chapter Text

              “Ohmigosh! Are you alright?!”

              I groan as I look up at the two dinos peering down at me, concern plastered on their snoots. Pain shoots through my everything as I assess what just happened. Having made it okay to the school pretty easily after taking the metro from home and walked the short distance to the fairly large school building. We had left early to make sure we wouldn’t be late on our first day, but traveled in different paces so neither of us would have to talk about...last night. Since we made it here with about thirty minutes before school, I decided to sit down on a bench and just take in the scenery. The technicolor student body that paraded before me was a wonder to behold. How could so much color be in one place I’ll never know. I leaned back as more students walked by, conversing with each other about their summer breaks and the like. I must have leaned back too much though as a sharp crack invades my ears, then suddenly gravity betrayed me. I land with a loud thud, my head hitting the ground causing stars to blink in front of my eyes.

              A hand extends in front of my face. I blink deliriously up at it, then I take it. Another rush of movement launches me from the ground to a standing position in 3 seconds flat. Taking in the two helpful dinos, I at least recognize them to be a grey pterodactyl and an orangish pink parasaurolophus. The ptero had a large orange crest that looked like it bisected his head, a small point sticking out right under his jaw. His long snout was curled into an amused smirk as he looked me up and down, checking if I was alright.

              “There we go, up you get,” he said as the other dino approached me just a little too close.

              “Oh good! I’m glad you appear unharmed!” Her pleasant voice chimes in with a note of relief.

              I dust off my jacket and readjust my shades, reflexively rubbing the back of my head and chuckle sheepishly.

Introduce Yourself

Stay Silent

              “Yup, seem to be all here!” I blurt out as I look at them again. My scattered thoughts finally focus as I realize my position. New people, alright, time to make friends! I extend a hand out to the orange dino, who perks up at my gesture

              “Inco, nice to meet you uhh.” The friendly female gives a high-pitched giggle as she grins broadly, eyes sparkling.

              “Naomi~! And this wonderful boy here is my wonderful Naser~!” Naomi introduces herself as well as Naser, shaking my palm a bit to hard. Naser to his credit grins and gives me a slight nod.

              “Nice to meet ya Inco, when I heard we were getting two new humans this year, I didn’t believe it, but here you...” He furrows his brow and looks around. “Heard you two were related so I figured you’d travel together; do you know where they are?”

              My excitement at new prospective friends falters a little at the mention of my cousin.

              “Well, we did get here together, but I guess he went on his own somewhere. Figured I’d just sit and try to ready myself for an all dino school” I chuckle mirthlessly. Naomi continues to smile as her eyes seemed to knit up in a worried expression.

              “No sense worrying about it for now, Inco! Why not come along with us and we can give you a proper St Hammond hello?”

              “Yeah, we can get ya settled i...” Naser starts, but then looks towards the entrance of the school. Craning my own neck over, I see a pink dino and what looks like a hulking mountain of a caveman teen struggling with a large speaker trying to cart it into the building. Naser sighs and looks at us apologetically.

 “On second thought, I’ll leave him with you babe,” he says, moving over to give Naomi a peck on the side of her snout. “I think they need a hand.” He nods to me and winks at Naomi as he rushes over to the ailing students. A sigh escapes the excitable parasaur, her expression changes to a slightly depressed smile, but quickly morphs into a bright smile once more.

“Don’t worry Inco, let me show you the flower garden! It’s won several awards!”

Thinking about the idea that gardens can win awards, Naomi grasps my hand and drags me further onto the campus, just barely able to keep up. She forcibly leads me through a fenced in are just off to the right of the building that had an archway that had a beautiful display of vines that have twisted their way through the latticework. Most, if not all the space on the vines are dotted with various flowers that are almost all the color of the students. I watch as I’m whisked into the middle of a veritable oasis of flowers that was honestly breathtaking. Naomi has been talking my ear off about the wonderful gardening club that has been cultivating this entire area, headed by someone named Rosa. We come to a stop in front of a bed of red flowers that have so many petals that I’m shocked that so many could be stuck to one stem.

As Naomi continues to drone on, I pull at my bag and pull out my trusty DSLR and set it up to take a few pictures. Making sure the lens is clear and focused, I look through the viewfinder and train it on the numerous beds of floral wonder. Snapping several times, I get a great shot of numerous vegetation, not sure where to look next. I finally settle on Naomi, who has stopped looking at me and is bent over the red flowers as she continues on a diatribe I have since stopped hearing. Something about her smile as she looks at the flowers made me snap a photo of her without thinking. Suddenly, she looks my way and notices my camera. I freeze in place and I notice what seems to be a slight blush dusting her cheeks as she rights herself.

“So uhh...yes Rosa has been laboring over these since freshman year.” She stammers slightly as my camera is still trained on her. My eyes widen, the moment finally sinking in. I quickly stow the camera into my bag and wave my hands franticly.

              “S...sorry! When I start taking pictures, I tend to...get excited...” I stammer out back, my own face reddening in embarrassment. She seems to be chewing on the inside of her cheek, seemingly in thought.

              “Can...can I see it?” She says in a quiet tone. I arch a brow, questioning the situation that hasn’t seemed to sour yet. I reach back into my bag and pull out the camera. She approaches me slowly and stands next to me, leaning closer to see the small screen that can display the pictures I took. I scroll through the pics of flowers until I reach the one of Naomi and turn the screen to her. Her eyes widen and the thin slit that was her mouth has finally returned to the warm smile she had before.

              “Oh Inco, this is lovely! You seem really good at candid photos.”

              My face burns again at the compliment as I stow the camera once more. A sudden outcry from near the entrance to the garden gets both of our attention, our heads turning towards the commotion.

              “HEY LEATHERFACE, WATCHIT!”

              “WHAT THE HELL?!”

              “MY LEG!”

              Naomi and I look aghast as what looks like a green mass of force is barreling through the garden path towards the school...right towards us. I could feel time slow down as I look at the would-be assailant that is about to collide with Naomi and I.

              It’s...a girl. What looked like a green gator in a wheelchair was speeding towards us. Purple hoodie, blue jeans, brown slippers, and one nasty look that is painted on her maw. Her yellow eyes with silver irises were trained at me...but not on me. Like she’s looking through me, not noticing I’m there. Her eyes had several bags just under her lids, like she hadn’t slept in days. For that slowed second, I wished I had my camera out.

Jump To the Side

Be a Hero, Get Naomi to Safety

              Time resumes, and I realize the present danger of the oncoming gator gal was poised to bowl Naomi and I over if not for some strange force that pulls us out of the way.  Oh, I’m that force...and I had tackled Naomi out of the way...directly into the bed of red flowers. I hear Naomi squeal in pain and horror as I roll through the bed, trampling the floral bed to flattened nothing. I come to a stop on the other side of the bed, my nose resting on the brick walkway, a groan escapes my weary throat.

              “Inco!” Naomi shouts out as she runs to me from around the flower bed, not through like I had. She kneels down next to me and rolls me onto my back, my eyes rolling after the dizzying action my battered body just took. Naomi places a hand on my back as I sit up, just trying to steady me.

              “The hell was...was that?” I ask her in an exhausted tone. She bites her lip and gives an annoyed sigh.

              “That...was Olivia Halford.” She huffed.

              I rubbed my head as I felt another dull pain shoot down my spine, making me yelp. Naomi gasped as her hand on my back kept me from falling to the ground again.

              “Oh dear, here let me take you to the nurses office and have you looked over. You are covered in bruises!” She helps me up gently as I clamber up to my feet, wincing in discomfort. She guides me slowly towards the open doors to the school that open into the garden. I look back wearily and feel my face slack as I see the exact path that I barrel rolled, the bed of once pristine scarlet flowers was now trampled flat. Naomi chuckles nervously.

              “Please don’t worry about it...Rosa won’t be too angry...I’m sure.”

              The ominous feeling I have refuses to go away. Whoever this Rosa is, I think I have made an enemy...

* * *

Finally, I slipped away from Shades.

 I cut through the technicolor garbage that composed the students heading to school and found my way towards the front of the school. It’s a pretty large building, two story in total. Looking at the front, I can see the large T-rex mural that had been painted on the front, giving the grey brick building a bit of color. Everywhere my eyes fall, another dino teen is walking towards the school, some gathering in a small group as they chitter away about their summers and their plans for the rest of the school year. I scoff at the cereal mascots milling around and continue towards the doors, doing my best not to draw attention to myself. I may not be doing that well as suddenly, the chatter around me stops as some of their heads turn my direction. Some others are getting their compatriots attention and pointing towards me. I stop in my tracks, blood running cold.

“IS THAT A HUMAN?”

Suddenly, I am set upon by a ravenous group of dino teens, all of them milling around me trying to get a better look. I grip my bags straps in abject horror as they all started to barrage me with inane questions about what humans are like. The alarms in my hear add to the cacophony as I just want this moment to end. I feel something pinch my arm, an errant hand touching me. Oh God.

I swipe my arm away from the contact and glower at everyone around me.

Let it Slide

Set Those Boundaries

“EVERYBODY JUST FUCK OFF!”

My voice rings out, a furious growl emitting from my throat. Everyone around me freezes in place, flinching at my declaration. Grumbles and hisses emit from the crowd as they disperse. I can feel my cheeks burn red as I just once again made myself the center of attention, to no fault of my own. I grip my bag tighter, muttering curses at the throng of people that had just accosted me. Unfortunately, my way into the building was once again impeded...But this barrier was different than a door.

What laid before me felt almost like a future battle field. Two groups of three dinos faced off with one another. On the left was what looked like a tall pink dino guy that had a frill around his neck and a fin on his head. He was sporting a green shirt with blue jeans, while his face seemed pretty laid back as he watched his friends glower at the others. Next to him was what looked like a hulk of a caveman, dressed in a black t-shirt and flannel button down. A pair of headphones wrapped around the hulking boys’ neck, his jet-black hair falling to his shoulders. Upon closer inspection though, under his hairy arms, his skin looks to have some bluish scales lining his biceps. A hybrid? That isn’t common. Now that I look at his face, I can see his razor-sharp teeth are bared at the purple triceratops girl in the other group, whose own fierce glare met his.

Finally, the one who seems to be the two boys’ leader, the red Parasaurolophus girl has a cruel grin on her face. A blonde bob haircut frames her face as her blue eyes stare straight ahead. Her leather jacket creaks as she holds her arms folded in front of her, a dangerous looking tail with razor sharp spines seems to sway back and forth like a lazy snake. Her eyes narrow at her current prey. I turn to look at her target and stop for a second, taking in the leader of the other group.

I never thought I would see an ordinary colored dino, much less one that doesn’t have the colorful scales as others. She looks like she walked out of a black and white movie, her grey scales and feathers on her elbows bouncing off the sunlight. Her black halter top and black leggings have several tears in them, giving her a punk rocker look. The ptero girl matches the Red Menace with a look that seems...almost disinterested. The aforementioned triceratops girl behind her was almost miniscule in comparison to her staring enemy. She wore a large yellow hoodie that fell down to her knees, her face screwed up in a fierce expression. To the trigga’s side was a red raptor boy who...was staring at the wall. His tank top hung loosely on his shoulders, a thermos in his hand. Much like his mirror match on the other side, he seemed as relaxed, no real animosity present in his demeanor. A fake chuckle emits from the red one’s lips, her eyes flashing dangerously.

“Well, if you really feel that way, why don’t we just settle this tonight? No need to be so hostile before we even get to throw down after all.”

Her lips curl even more, the smile turning into a sneer. Her bangs cast a shadow over her eyes, making the cold cerulean eyes shimmer in darkness, her diamond irises turn to slits. The monochrome wonder just keeps her look not changing as she looked up slightly to meet the ‘predators’ glare. The purple gnome of a triceratops stamps her foot, a furious growl escaping her lips. She looks like she’s about to unload a tirade that has been bubbling well past boiling, but a grey arm slowly blocks her from approaching

“Fang?! Why aren’t you saying anything? That red bitch has it coming!”

‘Fang’ looks back at her friend and just gives her a small smirk.

“Chill Trish, like she said.” Fang turns back to her opponent, the smirk still present.

“Sure Mia, and when we kick your ass, make sure your sis kisses your wounds all better. That cream colored bitch is your better half after all.”

Mia’s face falls from the confident sneer to an even more dangerous frown, her tail flicking in irritation. Reflexively, the hybrid caveman reaches a large palm to grab Mia by the shoulder, preemptively stopping a would-be murder. A long pause for one more stare down, then Mia brushes off the hand, scoffing as she turns with a spin on her heel and stalks off into the school.

“Hey Flint, make sure she doesn’t murder anyone with that lardass tail of hers huh?” Fang snickers, the caveman glowering at her.

“Damian, let’s get goin’. Solly will have our asses if we’re late” Flint mutters as he regards his pink friend, who chuckles and follows after. Damian looks back at Fang’s group and shoots finger guns at them with a genuine smile.

“See ya Fang, always love these meets. Oh, and Trish, love the new hair, looks good~”

Looking over at Fang’s crew, I see her shake her head with a laugh as Trish’s anger is staggered at Damian’s comment, a slight crimson tinge hitting her cheeks before her anger returns. Fang turns to Trish.

“It was only an accident Trish; I don’t think Flint meant to step on your toe.” The ptero girl giggles again at her friend’s expense. The small girl huffs as she punches Fang on the shoulder.

“Fuckin’ lumbering skinnie... Next time I’ll tear him apart,” Trish mutters angerly.

I watch as the three of them turn, Trish grabbing the raptor’s arm to guide him from his spot and enter the school. I feel sluggish as I try to move my legs forward, but the cliché encounter that just played in front of me left me stunned. Two rival gangs in a duel, and it’s pretty obvious the Fang Gang (lol) won that one. I shake my head at the thought, get a grip idiot.

I head towards the door when I spy something on the ground. I approach it and get a better look, a card? My curiosity getting the better of me as I pick it up, looking at the purple backed card. A large eye is emblazoned towards the center of the card, staring up back at me. I flip it over and what greets me is a scene of a small T-rex dino dressed in shabby clothes, a bindle laid on his shoulder. He is about to take a step forward, seemingly uncaring of the cliff he is about to step off of, his eyes trained upward. A small dog to his side seems to be barking, trying in vain to get his attention. Below the portrait, in ornate lettering, are two words.

The Fool

I feel a presence come towards me, one that immediately demanded my attention. I look up from the card and am greeted by a broad chest, black t-shirt and flannel taking up my entire view. I start to sweat as I look further up and now I see my new ‘friend’. It’s the caveman named Flint, and he’s staring at me through glasses, his mouth in the shape of a frown. I take a moment to consider what to do that doesn’t involve me turning into a smear on the ground. While I’m lost in thought, I noticed the mountain of a teen had brought his hand forward. Oh Raptor Jesus, he’s gonna throttle me! I cringe back, preparing for the pain that never comes.

“Could you please give that back?”

I open an eye and look up at Flint, then look back at his hand that had been extended, his palm facing up. I look to the card of the Fool, then back up to him. Slowly, I place the card in his large palm and smile nervously. When the card hits his palm, he lifts one side of his flannel and places it in a pocket. The frown turns upwards, a warmth seems to radiate from the motion.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. Would have gone crazy if I lost this.” He pats the inside pocket with the tarot card in it. He looks at me, as if to decide what to say next.

“So, you Anon or are you Inco?”

I jolt at the question and the mention of mine and Inco’s name.

“I’m Anon, but how?” Flint guffaws.

“My dad is the Superintendent here, Got that juicy inside info.” Flint chuckles as he pats my shoulder roughly. Almost certain he dislocated my collarbone.

“Glad to have some fellow skinnies here, been pretty wild being the only homo erectus here.” He clears his throat a bit. “Where’s your cousin then?” I grimace at his new question.

“I don’t really know, we got separated as we walked here,” I said, sighing a bit. “To be honest, it was intentional on my part, can’t really stand him at the moment.” Flint frowns a bit at the recollection. He shakes his head and sighs.

“Well, I’m sure he’s doing fine. Hey, what’s your first class?”

Dammit, I really didn’t want to socialize like this, especially on the first day. My plan is already crashing. Still though, I’d rather not piss of ‘tall, dark, and rip my sternum out at his leisure’. I pull out my schedule and grimace.

“P.E.”

Flint lights up. “Awesome, us too!”

With that, he walks over to wrap his large arm around my shoulder and proceeds to herd me to our shared destination. I mechanically follow after him, not like I have a choice. As we enter the front door, it sounds like some type of commotion is going on somewhere to the side of the school.

Doesn’t matter to me though, I mentally prepare myself for the physical abuse that P.E. is going to hand me.

Dammit.

* * *

“Mr. Inco, please refrain from rolling in the flower beds in the future? Having to visit my office before school starts is not a good precedent to set.” The nurse chides me as Naomi, Naser, and I walk out of the nurses’ office. I sheepishly wave at the medical professional.

“No problem, I’ll uh...do my best!” I spit out as the door closes. Naser just shook his head and he regards me with a smile. I had to sit for a bit and get some bandages on some of the more serious bruises. I felt sore, but was good enough to set off to first period.

“Hey man, when I left you two, I didn’t mean to lose my chance to be the knight in shining armor.” He chuckles at his own joke, Naomi rolling her eyes, a blush forming on her cheek.

“Well, it was a bit over the top, but thank you all the same Inco.” Naomi chitters a bit. Wow, my face is gonna melt with how much red forms on my face today.

“It was more of a snap decision in all honesty, I was moving before I knew what was happening. Had I thought ahead...probably wouldn’t have gone for a roll.” I grimace as one of my bruises flares angerly. My hand goes to try and sooth it, causing the pink parasaur to look at me with a worried glance.

“Are you sure you are good to go? Maybe we should take you back.”

“No, I’m fine,” I assure her, my hand going back to my bag strap.

“Bu...” Naomi was about to protest when the late bell rings over our heads. The three of us looked up at the loud signal and I can feel my heart sink a little. Late on my first day...great.

The dino couple looked at me with apologetic faces, Naser rubbing the back of his head, while Naomi winced. I sigh, pulling out my schedule. Looking at the top, I see my first class.

P.E.

A twin pair of air sucking through teeth alerted me to them looking over my shoulder.

“What?”

“You need to get to the gym man...Coach Solly is...” Naser trails off, a look of utter pity. I stare at him, not fully comprehending his trailing off. Shaking my head, I nod to the two and slightly hobble towards where Naser pointed. Time to face the music I suppose.

 I note how empty the halls seem now, and try to quicken my pace. Finally, I make it to the double doors that are at the end of the hall, a placard on the wall bearing the words “Gym” I sigh, dejected, and push the door open. Walking inside, I am greeted to a large spacious room. The flooring as opposed to the hall is rubberized and marked with several lines that make up a basketball court, complete with two raided hoops up on the ceiling. Towards the top of the walls are several windows that let in natural light to aid the somewhat yellow lights from several sconces under the wall. Suddenly, a new mysterious force made itself know, and this time it’s not me.

I hear what sounds like a missile whiz by my left ear. I felt something graze me ear as there was a sudden crack noise. I take the moment to register that I am still in fact alive, then take a look to see what had just missed me by a hair. What was once a smooth wooden wall, now has been cracked into a spherical hole in the wall. A dark red ball seems to be settled in to the new cubby hole.

“GLAD YOU DEIGNED IT FIT TO JOIN THE RANKS, MAGGOT!”

I spin quickly and towards the other end of the gym and now I register the people that are shoulder to shoulder. I actually see Anon in the mix as well, right between a large caveman and a pink diplosarus. If I wasn’t so busy turning my gaze to the person who had yelled, I noticed the look of pure anger and disgust from him. My eyes fell on the tall, but lanky...monkey man? He’s wearing a red shirt and grey shorts, his long legs ending at a pair of dirty sneakers, on of which is currently tapping impatiently. Looking up, I can see he has a red baseball cap pulled onto his head so tight, you can’t even see his eyes.

“CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO ME WHY IN THE NAME OF RAPTOR JESUS YOU DECIDED TO BE LATE TO TRAINING?” Solly barks, making me flinch. I open my mouth to speak, but then the murderous intent from the coach silenced my answer. Solly’s thin line of a mouth continues to scowl.

“WELL SHADES? YOU JUST GONNA STAND THERE WITH YOUR FINGER UP YOUR BUTT OR ARE YOU GOING TO FALL IN?!”

I salute without thinking and rush over to the right and fall in line next to a grey ptero girl who follows me with one amber eye. I turn and stand next to her, fixing my shades and looking at the coach. The monkey man turns to address the class.

“WELL NOW THAT EVERYONE HAS SHOWN THEIR HAPPY LITTLE FACES, I’D LIKE TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT I HAVE A ONE CHANCE POLICY, AND SHADES HAS BEEN SO GENEROUS TO USE THAT ON THE FIRST DAY.”

I can feel everyone’s annoyance radiate toward me like knives sticking out of my side. I slide my eyes to look at the girl to my side, and am caught by her amber eyes. There is annoyance there, but also seems to be something else, not something I can understand.

“ANYHOO, YOU MAGGOTS ARE EXTREMELY LUCKY BECAUSE OUR FIRST TRAINING OF THE YEAR IS GONNA BE A GOOD OLD FASHION GAME...OF DODGE-BALL!!!”

“Oh God”

“Shit”

Chapter Text

“AAAAAAAND WHAT IS THE ONLY RULE OF THE GAME?”

“Uh, have fun?”

“GANG UP ON THE WEAK ONE!”

I am pulled roughly out of the way of a ball about to bowl me over by my new ‘friend’ Flint, a dangerous smirk on his face. I steady myself after the shove so I don’t fall on my ass and take a quick moment to look around. Balls are whizzing back and forth, undefined teams have been made and I seem to have been adopted to Flint’s side, along with Damian and a riled-up Mia, an equally dangerous glint in her eye as she snipes two other dinos with one throw. A ball rolls to my foot and without thought, I scoop it up. Well, now I just gotta...My thoughts are interrupted when the ball is snatched from my hands by Mia, who promptly chucks it at another poor victim on the other side.

“Outta my way skinnie, you’re too slow!” She growls at me as she snakes her way around teammates and scoops up another sphere. I’m about to protest when once again, I am yanked from my spot by a large hand, another ball sailing my me. Flint grunts with the little effort he made in moving my ass.

“She’s right, can’t keep protecting ya,” He yells as his razor-sharp grin grows wider, his target coming to the foreground. The triceratops, Trish. Dressed in the gym clothes that seem to be form fit for her, displaying her...ample assets, she seems to be meeting Flint’s challenge with her own fierce glare, ball in hand. I move to the side haphazardly as I dodge, watching the standoff. Flint’s grip on the ball tightens, Trish’s eyes narrow. Then, with a flash from both sides, they launch their orbs at one another with a speed that almost matches Coach Solly’s initial throw at Inco. The balls collide into one another, rubber hitting rubber in a loud SMACK! They both bounce back to their throwers, Trish and Flint scooping them up just to launch them once more at each other. The balls whizz by, just thin air between as they sail towards their targets. Trish dodged down, letting the ball fly over her as Flint just sidestepped with ease. Draw. They glared at each other for a split second, then turned to find more ammunition.

 I feel something tap my foot; another ball ripe for throwing. I shake the stupor away and scoop up the ball, and look at the other side. The number of students on the other side has dwindled to less than ten, including my cousin surprisingly enough. He’s over there standing next to...huh, standing next to Fang. He’s clutching a ball and seems to be bouncing all the balls sailing at him, and even covering the ptero girl as she launches a ball towards my side of the field, taking out a teammate. She doesn’t seem to be paying attention to Inco as he tries to stay in for dear life. Suddenly, she turns her head to yell at Inco, her attention on him. I guess I’ll...

Bean the shades off his face

Take advantage of Fang’s lack of attention

Smirking inwardly, I take aim. Looking over to my left, I see Mia about to throw as well. Almost as if in sync, our arms snap forward, our ammunition leaving our hands.

“Hey Shades, THINK FAST!”

* * *

Hello floor, nice to meet you!

 I dove to the ground as soon as everyone shouted the only rule and cowered out of the way of at least three different balls that were aimed at me. They bounced harmlessly away from me, frantically looking for a way out of this nightmare. I crawl through a see of legs that are so close to trampling my soft carcass. I finally spy a clear area, only a couple of people in the area and look up.

“Yo bro...cha doin’ on the floor?”

I’m greeted by a pink raptor boy, someone who was too calm for the present warzone we were currently in. Slowly, he reaches a hand down to me, a ball whizzing by where his arm just was. I grab his hand and he pulls me to my feet I quickly adjust my shades and jacket and move back clumsily trying to dodge a ball. The raptor shoots me a crooked smile as his long tail curls up around a ball and raises it up to my hands.

“It’s dangerous to take this quest alone, arm yourself.” He speaks in a drawn-out voice, the smile never leaving his lips. Dropping the orb in my hands, he turns to face the other side of the gym, just in time to be creamed in the face by a ball thrown by that red parasurus that sort of looks familiar. The raptor crumples to the ground, spread eagle and not moving. I look down, alarmed by the lack of motion from the boy, but then I’m bewildered by the snoring that is emanating from him now. He...fell asleep? Isn’t that bad?

“Move skinnie!” A purple blur pushed past me to bend down and grab the boy’s wrist to drag him to the wall where the rest of the students who have been tagged out by the dodgeballs. Another presence made itself known next to me as I turn to see the grey ptero girl, looking at me with a cocked eyebrow and a curious look.

“You okay Shades?” she asks. I looked at her with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry, he helped me and he got hit.” I explain. She chuckles a little.

“Reed is a good judge of character usually, so he probably thought it was worth it.”

 I look back at the side of the gym where the triceratops that had just drug Reed off and see he is just crashed out, but his stomach is rising and falling... so he really is asleep. The purple girl stomps back towards us, a scary look plastered on her face.

“That red bitch has it coming! Fang back, me up!”

“Whatever you say Trish” Fang chuckles. Trish looks at me for a second, a look of annoyance and anger radiating. Looking down at the ball in my hand, she snatches from me and storms towards the frontlines, where that hulking caveman was also approaching. Fang sighs and picks up two balls, handing one to me.

“Well Shades, you joining up or what?”

Join

Chicken out

Well, it’s time to stone up, if I can just prove my worth in this, maybe I can start making my mark. I grip the ball Fang gave me and gave her my most winning smile.

“Let’s knock some heads!”

Fang rolls her eyes and moves on to where Trish ran, me following close behind. We ran up to where we watched Trish and the caveman trade ball shots in spectacular fashion. Trish met us as she chased her errant ball and picks it up. She looks at Fang with a half-smile.

“You see that? Flint went running!” Fang smiles at her smaller friend.

“Sure, sure. Come back to me when you take his mongoloid ass out.” Fang elbowed Trish in the arm jokingly. The triceratops girl’s eyes roll as she runs back into the fray, red ball in hand. Suddenly, another projectile came flying towards Fang’s head. Without much thought, I reached out with the ball in hand and bashed it against the airborne ball. Fang looked at me after I had defended her. I smiled back at her, Ready to use the adrenaline I had tapped into to pull that off. Another ball approached and I knocked that one out of the air too. Fang shook her head and returned her focus to the opposing force. I spied another ball about to broadside Fang and I knocked it away with my shield. This is great, I’m doing a great job! I may not be knocking anyone out, but I’m protecting my newfound teammate and friend. I look over to Fang and get a funny idea. A bit of a good joke to lighten the mood in this warzone. In a jokey tone, sort of like an old timey knight, I yell at Fang.

“Don’t worry my fair lady, our victory is assured!”

Fang rooted in place, her head whipping around to look at me...and my blood ran cold. Her face was stuck in a horrid grimace, her diamond irises turning into slits. I could see her feathers start to rustle as the one’s on her elbows stood on end.

“What did you sa...” She started in a hiss when she was interrupted.

“HEY SHADES, THINK FAST!”

We both look towards the yell and we both got clobbered by dodgeballs.

Well...At least I was, I saw a flash of red scales from that parasaurus that I saw earlier...and Anon. The next thing I know, the ball hit me in the face, an audible crunch in my ears as my consciousness was gone.

* * *

I stood there as I actually hit Fang with my launched ball, but I wasn’t reveling in the victory. I was looking to Inco who had just been laid out by Mia, his face a swollen mess and his broken shades lay on either side of him, snapped clean in two. Everyone in the room fell silent, looking to my cousin’s motionless body. Mia, still in throwing stance, had a shadow of a smirk on her face, it being replaced by a look of fake shock, her hands shooting to cover her mouth.

“Ohmygosh, is he okay?” She shrieked in a high-pitched scream.  Coach Solly strode over to Inco, kneeling down next to him and gave him a slight shake. My held breath released as I saw Inco groggily answer Solly. Whatever the downed boy said seemed to irritate the monkey man, who promptly took a ball and dropped it on his face.

“ALRIGHT, WHO WANTS TO HELP ESCORT SHADES TO THE INFIRMARY?”

A silence that was deafening followed the request. I looked over to see Fang seething as she looked at Inco on the ground. What the hell did he do to her for her to stare at him with such contempt? I shake my head as I look back to see Solly look my direction.

“OI, SHADES’ COUSIN! YOU GONNA HELP?”

I froze at the question, looking at the monkey man, then to my cousin.  It’s a good one, when you think about it. Here is a guy that opened his house to me with his folks and made sure I had a roof over my head. I should want to help him in return...right?

Help

Remain Silent

I looked away, the thought of helping was pushed from my mind. We may be related, but I sure as hell am not his keeper. I turned to stand next to Mia, who had a mix of confusion and...intrigue? I shook my head. Solly sighed, looking disappointed. A hand sprung forward as Damian ran over to Solly, a big grin on his face and his neck frills undulating.

“I got it Coach, no problem!” Solly nodded to the diplosaur and then looked over to Fang.

“PRIVATE AARON, HELP PRIVATE PAYNE CARRY THIS SORRY EXCUSE OF A SOLDIER TO THE INFIRMARY ON THE DOUBLE!” Fang’s amber eyes widened in shock.

“Coach come on!” Fang protested. Her voice dies down as Coach rounded on her.

“AARON, ARE YOU ARGUING WITH YOUR SUPERIOR?”

Cursing silently to herself, she stomps over to Inco’s one side, Damien on the other. The two of them took each side and picked him up, dragging him out of the gym. Solly sighed and turned to the rest of the class.

“ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, THAT’S ENOUGH BLOODSPORT. HIT THE SHOWERS AND WAIT FOR THE BELL. DISMISSED!”

I began to walk back to the locker room to change into my regular clothes when the familiar palm on my shoulder stopped me and spun me around. Flint had a hard to read expression, the lights from outside shining off his glasses making his eyes difficult to see. His lips were a thin line and his arms now crossed in front of his chest. He opened his mouth to say something, but is then cut off.

“Well, well, well, who knew we had another killa skinnie here,” Mia quips as she walked from behind Flint. She eyes me up and down, a lazy smirk on her face. “You really showed that Fang a thing or two. Nice form as well, I’m impressed!”

The stream of compliments coming from the Red Riot caught me off guard. All I did was hit Fang...why all this praise. She cuts off my thoughts.

“Well, you deserve it, you took initiative and did a good job, unlike that cuz of yours.” She chuckles darkly, nodding towards the double doors leading out. I’m flummoxed by her mindreading. She shoots me a look, then rolls her eyes.

“You really should work on those mumbles of yours.” She shakes her head but returns to looking at me with the same smirk. “Now,” she started, approaching me more and suddenly I am made aware of her tail that has snaked around my back, slightly touching my back.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! The alarms buzzed in my head. A girl is touching me... with her tail!!!!!! Activate evasive maneuvers!!!!

I tried to move, but I was already cut off by Mia’s snake of a tail, her spikes pointed away thankfully. I look back to Mia’s face, a cruel looking grin splayed on her lips.

“I have a proposition for ya. I’ve taken to your go-getter attitude and would love if you could help my band with a little bit of set up tonight. We are having a little competition tonight against Fang and her little freaks and I would loooooove to have your help.” I stammer something, but the tip of her tail presses against my lips, silencing me.

“Now I will not hear it, I must insist! Now then, meet up with Flint after your last class in the auditorium and he’ll give ya your job, m’kay?” I am at a loss of what to say. I look up at Flint, the same unreadable expression on his face.

Nod

Shake head

I look back to Mia...and nod dumbly. Mia’s smile grew wide, her eyes closing in a plastic expression of thankfulness. She extended her arms around me and gave me a hug that smashed me against her chest, my head turning into the biggest thermostat as she shook me back and forth.

“I knew I could count on you!” She lets go of me as I try to get my senses back in order...and forget where my head had just been. Her eyes are trained on mine, the smile turned into a friendly looking smirk as she looked me up and down again.

“I’m looking forward to this new partnership...uhh...the hell is your name?”

“...Anon...” I sputter. She chuckles a bit as she extends a hand to me.

“Mia, the pleasure is all yours~!”

I take her hand, the alarms setting off, but I do my best to beat them back. Mia shakes my hand roughly and let’s go, moving to walk past me.

“I’ll see you later tonight Anon,” She chimed as she walked back to the girl’s locker room, leaving me standing with Flint. Once the girl was out of sight, Flint sighed deeply, taking his glasses off. He looks at me, his black eyes looking me over, as if he was trying to analyze me.

“Guess we’re partners now.”

Up until now, Flint had had a friendly tone when talking to me, but now it was different. His voice betrayed a hint of disappointment. He walked by me as well towards the locker room.

“See you later Anon.”

With that, I’m left in the gym alone. At least until I saw a bit of purple out of my peripheral. I look to see Trish was shooting daggers my way with her eyes, just witnessing that whole exchange between Mia and I. I expected her to give me an earful, but all I got was silent fury. I turn to follow after Flint.

Well, so much for flying under the radar.

* * *

My head was swimming when I came to. Last thing I remember before clocking out was the coach asking me if I was going to get up. I remember saying.

“Nah...I give up”

Then I felt another ball hit me in the face and I was out again. Now at least, I was staring at a darkened ceiling that wasn’t the gym’s. My vision was still swimming, but I was quick to register that was because my glasses weren’t on my face. My brows furrowed, then I almost face palmed when I remember the rubber missile that had shattered them. I reach up to my jacket pocket and pull out my spare shades and put them on. Never leave home unprepared!

I sit up, my body screaming in protest as I find myself sitting in...the nurses office again. I sigh to myself as I take a look around and see...Fang? The ptero girl was sitting in a chair near the cot I was laid out on, her fingers tapping away on her phone. She looked up to see me staring at her, a cool expression on her face, here eyes no longer those slits from back in the gym. They were narrowed in an accusatory glance, then looked back to her phone. I open my mouth to greet her when a red blur blocked my view in a frantic manner

“YO SHADES, YOU LIVE!”

My shoulder screams in pain as I’m assaulted by a few shoulder pats that had more strength in them than probably needed. I finally take in my aggressor, who had a wide grin on his face, the fins around his neck seemed to have minds of their own as they undulated up and down.

“Uh...yeah...seems so,” I mutter out, wincing in pain. I look back over to where Fang was sitting. She had since put her phone in her pocket and was getting up from her seat.

“Damien, please stop hitting Inco!” the nurses’ voice chides out. To his credit, Damien’s eyes widened as his hands withdrew from me.

“Sorry bro, just was happy to see you survived! That blocking during the game was pretty rad, not gonna lie” He went off on a rambling retelling of the ‘game’, but I was more interested in what Fang was doing. She had gotten up and was heading towards the door without a word. I thought to myself and realized Fang was going to yell at me for some reason. I’m not sure what I did, but clearly, I had pissed her off. I look back to Damian, who just seems keen on talking my ear off about the single most embarrassing moment of my life. He at least didn’t seem to be making fun of me for it, but he really is excitable. I hear the door open and look to see Fang was just about leave. Now or never.

Call out to Fang

Entertain Damian

I put a hand on Damian’s shoulder, quieting down the excitable diplosaur.

“Hey Fang.”

She stops in her tracks, but doesn’t look back. Well, at least she wasn’t so angry to ignore me. I look over to her winged back and silver hair spilling between them. After a moment I continued.

“I think I may have done something to,” I search for the words,” tick you off. I’m sorry if I did anything to make you angry.”

Silence. Damian’s eyes flited back and forth between the two of us with a look of concern.

“I’m non-binary Shades...” Fang’s voice says simply, turning to look at me. I look back with confusion.

“Oh,” I simply say, the gears in my head starting to move...OH...

“When you said something cringy like ‘m’lady’, it pissed me off. Not because of the cringe but because I am sick and tired of being misgendered.” Fang sighs in frustration.

Interrupt

Stay Silent

I quietly look to Fang, who clearly needed to let this out. I’d have to be a jack ass to pipe in now.

“Anyway, I was mad at the moment...but when you got smashed in the face, I lost my chance to really lay into you about it. It made me angry I couldn’t put you in your place right then and there. Of course, Mia had to muck up something else for me.” Fang hisses at the thought. “And then Solly forces me to help Frills over there drag your ass here. I wanted to yell out you, not take care of you!”

Fang’s eyes threaten to turn into slits, anger trained at me.

“But then you sit up, right as rain, and apologize for something you clearly had no idea you did. The hell am I supposed to do with this?!” Fang seethes, hands shooting up in exasperation. Amber eyes are trained on me, a look of pure rage there...but there was also something else. A hint of pain...sadness.

Stay Silent

Interrupt

I’m at a loss of what to actually say in response. I just look at Fang in silence.  Feathers start to quake.

“The fuck are you looking at me like that huh?! Say something you...you...SKINNIE!”

“Fang!”

The two of us are shaken from our stupor as the pink diplosaur that had been quiet this whole time reminded us that we weren’t alone. Damian’s friendly look had been replaced by a frown that frankly didn’t belong to such an outgoing guy. He looks at Fang, who had been knocked out of the angry shakes.

“Inky here didn’t know about you...probably because this is the first time he’s met ya.”

Fang looks down to dodge the daggers Damian was shooting. I looked towards him as he seemed to be getting worked up.

“I understand you’re tired of the whole gender situation, but how can you expect someone who’s never met you to magically know that.” His eyes widen as Fang looks back up at him, the fury back.

Oh shit.

Interrupt

Stay Silent

There’s a time to talk, and a time to listen. Clearly if I don’t say something now, Damian is going to be a happy stain on the ground.

“They/them, right?!”

The two are shaken from their standoff and train their eyes on me. Damien looked at me in confusion, but Fang just had a strange expression I couldn’t read. It wasn’t an angry look, but their face was clearly going through the motions inwardly.

Finally, they shook their head and came back to the moment.

“What?” Fang said in a quiet voice. I closed my eyes for a second as I tried to form what I wanted to say.

“I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t know it would hurt you when all I was trying to do was joke around. I...” I falter for a second. “I move a lot, so making friends is...a challenge. I’m really no good at it. So, when you and Reed helped me, I just wanted to jump right in as if we were friends forever.”

I looked back at them. Fang had turned fully and had actually approached. Damian stood aside, letting them stand shoulder to shoulder with him.

“I made a joke I didn’t know wouldn’t go well because of that. So, I’m sorry, and if it’s okay with you, would like to start over.” I looked at them with a face that hopefully displayed the sincereness. Damien Looked from me and then to Fang, thankfully keeping his maw shut. Then, Fang walked up to me, their eyes carefully looking me over. Then, with a fist to their hip, shoots me a half smile and a cocked eyebrow.

“Well...maybe...guess I could stand you a little Shades.”

I could feel a smile creep on my face at the answer, daring to reach a hand out, offering to shake hands.

“Inco, but Shades isn’t a bad name either.” I joke. Fang looked at my hand, and matched mine with their opposite hand, shaking it slightly.

“Fang, and yes, they/them.” Suddenly a pink hand clasped around our hands

“And I’m Damien!” the diplosaur added, his frills standing straight, making it look like a large collar around his neck. His interjection seemed to break a dam and caused us all to burst out laughing. All sense of anger and fury gone, replaced by what seemed like mirth.

“Raptor Jesus, if only you weren’t Mia’s little lackey, we’d probably be friends too. “Fang shoots at Damien. He chuckles as his hand rubbed the back of his neck.

“Hey, you already got Reed. Where else am I supposed to play drums?” His answer was followed by a nervous chuckle. Fang eyed him up and down.

“Uh, literally anywhere else man.” Fang retorted.

“Eeh, but if I leave, then Flint has to deal with her all alone, we know how he feels about her” Damian says as he pulls his collar in an exaggerated yikes motion. Fang laughs.

“Don’t remind me, Stella keeps on letting me know how much she wants him to quit.”

I felt the animosity drip away from the conversation as the two of them fell to gossip when the door to the office banged open, Coach Solly barging in. He’s about to let out his usual barking order, but one look from the nurse who had also been here the whole time looks at him dangerously. Faltering a little, he finally notices our little pow wow.

“Glad to see you’re up and about Private Nito.” He eyes Fang and Damien and seems to note the vibe of the room. A quick flash of a smile ran across his lips before replacing it with his patent scowl.

“Well, I was about to give ya a little pep talk about where you went wrong, but seems like you are already having a bit of a lesson without me.” The three of us looked at each other and look back at him, embarrassed smiles on our faces.

“Either way, I got the go ahead from Principal Scaler and you are released for the rest of the day. Go home and take it easy.”

I looked at him, confused. “Why?”

“You took a serious hit to the face and blacked out. You seem fine now, but thanks to our esteemed medical professional and our direct superior, you’re sent home for rest private!”

I looked over to the nurse and she nodded. “Yes Mr. Inco, I feel it better you go home and rest up, especially after your initial visit this morning. Come back tomorrow and we’ll check you out then.” I sighed.

“Also...” Solly started, not in a curt address but in an almost apologetic tone. “We tried to get into contact with your parents, but there wasn’t an answer.” Fang and Damien look to me, a mixture of shock and concern on their faces. I sigh sadly, a facsimile of a smile splayed on my face.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

“Also also,” Solly continued and chucked a brown paper bag my direction onto my lap. I open it up to see a gym uniform folded inside.

“Next time I see you, be in proper uniform, do I make myself clear?” Solly asked. I smile for real this time and give him a salute.

“Sir, yes, Sir!”

A proper grin splays on Solly’s face as he matches my salute.

“OUTSTANDING!”

With that, Solly about faces and marches out of the room.

“Does that happen often? Your parents not answering?”

I turn to Fang, their eyebrows knit in worry. I sigh and give out a chuckle that had no real joy behind it.

“My parents are architects and are constantly working.” I sigh. “They...they mean well I guess, but they are constantly away at either work or on business trips...I barely see them.” I stop myself when I see the two look at me with pity. I shrugged. “I’m used to it, it’s fine.”

They look like they have more to ask, but Damien’s hand on their shoulder seems to quiet any other question. I shift up to my feet and stretch, spying my bag leaning next to the bed. I unzip it and put the brown bag inside and zip it back up and slinging it on my shoulder.

“Alright, well I guess I’ll go catch the metro back home.” The two let me pass as I walked to the open door Solly left and walked...right into Naomi.

I look at the orange parasaur with blonde hair and suddenly felt a shiver of fear as I stepped back. Naomi to her credit, had a worried expression on her, but when she saw me seemed to soften.

“Oh, good Inco, I’m glad you’re alright! When Mia told me about your unfortunate accident, I had to come che...” Her words are caught as she stares wide eyed at the others behind me, her eyes locking on Fang. Her eyes flitted between them and I, silently taking in the curious situation. I got a grip when I realize that Naomi isn’t the one who beaned me, but my lips bend down. Accident?

A dark chuckle got my attention. I turned to see Fang approaching, their amber eyes trained on Naomi.

“Accident huh? Is that what she said?” Fang said accusingly at the cremecicle parasaur. Naomi shrinks at the sudden frigid question.

“Well yes, she seemed to feel really bad about the situation and-”

“Oh, I’m sure she was all a titter with worry for the guy she pulverized.”

Naomi’s eyes widen as Fang stopped next to me, taking my arm in the process and pulls me past the stunned girl. I hear footfalls behind us and suddenly Damian is next to us as well. I can hear Naomi try to stutter a response, but my new escorts had whisked me away towards the entrance of the school. The anger seems to have returned to Fang as the three of us have come to a stop at the doors out. I look to them.

“Are you okay?” I asked. Fang lets out a puff of air in frustration.

“That entire family is just...fucked...” they finally say, a bit of venom laced in those words. It confused me a bit. Naomi had been nothing but kind to me, it didn’t seem to warrant Fang’s ire.

Ask for more info

Let it go for now

I shake my head, probably not a good idea to dredge up something that Fang is clearly having an issue with, not after the last little interaction we had in the nurses office. I decide to instead put a reassuring hand on their shoulder, a smile their way. Fang looks at me with a questioning look.

“Let’s not let our newfound friendship be dampened by that.”

Fang sighed, the frustration leaving them as they shot me a half smile.

“Whatever Shades, you make sure you get home safe.”

“Yeah man! Take care!” Damian added. His eyes rolled upward as if he was in deep thought. His eyes brighten.

“Hey if you’re feeling up to coming back later, we’re having a bit of a concert tonight!” Damien exclaimed.  Fang rolled their eyes at the mention of the event.

“You know that’s the one where we are rivals right?” They had that defiant fist on their hip with the cocked eyebrow. Damian shot a grin at them.

“It’s all in good fun, you know that!” Damian explained.

I looked at my newfound friends as they jab at one another and smile.

“What time is it happening?”

Damian lit up, his expression could only be described as a ‘pog’.

“Like around 8, Fang’s bro chipped in for a load of pizzas and stuff like that.”

Another huff from Fang drew my attention. They were sporting an annoyed look, their teeth bared at the mention of their brother. Damian continued.

“Yeah, Naser even made sure we’d have an audience and everything!” I was taken aback by the namedrop. I turned back to Fang, who was starting to grumble to themselves.

“Naser’s your brother?” Fang bristles at the question. Their amber eye glares at me, causing a shiver up my spine.

“Yeah, the FWR is my brother and I’d rather not talk about him. About as useful as that cousin of yours by the way.” I flinch at the hostile words. Their hand raises to rub the back of their head, remembering the moment Anon’s dodgeball smacked them. I open my mouth to apologize, but Fang saw me start and put a hand up.

“Nope, no more apologies from you, especially if they are in defense of him.” I arch an eyebrow.

“You say that like you know him,” I shoot back. The look Fang gives me stops any more errant words from me.

“Did you know when you got knocked out, Coach asked him to help and he just stood next to the bitch that knocked you out.”

I was stunned. I knew he wasn’t really my biggest fan...but siding with the one who took me out? Fang looked at me, their expression softening.

“So yeah, siblings suck, cousins suck. Parents suck.” Fang trails off. Damian clears his throat, and we look at him.

“Anyway, it’s gonna be a blast, hope to see you there Inky!”

Ding dong, bing bong

The three of us look up at the intercom and the two of them hiss.

“Later Inky!” Damian yells back as he hoofs it back towards the gym to change, leaving Fang and me alone. Fang stood nonchalantly next to me, pulling out their purple phone and start typing up a storm again.

“Well, like the pink pocket rocket said, hope to see you there.” They give me another half-smile. “We are going to wipe the floor with Mia.” They turn and walk slowly back to the gym. I watch them go, a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Knock them dead Fang!” I yell out. Their grey arm lifts up and gives me the one finger salute.

Rude.

I sigh as I turn to make the long walk to the metro station, that feeling growing denser. Anon...sided with Mia? There had to be a good reason for it. I shook the bad feeling away, pushing it further down out of my notice. I’m gonna watch an awesome band kick the snot out of another and that will make it all the worth it.

Eight o’clock can’t come faster.

Chapter Text

               How did I get into this mess? 

               I sat at my desk listening to the math teacher reading off of a syllabus that I really didn’t care about, tapping my pencil on the wooden surface. I was trying to figure out how to slither my way out of the commitment I had been ‘generously’ given. I look up to see the balding ankylosaur teacher continuing to drone on and sigh. Scanning the room to find something to give me ideas, I freeze when I see a certain purple triceratops that is sitting four desks ahead of me. Fucking hell, how didn’t I notice she was here too?? I shake my head, looking around further when what feels like a pebble strikes me on the top of my dome. I let loose a pained groan, quickly trying to stifle it so Trish wouldn’t hear and watch as whatever had hit me fell onto my desk. A folded-up note? Checking to make sure the teacher is still snout deep in his syllabus, I open it up and read the contents.

               ‘Look behind you’

               My eyebrows furrow as I look back to see another familiar face. A pink snout and frills on his neck, the face of Damien is grinning at me from right behind me. Soon as he sees my face, he smiles bigger at me and gives me a frantic wave with one hand. I give him a hesitant wave as he looks up at the front of the class, then flicks another note over my head and onto my desk. I give him an angry look, my hands shooting up to give him a ‘why?!’ gesture. He just continues to smile and motions his eyes towards ahead of me. I sigh inwardly as I turn in my seat to look at his note.

               ‘Heard the news, welcome to Meteor Krash!’

               Confusion spreads on my face as I look back to him. He’s sitting back in his seat now, his hands beating down on his desk like...like a drum. He waggles his eyebrow at me and winks. Ahh, so that’s their band name, and Damien is the drummer. Great, now I have to deal with this ray of sunshine. I turn back and hunch over my desk, opening my math book and pretending to read it. It wasn’t long until another thrown note landed right inside my book. I only turn my neck and shoot daggers at Damien, but he is currently pretending to look to the side, his fingers twiddling together and whistling silently. I open up this note roughly.

               ‘Lunch buddies?’

               I crumple up this note and ignore Damien for the rest of the period. As the bell signaled the end of class, I frantically shove my book and pencil in my bag and spring up to try and slip out of class without Trish noticing. I would like to say it worked, but life has just not been kind to me lately.

               “Hey Anon! Ready for lunch?”

               My eyes bug out as Damien shouts out after me, getting mine and everyone else’s attention. Trish looks back slowly, that cold fury she had before back on her face as she realized my presence was close. Her gaze was cut off however when a pink raptor stood up and blocked her view. Their drummer, Reed...he’s here too? The hell kind of visual novel cliché bullshit am I dealing with here?! I look back at Damien and think about it. If I go to lunch with him, I’ll probably be able to have a buffer to avoid the purple pint-sized trigga.

               “You know what, lead the way Big Guy.” I tell him. With what can only be described as a real life pog on his face, his frills raise in excitement as he grabs his bag and walks next to me, his arm wrapped around my shoulder as he led me out of the class, passed Reed and Trish. I looked back at her and raised an eyebrow, her fury getting worse as Reed distracted her from full on charging after us. Heh, evasive maneuvers successful. Now all I have to do is stomach lunch around Damien, and my face faulters. For someone with a great masterplan of just being left alone, I am quickly realizing that I am shit at my job.

               Damien guides me through the door to the cafeteria, which looks more like a warzone than a place to eat. If there was one time where the stereotypical carnage people thought of dinos, this scene would not help matters. It was an all-out brawl as food is flung back and forth, wherever it being eaten or used as a weapon. The security guard at the door we passed did little to nothing to stem the tide of delinquency. I shrug it off as we weaved through the throng to a less than active portion of the room, a table that had someone already there and what looked like... a teal palm tree? Seconds later, I’m plopped down in a chair at the table, Damien about to stride away to the line.

               “Don’t worry Anon, I’ll get ya the best they got~!” With a wave, he disappears into the crowd, leaving me with two strangers. I groan, mentally exhausted my head hitting the table.

               “Oh, he left....”

               I hear a voice from right above my head. I looked at the other occupant of the table, a green dino girl that looked like an alligator. I take stock of her and realize she is in a wheelchair. Looking back up slower I see she’s wearing what could constitute as pajamas. Blue sweatpants with little bear slippers, a purple hoodie covering...ahem... moving on and...oh fuck. My eyes fall on the slowly squinting yellowed eyes, liquid silver irises slitting, a glare. I can feel my cheeks redden for a split second as I turn to look across the way from my spot, and lock eyes with a floating teal head. I start as I lurch back at the apparition, about to slap the specter. Before I fall out of my chair, a hand steadies my back as I look to the palm tree’s hand is outstretched. I blink in confusion as I look up and notice that the floating head is actually connected to a loooooooooong neck that was connected to the body sitting next to me, then bends down so the head could be at level with us.

               “Sweet Raptor Jesus on his cross of rock, don’t do that!” The magenta haired head scrunched her nose as her eyes rolled upward.

               “My apologies, didn’t mean to scare you.”  

 A raspy chuckle sounds from the gator girl, as if gears were scratching against one another. The head rolls her eyes again.

               “It’s not funny Olivia...” The head huffed; her cheeks puffed out in a pout. The gator waves her off, a smirk on her snoot. The teal head turns back to me as her hand reaches up towards me.

               “Hi, I’m Liz. Student council treasurer and aspiring art dealer~!”

               I look at her outstretched hand.

Return Greeting

Stay Silent

               I sigh inwardly, deciding to throw out my old plan and try to workshop a new one. I take her handshake and give it a simple up and down.

               “Anon”

               Liz’s face breaks into a smile as she nods.

               “So, Damien drug you to our corner of the world huh? My condolences.” She jokes as her head moves back to the rafters, her chewing on some of the leaves. She brings back a few to her tray in front of her that had several dipping sauces which she applies liberally. Looking over to Olivia, I noticed she was busily writing down something on a sheet of paper. Taking a chance, I lean over slightly to peek at what she’s doing. I get an inch closer, then a loud smashing sound shocked me backward. I look up at Olivia who has a fierce glare trained on me, iris’ shrunk to pinpricks. I notice behind her as her tail rises from where she slammed it down, cracking the flooring from the sudden assault. I take the hint and sit back in my chair...Fucking meteor dodgers...

               A rustling behind us signals Damien’s return, his arms stacked with several sandwiches and a platter of mystery meat. He plops the veritable feast in front of me and looks back to me, a shining smile on his snout. I’m shocked at the several different sandwiches and realize something.

               “This had to cost a fortune, how...why?” I stutter. Damien cocks his head to the side, a frown forming on his lips. After a few seconds he shrugs and smiles again.

               “Didn’t know what you’d like, so I got a little bit of everything.” He rubs the back of his neck, grin still plastered on his face. There is a sudden rustling behind me had me turning to see Olivia grabbing two of the sandwiches and pulling them to her area of the table. She looks at me with a neutral expression as she unwraps one of them and takes a huge bite out of it, almost clearing the entire thing. I gape at her as she pops what’s left of the food into her maw, the other sandwich already getting unwrapped in her claws.

               “You might want to start while you can, Olivia can and will take them” Damien chuckles. I narrow my eyes at her as I reach out for one of the meals and unwrap it. Roast beef and swiss on rye. My mouth waters as I bring the savory meal to my mouth and take a bite. I expected the nastiest taste, but was pleasantly surprised. I start to devour the sandwich, a little too quick than normal and suddenly it was gone. I look back up at Olivia, who had just finished her second, one yellowy silver eye trained on me. Not looking away from her, reaching towards one of the three remaining sandwiches, I touch something that is not what I meant to. I feel what seems like warm, soft scales. Scarlet rolls across Olivia’s face as we both look down and see we had grabbed each other’s hands instead of the food. We stare at our connection for a split second when I suddenly feel something heavy crashing into my back.

               “Gaaah!” I yelp as my hand slips from hers as the force of whatever hit me made the edge of the table knock the wind out of my lungs. I try to in vain to regain any air to my abused lungs as I look to my side and catch a green tail slipping back to Olivia, her face crimson and a death glare in her eyes.

               “The...the hell?!” I gasp out. I realize that my yell sounded like it was in stereo since Olivia seemed to yell the same thing. We stare daggers at each other for a spell until a pair of pink and teal hands cut us off.

               “Okay guys, just chill~” Damien tries to sooth us, his own eyes pinpricks as his eyes dart the size of dinner plates. 

               Olivia and I stared at each other for a second more through our barriers, but then I hear a scoff as I watch one of the sandwiches disappear in a green claw. I take my chance to take another and thankfully I grab one instead of another hand. Damien and Liz sigh as we seem to be back to our corners and continue eating their own food. After a few bites, Damien seems to lighten up as he turns to me.

               “So you, me, and Flint are gonna set everything up for our side after school, right?” I look at him with one eye.

               “That seems to be the case.” I let out, taking another bite of a bologna and cheese. Liz gives me a sideways glance.

               “Oh, you’re part of Damien’s band? That was quick.” She says through a mouthful of leaves. I nod.

               “Yeah, apparently Mia liked my go getter attitude or some shit and conscripted me.” I say with a clear mouth. A raspy grunt emits from Olivia at the mention of Mia. I steal a look at her, but she seems to have returned to whatever she was doing on that sheet of paper. I shake my head and look back to Damien.

               “So, what kinda music do you guys play?” Damien grins.

               “Well, we play a bit of rock obviously, but Flint is the one who usually comes up with what we play. Mia is our guitarist and lead singer, Flint plays bass, and I,” He takes two breadsticks from his mystery meat platter and begins to rap them on the surface, “am the drummer!” I can’t help but smirk at his explanation. A bit of movement from Liz caught my eye as her head just stared at him with half lidded eyes, a slight tinge of red on a cheek. 

               Mental note, Damien has that goofball rizz.

              “What about the other band, are they any good?” Damien’s face falters a little.

              “Well…they have heart!”

              I squint at the diplodino. “The fuck does that mean?”

              “Means they have fun playin’ their music is all.” Damien continues, his eyes darting to the side.

              “Okay, what kind of music do they play?” Wow, Damien is looking so far away from me.

              “The…kind you listen to?”

              Silence.

              “You don’t know do you…”

              “Not a clue man…”

               I sigh loudly. Well, it couldn’t be that bad. Damien seems like a guy who pays attention to very little so maybe it won’t be a total disaster. I finish the last sandwich and sit back in absolute bliss, the meal a surprising turn for my day. A shuffle of movement caught my attention, turning my head to Olivia as she is shoving her stuff into her bag and rolling backward.

               “Oh, leaving early Liv?” The gator grunted and started to wheel away quickly, forgetting to fully close her bag. As she passed by me, a sheet of paper fell from her bag and fell right behind me. I reach down and grab the lost item and look back up

               “Oi, Hotwheels! You dropped this”

               The girl jerked to a stop with a squeal of the wheels. She didn’t turn her body, but her face turned slowly and a face I wasn’t expecting was trained on me.  

               A look of shock, pain, confusion…rage.

               Without a word, she pulls her hood up, obscuring the back of her head and continued to roll off. I turn back to Liz and Damien and was taken aback by their faces. A look of surprise was on the noodle head’s face, but the utterly look of sadness on Damien shook me.

               “Did…did I say something wrong?”

               Damien shook himself out of his stupor and looked to me, his smile back. There was a hint of melancholy though, making it feel forced.

               “No not really. Don’t worry about it man, Liv is a bit rough around the edges but is great when you get to know her.” He turns back to his meal, Liz looking concerned at him. I take the moment to look at the page that had fallen from Olivia’s bag. It wasn’t note paper, but a sheet of drawing paper. Random doodles were scrawled around the edges, mostly of the same looking rat doing different tasks no real rat would do. Then towards the middle is a larger drawing. It was a little rough, but I recognize it as a human boy eating a sandwich…that kind of looked like me…

               Huh…as sketches go, this is pretty good. My iconic jacket and suave features are all present. I look back to where the gator girl had been at the table. She…did this in such little time? Why? The two interactions we had had together were so bad, and she decided to draw me? The hell is going on…

***

               I wandered down a few hallways on my own, heading to my last class. One look at my schedule lets me know that Theater Arts is the last pit stop before the concert tonight. I bristle at the idea of theater nerds, but it was the only last elective left. Figured I’d sit towards the back and just coast, but given my current track record, I’m going to adopt the wait and see position. The hall wasn’t too busy with other students, so I was able to take in a lot of the artwork that was hung on the walls. Most of it didn’t really catch me as anything good, some of it was just squiggly lines that formed vague shapes and the like. Man for an art school, it kind of leaves a lot to be desired. I look around as I seem to be just outside of the principal’s office. Hadn’t met this Principal Scaler yet, and plan on doing my best to not have to. Shaking my head, I turn to the opposite wall and am stopped in my tracks, my mouth hung agape.

               A long canvas painting took up most of this wall, a scene of a cityscape brushed upon it. My eyes rolled over the piece, marveling at the sharp edges of the tall buildings that give way to a fanciful skyline of twilight, looking like it came out of a dream. The mixture of city and dream seemed to blend well to create what looked like a dreamlike city full of life. I approach slowly, just realizing I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I look underneath the painting and see a placard.

Dreamscape

Artist: O. Halford - 9^th Grade

              I blink as I look at the name of the artist. O. Halford…that…could that be? And the grade…a freshman made this?! My head spins a little at the sudden awe I never thought I’d had for paint on a canvas. 

              “Amazing isn’t it. Still can’t believe she made this.”

              I jump as I look over to see a blue parasaur with brown hair parted by his blue crest. He looks up at me, large wire rimmed glasses sitting on his snout. He’s pretty well dressed in a turtle neck and a brown jacket, a camera hanging around his neck. He is looking at the painting as well, but with a wistful look. I cock an eyebrow at him as I wait for him to continue. His eye slides towards me.

              “Olivia, you know the girl you were sitting with at lunch?”

              Now I’m staring at him. Was he watching me? The parasaur boy coughs into his fist and turns, a small but friendly smirk on his lips.

              “Sorry, hope that didn’t sound weird” he says, extending a hand in greeting. “Benjamin McKnight, StuCo secretary.” I look down at his hand and sigh inwardly. I reach out to shake it.

              “Anon” Ben’s eyebrows’ turn to cock upward.

              “Ahh, the fabled Anon I’ve heard so much about. Mia told me about you. I hear she recruited you as an ‘assistant’ of sorts, yes?”

              I groan.

              “Great and are you her roadie too?” I quip. Ben’s smile falters slightly as he looks to the side, his fist coming up to his mouth.

              “Boyfriend actually.” I do a double take. Looking him up and down, I can barely understand the equation I had been given. Mia, a dangerous jock guitarist…and this nerd? He cleared his throat, interrupting my new math homework.

              “I know, it doesn’t make sense to most, but we love each other and have been together since freshman year.” He explains, almost like this is a practiced bit he has for anyone that asks. I leave it at that and look back to the painting.

              “So…Olivia made this?” Ben also looked back at the piece, a neutral expression on his face now.

              “Yes. Every year at the beginning of the first semester, we have a competition for the new year to showcase artistic talent. When we were freshmen, Olivia entered with this,” he gestures forward. “As you can see, she won. It’s been up here ever since to honor her achievements.”

              He continues on, but his voice becomes muted as I get lost in the colors again. I didn’t realize how much it affected me when I realize the bell was ringing and I jerk back to consciousness in my seat in class. I realize my thoughts had been so vivid that I had drowned out the entire theater class I’d been sitting in. 

              As the other students started to mill out of the classroom, I take a look around the impromptu auditorium room we are in. It's not as big as the actual one I saw as Flint lead me to gym, but it was still pretty big. A large room that had the usual desks in it, but instead of a desk for the teacher in front, a stage took up the wall. There were pieces of lumber and sheets of wood leaned against the far wall, probably for set design and the like as well as some racks of colorful outfits and costumes. 

              I get up, collecting my things and go to leave heading towards the auditorium. I make it there pretty quickly when I come across Flint who seems to be surrounded by three dino girls. One of them, a green stegosaurus with her hair in two space buns, her excited face looking up to Flint, who is sporting a soft smile as he watches her drone on about whatever she is talking about. She wore a plain white t-shirt that had faded rainbow colors on each sleeve. Her tail seemed to be curled around her left leg, but it also seems to be leading to a curl around Flint’s ankle, connecting them

              Standing close to the green stego was an orange ankylosaurs girl in a black floral dress, her brown hair spilling over her shoulders in a cascade. Her face seemed to be scrunched up in a mixture of anger and frustration, her arms folded over her chest. The last girl seemed to be patting the angry orange on the shoulder, trying to console her friend. The mini raptor was the definition of pastel adorableness, wearing a pastel purple pair coveralls with a blue shirt. Her purple muzzle blending into a cooler shade of orange than her friend. Her long tail then fades back into the purple matching her snout.

              ¿Qué clase de idiota pisotea mis preciosas flores?

              “Oh Rosa, we’ll figure it out and we’ll make sure they fix it!” the angry Rosa doesn’t seem convinced, her nose pointing up as she pouts.

              “Oh, no te preocupes Sage, cuando encuentre al bastardo los arreglaré bien”

              Sage gives a worried smile as she holds both hands in a ‘take it easy’ gesture.

              “Girl, we will find them, but maybe not commit murder huh?”

              Flint takes this moment to look towards the other two and chuckles a little.

              “Don’t worry Rosa. I’ll hold em down for ya.”  

              A mischievous half smile creeps on Rosa’s face as she opens one fierce eye towards the caveman. Sage in turn shoots him an annoyed stare, shared by the green stego girl, who swatted his arm.

             “Don’t encourage her, you know she won’t hesitate when flowers are on the line.”

             “I’m only joking, Moonlight…only a little…” he reassures her, shooting a wink at Rosa, who seems to have calmed down a bit at his joke. He turned his head and noticed me, his smile seeming to falter a little. Sighing, he gives the stego girl a side hug, interrupting another swat she had prepared. “Well gals, got a job to do.” He leans down and plants a kiss on the green girl’s head, who, while giggles for a second, begins to pout and cross her arms in protest.

             “I really wish you’d stop playing with that girl…”

             “If I did that, how would I sneak in some of our favorite openings to play for you hmm?” She continues to pout; eyes closed and gives a little “humph”. Flint furrows his brow, then looks at me. His face lights up as he seems to get an idea.

             “Hey Anon, come here and get a reading huh?” I jerk back to attention as the girls turn to look at me, the green stego opens an eye my way. Her pout disappeared, her blue eyes starting to sparkle as a wide grin formed on her beak. She rushes towards me, a newfound sense of bubbliness making her seem to vibrate.

             “Nice to meet you Anon! Flinty has told me about you!”  

             I hold my hands up attempting to fend off the excitable dino. Flint laughs at her reaction and walks over.

             “Anon, Stella. Stella, Anon.”

             Without warning she grabs my hand and shakes it up and down in greeting. I fought the urge to yank my hand back and just let her do her thing. I look past her to see Rosa is heading over, but I seem to have lost track of…

             “Wow! You’re so much scrawnier than Flint!” I felt my free arm being raised up by smaller hands as Sage invaded personal space to examine me. She seems to be a whirlwind around me as she prods and pokes my arms and back. Before I could protest, Sage steps back in front of me and sizes me up as Stella finally relents her handshake. I narrow my eyes at the pastel panic.

             “I’d appreciate not being prodded.” I seethe a little. Sage lifts a hand to her mouth in shock and starts waving her hands in a panic.

             “Sorry, got a little ahead of myself!” she clasps her hands together in apology. I avert my eyes from the somewhat cute display and rub the back of my head.

             “It’s fine…so what’s this about a reading?” Stella’s eyes widen in even more excitement. She reaches into her back pocket of her jean shorts and pulls out a purple deck of cards. Spying the back of the deck, I realize it matches the card that Flint has. She begins shuffling the cards as she begins to explain.

             “So, I’ll give you a simple reading. All you have to do is have a question in mind and then pick a card. Then depending on the card you pull and if it’s right side up or inverted I’ll be able to give you your fortune!”

             I reel at the explanation and look up at Flint. There is a pleading look in his eyes.

             “So, you in?” Stella asked, hope in her eyes.

Get Reading

Turn Her Down

             “So, any question?”

             Stella nods, the sparkles in her eyes could cause epilepsy.

             “Hell, why not?” I look up in thought. I guess my question is actually pretty easy.

             “Alright, think I got one.”

              Stella nods solemnly as she stops shuffling, then fans out the deck, spreading the cards out for me to choose. My eyes scan the cards and pull out one near her right hand. I flip the card over, and am greeted by what looks like an official looking human sitting on a large podium. There is a small looking hammer in one hand while his free hand is pointed down at three smaller humans who are looking up at him.

              Judgment. 

              Sage and Rosa have leaned in between us to look at the card, a hand over Sages mouth while a look of disbelief plays on Rosa’s  

              “Aye Stella, what do your dark arts say?” Rosa said in a slight accent.

              Stella furrows her brow.

              “You are at a crossroad at the moment. You have made some decisions already that could determine your path, but your goal is still up in the air. Just remember, your choices can also affect others. Tread carefully.”

              I stare at her in utter confusion. Stella just shrugs.

              “It may seem heavy, but really this is all in good fun. Gets you thinking right? Anyway, it’s just what is written in the guide book.” Even so, I couldn’t help but shiver a bit at the ominous reading. Looking at Flint, I can see a thankful faze pointed at me. Realizing I was most likely a distraction for him to get Stella off his case, I give him a small smile.

              “Well, whatever. Thanks Stella, but we should probably get to work.” I nod to Rosa and Sage, who return my nod. Sage gives a warm smile and waves.

              “Hey Anon, next time I’ll bring ya some of my home baked cookies to say sorry for the examination~” Sage grabs Rosa and Stella by the hand and drags them down the hall.

              “I’ll be sitting in to watch you Flinty~” Stella coos at the large caveman, who blew her a kiss and gave a toothy grin.

              “Counting on it Moonlight,” Flint sighs and turns to me. “Thanks for humoring her a bit, needed the assist. She really doesn’t want me to be in the band and nags me about it constantly...” he trails off, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. 

Ask what’s up

 None of my business

              I sigh. Clearly, he has more to say.

              “Why doesn’t she want you to?” Flint flinches at the question. Adjusting his glasses, he looks down at me.

              “Well Mia isn’t exactly well liked around school except by a few people, so Stella isn’t terribly thrilled with me being friends with her. Truth is, I’ve been friends with Mia since we’ve been in grade school because our folks are friends. Technically she, her sister, and I have been close for most of our school life…well…was friends with Naomi, but she’s busy being the all-important StuCo prez and all that. I…” he catches his breath and brings a palm to his face. “Sorry, didn’t mean to over explain.”

              I waved my hand in a don’t worry about it motion. “Hey, I pried and you answered.” He looks at me, his face darkening a bit.

              “Okay then, my turn. Why didn’t you help Inco in gym?” My turn to flinch. Why didn’t I? I look back up at him and finding it hard to look him in the eye.

              “I...guess I figured he is his own guy; he can take care of himself...” I trail off as my own words seem to punch me in the gut. How utterly pathetic. A rumbling grunt came from Flint, sounding sort of like an earthquake. A note of a growl seemed to follow as he put a palm on my shoulder, forcing me to look up at him.

              “Listen, I’m gonna tell you something my old man told me after I fucked up too many times. ‘You aren’t the only one in the world, everyone is fighting their own battles.’” I find myself looking at his eyes this time and even though we are at least the same age, he is giving me a look of a far older man, like he’s already lived an entire lifetime. He let’s go of my shoulder and sighs, continuing.

              “Truth is, you’re right, Inco is his own guy, but that doesn’t mean sometimes we all could use a helping hand every so often. Like Stella said, sometimes our own actions affect others as well.” I look down at my shoes, not really sure how to respond. I wasn’t expecting to get read an after school special moral to me. Usually, they were so cringe that I would retch, but this one seems to resonate with me for some reason. I had thought about it before. Inco and his family had agreed to take care of me, and all I’d done so far was spit in their hospitality because I want to be a lone wolf or whatever.

              “Thanks Flint...I’ll...I’ll keep that in mind.” I look back up at him, his dark look turning into a warm smile, a fang sticking out.

              “Alright, enough of this touchy feely shit, let’s get started!” He turns to open the auditorium door and I follow him inside. The sound of sneakers squeaking on flooring made me turn to see Damien rushing towards us.

              “Hey bros! Don’t forget me!”

              He’s not slowing down.

               I feel time slow down as the excitable pink locomotive slams into me, causing stars to form in my vision as I crash into Flint’s back, causing him to stumble forward onto the ground. We are a tangle of limbs by the time I have my senses back as the three of us just groan in pain. I seem to be the middle of this pileup, facing up towards the ceiling. I crane my neck further and I can see out the door to the hallway, my vision blurry, but I can see a familiar wheelchair approaching. I groan again as Damien clampers up off of me, allowing me to roll off of Flint. Getting to my feet, I regard the dino girl that finally comes to a stop in front of us. She has a cardboard cylinder on her lap and a neutral expression on her face, but when I look at her, her eyebrow pops up. Deciding to ignore me however, she picks up the cylinder and bops Damien on the head with it, making him grunt. His eyes brighten and pog splays on his lips. His hands reaching out for the weapon.

              “Thanks Liv! I almost forgot it!” Damien said with glee.

She rolls her eyes as she rolls past us and sets herself up just to the side of the door looking towards the stage. She reaches down to grab the canteen hanging from her side and begins guzzling down the contents. With a grumbled sigh, she pops the cap back on the container and pulls out her phone. She moves one eye to look towards me, noticing my stare. Narrowing her eye, she lifts her hood up once more and cuts of my view of her face. I shake my head and turn, just in time for Damien to shove a large poster that he had pulled out of the cylinder. It was a stylized painting of a large meteorite that was speeding towards a smaller looking earth. The meteor looked like a jagged ball that left behind a trail of light that formed into a pair of devil horns that twisted around it. The colors reminded me of dreamscape in a way, it kept me glued to it. The words ‘Meteor Krash’ emblazoned the bottom of the painting in gold lettering, with slanted lines on either side of the words to look just like a comet trail.

              Badass...

              I hear a croaky squeak come from the hooded gator. I chance a glance back and am greeted by a yellowed eye looking at me, the bit of her face I can see seems flushed crimson.

              “We gotta hang this up on the door! What do you think Anon?” Damien looks at me for an answer.

              “Gotta say, best damn poster I’ve seen in a while.” I steal another glance at Olivia, who has now pulled both strings on her hoodie, causing the hood to close around her now crimson snoot.

              “Hey, dumb and dumber, let’s get this done huh?”

              We turn to see Flint was already setting up two large speakers on either side of a set up drum set in the middle of the stage. Damien chuckles sheepishly.

              “I’m gonna get something to hang this up on the door here, you go help him!” I nod and start heading towards the stage. I grimace as I see a sea of cables waiting to be set up for guitars, basses, and microphones. This is going to take a bit. I set to work, under Flint’s careful instruction where to plug in what and how. After a few minutes of set up two microphones are set up on either side of the drum kit with a bass and guitar stands bearing each instrument. Flint picks up his jet-black bass and strums it, testing the sound quality and making sure there weren’t any issues in set up. He shoots me a thumbs up when he seems to be pleased with it. I adjust the mike stand so it’s level to his height, then move over to the other stand as the doors to the auditorium are slammed open. Expecting Damien, I turn to shout at him.

              “Finally, you ass, get up here and hel...”

              My words die in my throat. Fang, Trish, and Reed look up at me, angry glares in my direction from two of them. Reed absentmindedly gives me a wave in greeting however. The air is thick with resentment as I feel like my legs were cemented to the ground. Flint rounds the speaker, wiping his hands clean from the grease of the wire couplings.

              “Oh, did Damien finally...” He starts, but quickly loses his own words when he sees the new group in the auditorium.

              Staredown Showdown

              “Well, the speakers and wiring are all done so when we finish up all you gotta do is plug in. Anon, let’s give them time to set up too.” Flint finishes and motions for me to follow. I give one last look at them and turn to follow him off the stage. As the two of us pass by them I freeze when Fang speaks up.

              “I know you don’t give a shit, but Inco is fine by the way. No thanks to you, dick.”

              Ahh cement shoes, my new friend. I look back. Trish and Reed had headed to the stage, leaving the ptero girl to stare at me with utter contempt.

Ignore

Lambast this Bitch

               I think back to what Flint just told me, but her needling is starting to get on my nerves. I sigh inwardly and turn back to walk to the back of the room, expecting her to keep on jeering at me. As I went however, she didn’t say anything else. I can hear them now talking amongst themselves as they set up. I don’t leave, opting to just sit against the wall near the door. I’m not technically a part of Meteor Krash, but they don’t know that. Doesn’t matter it seems though so I guess this is inevitable.

              Stella might have been right, I probably already fucked myself over. I rest my forehead in my knees and sigh, just wishing I could disappear. The sound of wheels squeaking stops right next to me, but I just keep my head in my lap.

              “Jeeze, you sure pissed them off...”

              A low raspy voice made me finally raise my head to look at the baryonyx next to me. I was more perplexed that Olivia actually could speak, much less speak to me.

              “Heh, not out of my wheelhouse honestly, I piss people off by just existing.”

              A snort seems to erupt from Olivia, her hand shoots to her maw.

              “Least Reed seems chill.” I say. Olivia chuckles again.

              “To be fair, his default is chill” I look at her dumbfounded.

              “How did you do that with your mouth?”

               Another raspy chuckle as she undoes the top of her canteen and guzzles greedily. She sighs as she stows the can once more and clears her throat.

              “Either way, probably should steer clear of them. They don’t really take kindly to new people.” I furrow my brow.

              “Like I said, Reed seems chill.” Olivia shakes her head.

              “No, I mean Fang. They don’t like new people.” I’m still majorly confused. Olivia seems to catch the face I was making and sighs.

              “Non binary.”

              The words still didn’t really click. I look up at the stage and see Fang’s band almost done their setup, complete with Reed’s drums set up as well, a logo on the largest drum displaying the words ‘VVurm Drama’. Fang was currently testing her guitar the same way as Flint was, similar tones coming from the speaker.

              “Does that mean...but wait...why does sh...they...shit” I stutter as Olivia rolls her eyes.

              “Don’t let it fry your humie brain.”

              As I try to once again do impromptu math homework in my head, the door opens again as a large folded table is carried in by Flint and a pterodactyl boy. They move to the other side of the door and set up the table as the door opens again, this time Damien carrying two towers of pizza boxes and chucks them onto the table, causing the ptero boy to yell.

              “Damien, careful jeeze, that’s at least a month’s allowance!”

              “Shoot, sorry Naser.” Damien apologizes with his trademark grin. Naser in turn pinches the bridge of his snoot. I stand back up and look to Olivia, who had returned to her darkened corner of the back. Guess our surprise conversation was over. I look back to see Flint and Naser arranging the pizza boxes, Damien already trying to sneak a slice. Flint’s hand slaps Damien’s invading hand away from the box, causing him to hiss and his frills to shudder in pain. I shake my head, a small smile starting to form on my face. I could go over to see if Olivia wouldn’t mind company for now, but knowing Mia and how she seems to act, I might piss her off if I just bow out now. Besides, Flint and Damien seem to be legitimately good people. I wouldn’t mind working with them for a bit longer.

Join Olivia

Help Meteor Krash

Chapter Text

 I jump off the return metro to the station close to the school, a sort of spring in my step. I wasn’t even really worried about Anon not returning cause in all honesty? I didn’t care. If he wants to hate me, whatever. I just got a couple of new friends and an awesome night ahead of me so I am not gonna let him bring down my mood. I had since freshened up and put on one of my nicer jackets, a select vintage that I was planning on wearing for a special occasion and in all honesty, this felt like one of them. I switched to a nice breathy black shirt and good pair of slacks. I looked like I was ready for a formal event, like prom or something. Hey, maybe I’ll get some compliments. ~

 As I approach the school, I can see several other people start to mill around the entrance. Not as many as this morning of course, but still pretty crowded. I passed a few giggling dinos hearing them talking about the coming concert.

 “Heh, bet ya it’s gonna be a shit show.”

 “Meteor Krash should be good though, I’ve head them play and they rock!”

 “Glad their going first, probably gonna leave after they’re done.”

 “Oh, stop being a bitch, at least it’ll be good for content on YouSnoot!”

 Huh, so Fang’s band is called Meteor Krash...cool! That sounds like an awesome name. I reach down and make sure to check my camera one last time. I decided to bring it along so I’d be able to take a few glamor shots so Fang could use them as promotional material and what not. Best part about this, When I take pictures, they’ll be automatically saved to my cloud storage for my portfolio. As long as I’m connected to the school’s wifi, any pictures I take will upload to my computer as well as my SD card, so I won’t lose a single shot!

 I pass by more students with more comments on the bands playing, heading through the open doors to the school. The cheesy smell of pizza led me towards the auditorium, where more people were starting to enter as well. I mentally psyche myself up as I go to enter, but a hand on my shoulder stops me. I yelp a bit as I’m pulled to the side and turned to be faced with a very large, very serious looking caveman. He wore a neat black suit with a red tie that covered his white dress shirt. A lapel pin in the shape of a spear sat neatly in place on his chest, the word ‘Superintendent’ engraved underneath. He wore rectangular glasses over his serious black eyed stare.

“Ah, young Inco, I am glad to have run into you.” His voice seemed to be toned down to make sure the passing students didn’t hear. Kinda hard though cause even while whispering he has a deep loud timbre that almost shakes the ground around him.

“My name is Mr Spears. I had heard from Principal Scaler that one of our new students had been sent home because of an accident and I wanted to personally check in on you. I had planned on seeing you tomorrow, but it would seem I don’t have to wait. How are you?”

I regard his question with a moment. My bruises had since stopped aching, especially after a nice warm shower, so I didn’t really have an issue.

“Pretty okay sir,” I said finally. “It was just a game and all. Bumps and bruises happen with dodgeball.”

Spears nods solemnly.

“Be that as it may, it would be terrible if I did not check on you. This school is held in high regard for its devotion to the arts and understanding one another. You are sure you are alright?”

I smile the best I can. “Yes sir. If anything good came out of the whole thing, it’s that I was able to make some new friends out of it. Although, I’ll try not getting hit again just to make friends ahaha…” I laugh off the bad joke, hoping Spears would as well.

His face breaks its serious tone to one of fatherly mirth, patting my shoulder out of its socket.

“Well that is pleasant to hear. I do hope you enjoy the rest of the school year, as well as the performances tonight.”

I smile and lift up my camera. “Oh trust me, I’m gonna make sure this is enjoyed for a while.” Spears looks down at my treasured DSLR, cocking up an eyebrow.

“Ah, photography, I take it your taking the photography class with Mr Iadakan?”

“Yep, that’s the whole reason I wanted to come here. I had heard there was a great teacher here that excelled in photography and art, so I signed up for both!” A chuckle that shakes the ground emits from the Superintendent.

“Well I can guarantee Iadakan is everything you’d hope for. Now I don’t want to hold you any longer. Make sure you check in with the nurse tomorrow first thing okay?”

I nod and thank him, turning back to the entrance of the auditorium. The seats were slowly being filled by dino teens, all being pretty excited, with some jeering about the other terrible band. I feel bad suddenly when I remember that Damien and Fang were on either band. I suck air in through my teeth.

Support Fang

Support Damien

 I feel bad for Damien, but I had decided to cheer Fang on because honestly, it was the least I could do.

I look to my right and I see a table stacked high with boxes of pizza that several people had open. They took slices and put them on plates as they found seats awaiting the show. My eyes finally landed on a familiar face.

Anon.

He was holding two plates, both of them with three slices on each. Once he seemed satisfied, he walked past me, not looking in my direction as he headed over to another familiar face. It’s the girl in the wheelchair from this morning…Olivia Halford. Anon handed her one of the plates, then slid down the wall to sit next to her chair. A strange sensation starts to creep up my spine, watching them seem to be having a good time together.

‘He sided with the bitch that knocked you out’

Fang’s words rang out from my memory. Here he was sitting with another girl that almost hit me. That sensation started to eat at me, my mood starting to darken as just the sight of him was just feeding it. A voice rang out, catching my attention.

“Hey Inco! Didn’t expect you to be here!” Naser walked over from the pizza table, a warm grin on his beak. I do my best to push the feeling down again and give the pterodon a smile.

“Yeah, your si-sibling invited me after the whole gym situation.” Naser’s eyes narrowed.

“They…invited you?”

I nodded, looking over at the pizzas again.

“You got all these? That had to cost a fortune.” Naser seems to shake his thoughts aside, a small smile splaying on his beak.

“Yeah, even got a lot of these people to come see them. I want to support her…them… the best I can.”

“Well, I’m sure they would appreciate it if…” A loud ringtone interrupts my sentence as Naser looks at me apologetically. He pulls out his phone and answers it, about to bring it to his ear when a what sounds like a banshee shriek coming from the receiver. Naser held the phone about a foot away from his ear, trying to not go deaf.

“Okay! I’ll leave!” he retorts as he hangs up and sighs. He turns back to me, and I’m pretty sure I saw a split second glare shot at me. It's gone in an attosecond as he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Well, Fang…wants me out of here.”

He starts to walk towards the doors. I watch after him, not sure what to say in this situation. Do I have a right to say anything? I don’t know the full situation so I could easily be causing more problems. But Naser seems like a bro, he spent all this money just to be thrown out.

Stop Naser

Let Him Leave

“Enjoy the show Inco,” Naser waves back at me, my words caught in my throat. Before I could say anything else, he’s gone, a crowd of concert audience clouding my view of his slumped back. I shake my head and decide to go find a place to sit that has good access for me to take pictures. Looking down at my camera once I’m sat next to a green stego girl and and orange ankylosaurs girl and remember the other function it has.. A video recorder! What better way to immortalize this moment than a music video. I switch the settings over and fiddle with the contrast, pointing up at the stage to make sure the focus is perfect. Once all seems good for the recording, I settle back in my chair to wait for the show to start. It’s then that I realize I am being poked in the back of my neck.

“Geeze, he’s even scrawnier than Anon.”

I turn around in my seat and come face to face with a pastel purple muzzle, magenta eyes shrinking as the poker realizes she’d gotten my attention. I stare at the mini raptor girl, not really angry, but a little perturbed. Suddenly, the girl hurdles over the chair next to me and sits in it, bringing her hands together in an over the top apology.

“Sorry, I did it again!”

Again?

The ankylosaurs turns to finally notice me, her fierce ruby eyes looking me over. She looks from me to the raptor girl and rolls her eyes, speaking in a slight accent.

“¿Qué voy a hacer contigo niño? My apologies for my friend, he is excitable.”

I look back at the raptor…boy? Getting a better look at him, his hand on the back of his head, tongue sticking out at the ankylo girl. A pastel hand reaches out to me.

“Sorry again! Name’s Sage~!”

I shake the offered hand and gives a wide grin back.

“No worries, it’s not a big deal! And my name’s Inco!”

Sage smiles back and settles in his chair, sandwiching me between his friend and him. He looks back at me and points a claw next to me.

“That’s Rosa and our space case friend over there is Stella~”

I freeze. Thank Raptor Jesus I’m wearing sunglasses because my eyes bug out at the name Rosa. I turn to see her giving me a smile and nod. I don’t notice Stella saying something as I just stare at Rosa, trying to figure out whether I want to hide under my seat or run. Running isn’t much of a choice what with Sage blocking my only exit.

Play it cool Inco, don’t freak out. Leaving my thoughts for a moment and realize the trio of dinos are looking at me expectantly. I noticed a strange purple deck of cards in Stella’s hand.

“I’m sorry, huh?” Stella looks at me with a wounded gaze.

“I was wondering if you were interested in a reading…but I understand if you don’t want to.”

The worry about Rosa seems to be eclipsed by my sudden curiosity. I’d read about tarot in passing one time, mostly because the art on most of the cards was usually pretty interesting. I look to Stella and give her a smile and nod.

“Sure, why not?” Her eyes widened and sparkled at my approval. She hurriedly shuffled the deck, then fanned out the cards to give me access to them. Rosa, who was currently being leaned on by the green stego, rolls her eyes as she tries to make room for her friend

“Okay, all you need to do is have a question in mind, then pick a card!”

I think for a second, what question…ah got it! Question in mind, I reach over and pull a card from the middle of the fan. I flip the card over and am greeted with what looks like a tall tower on a small hill. A lightening bolt seems to have struck the top of the tower, as several different dinos and a couple humans are falling from the windows.

The Tower

Sage has perched on my shoulder to get a better look, his eyes shrunk to pinpricks. I look worriedly at Stella, my blood freezing. Her face is contorted in a scared visage. Her eyes are glued to the card, then begins.

“You are going to have a significant event that rocks your beliefs to the very core. It will be up to you how this effects you, be it for good or bad.”

I stare back at the card, my mind swimming with what possible event could do that. A hand shakes my shoulder, forcing me to look up to see Stella getting my attention. Her look still seems scared, but now there is a note of reassurance in the smile she gives me.

“Hey, like I told Anon earlier, this is all in good fun.” She tries to sooth my thoughts. I try to return her smile, but her foreboding words stick with me, even as the sound of a microphone being tapped on draws our attention to the stage. We look to see that caveman teen that was on Anon’s team in PE.

“Hey everyone, thanks for coming out to our little competition! VVurm Drama seems to have beef with us so it’s time to show them who’s boss!”

He roars out to the crowd, everyone starting to cheer, Stella included.

Guess I’ll worry about this later.

***

I’ve done enough in all honesty and the pizzas weren’t technically Meteor Krash’s job so they won’t miss me. I walk over to the table and grab a couple plates. A hand from Flint goes to slap my hand like Damien.

“These are for the crowd first.” He says. I pull my hand back just in time. I look up at him, then discreetly point a thumb over my shoulder.

“Isn’t she part of the crowd?” Flint looks where I’m pointing, a look of surprise on his face.

“Damien’s sis is still here? Huh, that’s new.” He quips as his protective hand moves out of the way. He gives me a sly smile.

“Didn’t know you had a type Anon.”

I could feel my cheeks heat up as I punch his shoulder, him laughing in response.

“Fuck you, that’s not…”

“Hey I’m just joking dude, but,” he looks at me with a raised brow, “Olivia is very private, try not to be too abrasive if you want to get anywhere with her huh?”

I punch him again. My knuckles feeling like they break against his barrel chest. Grabbing the plates again, I open a couple boxes looking at the contents.

Plain

Pepperoni and Sausage

Anchovies

Hmm, haven’t seen this one in a while. Most of the pizza places I had back home never had anchovies so when we did spring for it, I was always excited. I grab a couple slices and put them on one. Then the same for the second. Closing up the boxes. I see Flint still looking at me, a small grin on his face.

“Thanks for the help Anon. It was great having you around if even for a little bit.” I look up at him, not really sure what to say. Im…not used to this.

“Sure…uh if you ever need help again.” He holds a hand up.

“Trust me, I’m sure Mia will enlist you again.” His face falls. “She’s just like that.”

He turns to once again slap a ‘stealthy’ Damien who had hidden himself under the table, trying to pull a box of pizza under to his new lair.. I shake my head and take the slices over to where the gator gal was sitting. She was tapping away on her phone, just sitting in her own little world. I did notice though her nose seemed to sniff as I got closer with the plates of cheesy goodness. Her phone slowly lowers as she continues to look at it, but I could see her eyes flit over to me, spying my food. I stop for a second, getting a wicked idea.

Tease

Don’t be a Jackass

I slide down the wall next to her , plates of pizza in plain view. She raises her phone and begins to tap on it again, but slower than before. I pick up a slice from my plate and bring it up to my mouth slowly, watching her from my peripheral. She had stopped her typing and was now looking at me with those yellowed eyes, silver irises trained on the slice. If I didn’t know any better, I could see the longing. I take a bite and begin chewing on the salty, cheesy slice, letting a groan of satisfaction come from my chewing mouth.

A thumping noise got my attention. I turned one eye to the gator girl and saw her tail was tapping the ground frantically. I smile inwardly, time for the kill shot.

“God you gotta try this…so good.” I pop the rest of the slice into my mouth and sigh loudly.

She gives out a small croaky ‘eep!’ as I say that aloud. She eyes me suspiciously.

“You’re doing this on purpose…” she glowers. I arch an eyebrow.

“Not at all, just can’t get over how good this is.” I say coyly, picking up my second slice. “You have no idea how much I love anchovies.” I sigh again, lifting the slice up to my mouth. Once again, a thumping noise from her tail, but this one was decidedly closer. I look at her again and see she is staring at the pizza in my hand. I look back and forth between her and it, giving my best shit eating grin.

“Did you want this?”

She glares at me. I feign ignorance lifting the food up again.

“Yes…”

“Hmm?”

“YES DAMMIT!”

I start laughing aloud, her face glowing crimson as she realized she just shouted that. I reach for the second plate and lift it towards her. She looks at it suspiciously, her blush still burning. I stop laughing and try to give her a crooked smile.

“That was for the tail swipe at lunch.”

She growls a little at the memory and snatches the proffered food. She turns from me and begins devouring the anchovy pizza. I chuckle at her reaction, proud of my real life shitpost. She finished off the pizza in no time, reaching down for her canteen. Opening it, she tries to drink, but she grunts in annoyance, shaking it over her open maw. Empty it seems. Olivia huffs as she starts to wheel herself towards the door, which is held open now by door stoppers. People had started to show up and were now blocking the way. I watch as she tries to get out, but in vain. She crosses her arms over her chest and hunches over, disgruntled.

Help

Stay Seated

I sigh as I stand up and walk over to her.

 The throng of cereal mascots surge past, no real break in the mass. I look down to Olivia.

“Want me to help?”

Olivia jumps at my voice, then looks up to me. She chews on her lip for a second, thinking. She looks at the crowd again and then sighs. She reaches down and unhooks the canteen from her chair and hands it up to me.

“Thanks…”

I nod to her and brace myself to cut through the crowd, she returning to our spot. I was able to weave in and out and with little effort found the water fountain. Holding the canteen at an angle, I started to fill it with the steady stream of water. It took a bit to fill so I absentmindedly looked over the canteen. It clearly was well used, a significant dent near the top seemed to give it a bit of character. My eyes finally fell on a familiar looking sticker. Huh, a Gundam Fin fan huh? A strange feeling wells up in me looking at the sticker. I quickly push that feeling away. No, no revealing of power level to a girl you aren’t even sure wants anything to do with you. I felt a wetness on my hand and noticed the canteen was spilling over.

“Fuck!”

I stop the water and recap the container, drying my hand on my jeans and head back to the auditorium. The crowd at the door has finally filed in and taken seats in the crappy chairs. I decide it’s also ample time to refill our pizza as well, getting two more plates of anchovy slices. I slung the canteen over my shoulder and bring back the pizzas to our spot.

She looks my way as I got closer, her tail starting to thump on the ground as I brought her the water and pizza. She accepted both as I slid back down next to her. I look at my watch, 7:50 pm.

“Just about time I guess.”

Olivia hums over her slice as she gobbles it down.

“Yeah, but be prepared, Fang’s band is…a bit of an acquired taste.” I turn to her

“Oh, I asked Damien what they play, but he doesn’t even know.”

Olivia rolls her eyes. “Not surprising, he has the memory of a goldfish.” She chuckles at her own dig at her sibling.

We sit in silence, watching as the auditorium starts to buzz with activity. I don’t see much since I’m sitting on the ground behind the back row , but the once quieter room was now annoyingly loud.

“…s my favorite too.” I turn back to Olivia, and realize she had been speaking.

“What was that?”

She jumps a little, her eyes widening as she turns away from me quickly.

“Damn mumbling…” She curses to herself. Her eyes train back on me, looking like she is fighting an internal battle with what to say.

“Anchovies are my favorite too…” she finally says, looking away again. A heat on my cheeks announces a blush on my face.

“Wha…”

“Hey everyone, thanks for coming out to our little competition! VVurm Drama seems to have beef with us so it’s time to show them who’s boss!”

Flint’s loud voice calls out through the speakers, although I’m pretty sure he doesn’t need the amplification for his voice to carry over the crowd. Everyone starts to cheer at the proclamation, jumping from their seats.

I wasn’t paying attention though. My sights were trained on the ever shrinking girl that was trying desperately to erase the last few minutes between us. She steals a glance at me, then shakes her head. Her hands grab the wheels on her chair and with practiced motion, moves from her spot, past me and out of the auditorium in a hurried fashion. I didn’t even get a chance to say anything before I realize I’m on my feet about to follow. I stop myself before leaving the room. Why am I getting so worked up? All she said was anchovies are her favorite too. That wasn’t a confession of love or anything. I pinch my cheek as I get my thoughts back together.

Go After Her

Stay Put

No, you just met her. You are supposed to be a loner. No one actually cares about you. You’re just looking for trouble. You were just trying to stay out of Mia’s way, Flint and Damien were just friendly with you because it’s easier to deal with me. I was forced on them.

I was forced on them.

No one…actually likes me…

…None of this matters…

I sigh as I go back to my spot, leaning against the wall. Mia had finally shown and taken her spot on the stage, guitar strapped around her. She had discarded her red jacket in favor of a black tank top that was filled out by her…ahem. Her usual jeans were present and now her wrists had spiked bands on them. She reaches for her mic, satisfied smirk on her lips, cerulean eyes going over the crowd as they continue to cheer.

“Like Flint said, let’s rock these fuckers under the ground!”

The cheers intensified as Flint matched her smirk and began to pluck is bass, starting off their song with a feverish beat that Damien started to match his mates speed. As they began the intro to the song, Mia joined them with a loud progression of notes. Then everything stops, all three of them have bowed their heads. Then, Mia starts to strum her guitar.

The tune they started to play was a familiar one. One of those games that are somewhat awful to play, but the soundtrack is pretty good. Flint wasn’t kidding when he said he snuck in nerd shit. Honestly, respect.

Mia to her credit, sang her heart out as she bounced to the rhythm, Damien beating frantically on his drums. As a cover band, they were pretty decent. I watched the crowd going nuts, but the one that seemed to be going crazy the most was that Stella girl who was going to give herself whiplash if she headbanged any harder. As the song drew to a close, I could tell that while not the best band in the world, they seemed to be having genuine fun up there. Mia’s usual smirk seemed to have morphed into a joyful grin that didn’t seem to match her usual demeanor.

The music soon came to an end, the band settling down back into their positions, sweat pouring off of them, making their clothes cling to them. Mia shoots a look at Flint, panting from her makeshift dance. He nods, prompting Mia to remove her guitar and toss it to the caveman. He in turn flipped the bass he had on its strap so it now hung on his back. As soon as he was ready, he begun a fast melody. Mia, grabbing the mic from her stand, began to sing the next song.

Flint and Damien began to play a rock version of another video game soundtrack. This time, Mia began to dance as she sang the oddly hypnotic song. Her movements were reminiscent to a belly dancer, actually eliciting some hoops and hollers from a few guys in the audience. I’d be lying if I almost joined them hadn’t I had an ounce of self respect. The look the red parasaur had on her face was one of pure adulation. She had the crowd in the palm of her hand, and she was loving every minute of it.

Finally, the song came to a close, Mia positively drenched in sweat. The crowd stopped their feet and cheered for Meteor Krash. The three tired dinos gave the crowd a bow and waved as they began to pick up their instruments and make room for the other drum kit. As they abandoned the stage, Mia gave the crowd one last look. I couldn’t really tell from all the way in the back, but I was sure I saw a look of genuine glee the was quickly replaced by her usual cocky smirk.

Given the subject of both their songs, I might be biased, but that was a really good showing. They seemed pretty in sync with one another, it’s going to be hard to top that.

Almost immediately after they vacated the stage, Fang and her friends started to set up their instruments. The chatter about how well Meteor Krash did was replaced by snickering and phones being held up to tape the next performance. From bits of conversation, it seems that they don’t have much love for VVurm Drama…

As they finished setting up, they took their places, a note of unease coming from all of them. Fang had closed her eyes and pointed her face upward.

No introduction, no acknowledgement of the crowd.

They just start.

***

My face fell as I realized once again I made a mistake.

I sat in my seat as the crowd around me, especially Stella, seem to be going crazy for Meteor Krash. I was quickly corrected about who was in what band when Mia and Damien strolled out and took their places next to the caveman named Flint. Heh, learned that from Stella yelling and wolf whistling.

Overall, the songs they played didn’t seem familiar, but they weren’t terrible. Mia just seemed to be jumping around stage for the first song they played, but decided to go for a more sensual dace for the second, which seemed to be popular with the male persuasion. I shook my head at her gaudy display, but had to admit, she was a pretty good singer. I was just thankful they had finally finished and started to leave. I rolled my eyes as Mia gave one last wave, leaving the stage empty.

The chatter of the crowd seems to change from their praise of Meteor Krash, snickers and jeers sounding back and forth. I sigh, annoyed. Clearly they don’t have good taste. I perk up when I see the three dinos I’d been waiting for. I look to either side of me to see what they…oh. Stella and Rosa were looking on uneasy, while Sage seemed to have his head in hands.

“What’s the matter?” the girls and Sage look at me with worry on their brows.

“Well…”

Stella is interrupted by a bass being plucked harshly. I look back to the stage and see that they…just started to play? No intro?

Take Video

Just Watch

I quickly remembered my original mission. I pick my camera back up and hit the record button, training it towards the band playing. I got a full shot as Trish continues to pluck her bass, Reed joining in on his drums. Then, Fang with a look of angry determination, begins playing their guitar…

The sound that came from the complete band assaulted my ears. Fang was hammering down on her guitar, the notes coming out too bass and clashed with Trish’s bass. Then I realized…that isn’t a guitar…it’s a second bass. Fang was playing the bass as if it was a guitar, but the harsh lower thrum that is decidedly different doesn’t seem to gel with the rest. What proceeded was a cacophony of noise that was hard to even be called music.

I try to rack my brain. Why play with two basses? I don’t have too much experience with music, but I’ve seen YouSnoot videos about this type of thing being almost impossible to do. There has to be an explanation. I jerk back to reality as I hear laughter start to drown out the music that had suddenly petered out. I look back to the stage. Trish and Reed seem to be looking back and forth at each other and Trish’s bass which was not making any sound as she strums it in vain. The only sound still coming from the speakers is Fangs jarring bass playing. Their face is screwed up in vicious frustration, as if plucking the strings harder was going to change things. I could see wet streams of tears roll down their cheeks. My heart sinks at the sight. I want to run up there and help them, but can’t seem to pluck up the nerve. Suddenly, Fang stops singing to give out a strangled yell, dropping their bass for it to hang limply to their side. Their hands grasp at their head, beak pointing downward as they shiver.

“Haha, they still suck!”

“Like it was gonna be any different lol.”

“As if they could beat Meteor Krash!”

“FUCK YOU!!!!!”

I’m taken aback. By the look of Trish and Reed, so are they. Trish had been cradling her bass as if she was on the verge of tears, Reed looking pretty cognizant for once as he looks like he is seconds from bolting.

Fang however has their…fangs…hackled, their amber eyes looking like angry grenades about to blow. The tears streaming from their eyes are marring mascara and makeup, turning them into black streaks as they growl out.

“FUCK YOU ALL!”

“No one’s gonna fuck you bitch!”

That heckle seems to stop them in their tracks, the anger giving way to frustration once more. Their body shaking once more, they turn and grab Trish by the arm, stalking off the stage with the smaller girl trying to keep up. They turn to glare at the audience once more…and then to me. Their eyes fall on me, and suddenly I am aware that my hands are still raised, camera in hand…following Fang off stage. I look from my recording camera, back to Fang. Their eyes seem to train on the camera in my hand, then their face turns into a lifeless stare.

My camera is still on them.

Suddenly, the gears in my head start to spin. I wretch my camera down, stopping the recording. I look back up to where Fang was, and found the spot empty.

I…I have to…

“Inco!”

I’m shaken from my stupor to look at Stella. There is a complicated look on her face.

“I’m sorry…I gotta go find them.”

Sage gives a small squeak as I shuffle past him to get into the aside. The crowd was still roaring with laughter. I could feel anger start to well up. This…this isn’t right. I rush towards the door when something catches me off guard.

Anon was leaned against the wall, doubled over in laughter. That gnawing sensation is back, this time just taking chunks from my reserves of patience.

Confront Anon

Find Fang

Push that down, you need to find Fang. I ignore him and rush out the door. I brush past the large suited caveman, Spears, who had just entered as I was leaving. I heard him call to me, but I ignore him and speed down the hallway. I am coming to the realization that I have no idea where I am going, much less where to even start looking for Fang. I stop for a second near the entrance when I hear sneakers squeaking towards me. I turn to be greeted to an enormous force crashing into my face.

A fist.

“YOU FUCKING TOOK PICTURES?!”

My vision is once again filled with stars as I check to see if my glasses are still in one piece. I do my best to focus my vision, which gives way to a seething Fang, fist still where they had connected with my face.

“Wha-” My question is cut off when I feel their claws grab me by the collar of my jacket, pulling me upward. They don’t have the strength to fully pick me up, but the act froze me to my core.

The hurt. The anger. The despair.

Their eyes bore into mine, the amber disks shimmering with the tears. They’re looking for something, the anger starting to well up.

“I…I’m sorry…”

They look at me, eyebrows knitted. They shake their head and let go of me roughly.

“Sure you are…” they mutter hotly. Without another word, they brush past me and out the doors. I’m left in the hall alone. I look down at my camera.

Delete Video

Keep it

I shake my head. As if that was a serious decision. I press the button that corresponded with a trash icon, deleting the video. I sigh.

Great job, Nito.

Chapter Text

Raptor Jesus, I’m going to grow a six pack from laughing so much. The crowds laughter was pretty infectious as I laughed along with them. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really care for Fang, especially since that earlier dig at me about Inco. This just seemed to be a fitting outcome for her acting mightier than thou. I wipe away a tear and straighten up, turning towards the doors to leave. This had been fun, but I was getting tired and had had enough social interaction for one night. I opened my eyes and am greeted with a familiar looking large caveman.

“Hey Flint! Nice job toni-” I trail off when I realize I had to look up further than normal to take in a most decidedly different caveman. He did look like Flint, but older with black wire rimmed glasses. He also had a firm scowl on his lips as he looked down at me, his arms crossed across his wide chest.

“I take it you enjoyed the show Mr. Mous? You seem to be having a time of it.” A cold fury seems to be laced in those last words. I mentally note that this is where Flint gets his temperament from. I try to look anywhere but those angry eyes. He seems to be waiting for a response, but I have nothing to say. 

He sighs.

“Your cousin just left in a hurry. Perhaps you should see if he is alright.” He points a thumb over his shoulder towards the doors. He moves to the side to let me pass. I hesitate a bit at the urging from the large man. He arches an eyebrow at my indecisiveness. Shaking my head, I just look at my shoes. “I’ve...I don’t think I can help...”

The superintendent grunted. A hand finds the new reserved perch on my shoulder.

“You won’t know if you don’t try. Now, take this time to leave. I have to handle the rest of this.”

His cold fury seems to have returned as I decide it’s time my legs started to move. I open the door and leave, just as I hear the caveman yell.

“ALL RIGHT WHO DO I HAVE TO FUCKING SUPLEX?!”

Geeze, glad I was just spoken to. Walking down the hall towards the entrance, I get lost in thought. Even if I catch up to Inco, what the hell am I supposed to say? I mull it over when a loud hissing voice rings out around the corner near the entrance to the school.

“YOU FUCKING TOOK PICTURES?!”

I stop just short of the turn and listen to the shuffling noises that remain unseen. Cautiously I peek one eye around the corner and see Fang grabbing Inco by the collar. I can’t see her face, but Inco’s horror-stricken face told me that Fang was seriously angry. 

“I…I’m sorry.”

His voice is small, although genuine sounding. The raging monochrome ptero seems to have calmed down, but her next words dripped with contempt.

“Sure you are…”

Letting go of his jacket, Fang stalked towards the door, kicking it open and leaving the building. Inco had turned to watch her leave, rubbing the back of his head. He looked down at his camera, pressing the small buttons on the device. Letting the camera fall onto his chest, he sighs.

“Great job Nito.” 

He walks to the wall of lockers and proceeds to lean his back on them, sliding down till he’s sitting on the ground, hugging his knees and head down. We’ll, whatever I decide to do, I won’t be able to pass him without noticing me. He seems broken up about that whole exchange, but is it really my place to pry. Heh, if I hadn’t had people whispering in my ear and giving me advice, I’d probably not even entertain this.

Talk to Inco

Walk past

Well, if not now. I take a deep breath and walk over to the locker wall, leaning against the lockers next to Inco. He doesn’t move, his head still on his knees.

“Sooo,” I finally say, not looking at him, deciding instead to look upward to the ceiling.

“What do you want?”

The short question caught me off guard. Gone was his chipper attitude, a coolness pervaded his voice.

“I…uh…wanted to see if you were alright.” I can feel the coolness start to get colder. He lifts his head up slightly so one of his eyes could look up at me. A sort of glaring quality was trained on me. “So now you want to ‘see if I’m okay’? Glad to know you aren’t completely heartless.”

I blink. The hell? 

He starts to move, getting up from his seated position to stand before me, his arms folded. I can’t help but feel a bit irritated by his response. I know I screwed up earlier, but I’m putting myself out here now. His eyebrow arches.

“You know, I was excited when Dad told me we’d be taking you in for the year and going to school together. I’d finally not feel alone at home because someone would finally be there. But since you showed up, you’ve done nothing but treat me like garbage.” He unloads a diatribe that hits me like a truck.

“Not only me, but then you think, what was short of a disaster, was something to laugh about. Don’t you care what people think? Feel?”

I stare at him and notice that his right eye seems to be blackened. I can feel anger start to boil over.

Snap at Him

Stay Silent

I’ve had it.

“And why the fuck do you give a shit what nobodies have to think about you? Are you so far up your own ass that you think you need other people’s approval? Newsflash sperg, NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU!”

He flinches back at my yell. No, I’m not done yet.

“You think making friends will do anything for you? That just means that they have you right where they want you so they can take advantage of you when they don’t need you anymore! The only person that really matters is yourself, trust me.”

I stalk off past him, but an arm shoots up in front of me. Inco had put it up to stop me.

“Is that what you really think? You seemed pretty friendly with the girl in the wheelchair earlier.”

That…

“And what about during gym when you were running around with that Flint guy.”

“That doesn’t- “

“Face it Anon, you say friends just hurt you, but you seem to have a few already.” I look at him again. His face seems to have become determined. My eyes fall on the black eye he’s sporting again. “Yeah, and didn’t your so called ‘friend’ just give you that shiner?”

Inco falters at the question.

“They didn’t mean to. They…just had a horrible time, one that you laughed at!”

We stare at each other in silence. That silence was broken when the clattering sound from behind us. Both our heads swivel back to the sound. Stella, Sage, and Rosa were watching us, wide eyed at the shouting match that they had interrupted. 

Joy, an audience…

Stella reached down to pick up her fallen phone, not taking eyes off our spot. The three of them just gawk as I shake my head, ignoring the peanut gallery.

“She still hit you, that’s not what ‘friends’ do. So, fuck off with whatever else you think you know about me.” I jab a finger in his chest as I brush him off, intending to leave out the door. I’m not stopped as I open the door and am greeted with the humid air outside. Heading to the metro station, I walk quickly down the path ignoring anyone else on the way.

Figures, I reach out and then get bit. Last time I do something like that again. I arrive at the station just as the train pulls up and hop on as soon as the door opens. There is a nice seat next to a large clear area between two seats. Good, one less possible person I’d have to sit next to. 

Mental note, try to make sure I get this spot from now on. 

The better situation now is that the car I’m sitting in is barely populated. There’s only one other person here…at least I’m pretty sure that’s a person. From my vantage point on the other side of the car, all I really can see is a mass of grey feathers. It looks like whoever is sitting there has draped their wings over themselves, shielding them from view.  Whatever, not my problem. I sit back in my seat and stare at the ceiling. This day has been the fucking worst. People constantly bothering me. I just want to be left alone, is that too much to ask?

The train moves away from the station and picks up speed, the scenery outside zipping by in a blur. Okay, so tomorrow I’ll just keep to myself. Don’t talk to anybody. Hopefully that display earlier will make sure that peanut gallery will just leave me be. Maybe Stella will convince Flint that he shouldn’t bother with me. And Damien…what about him? He seems to really go by the beat of his own drum and had no real reason to pass those notes to me, then invite me to lunch. Ah, shit. That diplosaur is going to be a challenge.

A rustling of feathers draws me out of my inner monologue. I realized that the mass of feathers had finally parted and…oh shit. It’s Fang. 

She hasn’t seemed to notice me though, thank Raptor Jesus. Her eyes are red and puffy, streaks of black and orange makeup falling from her eyes as she looks out the window she is sitting next to. I watch as her hand absentmindedly traces a feather on the one wing she has placed in reach. Her fingers seem to trace a particular feather, and proceeds to yank it from its spot. Wincing in pain, she just drops the bloody tipped thing and it flutters to the ground. Her hand seems to repeat the process, much to my horror. Trace, pluck, wince, repeat. Soon, there is a small pile of the discarded feathers next to her. Tears are rolling down her cheeks as she just stares out the window.

“Fucking…assholes…all of them.”

I freeze in my chair. This, this isn’t my problem. I look the other way, desperately trying to not look at the ptero. Her whimpers reach my ears and I just close my eyes and ignore it.

“Why did I think Shades was different…”

My eyes spring open at Inco’s mention. I don’t look at her, but now I’m listening intently. She gives a small yelp again and another choked sob.

Before she continued, the train slows to a stop, my stop to be exact. As the doors slide open, I jump up as silently as possible and head towards the door, trying to not look at her.

I have to stop thinking my plans will actually work. 

Once at the door, I actually run into someone else that wasn’t paying attention. Two bodies collide and then tumble onto the landing of the station. I hiss as I land right on my ass. I look up and lock eyes with…her.

The shock that I’m sure is on my own face is mirrored on her beak. 

Fuck!

Fuck!!

OH, DEAR GOD FUCK!!!

I scramble to my feet and race down the steps of the station and run down the sidewalk. I hear foot falls behind me. I’m reminded of a deer that runs for its life from whatever predator is hunting it. Apt, as I’m pretty sure I’m going to be dead if she catches me. 

Finally, Inco’s house in sight. My lungs and legs are screaming, but I ignore them until my feet are planted firmly on the porch, key ratting in my hand as I fumble to unlock the door. I don’t dare to look back until the door finally gives and I scramble inside. Once I am sufficiently inside, I take a look outside. She stood there on the sidewalk, looking right at me. There isn’t any anger there…rather, there doesn’t seem to be any readable expression on her face. The street light illuminates her as she just stands there, looking like some type of ethereal being. The final thing I note about the angel of death that is staring at me is the blood that stained the wing she had been plucking from. 

We look at each other for another moment, then she turns and walks towards the curb of the house next door. She sits down on the curb and I can hear the sound of a lighter flicking to life and the telltale sign of cigarette smoke raises from her.

Close the Door

Approach

I don’t give it much thought as the door clicks shut. I barely was able to see how Inco was without yelling. Trying again with a dino girl with claws and sharp teeth just doesn’t sound appealing.

I turn and realize the entire house was dark.

“Unc? Auntie?”

No response. 

‘I’d finally not feel alone at home because someone would finally be there.’

A pang of guilt hit me. I try to shake it off, but it persists. No wonder he’s dead set on making friends.

Friends.

The word holds so much animosity for me. Last time I had anyone I considered a friend…

I sigh as I go to find a light switch and illuminate the room. Even with the lights on, this place barely feels like a home. I let out a slight yawn, probably time to just turn in. Walking down the hall, I open my door and close it behind me. Kicking of my shoes and proceeding to flop on my bed, I pull out my phone. Shitposting might be what the doctor ordered, always put me in a better mood.

Grabbing the two pillows at the head of my bed, I mash them together and lean my chest on them so I could get a little elevation. I tap through my usual threads and forums, looking for some prime meme age. Nothing really seemed to jump out at me though, finding my thoughts still clouded by the events of the day. I rest my chin on my fist as I just start doom scrolling on Squawker…I mean Zed. Goddam Elon Tusk.

A notification pops up on my feed from Lizard Lounge, the general chat seems to have been a bit busy since I left last night. Mostly it was just dino chick’s that were complaining about the ‘skinnie’ assholes that have been objectifying them and shit like that. Hell, why not, let’s check it out. I scroll through a bit.

<Rptrgurrl32>: Actually, almost shanked hiz ass!

<TrexMix>: OMG LOL

<Rptrgurrl32>: Teach his humie ass to try and touch me!

<Liv_Long>: Next time actually do it; I need pics too!

<Rptrgurrl32>: You want pics of a murder?

<Liv_Long>: I need a new muse lol

<TrexMix>: Liv you crzy

<FeatherFlight>: click here for all your estrus needs!

<Liv_Long>: Goddam bot! >:[

I roll my eyes as I catch up on the chat. Finally, I near the end of the conversation that was talking about the latest romcom out in theaters. Seems the last comment was just about 45 minutes ago.

<Liv_Long>: Ugh, just had the worst moment of my life.

Hmm, guess I’ll bite, no one else seems to have and this could be some prime trolling

<TrexMix>: What’s up guurl?

I don’t have to wait long to see Liv_Long responding.

<Liv_Long>: I met this really annoying guy…kept on running into him for most of the day.

<TrexMix>: Ooh, do tell, spill the tea!

Raptor Jesus, I just inflicted myself with cringe. I am anything if not committed to a bit.

<Liv_Long>: I dunno what his deal is. He seems like a jerkass, but then my dumbass bro decided to bring him to our table at lunch.

My brow furrows. 

<TrexMix>: Was he a humie?

<Liv_Long>: Oh yeah, baldest head you ever see. Dumb green jacket too. He just sat down and made friends with everyone there. Get this tho, my bro decided to use all his allowance for the week on the guy and bought him lunch. Dumbass just met this guy and he’s giving it up on the first date lol.

I stare at the name of the poster. Liv…Olivia? Damien definitely called her that at lunch.

<TrexMix>: Damn, can I get your bros number lol

<Liv_Long>: Cram it you slut. Besides, I don’t think you’d beat his ‘girlfriends’ head game. She could blow him from the next room over with how long her neck is.

I start hacking as I swallowed my spit down the wrong hole at the response. The fuck, she has balls.

<TrexMix>: Gross Liv, TMI.

<Liv_Long>: gatordance_img.png

I chuckle as her response was a tiny dancing gator that whipped back and forth at breakneck speed.

<TrexMix>: So...about that humie...

<Liv_Long>: Oh yeah, so I did the only noble thing I could do and made sure bro’s money wasn’t wasted and helped myself to some of the sandwiches. Minding my own business, I reached for one and then he grabbed my hand!

The hell, why is my face heating up...

<TrexMix>: OMG how lewd!

<Liv_Long>: Got him good though! Don’t underestimate a tail whip!

<TrexMix>: Ouch, bet he didn’t like that...

Okay, gotta play it cool Anon.

<Liv_Long>: Not only that, he also tried to peek at me drawing. Doesn’t he have any type of personal boundaries? He even bothered me at the school concert today.

My heart missed a beat.

<TrexMix>: Yeah, skinnies never really seem to know when to quit huh?

<Liv_Long>: Well...it wasn’t all bad...

<TrexMix>: Oh?

<Liv_Long>: He got me my favorite pizza...in an assholish way...but...

<TrexMix>: But?

<Liv_Long>: It was kinda funny. I dunno, if I saw someone do it to someone else, I’d have thought it was hilarious.

Hey, why are my alarms going off? I already know I am the funniest man alive. I don’t need the validation.

<Liv_Long>: The only thing is, I felt weird when he offered to help with filling my water canteen. He didn’t try to tell me I need help. And after everything that happened today between us...Gahhhhh I don’t knowwwwwwwwww.

<Liv_Long>: He even complimented my poster.

<Liv_Long>: angry_gatordance_img.png

Another dancing gator, but this one had little angry eyebrows over its eyes. A new pang of guilt seems to wash over me. I shouldn’t be seeing this, talking to her about this. How do I even continue to play dumb at this point?

<Liv_Long>: Trex?

I look at the screen and I’m not sure what to say. Time to retreat for now.

<TrexMix>: Sorry Liv, I’m getting tired. Talk more tomorrow?

I curse myself for that last sentence.

<Liv_Long>: Okay skank! TTYL

<TrexMix>: Night skank!

I shut my phone screen off and turn over on my bed, facing the wall.

‘Face it Anon, you say friends just hurt you, but you seem to have a few already.’

Fuck...Goddammit...

***

“Inco, your eye!”

Stella gasps as the three approach me right after the door closes behind Anon. My gaze was cast downward towards my phone. I had opened the camera app and flipped it to the front facing camera on the screen. Oof, Fang really did get me. My had reaches up to the blackened bit of skin, wincing at the sore spot. A pastel snoot invades my face space and blinks at me.

“Ouch, that looks like it hurts. You okay?” I give Sage a sad smile.

“You know, opposed to the roll through flowers and getting beaned by a dodgeball to the face, this isn’t too bad.”

Silence. I blink, the sad smile freezing into a grimace as I look at Rosa.

Her look of concern seems to have fallen to a neutral position; eyes seem to start looking me over. Well, how should I proceed.

Come Clean

Try to Cover

I sigh, I think I’ve hurt too many people tonight. I give Rosa a slight bow of the head.

“Rosa, I’m sorry about the whole flowerbed situation. I know we just met and the fact I caused you grief I just want to apologize. I’ll do anything to help try and fix what I messed up.”

Looking back up at the girl, I see a complicated expression on her face. She then stamps her foot and crosses her arms angerly.

“Raptor Jesús en su cruz de roca, Inco, how do you do that?”

I blink a bit, confused.

“Do what?”

“Just able to diffuse anger like that...” Rosa sighs. Stella seems to giggle a little at her friend’s disgruntled nature.

“What was that Rosa, weren’t you going to hit the person who did it with your...chancla?” Sage has a sly grin on his face as he drapes an arm around my shoulder, his other hand pretending to cover his snoot. It was a bit awkward since he had to stand on tip toes to even pull off the move. I start to sweat at the mention of physical therapy with one’s footwear.

Rosa shoots a scowl at Sage, then sighs.

“Inco, we will figure out a way for you to fix your mistakes later, for now your eye is more pressing.” She approaches me while reaching into her small clutch purse she had slung over her shoulder.

“Always carry essentials,” Rosa tuts as she pulls out ointment and a cotton ball. I don’t resist as she removes my shades and dabs the ball with the ointment. Carefully, she dabs my eye with the medicine, then holds the cotton to my eye.

“Hold that there for now.”

Following her order, my hand holds it in place as Rosa pulls out some medical tape. Man, there’s the essentials, then there is an entire first aid kit. She snips off a length of the tape with a bite and affixes it to my face, securing the cotton to my eye. I give a small wince as the pressure irritates my eye, but soon becomes oddly soothing. Admiring her work, Rosa places all of the unused items back into her clutch.

“Thanks, it feels a little better. Shame it doesn’t make me feel better about this situation.” I sigh, leaning against a locker. I replace my shades over the blockage on my eye. I hear the lockers on either side of me creak as Stella and Sage lean as well, the mischievous look from the microraptor has disappeared, replaced with a concerned look.

“Man, and here I thought Anon was pretty chill. Didn’t expect that whole ‘GRAHH’ act.” Sage folds his arms and leans his head on my shoulder. As strange as Sage is, I actually don’t mind his habit of invading personal space right now...it’s oddly comforting.

“I just...I don’t know what to make of him.” I start, staring down at my sneakers. “I was so excited. I hadn’t had issues with him at family gatherings a few years ago, what happened?”

A strange squeak seems to come from Stella. I look at her, her chewing on her lip to stifle the noise she made.

“Stella?”

Her eyes turn to pinpricks as a nervous smile paints her beak.

“Oh, nothing...Just reminds me of a friend from online. Nothing to do with this...” She forces a laugh that sounds like she’s panicking. I look at Sage, who has since leaned back up to raise an eye at his friend.

“Girl, you’re acting spacier than usual.”

“Am I?!” She whisper yells.

Press

Leave Alone

I shake my head, if Stella doesn’t want to talk about it, it’s not my place to ask.

“Has Fang and their band always been like that?”

This question seems to stop Stella’s stammering, looking almost relieved I didn’t go further with her.

“Well, they’ve only been playing since Junior year...last year. Fang has always been into music it seems so the three of them decided they’d give it a try. Unfortunately...”

Stella falters. She looks down at her own sneakers this time.

“Unfortunately, what?”

A new voice makes us all look towards someone that had just joined the area.

Trish.

Her own eyes seemed puffy, lines of black mascara staining her cheeks betraying the tears that had run down them, but they’re dry now. No tears, only rage that is now trained on the shrinking Stella. Trish closes her eyes, her scowl disappearing as a look of barely held neutrality takes it’s place. Raptor Jesus, I’d rather she stares daggers at us.

“Unfortunately. What. Stella.” She emphasizes each word. The stego girl cowers under her gaze, shuffling over and holds onto my sleeve as if to try and hide behind me. Trish turns her eyes to look at me, that blank look turning into one of mild annoyance.

“God Stella, don’t you have enough skinnie ass with Flint? What, you collecting them or something?” I look to Stella, who’s face seems to scrunch up in an effort to not cry, a shade of crimson dusting her cheeks. Okay, not cool. I’m about to say something, but Rosa stands in between us and the raging triceratops.

“Aye Trish, that is no way to talk to friends!” She begins to flail her arms at Trish. She had produced a rosary that was swinging around in her hands like a flail. Trish rolled her eyes.

“I just want to know what the anime freak thinks she can say alone, but not in front of me, Fang, and Reed.”

A chuckle comes from down the hall.

“Man, your English sucks Trish. You know you’re supposed to say ‘Fang, Reed, and me’, but I’m not surprised you put yourself first.”

Flint is leaning on the corner of the wall, scanning the scene. He looks over to me and sees Stella cowering next to me, Sage having since come to embrace Stella and I in a weird group hug of protection watching on with a scowl at Trish. His brow furrows after he seems to have assessed the situation, starting to stride over to stand next to Rosa.

“Don’t you have a friend you should be consoling instead of looking for a fight?” He spits out at the triceratops girl, who for a split-second, flinches, but recovers quickly.

“Oh, don’t you fucking start you fucking ape. It’s your fault we’re in this fucking mess!” She points an accusing finger at him. He takes a step towards her. Rosa is about to match him, but Flint holds out a hand to stop her.

“I think you might be projecting a bit too much Half-Pint.” That broke the mask, the neutral face giving way to one of abject hatred. She gives out a strangled yell as she charges Flint, her head bowed down and ready to gore him. To his credit, all he does in response is hold out a hand and stops her charge with a sturdy palm. She flails about, trying to scratch him with her claws, but he holds her at bay.

“You fucking piece of shit, LET ME GO!”

“I will, once you calm the fuck down!”

She continues to flail in vain at the caveman, him just holding her at arm’s length. Stella is shivering, her grip on my sleeve tightening. I feel bad for how scared she seems; I just wish I knew how to help with this situation. Looking back at Flint and can’t seem to shake the jealousy I feel towards him. His choice of handling the situation certainly isn’t one I would have taken, but it is effective all the same. At least in preventing serious harm anyway. A flurry of movement from the hall as Reed joined the fray, grabbing Trish’s shoulders and trying to pull her from her charge. His face was alert, the dreamy look I’ve grown accustom to is gone as he pulls at his friend.

“Come on Trish, it ain’t worth it.”

“Shut it Reed, he’s had this coming!!!” She snarls, trying to fight a battle on two fronts.

“Aww Reed, she almost has me, I say let her try more.” Flint snickers, just making the triceratops let out a strangled roar, her movements getting more erratic. Okay, now Flint seems to just be egging her on now. This whole thing is going to blow if no one steps in.

Speak Up

Pull Flint Back

“Sage, take care of Stella.”

Sage blinks and is about to protest as I slip from his grip and approach the hulking Flint. Rosa notices as I walk past her, a look of warning to not go further, but I shoot her a small smile and continue on.

“Trish, Flint, I think we should all chill out!”

My sudden interjection seems to distract Trish enough that her legs give out from the effort, giving Reed the opening to pull her back to get some space between them. Trish is huffing ragged breaths as her anger is still present on her face, her shoulders rising and falling at her tries at replenishing oxygen. Flint, however, seems to have a toothy smirk on his face trained at her, not a note of exhaustion present on his face. I turn to him, my arms folded.

“Flint, thanks for the assist, but was it really a good idea to goad her on?”

Flint blinks at me, slight confusion playing on his face. I turn to Trish, her glare on me now.

“And Trish, considering how Fang was when I ran into them, I can only imagine how you’re feeling. But that doesn’t mean you should treat people who didn’t even laugh at you.”

Angry confusion on her face now. Okay, I got their attention now. I continue.

“At this point, if you both continue, something could happen that you won’t be able to take back. This is only the first day of school, right? Maybe we should just go home and chill out.” I look to both of them and give a smile.

They just stare at me. My smile starts to twitch a little. Did...did I screw up again?

“Yo, Inco, well said.”

I turn to see Reed giving me a thumbs up and a toothy grin. He puts an arm around the confused Trish and leads her towards the door. She doesn’t respond, but walks with the raptor boy, her eyes not leaving me. The confusion on her face seems to become just annoyance as she turns to whisper to Reed. They don’t say anything else as they walk through the doors. I feel my legs turn to jelly as I collapse on my ass. Oh, the adrenaline is gone and now I can’t stand.

“You okay?”

A large hand is extended to me. Flint’s giving me the same confused look, but his voice gives off an impressed feel. I reach a shaky hand up and he pulls me up to my feet. I almost fell back down as he grabs my shoulder to help steady me.

“Whoa there, gotcha.”

“Thanks,” I chuckle weakly. “Not used to...confrontations like that.” Flint scoffs.

“Hang out with Trish enough and you’ll toughen up. Girl is a walking confrontation.”

I shudder a bit, but regain the feeling in my legs. I nod to Flint in thanks as I straighten out my jacket.

“To be fair though, they just had a bad show...didn’t even make it through one song.” I quip sadly. Flint rubs the back of his head and looks away.

“Yeah...it really does suck. Shame to, Fang is a great musician, but she’s held back by Trish’s ‘business plan’.”

He shakes his head and gives me a half smile.

“Still though, nice little speech. Did you lift it from a YouSnoot video essay?”

My cheeks heat up, a sheepish chuckle escapes my lips. Flint stares at me incredulously.

“For real?”

I nod.

“Pfffffffhahahahahahaha!” He lets out a suppressed guffaw, covering his eyes and throwing his head back, a deep belly laugh taking him over. The heat in my cheeks intensifies as I scowl at the laughing mountain.

“I’m not really good with talking okay! So what if I look up how to do it!” He just continues to laugh. I look over to the girls and Sage, who are not holding onto their mirth, but at least they are suppressing it. Flint seems to calm down as he waves a hand to me, trying to get my attention.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! You are truthful to a fault huh?” His apology laced with snickers didn’t really sell his genuine feelings, but I’ll take it for now. He wipes the tears from his face and straightens up and regards me. “Well, cringe aside, it took balls to stand up to both of us. I uh...yeah. I needed that honestly. Was kinda backsliding to old habits.”

Movement to our side signaled us to Stella’s approach, her arms wrapping around Flint’s arm, her tail matching the movement as it snakes around his leg. His eyes soften as he reaches his free hand to pet her head softly.

“Hey Moonlight, sorry for the scare.” She just lets out a small whimper as she buries her face into his arm.

“Trish used to be so nice...”

He just pets her head slowly, letting her take comfort in his closeness. I scratch the back of my head, not sure what to say. I feel my free arm being embraced as well as Sage has mirrored Stella except for the tail wrap. Now that the adrenaline of the situation has calmed down, I am very acutely aware of Sage’s habit happening again.

“Uh...Sage?”

The Pastel Panic let’s out a small squeak as he relinquishes his grip on me and jumps back.

“S..sorry!”

A sad giggle emits from Stella. She looks at me with one eye that isn’t buried in Flint’s arm.

“Sage get’s a little clingy when he’s stressed out. It just means he is comfortable around you.”

Sage puffs out his cheeks and pouts. “You make me sound like a dog Stella!”

I can’t help but give out a laugh, much to Sage’s chagrin. He gives my arm a punch, but it doesn’t stop. Stella seems to join in on the laugh as she peels herself away from Flint.

“I’m sorry Sage...I’m not used to this type of thing you know.”

“What type of thing?”

I take a look at the group in front of me. Is this what it’s like to have friends?

“I know we all just met...but I guess this is what it’s like to have friends.”

They all looked at each other for a moment, an awkward silence falling. Then a small tut brings everyone’s attention to Rosa.

“Well, if you consider us friends, then you won’t mind joining the Gardening Club hmm?”

I look at Rosa, confused. Her fists are on her hips, one eye closed, her other trained on me.

“You want to be friends? Help fix what you broke, si?”

I give a weak smile.

“Sure.”

***

I am so glad I made it to the last train in time. I swapped numbers with everyone, including Flint, and had rushed out to the metro station when I saw the time. Even if I’m not too sure what joining the Gardening Club entails, I am glad that for the most part I was able to avert disaster.

Disaster. My thoughts land on Stella’s earlier tarot reading. With everything going on, I hadn’t even considered the concert might have been the event. To be fair though, I was able to make more friends because of it...but it might have strained my first friend. I do hope I can salvage that.

The train slows to a crawl to my stop. I climb to my feet and exit out the door and follow the steps down onto the sidewalk. I could feel my eyes droop as my tiredness starts to make itself known. I finally make it to my house when I notice someone sitting on the curb further down the path.

It’s Fang.

Chapter Text

I wasn’t sure when I last took a breath. My lungs felt cold as I looked at the sight ahead of me. Fang was sat on the curb under the streetlight just a short distance away from my house, a thin trail of smoke coming from the cigarette that hung limply from their beak. The cherry on the end of the stick was threatening to go out, but then they inhaled, causing it to burn brightly as they exhaled the smoke out their nostrils, looking like a dragon.

I take my eyes off them and look to my house. The lights were on for once, which really made me feel weird. One, I was pleased someone was still there at least. However, the other side is…it’s most likely Anon. Man, what should I do?

Approach Fang

Go Inside

Well, if I want to try and salvage anything between me and Fang, I have to try now. Although, how do I approach this? Last we spoke, they punched me. I can’t just walk up and pretend nothing happened. Maybe I should sit next to them? Or should I just call out to them...

Sit Next to Them

Stay Standing

Well, maybe not next to them, but if I just stand there and call out to them, that might come across wrong. Slowly, I walk towards the ptero and sit a bit close, but away enough to give them space. Fang didn’t react when I sat, just took another drag from their cigarette. The silence was palpable and honestly, I wasn’t sure what to say. I looked up into the sky, hugging my knees as I racked my brain for something to say.

“Why?”

I jump slightly. Their voice was scratchy, like it hurt them to talk. My eye moved to see Fang from the side without moving my head. They were still looking forward, cherry slowly dying on the cancer stick.

“...Why what?” I chance asking.

“Why are you here?”

Man, those shoe blogs were right, these shoes are interesting to look at.

“...Figured you could use some company...” I said finally.

Silence. I look over and see they take one last drag, exhales the smoke, then flicks the butt into the street. They just stare at the discarded butt with hollow eyes. I finally really take a look at them and have to stifle a gasp. Their wing closest to me had patches of feathers just missing, trails of blood staining the remaining feathers. I open my mouth to say something, but choose not to. That seems like a problem that I shouldn’t broach especially since they aren’t exactly a fan of me...but...

Ask

Leave It Alone

No...

Ask

Leave it Alone

Neither are great options...I can’t just leave it alone...but I can’t just ask either.

Ask

Leave it A-

“YOU ARE NOT HELPING”

I feel my eyes widen as I just yelled out my thoughts. I heard Fang jump at my yell, letting out a small “Fuck!”.

...Wing it...

“Sorry. I’ve been trying to figure out what to say, and nothing felt right to say. I hurt you and feel horrible about it, but everything I want to say seems to just make it worse in my head. You didn’t deserve any of that tonight and you didn’t deserve me taking a video of it...”

I look at them, Fang now looking at me too.

“Video?” They say quietly. I close my eyes again as I let out a frustrated groan.

“See, once again...” I take my camera off my neck and turn it on. Fang seems to go rigid, but I don’t pay them attention. I flip the small screen to view previous pictures and extend the device to them with a shaky hand.

“I deleted it after we ‘spoke’ in the hallway. Take a look.” I shake it at them to emphasize my words. Fang seems frozen, their amber eyes still hollow, but the light in them isn’t completely gone. Slowly, they reach out and take the camera and look at the pictures in it. Silence fell as the only noise was the little ting of the camera as Fang flipped through the pictures.

“I just...wanted to make it up to you and make like a promo reel or something...I don’t know...”

“They’re nice.”

I look at them blankly, their hand with my camera reaching back to me.

“That’s the flower garden at school yeah?” I nod.

Fang looked back towards the street, looking lost in thought.

“You even made Naomi look halfway decent, not bad.”

As Fang looks back at me, their hollow eyes had even more light. A slight smile seems to be trying to invade their beak. They sigh as they look up into the sky of inky darkness.

“You ever feel like...nothing you do matters?”

I...my gaze lowers. I think about how I’ve been ‘alone’ for most of my teen life. No matter how I try, my parents don’t seem to either notice or care. I just...stay quiet. Fang clicks their beak and I look back at them. Their eyes seem to bore into mine, trying to read my thoughts. I quietly nod in response. That look...was it...relief? Fang continued.

“Tonight...just felt like an affirmation of sorts...” They held their arms in a self-hug, their shoulders trembling.

“This is no different from any other time we’ve played...we suck...” I could hear them sniffle as they buried their beak into their legs.

“No matter what I do...it doesn’t matter. In my own band...I can’t even do what...” They trail off, sobs starting to come.

“Have you…spoken to your band about this?”

The words left my lips before I knew what happened. Fang looked at me like I had a third head. They don’t look angry, but I should tread carefully.

“They’re your friends, right? If you are unhappy about the whole situation, maybe let them know how you feel.”

Fang just looks at me. I can feel a cool sweat start to form on my brow. Well, might as well put the nail in my coffin. I look down at my hands, wringing them slightly.

“I’m not exactly an expert on friends, but if you don’t tell them- “

“You’re right, you don’t have a clue.” They mutter. Mm, didn’t know mom left me my own foot for dinner.

“It all goes down to a vote, and Reed and Trish usually vote together so whatever…”

“Sorry.”

An exaggerated sigh. I look over to see Fang glaring at me.

“You really like saying that. Do you even mean it?”

“…Yes?”

“Why do you care if you piss people off? They don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, so what if they don’t give you the time of day…so what if you’re alone in the world, least you know you matter…” They trail off again. I get the distinct feeling that wasn’t directed at me.

“I think you matter…”

“…”

We sit in awkward silence. I’m starting to really regret trying this when Fang finally speaks up.

“Guess we’re neighbors huh…”

Huh. I look back at the house Fang was sitting in front of. It’s a nice two-story house with a brown roof and white siding.

“Small world...”

Silence.

“...Since...since we seem to take the same metro to school...”

I turn to them, my breath caught.

“I wouldn’t...wouldn’t mind if we went to school...”

They bite their lip slightly.

“Together...since we’re friends, you know...”

I look to the street, not really sure how to take that. But I do have an answer.

“I’d like that.”

“Cool.”

Silence again.

“Hey Fang...about your wing...”

Fang flinched, and I curse the fact that I probably messed up again.

“You noticed...dammit....” They fold their wing away from view as best they can.

“It looks like it hurts.”

“It’s just preening...has to be done sometimes.”

I tilt my head in confusion.

Press

Leave it Alone

“Fang. I’m your friend, and I care about you. Is it just preening?”

They look away, a slight shiver.

“Listen Shades...this is something I need to deal with myself.”

“But...”

“INCO.”

I freeze. They’re at their feet now.

“You...you’ve helped enough tonight.”

What I thought I was going to see, anger, is actually a fragile smile on their beak.

“I’m glad you sat with me...thanks. See you tomorrow.”

With that, Fang gave me a wave and turned to walk towards their house, leaving me to sit on the curb. I watched as they opened the door, and turned to look at me again. They still looked sad, but their eyes seemed to sparkle in the light from inside their house, that fragile smile finally staying on their beak. They wave one last time, then close the door.

Oh, hello sidewalk, the back of my head was looking forward to meeting you!

I wince in pain as I fall backward, loosing any composure I had during our talk.

“Great job Nito.” I say again, this time a little happier than the last time.

***

I start slightly as I hear a muffled door shut from outside my room. Sitting up and getting to my feet, I walk over to the door and open it a crack. My eyes catch Inco walking down the hall towards his room. He seems to have gotten a bit more chipper since I last saw him, a smile on his face. As he gets closer, he looks towards my door.

Close Door

Speak

My hand on the knob, I go to close the door. The door however, seems to open instead. Oh, I opened the door, what? Inco’s smile falls as he looks at me, standing in my doorway. We stare at one another for a good long minute, the silence only broken by my sigh.

“Inco…listen…”

I pause, looking to see if he’s going to cut me off. He seems to be keeping quiet for now, listening intently. I instinctually rub the back of my head nervously.

“Look, I…I’m sorry we didn’t start off right today…or last night. Fuck…”

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I just try to not sound like a jackass.

“I –“

“Anon, it’s fine.”

I just look at him, trying to sense any type of deception. He just gives me a small smile. He extends a hand out.

“Start over? We can try again.”

My eyes drift to the extended palm

Shake Hand

Refuse

“Why?”

Inco tilts his head with a borrowed brow. I continue.

“I just yelled at you, not even an hour ago. You were pissed, and now you just want to…start over?”

Inco pulls back his hand to rub his chin a little, thinking for a bit.

“You’re not wrong, I was mad…still kind of am. But, you apologized when you could’ve just left me alone…I dunno…” he looks to his door.

“For better or worse, we are family. I just made a whole load of friends because of the stuff that happened today…even joined a club.” He looks back to me.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is…I’d rather be on good terms with you then avoid the only other person in my house…so,”

He extends his palm again.

“Awkward family bond?”

God, kill me with cringe, but I give him a smirk. I reach to shake his hand in one quick motion.

“Awkward family bond”

His lips form a large smile as he turns to go to his room.

“Awesome! Now all we gotta do is go to school with Fang and we’ll be able to have a great school year!”

“Yeah…wait what about…” he turned before I could finish as he walked into his room, leaving me bewildered in the middle of the hall.

“Fang is…going to go with us?”

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck…

***

Current weather condition?

Cold as balls.

Yeah, and this situation is pretty frigid too. Inco and I stood on the sidewalk in front of the house, waiting for our third party. I hadn’t slept well last night when I understood that not only did Fang chase after me to the house, but that she also lived freaking next door to us.

I rub my hands together, trying to understand why it was cold out here in September. Must get cooler here near the costal area earlier. Inco to his credit just seems to be pleased as punch as he looks towards Fang’s house in expectation.

We didn’t have to wait long as the garage door on her house creaks to life as it slides up to reveal a beat up junker that backs down the driveway and passes us. The driver wasn’t familiar to me but as he turned to look at us before entering the road, he stops. He’s that grey pterodon I had seen last night with the pizzas. The window rolls down and the boy leans over to look at us in wonder.

“Inco? You live around here?”

“Oh Naser! Should’ve guessed!”

Inco cranes his neck down to talk to Naser, leaving me to look up as the front door of their house opens, what sounds like a shouting ogre seems to follow Fang as she runs out and slams the door.

“WELLGOTTAGOBYE!”

Naser yells to Inco as he peels out of the driveway and zips down the road entirely too quickly. We stare dumbfounded as we watch the car round the corner and disappear.

“Hey Shades let’s get g-“

Fang’s voice makes us turn as she stops talking, no doubt realizing I’m here too. She stares at the two of us dumbfounded. After a minute or so, she shakes her head, her face forming an unamused frown as she walks over to Inco and whispers into his ear. Inco furrows his brow and whispers back to her. Her face scrunches up like she had licked a lemon. An amber eye is trained on me as her lips form a grimace. Inco whispers some more and gives her a worried smile, which she answers with a roll of the eye.

“Uh, I’m still here guys.” I say with my arms folded. Fang shoots me an annoyed look, scoffs and begins walking down the sidewalk. Inco shrugs apologetically to me and runs to keep up with the ptero girl. Already annoyed, I follow a safe distance so I don’t loose an eye.

The rest of the walk to the metro was uneventful, except for the occasional glares shot back at me by Fang. Inco to his credit was just walking with a weird grin on his face. I’m not opposed to keeping civil with him, but I’m going to not be happy if his new gal pal keeps on mean mugging me.

We make it just in time for the metro to pull up and the doors sliding open to allow the three of us to enter. We enter the sitting area, Inco and Fang taking a seat next to one another near a yellow dino that smells faintly of hot dogs who jumped up when she realized the train had stopped a little late. She picks up her…chef hat…and zips out past us. I think about taking a seat on the other side of Inco, but a silent look from Fang made me reconsider. I do see my seat from last night next to the open space is open.

“Yo Inky, I’m gonna give you guys some space and sit over there.”

“Oh, okay. There’s space right here though!”

Fang and I both look at him, a stupid oblivious smile on his face. I eye Fang one last time and our eyes met. For once, we are on the same page.

“It’s fine, gotta study for a pop quiz in…math…want a bit of me time okay?”

Inco looks a bit sad, but shoots me a smile anyway

“Okay, no worries then.”

I shoot him a thumbs up, then turn to take my seat.

‘Sorry Shades, your friend and I are never gonna be friends…’

I sit back on the hard plastic chair and stare out at the sunny landscape of the suburb…that is immediately blotted out by a large being that has just shook the seat next to me. I look to my side and see a mountain has just taken the only other seat that was next to me. A low booming voice much different from the caveman from last night addresses me.

“My apologies if I startled you young man.”

I look up further and finally see a large blue grey face looking down on me. Huh, a whale? He wore a suit similar to the caveman, but with a blue tie. His long face ends with a bushy mustache and a serious face. He was balding except for the sides of his head, a single green eye trained on me.

“Oh, it’s okay…”

The whale hums at my answer.

“Forgive me for prying, but would you be Anon Y. Mous?”

I gape at the stranger. How does this guy know me? He seems to read my face and clears his throat.

“Let me introduce myself, my name is Micheal Ferris, but you can call me Mr Ferris. I am part of the Volcaldera School Board. I’ve been keeping an eye on new students and have seen your…file.”

My stomach drops, nerves shot. He knows….heknowsheknowsheknows….

“Mr Mous?”

I’m shaken from my panic to look back at Ferris, a note of concern on his face.

“Are you okay? You seem to have gone pale.”

I look away as I quickly try to recollect my thoughts and put my spaghetti back into my pocket.

“Sorry…didn’t sleep well last night “ I mumble. Ferris doesn’t change the concern, but doesn’t pry more.

“Well I was going to call you at the school, but I am glad to have met you here. How has your time at St Hammond been so far?”

Finally, I seem to have my mind somewhat together and think.

How had my first day been? From meeting Flint and Damien. Dodgeball and Mia. Lunch with…Olivia and Liz.

The painting in the hall.

The concert.

The shouting match.

…

“Its been better than my last school at least…”

Ferris tilts his head as he listens. He seems to be reaching for something in his breast pocket, but chooses not to.

“Well considering the nature of your transfer here, I am pleased to hear that.”

I start to feel my thoughts race, but Ferris continues.

“I would like to say we take pride in making sure any type of bullying is dealt with without second thought.”

I can’t help but snort at the line, Ferris cocks an eyebrow. I gulp.

“Could’ve used that at Rock Bottom…” Ferris clears his throat.

“Yes well, if you ever need anything from the faculty or me for that matter, do not hesitate to call on us.” He gives a warm smile which I offer back a half hearted smile.

“Sure…”

We travel in relative silence until the train pulls to a stop at the station. When the door opens I pick up my satchel and look to Ferris, who gives another smile.

“Go on ahead, I take a bit longer than most.”

“Well…it was nice meeting you sir.”

He nods and I turn to join Inco and Fang out the door. I’m pretty sure I caught a smile on her beak as she and Inco went, but as soon as her eyes see me, whatever mirth is gone.

Oh well…guess day two can’t go any worse than yesterday.

Chapter Text

“Shades...I said I’d go with you...not him...” Fang whispers to me after what sounded like a monster was yelling at them as they left the house. Anon and I had been waiting for them to come out so we could all go to school together, and it was now that I realized my mess up. I hadn’t had a chance to worry about Naser’s quick exit when Fang had pulled me aside.

“Sorry, it’s kinda hard to avoid him since he lives here now.” Fang’s face scrunches up like they had just licked a lemon. They shoot a look at Anon, who seems to be waiting for us to finish, a look of annoyance starting to form.

“Look, I’m just trying to remain civil for now. We live in the same house and I’d rather the only other person in the house was on speaking terms...plus he sort of apologized so there’s that.”

I give them an unsure smile, which they respond with a roll of their amber eyes. They were about to say something more but-

“Uh, I’m still here guys...”

We both look at him, the annoyance now firm on his face, his arms folded as he taps a foot. Fang scoffs and starts down the walkway, leaving me with Anon. I look at him and give him a ‘sorry’ shrug as I try to catch up with the ptero.

The walk was...tense to say the least. Fang was exuding a feeling of aggression that didn’t have a place to go, so all they were able to do was stomp slightly with every step. I was just thankful it wasn’t a long walk as we went through the small town like area where the station was. We made it just in time, the train pulling up and the doors sliding open to let us in. Fang leads us into the sitting area and decides to plop down near a dino girl that smelled like hot dogs. I take a spot next to them and place my bag on my lap, watching as Anon was also thinking about sitting, when he rubs the back of his head.

“Yo Inky, I’m gonna give you guys some space and sit over there.” I furrow my brow.

“Oh, okay. There’s space right here though!”

I shoot him a warm smile that falters slightly as he just stares at me. I slide an eye towards Fang and see they are also staring at me.

Raptor Jesus, save me from my mouth.

“It’s fine, gotta study for a pop quiz in…math…want a bit of me time, okay?” I know he’s trying to not rock the boat, but still, I feel sad. I will figure this out so we could all just hang out one of these days.

“Okay, no worries then.” I say as he gives me a thumbs up. As he walks away, I’m pretty sure I heard him mumble something.

‘Sorry Shades, your friend and I are never gonna be friends…’

I hope that isn’t what I heard, but I shake my head and then lean back on the seat rest, glad to have a break from the walk here. Turning my head, I see Fang glowering at Anon, who took a spot next to the wheelchair access space.

“Look Shades...I know you said he apologized... but...” Fang’s words catch my attention. They’re wringing their hands slightly. I cast my gaze on their hands, they seem to be trembling.

Take Hand

Keep Distance

I reach a hand over and place it over their hands, trying to comfort them. Fang jumps a little and stares at me, their amber diamonds wide and beak parted a bit.

“Look, it’ll be okay. You have Reed and Trish...and me.”

Fang looks down at my hand on theirs, a slight pink on their cheeks that disappears almost immediately. They shake their head and moves one hand to place it on mine. They pat it slightly as their hands are pulled away.

“You know, I was planning on not coming in today...” I look up at Fang and see a small smile on their beak.

“I’m blaming you if today is shit.”

I cough slightly at the small threat thrown at me, feeling my face heat up a bit. They weren’t going to come in? The more I think about it, I wouldn’t have blamed them. The way the audience was acting last night was uncalled for. When Fang left, they were a mess of nerves and sorrow, I an unwilling recipient of that consequence.

“I don’t know how that’s my fault...” I trail off as I look at them. Fang shakes their head slightly.

“You were there for me last night. Said something that made me think a little. That and Trish messaged me to check on me...she cares about me too. I decided it wouldn’t be too bad if you, her, and Reed were around so I’ll give today a shot.”

I don’t have a response, but I can feel a smile form on my lips. Fang rises an eyebrow and snorts.

“Don’t let it get to your head though, you only helped a tiny bit Shades.”

I chuckle nervously, rubbing the back of my head.

“Even so...I’m glad you’re here today too.”

Fang just rolls their eyes

“Okay, now you’re making it weird.” They laugh.

We sit in companionable silence as the metro starts to slow, reaching our destination. I take a look over to Anon and am surprised to see he is having a conversation with what looks like a whale in a suit. I shake my head slightly as my thoughts go back to last night. He really does have the ability to talk to people, much to his protest.

“You comin’ Shades?”

I look back to Fang, the small smile still on their beak. I match that smile and follow after, leaving the train next to them. Fang did lose that smile though when Anon had joined us at the door. He looked a little paler than earlier, but he seems to be doing okay so I don’t pry.

As we walked in silence, more and more other students came into view, signaling our arrival. Anon clears his throat.

“Okay, I’m gonna head off.” Anon quickens his pace as he peels off from us, heading towards the garden entrance. I was about to ask why when a familiar voice yells out.

“Fang! I thought you were staying home!”

I turn to see Trish and Reed approaching, a wide smile on Trish’s face while Reed just seemed to be staring off into space. As they came closer, Trish seemed to notice my presence and stops fast. She narrowed her eyes at me, causing me to shudder a little. Folding her arms under her chest, she regards me with a pitched frown, like she was looking at a piece of garbage.

“The hell you doing here skinnie? Didn’t you cause enough trouble last night?”

Any sort of explanation I had seemed to fall short of my lips as I tried. Fang put a hand on my shoulder, my eyes moving to them.  They gave me a small smile.

‘It wouldn’t be too bad if you, her, and Reed were around so I’ll give today a shot.’

Their words from earlier reminded me of what I wanted to do, what I’ve been thinking about since I spoke to Fang last night. However, that look on Trish’s face is making me falter a little.

Speak Up

Let Fang Explain

I focus on the hand on my shoulder and look back to Trish. I inhale slowly and give a sigh.

“I just want to start with saying sorry about last night. They shouldn’t have laughed at you guys and I thought you sounded...alright.”

Trish’s eyebrow went higher.

“Fang said you took pictures...looking to smear us huh?”

“Wha, no-“

Trish holds up a hand to silence me.

“I’m talkin’ skinnie. You are just lucky Reed held me back last night, you and Flint would have been thrashed.”

“I-“

“Shut it, you can stuff that ‘apology’ and stay out of our w-“

“TRISH!”

The triceratops and I flinch as we turn to Fang, who looked angry. Trish looked shocked at her friends yell.

“What’s wrong Fang? I was just getting rid of this ass that was clearly bothering you.

I blink in confusion. Was I bothering Fang? Fang pinches the bridge of their beak in frustration.

“Trish, it took everything for me to actually consider coming in today. Shades actually lives next door and we took the metro together.”

Trish furrows her brow, trying to process this shocking new info.

“But you told me last night that he was taking pictures and stuff like that. Why are you with him?” Fang sighs, looking at me.

“Yeah, he did, he actually took a video.” Trish stares furiously at me, reaching for something she had behind her. Reed in turn reached for that arm, causing her to whip her head to him. He shook his head as if to say ‘hold on man’. Fang continued.

“But when he saw me last night outside my house, he showed me his camera, he had deleted it already.”

“Technically I deleted it after you punched me.” I piped in without thinking. The three of them looked at me, Fang giving me a ‘are you serious?’ look. I stay quiet, Fang shaking their head.

“Anyway, I took a look at his pictures and it got me thinking. He’d be a great publicist for us.”

I freeze. Huh? As I look at Trish, it seems we have the same thought.

“He does a pretty good job with taking pictures of flowers at least, but if he wants to make it up to us,” They look at me expectantly.

Well, it falls in line with what I wanted to do in the first place so...I nod to them. Their smile gets bigger as they look back to Trish.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and come back better than ever.”

Fang is looking a little...frantic. They seem happier sure, but something feels a little...off.

“Fang..” Trish says shortly. Fang looks to their  friend, the excitement on their face falling a little. Trish notes that however, making her sigh as she looks to Reed, then us.

“A vote then.” Fang’s face falls even more.

“All for...Shades joining the band?”

Fang’s hand shoots up, giving me a pained smile. Both Trish and Reed however, kept their hands down. Reed seems to be conflicted, but seems to abstain regardless.

“All against?”

Trish and Reed in unison raise their hands. I feel my heart sink, but it was no where near how crest fallen Fang looked

“Sorry bro, not exactly jazzed about people takin my picture and stuff like that y’know?” Reed looks apologetic. “I’ve been up holdin a family tradition of never taking any photos, yearbook or otherwise…” he trails off as he takes a swig from his thermos.

“Well, that’s that.” Trish has a smirk on her face as she looks at me. A small feeling of irritation hits me, causing me to frown. Isn’t she supposed to be Fang’s best friend? Speaking of Fang, I look over to then and can feel my heart sink. Their eyes have lost their shine, a dull amber that is cast to the ground. They are keeping their hands busy, idly tracing a feather from their wing.

I have to say something…right? This is their band and their say…but Fang was really excited about this idea and Trish and Reed didn’t even discuss it…Still, do I have a right to say anything?

Stick up for Fang

Honor their Vote

“Why not even talk about it?” I posit to Trish and Reed. Trish had that annoyed look on her face again, but I could sense it was hiding a more venomous look.

“What’s there to talk about, we voted. Besides, you have no say in band decisions.”

“Neither does Fang it seems…”

A dead silence.

Trish looks like she’s going to tear me apart limb from limb. Reed, who was mid sip on his thermos begins to choke back a gasp, causing him to have a coughing fit. I know I meant that to be in my head, but my mouth once again is out of my control. I go to stop myself from digging a bigger hole, but I look at Fang, who is staring wide eyed at me. I look back at the other two and sigh.

“Look, Fang was excited about this idea and it just seemed like you didn’t even care. Well-“

Trish cuts me off with a glare, the thing she had behind her back is now in her hands. A small tire-iron.

“Choose your next words very carefully.”

Reed finally gets control of his coughing fit to realize what Trish was doing.

“Hey, Trish don’t.”

“Shut it Reed, skinnie here seems to think he knows how we operate. Newsflash ass, you have no clue what the fuck you’re talking about.”

The open display of future violence halts me…but I’m already this far. I fold my arms across my chest and shoot her an indifferent look.

“The fact that you don’t even deny what I said and resort to threats says a lot.”

That makes Trish falter slightly. She probably expected me to balk, but adrenaline I have found seems to make me very self destructive…in a good way, I hope. It doesn’t take her long to snap back however.

“Smart mouth, huh Shutterbug? You really wanna taste metal.” Her lips form a snarl, tire-iron raising.

“Uh guys?”

“WHAT?”

“Fang left...”

We stop our stare-down and turn to look where Fang had been standing, it now devoid of the ptero. In unison, Trish and my head swivel towards behind me. Fang was quickly sprinting back towards the metro, their wings drawn around themselves hiding their body from view.

Oh dammit...

DING DONG BING BONG!

DAMMIT...

Go After Fang

Head To School

I give Trish and Reed one last look, then turn to go after Fang. I’m stopped in my tracks however, mostly because searing hot pain hit the back of my head. I stagger to me knee, stars in my eyes. All I hear before I fall all the way down is...

“Oh shit...”

Then...darkness...

***

Aaaaand, there’s Trish. Yeah, I’m not gonna deal with that one.

“Okay, I’m gonna head off!” I say quickly as I duck towards the garden entrance to the school. Last thing I need is the tiny trigga knocking me out. I slow down as I get far enough from them, taking in my new surroundings. All in all, this is pretty...except for one flowerbed that looks like sumo wrestlers had a field day in it. I’m about turn towards the door, when I see Olivia rolling towards me. She looks exhausted, extra bags under her eyes. She doesn’t seem to notice me as she wheels past and into the school. Debating on following after, a chipper voice sounds.

“Yo Anon!”

I turn to see Damien who is waving frantically at me, a hurried Liz following after his gait. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing a brachio ambulate separately from their neck like that. I sigh...all thoughts of my plan from the train last night melt away. I give Damien a small smile as I wave to him when he finally caught up, Liz’s head making it before her body does. Damien seems to be looking around, furrows his brow, then smiles back at me.

“Thought I saw Livy stop by you.”

“Nah, she just past me.”

He folds his arms across his chest and huffs. He has a smile on his face, but his frills seem to be undulating in a haphazard matter.

“I figured after last night she’d take a shine to ya, what with hanging out with ya and all.”

The conversation with <Liv-Long> remains fresh in my mind. She seemed like she didn’t hate me per say…but I could at least tell she wasn’t a fan either.

“I don’t think she liked me that much.” Damien shook his head.

“Dude, you got a full conversation out of her. That’s more than she done with anyone in years…since freshman year anyway.”

Well that seems to make sense since she needs to guzzle water after talking every time.

DING DONG BING BONG!

A large commotion from the front of the building broke me from my thoughts. I look to Damien, who was also looking back towards the front of the school. Curiosity seemed to hit the three of us as we rush over. Liz’s head cranes up to get a bird’s eye view of the situation. Whatever it was though, I saw her eyes widen as she lowered to our head level.

“Someone was hurt…I think it was your cousin Anon!”

My heart felt like it fell out of my body. Did…did something happen?! I run a bit faster, getting ahead of the other two as I push through the dino crowd. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of red and purple running the opposite direction, but I don’t have time for that. I finally break through the crowd to a sight that made my heart stop.

Inco was facedown on the sidewalk, a rather large welt the size of a softball was growing on the back of his head. There doesn’t seem to be any blood, but he seems out cold. He wasn’t alone though. The pastel raptor, Sage, was doing her best to pull Inco up, but to no avail. Raptor Jesus…is he just fated to constantly get hit in the head?

Help Inco

Let Sage do it

I shake my head. Not this time, stone up. I push through that last of the gaggle of dinos and put a hand on Sage’s shoulder. She looks at me, tears in her eyes.

“Anon…I just found him like this…” she rubs her eyes of the forming tears and sniffles.

“Don’t worry, I got him.”

Sage gives a small ‘eep!’ as I go to try and pick up my cousin. He is pretty heavy considering he’s slightly smaller than me, but I’m able to heft him up as best I can.

“Okay, off to the nurse’s.”

With Sage’s help, the crowd parts as we take Inco into the building with urgency.

“You’ll be fine cuz, don’t worry.”

Damien and Liz finally catch up and help disperse the crowding students as we rush down the hall, past a tall gaunt pterodon in a white overcoat who looked alarmed.

“What happened?” the pterodon asked, following my lead.

“Dunno, but my cousin got hit outside. Not sure who did it.” The teacher nodded and kept following us until we got to the nurse’s office. He opened the door.

“Sarah, we have an injured student!” the nurse, a yellow dino woman in a pale pink blouse and skirt jumps up to her feet and takes us in. She see’s Inco and her eyes widen. She leads me to a bed and I lay him down as best I can.

“Mr Nito! What happened to him??” I turn to see Sage finally made it  just behind Damien and Liz.

“Sage did you see who did this?” the raptor finally catches her breath, hands on her knees.

“No, all I heard was Inco yell out and I ran from Rosa’s car…next all I saw was Inco and that big bump on his head..” she stifled a sob as she grabs onto Damien’s side. I couldn’t help but notice Liz regard Sage’s actions with a wrinkled nose. Damien pat Sage’s head, then whispered to her. She jumped again as the raptor let go of the diplosaur.

“…ng.”

We all turn to Inco, a small murmur coming from him.

“Fang…stop…no…”

I freeze…did…Fang do this?

I’m shooed out of the way by the nurse who had a bundle of cloth wrap and a large ice pack.

“Trent, could you help me with this?” the pterodon teacher nodded and helped raise Inco’s head, causing the boy to groan in pain as he seemed to be slowly coming to.

I think more on his mumble. If Fang did this…I have to go find her. I could feel my anger boiling. She was so pissy about how I treated him and now makes it so he’s knocked out in the nurse’s office?

‘Dumbass weaboo!’

‘Bet you got a lotta full jars.’

‘Why don’t you tell them about that body pillow, heh.’

My fists clench, my teeth start to grind.

“Uh Anon?”

Liz’s head is in front of me, her magenta brows knit. I calm enough to look her in the eye, but say nothing.

“Anon, what’s wrong? You seem like you’re about to pop.”

Go Find Fang

Go Find Fang

Go Fuck Up Fang

A soft, but firm hand is placed on my shoulder. Long, boney fingers clasp gently, melting away my thoughts of anger if but for a moment. It was this Trent guy.

 “Settle your self my boy. You’ll be the next one in bed if that popped blood vessel is any indication.”

I turn to look at him, his red eyes looking down on me with a reassuring smile. He’s a tall thin dino with what almost seemed like a professors coat over his formal wear. He seemed to give off a larger sense of authority for such a gaunt looking man.

“Now, before you go gallivanting off to make more trouble, perhaps you should sit down.” He leads me to a chair next to Inco’s bed. I just now realized I was breathing heavily through my mouth. I put my head in my palms and just groan.

“Fuuuuuuck…”

I look over at Inco, his head wrapped up, the ice pack nestled into the makeshift turban. If I had just stuck around and not been a fucking pussy, this might not have happened. Then I remember.

Trish…did she have something to do with this?

My thoughts are interrupted by a groan next to me.

“An..on?”

“Yo, cuz.”

He tries to sit up, but he winces and decides to stay put.

“Where’s Fang…”

I go silent and look at the gaggle of dinos looking on in concern.

“Not sure bud. Did she do this to you?”

“They” I roll my eyes.

“Did they do this to you?”

He seems to be trying his best to remember.

“No…I dunno…I don’t really remember…all I know is I was…chasing someone. Then, pain…I fell…”

His words are starting to blend together as he starts babbling. The nurse came over with a bottle of water and some pain meds, Tylenol it looked like. Inco takes the meds and gulps down the entire bottle. He hands it to her and shudders.

DING DONG BING BONG.

The late bell.

Trent claps his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright everyone, you should all head to class.”

He reaches into his coat and produces a fancy looking quill pen and a pad of paper. He scribbles down notes and hands each dino a piece of paper.

“Anon, you can stay here for your first class if you want.” Trent eyes me. “In fact I insist, you need to be here to calm down.”

I look at him with a curious expression. He shoots me a sly smile.

“Just one, understand?”

I nod. He gives an even broader smile.

“Good! I’ll let Solly know the details so you don’t ruin his one chance policy!”

I’m about to crush that, but Trent seems to throw me a knowing look. He hands me a note and then starts to corral the gaggle. Damien and Liz wave to me while Sage seems to keep her eyes on Inco. Trent looks back and gives me a wink.

Damn…wish I had one of his classes, he seems cool.

We sit there quietly for a time, the nurse coming over to check on Inco every so often.

“Thanks for being here Anon.”

I look over to him. He seems more together then when we first got here, if not a little shaken.

“Do you remember anything yet?” he seems to shrink at the question, shaking his head.

“No, it’s all still pretty fuzzy…”

I narrow my eyes slightly. Something in his voice is setting off my lie detector.

“Did Trish do it?”

Inco winces as he looks over at me, his eyes sort of unfocused.

“I saw her and Reed coming…that’s why I left. Those three are the only ones with you. You say Fang didn’t do it, and I’m pretty sure Reed is too much of a bro to do something like that. So that leaves…”

“Anon, I didn’t see who did it. Last I checked, I don’t have eyes on the back of my head.” He vents a little then winces again.

I sigh.

“Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll figure it out myself then.”

“Anon, just drop it.” I stare at him incredulously.

“Drop it? You were assaulted! You’re just going to let that slip by?!”

Inco’s turn to sigh.

“Fang is having a hell of a time…this was all done in anger and not meant…”

Listen

Give Reality Check

I messed up last time. As much as I’d like to yell…not now.

“Fang only came to school today because I apparently said something that made them feel better and all…they just wanted to be with their friends and try to have a better day…”

I huff.

“Memory seems to be fine huh?” Inco eyes me. This next part he whispered.

“I really don’t know who hit me, but if Fang found out, I don’t know what will happen. So please, leave it alone.”

I bite my lip hard, almost drawing blood.

“Why do you care?” Inco looks at me, his eyes finally focused.

“Because I’m trying to be a good friend.”

I lean back.

Agree

Disagree

“Fine…but if you get hurt again…”

Inco cracks a smile

“Careful cuz, you almost seem like you care.”

I glare at him and stand up. The bell rings for next period and I sigh. If I remember correctly, I have science next. Inco waves me off.

“Don’t be late, okay?”

I sigh as I grab up my belongings.

“Get some rest Shades.”

Chapter Text

I close the nurses office door behind me and lean back against it for a second, sighing in frustration. I said I’d do my best to tolerate being around him, then he goes and makes me worried about him immediately. My beautiful plan to just coast and not be noticed truly has become tatters in front of me. I raise my hands up to my face and rub my tired eyes, getting myself psyched up to go to science.

I brave the technicolor herd of scales and dumbasses and navigate to the science lab. As I approach the door, I see a familiar wheelchair wheel up to the door I was about to open. I look to see Olivia giving me a split-second shocked look, before her yellowed silver eyes narrow at me.

“Since when are you in my science class?”

We both clamp our jaws shut, having asked each other the same question. She audibly clicks her tongue and looks away, her face betraying a small embarrassed blush. I in turn rub the back of my head sheepishly, my free hand reaching for the knob again, I open the door and try to cut the tension. I give a small head not and extend my hand towards the inside, beckoning her in first. She huffs a little, but proceeds to roll on in, I closely following after.

The science lab was your garden variety school lab. No actual desks, but several small tables that were similar to the island in Inco’s house. Instead of kitchen supplies though, an assortment of test tubes, a large microscope, bunsen burners, and more were all stowed waiting to be used by an amateur mad scientist as well as a small sink and faucet. Speaking of mad scientist, our teacher who was snoozing in his reclined chair behind his desk, a trail of spittle trailing down his lip. He was a tall thin troodon, pretty uncommon for the species. A shock of white hair sprouts around his head, leaving a bald patch in the middle of his pale scaled head. He wore a blue turtleneck sweater under a long white lab coat, complete with khaki slacks and brown loafers. His legs were propped up onto the desk, rocking slightly in his sleep. I look to see Olivia huffs at the sleeping teacher and moves past to one of the tables near the back of the classroom. I watch after her, spying another empty table near it...but when I look around, it seems at least two people are able to sit at one. I look back to Olivia, sitting by herself. I could go and sit by myself and risk someone else sitting with me I don’t know...or...

Sit Alone

Sit next to Olivia

I sigh. I may have abandoned my plan, but I’d rather sit with someone I at least sort of know. Walking over to her table, I see her look at me with narrowed eyes, the question being asked before it even came from her maw.

“What are you doing?”

I rub the back of my head.

“Well, I don’t want to sit with a complete stranger...was hoping maybe we could pick up where we left off last night?”

An awkward pause is my reward. She looks me over, like she was trying to see if I had nefarious intent. I wait as she finally gazes at my face, a cocked eyebrow and a slight annoyed frown. Finally, she leans back in her chair and gives a long sigh, her mouth opened in an exaggerated pose, kind of like those kids in that Peanuts show.

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine...but no funny business mister.”

She reaches down and picks up her canteen and begins guzzling from it. I crack a smile as I see the familiar Gundam Fin sticker shine from the classroom lights. I set my bag next to the chair and sat down, a bout of grumbling coming from the gator girl. She pulls a sketch pad out of her bag, then angles herself so her back is slightly to me, the book out of my sight, her shoulders hunched over as her arm signals she has started to doodle again. Shaking my head, I recline on my own seat as the bell signals the start of class.

As if on cue to the bell, our snoozing teacher falls out of his chair into a crumpled heap on the floor. Slight snickering from the other students sounds as he curses under his breath and clampers up to his feet, letting out a loud burp in the process.

“Aaaaaalirght...you adolescent reprobates...wewewewewewewe...we’re doing chemicals today...the not blowing up kind...”

I can’t help but cringe as he seems to be coming back from a bad case of hangover as he ducks under his large table at the head of the class and starts throwing things around in the hidden compartment. I’m...I’m pretty sure I heard a cat yowl from there...

Finally, he comes back up with a large beaker of clear liquid and several bundles of what looked like brown sticks and puts them onto the table in front of him. He goes to wipe the spittle on his face, which is quickly replaced by a fresh drip. He looks to the parasaur girl in the front.

“You, Miss Prez...hand these ouuuut” he says that, burping mid-sentence. I watch as the peach-colored girl nods and gets up from her seat. She takes the brown sticks and walks back and forth between the tables, dropping a few on each. As she rounds to us, she stops for a second and takes me in. There is something about those lime green eyes seems to put me off, even if she has a smile on her beak.

“Here you two go!” She says in a sickly-sweet voice. I watch as she looks to Olivia, who doesn’t even bother looking at the girl. I could have sworn I saw the peachy para’s almost plastic smile falter to a grimace for a split second. I blink and the smile is back. She nods to me and walks over to who I now see is Sage sitting by herself at the other table that I could’ve sat at. Oh well, didn’t want to take chances...and Sage is a bit clingy if I remember so maybe this was a good idea.

Once the girl took her seat again, teach blinked each eye separately, then picks up the large beaker.

“Okay you butt munches...everyone pull out one of those large beakers under your tables...gonna pass this out, along with your wooooork sheets.” Another mid sentence burp...jeeze how does he keep a job as a teacher like this? I look over to Olivia and see she is still doodling away, but now she seems to be less hunched...and her silver moon eyes that have met mine. We stare at each other for a long second, then both look away quickly. Teach walks up to our table, his eyes unfocused but trained on me. His black irises seem to almost quiver as he looks at me...almost as if they were jittering squiggles that someone had scribbled onto his eyes.

“Beaker...now Mous!”

I jump and lean down to grab the desired container and put it on the table, earning an irritated huff from Teach.

“Sorry Mr. Sanchez...”

He scoffs as he pours out the clear liquid into our beaker and walks over to Sage’s table. Mr. Sanchez walks back up to his table and slides his beaker across the surface, it coming to a stop in the middle of the tabletop.

“So, we are going to look at reactions of copper and nitric aciiiiiiid.” He burps again. I chance a look at Olivia again, who is now looking at Mr. Sanchez with a bored look, her chin in clawed hand. I look back and see him pickup the bundle of sticks on his table, then holds them over the acid.

“Everyone, grab your copper and drop it into the nitric acid, then recooooord your findings on the sheet I gave you...you need anything to help you, just turn to page 34...” he continues onto an incoherent rant as he seems to prattle on about other dimensions...

I reach into my bag and pull out my science book and turn to the given page. My eyes flit over to Olivia, who was now watching me, a look of mild interest on her face.

“Something wrong with my face?”

A flush of crimson on the bridge of her snoot.

“No...I...” She stammers, looking away.

Press

Leave it Alone

No, she’s been eyeing me all class...I mean I’ve been doing the same thing, but I have a reason! Why is she?

“Did I do something for real?” I ask her. Her eye flits from me to the beaker rapidly.

“I...why did you sit next to me? I ran away from you last night...most people would...” she trails off again.

Ahh, so that’s it. I sigh as I place the book between us and pick up the copper.

“Look, I get it...I’m...not great with talking to people either.” I fiddle with the copper sticks slightly, not quite ready to drop them in. Olivia seems to be waiting for me to explain further.

“When I first came here...I just wanted to coast by, not bother with people...your uh...your brother seemed to take that as a challenge...” I joke a bit, looking over at her for her reaction. I’m relieved to see her lips twitch slightly into a smile.

“Sounds like that idiot.” She mused.

“Hey back theeeeere, no chattering, more chemical reactions!” Mr. Sanchez yells across the room at us, causing us to jump in our chairs. I stop fiddling with the sticks and drop them into the beaker. Once the copper hit the acid, the clear liquid actually turned into a shade of green...not unlike Olivia’s scales.

“Pretty...” she says.

‘Yeah...I got a thing for green things...’ I think to myself. A small grunt comes from the girl next to me, making me move my eyes to her. Another tint of red seems to run on her snoot, her eyes once again flitting from me and the beaker.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“Oh...nothing...” she managed to stutter out.

‘So, he mumbles too huh...’

I freeze at those words that I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to hear.

Did...did she hear what I thought??? Mr. Sanchez’s habitual burping got my attention as he seemed to be continuing the lesson. I took one last look at my science partner, her attention focused in the book that was between us and writing down frantic notes on her worksheet. I sigh inwardly. I think I made it awkward...again.

Choosing to focus on the worksheet, we both seemed to do okay filling it out, considering once I was finished mine, I sat back and saw she had moved the sheet from her and was doodling in her sketchpad again. Glancing over her sheet though told me what I had thought before was wrong. The answers she had put down were only for the first quarter of the paper, the rest of the questions blank.  Furrowing my brow, I look at her, apparently engrossed in her work.

Take a peek

Leave her be

I remember what she said to Trexmix last night, she didn’t like that I had peeked at her work. Maybe it isn’t a good idea to pry. I turn to listen to what Mr. Sanchez was talking about, but I was broken from that when I feel a clawed finger poke at my arm. I look back to see Olivia was looking at me, a crooked grin on her maw.

“Hey, take a look at this.”

She actually had her sketchpad on top of my science book, opened to where she had been working on it. I lean closer and am greeted by a detailed sketch of Meteor Krash’s set from last night. I furrow my brow once more and look at her.

“I thought you left; how do you know what they looked like last night?” Olivia rolled her eyes.

I’ve seen them practice and stuff. I took liberties from my memory...here take a closer look!”

I look at the sketch again.

It was a pretty detailed picture of the band in different rock poses. Damien wad so detailed, I could almost say she had just shown me a photograph of her brother...if he was a rough sketch anyway. Damien looked like he was in mid yell, his arms extended upward, drumsticks in hand about to come crashing down onto the drum set in front of him. Flint looked like the mountain he is, but he is doubled over, mid-shred on his bass, his detailed face scrunched into a determined look. And then there was...I had to hold back a snort.

Mia, compared to the others of the band, looked like a stick figure in comparison. She had a blocky guitar in front of her. Then, was what really got me almost laughing. I only guessed that this was supposed to be Mia because of the spiky stick tail, but her head looks nothing like her. It is the only detailed portion of her, the feathery head of a chicken mid ‘bagawk’ squawking into the mike.

I can’t keep the giggles from erupting silently from my mouth, making Olivia to look at me smugly.

“That’s all she’s really good at...squawking~” She lets out a throaty cackle. I look at her, listening to her laughter, a warming sensation filling my chest.

“Now now Olivia, that makes her sound ‘poultry’ in comparison to a chicken.” She snorts.

“That joke sucks...” I rub the back of my head sheepishly.

“You still laughed,” I point out.

“Pity laugh, didn’t want you to feel bad.” Her eyebrow quirked up, mock sympathy on her face.

We spend the rest of class telling dumb jokes as the rest of the class had devolved to conversations as well once Mr. Sanchez had fallen back to sleep at his desk. Soon, the bell signaling the end of class sounds, causing us to start packing up. I turn to her, my bag on my shoulder.

“What do you have after this?” She looks at me with a smirk.

“Art class. Mr. Iadakan should be back today so we can finally start the good shit!”

I tilt my head in thought.

“Ah, Iadakan. Yeah, he’s here, helped me when I was getting my cuz to the nurses office.”

She stops as she was about to roll away, a look of curiosity on her face.

“To the nurses...is he okay?”

I shrug.

“Last I saw, he was doing okay. I’m hoping to see him at lunch...was gonna invite him to the table.”

She looked at me curiously.

“Wasn’t he the one that Mia beaned yesterday with a dodgeball?”

I freeze at the mention of yesterday’s fiasco. I look at her and sigh.

“Yeah, he was doing okay today...until someone hit him in the head again.”

She seems to wince at the retelling.

“Well...guess we’ll see at lunch then...see you Anon...”

With that, she wheels towards the door, and was gone. I sigh, readjusting my bag on my shoulder. I have to steel myself for next period. Depending on how it goes, I might not make it to lunch. Then I realized something…I never told her my name…how did she? I shake my head, question for later.

Math is going to be interesting.

As I passed by Mr. Sanchez, the troodon man snorted.

“You...Mous...”

I look over to Sanchez, two bundles of papers pushed towards me. He looked at me with an uninterested eye.

“Heard you’re a cousin of a Mr. Nito. I got makeup work for him and according to your address you live next toooooo, that Aaron kid...”

My eyes narrow at the name Aaron.

“Aaron?” He rolls his eyes.

“Fang Arron, I need ya to pass these worksheets along to them if you cooooould.”

I look ant Inco and Fang’s make up work.

I don’t mind getting Inco his work...but do I have to be saddled someone’s work that I’m not really on speaking terms with?

Take Fangs work

Leave it behind

I sigh, picking up both packets of papers.

“No problem Mr. Sanchez...”

A small grumble comes from the teacher as he seems to fall back to sleep. Opening up my bag, I place both packets inside separately from each other, then exit out the door. It won’t be too terrible a thing to do I guess...and Inco could probably use this as a way to...I shake my head. No, this isn’t some visual novel where small decisions set the course for further interactions...Keep the weeb deep down.

It doesn’t take too long to find math class, must be getting my bearings of the school a little quicker than I thought. As I walk in, I’m greeted by a familiar energetic voice.

“Hey Nonny! Over here!”

I cringe at the nickname as I look over to Damien, sat in the same desk as yesterday. He’s waving incessantly in my direction, making me smile slightly. It’s...actually kind of nice to be greeted and not stared at.

“Hey Damien,” I call out, eliciting a yelp from further towards the front of the room. I look over and see both Trish and Reed looking at me. Trish to her credit is shooting a glare over at me, but I could tell it seemed like a front. Reed however, regarded me as if he had seen a ghost. His pink scales seem to be paler than normal; his eyes widen at the sight of me, his arm gripping his other arm a little too tight.

I can feel my anger rise slightly, especially since Trish seems to want to be confrontational already. I decide to just look back to Damien and give him a small wave as I approach my desk in front of the diplosaur. I sit down, and train my eyes at the back of Reed’s head.

Thank Pink Cubone knows something.

One bell ring and lecture from the teacher, then we were asked to break off into groups of two and work on the corresponding questions in the workbook. I sigh and turn to Damien, a crooked smile on his beak.

“So Nonny, how’s Inky?”

I sigh as I solve for ‘x’ for this difficult problem, seems I’m going to be doing the brunt of the work for the both of us.

“He was fine when I left. Hopefully he was able to go to class this period.”

Damien nods sagely as he doodled a guitar in the margins of his worksheet. I roll my eyes and tap the end of his snoot with my pencil, making him yelp in discomfort.

“Hey Nonny!” he says in annoyance. I raise an eyebrow at him.

“I am not doing all the work, Frills, help me here.”

He chuckles sheepishly.

“Alright...but normally I get Liz to help me...”

I raise my eyes to him, a small smirk on my lips.

“Sure, that’s all you two do together?”

Damien blinks at me in confusion, then a fist hits my arm a little too hard.

“Bro, not cool. I got a thing going on!”

I furrow my brow. “Huh?”

Damien shoots me a half smile, his pencil tapping his snoot.

“Sure, I like her...not gonna deny that...but she seems to like it when I play oblivious...I’ll play along until Miss 10-year plan decides to ask is all.” He leans back in his chair, arms folded behind his head. I stare agape at him.

“Huh?”

He winks at me, that half smile widening into a full one.

“What, you really thought I was just some airhead jock? I know some things at least!” he chuckles to himself as he looks back at his worksheet, his eyebrows furrowing.

“But math is not one of those things...help Nonny?” He looks at me with what can only be called puppy dog eyes.

I...I need to reevaluate Damien...he is to sharp for his own good.

“Fine you goof...let’s get to it.”

He gives me his patented winning grin and we work to decipher these moon runes. We get about three quarters through the worksheet when something hits the back of my head. I look down on my desk behind me and see a crumpled-up ball of paper. I turn to Damien, who raises his hands defensively.

“Hey I didn’t do it this time.”

Curious, I open up the sheet and see a short note scrawled in pencil.

‘We need to talk.’

I look up to see Reed looking back at me, a concerned look on his face. Trish seems to be working on their sheet, paying me no attention.

I glance back at Damien. “I’ll be right back.”

The diplodino knits his brows and nods as he turns back to face the math hoard alone. I get up from my seat and walk over to the pair of dinos. Taking a seat in an empty desk next to the raptor, I cross my arms and look at them. Reed seems to be shaking in his ripped jeans, while Trish seems to not even know I’m there.

“So...what do you want to talk about?”

“...”

Reed lets out a sigh...but balks when Trish reached over to hit his back. My eyes narrow at the purple trigga. Not even a glance to me. Oh, is she going to keep doing this? I shake my head as I look to Reed again.

“Listen, if you don’t have anything to say, why throw the note...and don’t let the midget stop you from talking.”

A cracking noise sounds, the pencil in Trish’s hand snaps slightly, but continues to write. Reed rubs the back of his head, then looks me in the eye.

“How...how is Inco?”

I give him a flat look.

“I dunno, why do you ask?”

Reed shifts his eyes back and forth.

“You know...”

“No, I don’t. Gonna have to be more specific.”

The raptor seems to be shaking even more now, his scales paling even more.

“Listen, I just heard that he had an...accident, and I wanted to make sure he was okay.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“Wow, and why would I know anything about that? Remember I can’t stand his ass according to your friend.”

Another snapping noise comes from Trish’s pencil, the splintered wood holding on for dear life. Reed reaches for his thermos, but Trish slaps his arm again. He looks at her pleadingly, but she doesn’t look over. He growls slightly, his eyes getting more focused, but a little more manic.

“Dude...please...I need to know.”

I frown and look him in the eye.

“Maybe I don’t think you deserve to know. And I told you...don’t let that trigga make you do something you don’t want to do.”

The next movements were quick, whip-like. The sound of broken pencil clatters on the ground near my feet as a strangled yell comes from Trish. She knocked over her chair as she tried to jump me, but Reed had gotten in the middle of us, holding the pint-sized purple pain at bay.

“SAY THAT FUCKING AGAIN SKINNIE, I’LL MAKE YOUR TEETH COME OUT YOUR ASS!”

I jump back out of my chair defensively, putting my hands up for a split second. A sudden rush of footsteps and a head turn later I see Damien rush to my side, his frills almost raised to standing, his own teeth bared at Trish.

“Yo Trish, chill out!” Reed strangles out as he can only hold her back for so long. She in turn continues to stare daggers in my direction. She tries to growl out something else, when a sharp cracking noise sounds and makes everyone jump out of their own skin. Trish stops in her tracks as we all turn to look at the blackboard in front of the class, a very large crater was embedded into the board and in turn the wall. We all gulp as we see the small ball like ended tail from our math teacher, his eyes narrowed in fury.

“Now...Patricia...Head to Scaler’s office.”

She is about to protest, when he slams down his tail once more, this time on the ground.

“Now...Miss Pherne...”

She snarls, glaring at me again. I shoot her a cocky smile, causing her to growl again as she stalks out of the room, bag in hand and slamming the door.

“Now everyone else, back to your seats and continue your work.” He sighs as he returns to his desk, choosing to not snooze again. I look back to Reed, who looks like a complete mess. He gives me a pained look, then returns to his seat. He picks up his dropped thermos and takes a swig from it.

Check on Reed

Forget him

‘Everyone is fighting their own battles.’

I sigh, remembering Flint’s advice. I look at Damien and nod towards our desks.

“I’ll be right there.”

He looks from me to Reed, then grins a bit as he returns to his seat. I take that time to sit back in the desk near the distraught raptor.

“So...that was a thing...” Reed just moves an eye to me, bags under them signaling his tiredness.

“Listen, Trish...she’s...going through a bit of a thing.”

I scoff.

“Could have fooled me...” Reed cringes.

“Listen...Anon...I’m sorry...”

“Why?” I ask simply. Reed shudders, his fingers fiddling with the thermos.

“I...I hit him.”

I feel the world around me slow down. My eyes can’t tear away from the pink pummeler, my anger rising. I shake my head, clearing the anger away.

“Please, you don’t have to cover for your friend Reed. You’d never...” His eyes bore into mine, the look of regret seeping from them.

“It...was an accident. He was going to run after Fang. Trish was going to try and hit him in the back of the head with her tire iron...I tried to stop her...got in front of her and grabbed the thing...then I yanked it out of her hand...but I pulled too hard...it launched out of my hand and into the back of his head...”

I follow his story as best I could. He took a few swigs of his thermos as he spoke, getting shaky as he got to the whole ‘he did it’ part. Once he was finished, he took another swig from his mysterious drink.

“I just want to know if he’s okay...he’s important to Fang now it seems. They don’t have a lot of support other than us...and I don’t think ‘we’ have been good for them either.” He mumbles. I wait for him to continue. When he seemingly goes quiet, I decide to throw him a bone.

“...He’s okay for now.”

Reed looks at me with wide eyes.

“Last I saw him when I brought him to the nurses office, he was awake and talking to me...” I think about what he had said and consider telling Reed.

“He...doesn’t want to let this be a thing...and asked me to not make it a thing...”

Reed seems to be hanging on my every word.

“He cares about someone he just met enough to even overlook being assaulted...so I’m going to at least respect his wishes...for now.”

Reed perks up, some color coming back to his scales.

“Anon, thank-“

I hold my hand up to stop him.

“I hear or see him get hurt again though, and I will not be as forgiving.”

Reed freezes, then relaxes as he exhales in relief.

“Yo Anon...you really are a chill guy. I promise to do my best about that.”

I nod curtly.

“Okay, now if you’ll excuse me, I got an idiot over there to help with math.” Reed looks over at Damien, who was totally doing his work and not staring at us intently, his frills undulating. Reed cracks a dreamy smile.

“Heh, Damien is a cool guy too, you got some choice taste in friends bro.”

I chuckle a little.

“Not like I was given a choice; I’ll talk to you later.” I get up from my seat and wave at the raptor. He returns the wave and turns back to his work. Once I get back to my desk, Damien seems to be excited to hear about my conversation. I relay to him the entire talk, his eyes widening when I tell him who had hit Inco.

“Man...never would have guessed he’d do it.”

“Well...it seems like it was an accident on his part anyway. But Trish...” I trail away. That trigga has some massive chip on her tiny shoulders. If Reed hadn’t intervened, it’s possible Trish would have done worse than what Inco got. I shake my thoughts away. I told Inco I’d back off, even if I did kind of pry. At least the one who hit him seems genuinely sorry so there is that.

“Whatever, let’s finish thi-“

The bell rings and I groan. Damien chuckles.

“Guess we got homework huh?”

I glare at Damien, but agree as I put the worksheet in my bag and sling it onto my shoulder.

“Lunch, Damien?” The diplodino smiles widely.

“Absolutely!”

Chapter Text

I use Damien’s ability to clear a path through the throng of students that were once again in a heated food-based war until we were at the table we sat at yesterday. We drop our bags at the seats and once more braved the sea of bodies to get in line for food. I feel around for my wallet and pull out the bill fold checking its contents.

Inco wasn’t kidding about never seeing Auntie and Uncle. When we had gotten into the kitchen this morning, there was a sticky note on an envelope with my name on it, several twenty dollar bills inside. The note read ‘For Anon: Monthly Allowance’. Huh, a hundred for the month? Might want to look into a part time gig or something if I want to continue my collection of art books and the like. However, I do appreciate that they did that at all. Might not have seen them yet, but they at least made sure I had scratch to get some quality food.

One trip from the lunch line later, and Damien and I have trays piled with sandwiches and mystery meat surprise. I even splurged on five sugar cookies...gotta get all the necessary food groups you understand. We approached the table and were surprised to see two people already there in our absence. Olivia was in her place at the head of the table, and sat across the way from where my bag was placed...was Inco. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, but without the telltale bulge of an ice pack underneath it. He just seems to be sitting there, keeping himself busy by swinging his legs back and forth, until his shaded eyes fall on me and a half smile forms on his lips.

“Hey cuz!” he waves brightly, honestly making me cringe a little. However, I match his smile and wave back.

“Guess the nurse sprung ya from jail Inky?” I rib at him as I put my tray of sandwiches down in front of my place. I look over to Olivia and smile as I see her trying to already stealthily steal one of my sandwiches. Cocking an eyebrow, I pick up the one she’s about to steal and wag a finger in front of her snoot.

“Ah ah ah ah, that’s not the password!”

Olivia narrows her eyes, then opens her maw to try and chomp on my finger. I recoil as quickly as I can as I laugh, tossing her the sandwich. She grabs it out of the air, a smirk on her maw.

“Next time, I won’t miss.”

“You say that as if there will be a next time.”

She rolls her eyes and busies herself with unwrapping the morsel in her hand and chowing down.

I hear a tray clatter on the table, making me turn my head to see Damien who was just gawking at us. Inco seems to look at Damien as well, concern on his face.

“Damien, you okay man?” I ask. The pink diplo shakes his head a little too hard.

“Did...what...huh???”

Damien.exe has stopped working, please pull frills to reset.

Olivia chomps down the last of her food and gives Damien a raised brow.

Yo Damien, I’ve never seen you so quiet...you getting a cold?”

Damien seems to shake whatever shock he was under, his frills becoming literal wings as he’s about to become airborne. He looks from me to Olivia, his excitement mounting. I look to Olivia, hopefully for an explanation, but see her frown forming.

“Stop, you’re making it weird.”

Damien stops in his tracks and does his best to calm his phalanges, but the fibrous scale flaps seem to only slow to a high setting fan.

“Sorry Liv…just haven’t seen you like this in a while…was just happy is all.”

She groans as she begins tearing the sandwich wrapper, letting the scraps fall on the table in front of her.

“Well stop, those things are gross when you do that.:

Damien grins like an idiot, but his hands do go up to his frills and tries to calm them down manually. I can’t help but crack a smile.

“Aww but Olivia…I wanted to see if he could fly with them going that fast.”

A snort comes from the gator girl who was busily chewing on a sugar cookie….one of my sugar cookies.

“Hey! Get your own!” I almost yell angrily, glaring at the smug future handbag.

“Losers weepers. Consider this payback for teasing me last night with the pizza.”

I fold my arms and grumble, but there wasn’t any real malice behind it…to be fair…I was going to give her one anyway.

A laugh comes from across the table and I see Inco chuckling at me.

“What’s so funny Shades?” I see his brow raise above his sunglasses.

“Just reveling in being right is all.”

One moment later, and the annoyance yelps as I flung a sugar cookie at his forehead, it bouncing off his chrome dome and landing in front of him. He rubs the slightly crumby sore spot on his head, a pursed frown on his face. I smirk as I flick some remnant crumbs at him.

“Shut it rich boy.”

Grumbling, he sweeps off the crumb that landed on his jacket and very grumpily chomped on the cookie. I can hear another snicker coming from Olivia, making me join in like we are a couple of cackling gremlins. A choked sob from Damien makes the laughing stop.

“Damien, what did I just say?”

As if he sucked on a lemon, his beak seems to suck into itself as he averted his eyes. I smile at his reaction...feeling something I really hadn’t expected.

Now that I think about it, Damien has been there for me since we’ve met yesterday. It all lead to him even rushing to my side to help if Trish actually broke out of Reed’s grip.

Like a friend...

“Hey Frills, catch.”

His eyes widen as a cookie is also tossed to him. Fumbling slightly midair with the sweet, it ultimately landing safely in his palms. He looks at me, curiosity plain on his face.

“For being there for me when that trigga almost mulched me last period.”

His eyes widened as I could have sworn I saw tears start to well up in his eyes. He flashes a toothy grin and chomps down on the cookie, eating it up in one bite. Another cackle from Olivia, making me turn back to her.

“Could you skinnies maybe not try and antagonize all the problem dinos in school?”

I narrow my eyes at her.

“Didn’t know you dabbled in light racism Miss Meteor Dodger.”

A dangerous smirk perks up her maw.

“You’d be surprised, spear chucker.”

“Leather head”

“Caveman”

“Fossil Fuel”

“OKAY COULD WE STOP?!”

Olivia and I side-eye Inco who seems to be visibly shaken by our little game. We look at each other and start cackling again, Inco just being flustered in the background. I watch as Olivia just laughs, a welcome change from her more morose demeanor. The way her snout crinkles into wrinkles, the way the edges of her jagged maw bends upward into that wicked grin...what?

I shake my head. Why am I...?

“Ahh! There you are Inco! I heard you had another accident and was worried!”

A sickly-sweet voice sounds. I watch as the mirth on Olivia’s face quickly vanishes as she sees who is coming from behind me, the usual neutral expression she has reappears in it’s place. I look behind me to see four dinos approach, three parasaurus and one ptero.

Its that peach parasaur from science. She’s closely followed by that brown grey ptero boy from this morning in a god-awful jacket that just assaults my senses. Behind them however...Is Mia and that Ben guy I met yesterday. Mia seemed to not really care about being here, but once her sights were set on me, my blood ran cold as a smirk started to spread her beak. My attention however was grabbed by the horns when the pink missing link rushed over to fawn over Inco’s bandaged head.

“Ohmigosh, what happened?!”

I can’t put my finger on it...but her mannerisms and voice all seem...wrong. I can hear Mia snickering as she watches the excitable girl. Looking back at the other new guests, I can tell the guy in the forest jacket doesn’t seem too happy the girl is fawning over Inco. Ben looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here and Mia has turn to just pretend she isn’t here.

“Mia...apologize!”

Mia jolts in her spot as the peach girl prompts her. She seems to throw a glance at Ben, then the girl again. Ben just nods to her reassuringly, causing Mia to roll her eyes. She stalks over to stand next to Inco and seems to glare down at him, Inco for his credit looks nervous. He looked like he was prey to a predator...a similar feeling I had yesterday.

“sorry...”

A flash of a dangerous glare from the cremesicle caused Mia to shake again. She grinds her teeth a bit, then looks away.

“Sorry I hit ya...Inco.”

“T...thanks?”

Before another word, Mia stalked back to Ben’s side, pulled out her phone and taps away on it.

Tutting slightly, the girl next to Inco blinks my way and lets the plastic smile return.

“You must be Anon right? I saw you in science, but didn’t get a chance to introduce myself!”

She scurries over to me and takes my hand, shaking it vigorously. Yeah no...

Yank hand away

Grin and bear it

I stop myself before I make an ass of myself. I already don’t like her...but that isn’t an excuse to be rude...yet.

“Nice to meet you...” I say, finally feeling her slow the shake down. She backs off slightly to grab the ptero’s arm.

“And this is my dear Naser!”

Naser shoots me a peace sign and a half grin.

“Sorry about this morning...Needed to stay out of Fang’s way.” He apologizes. He scans the table, then furrows his brow.

“Is Fang with the band?”

An awkward silence seems to fall in the area. Mia actually points her eyes up at us, now interested in the topic.

“Well...” I turn to see Inco rub the back of his head. Naser tilts his head in confusion.

“Fang...ran back to the station before school...”

Naser’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks, shirking Naomi’s arm off. The table seems to tense up at his reaction. I turn and finally notice something...Olivia had left the table...when had that happened?

“Naser, it’s alright calm...”

Naser pinches the bridge of his beak and sighed.

“What happened? You three took the train here...what the hell happened?”

I suddenly become acutely aware of his clawed hands that are currently balled into fists. I look to Inco, who looks at me nervously.

“Well...I might have gotten into an argument with their band and...” He seems to be struggling with how to proceed. ‘Well, Naser, your sibling’s shit ass friends clobbered me so I dunno what happened’ doesn’t seem to be a good way to assuage the peeved ptero.

“It didn’t end well...so much so that Fang ended up running off. I went to run after them, but I ended up tripping and falling back onto the concrete...messed my head up good.”

Mia snorted, making us look back at her. She looks up at us and just shakes her head.

“What?”

Naser sighs heavily, his hand going to pinch his snout.

“I’m going to hear about this when I get home...” He mumbles. His orange eyes fall on Inco.

“Glad to see you’re okay...I’ll see you guys later...”

With that Naser seems to stalk off without his party, Naomi furrowing her brows in concern. Mia looks nonplused.

“So, we good to go sis? Good.”

Mia clicks her tongue at Ben, who jolts back to attention.

“Yeah...let’s go...” Ben says finally...first thing he said at all as he follows his stalking girlfriend, leaving Naomi alone with us. She sighs heavily herself as she takes Liz’s empty seat and puts her head in her hands.

“I just don’t know what to do with that sister of Naser’s...”

I look at Inco and Damien.

“You mean his sibling, Naomi?”

An annoyed glare seems to shut Inco up.

“Inco, we can’t condone an obvious cry for attention...”

“Huh??”

Naomi seems to squeak, her hands shooting up to her mouth as we all stare at her.

“Oh dear, I did it again...didn’t I?”

She buries her head in her arms and sighs again.

“It’s just that...Fang has been causing Naser problems left and right... and Naser just keeps on trying to placate h...them...even though Fang wants nothing to do with him.”

We just look at one another, not really sure how to answer her vent. Naomi raises her head again and takes a deep breath. Then, that smile returns to her face.

“Well, nothing we can do now.” Wow, she recovers quick. She looks over to Inco and brightens up a bit.

“Oh Inco, I forgot to mention, are you going to enter the competition?”

Inco tilts his head.

“Competition?” Naomi nods.

“Yes, it’s a competition for the beginning of the school year for everyone to show off their chops so to speak. You can enter an art piece or a photo! There’s even a cash prize and a chance to have your piece put into a prestigious art magazine, getting your work out to almost all of Volcaldera!”

I don’t have to be able to see his eyes behind his shades to see the stars sparkling.

“How do I-“

“Just head to the library, Elizabeth should be in there doing her treasury work, she can help you set up your school account and should be able to help you submit your photo!”

Inco starts to scramble to his feet, picking up his bag and start to walk quickly from the table.

“Bye Anon, bye Damien, see you after school!”

Aaaaaaaand, he’s gone.

“Anon, I see you’ve made friends with Olivia! I’m so glad someone is able to help her out of her funk~”

I furrow my brows and look past Damien to look at Naomi, who has pulled out a yogurt pack out of her bag and begins eating. She seems to be having the time of her life...after being so sad just a moment ago...what is her deal?

“Sure...I guess. We had a class together and we sorta hit it off.” Damien lights up.

“Oh yeah, you were also with her during the concert too! How did that go?”

I look down at the sandwich in my hand, then looked at where Olivia had just been.

“We had pizza...I may have teased her a little...then I found out we like the same pizza...”

I stop rambling to look over and see Naomi and Damien staring at me intently, their eyes dilating and grins on their faces.

“What??”

Both of them leaned back, pretending to not have gushed for a second about what I had said.

“It was just...hanging out...no big deal.”

Damien wags a fork at me, getting flecks of meat on the table, much to Naomi’s chagrin.

“You have to understand Nonny...she has been so reserved around people and so detached, it’s just exciting that she opened up to anyone! You’re the first one to actually get her to say a single sentence, much less getting her to laugh!”

Damien looks back down at his food and digs his fork into it, his smile faltering to a frown.

“It’s been so long...I’ve been trying to get her to open up for a while...since freshman year...”

Naomi reaches over to pat his back sympathetically.

“It’s alright Damien, you have been doing your best. Sometimes people need the right situations to open up. Anon seems to have something that can help!”

He looks up at her, a small smile on his beak.

“Thanks Noomer...” I snort at the nickname, shame the face she is shooting at Damien doesn’t seem to appreciate it.

We jump as the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch. I quickly wolf down my uneaten sandwich and pick up my bag, Damien still shoveling food into his gullet at a breakneck speed.

“I’ll see you later Damien, I got theater after this!”

He waves at me as he finishes his food, causing himself to hiccup from eating too fast. I shoot him a thumbs up and begin walking away when I felt an annoying presence keeping up with me. I look to see Naomi walking with me, staying a step behind the herd of rampaging teens.

“Uhhh, you going my way?”

Naomi giggles.

“We’re in the same theater class Anon, don’t you remember? My sister is too!”

I rack my brain, trying to remember. All I really remember though is thinking about Olivia’s painting. Thinking about it again though...I really have to ask her about that.

“Anon, are you okay? Ask Olivia about what?”

I jump as Naomi jostles me from my thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, nothing. We’re going to have to speed up if we don’t want to be late.”

Naomi nods as we pick up the pace and head to one of the hallways with no ceiling. Vines of leaves and foliage line the railings of the second floor, causing a sort of curtain of vegetation hanging down, making a pseudo wall that bisected the hall. We head towards the end of it to a pair of doors that lead to the mini auditorium that houses the theatre class. Pulling the door open, I gesture to Naomi to enter and I follow. I do spy Mia in a seat with a white raptor girl and a brown triceratops girl, the three chattering away. Looking to the other side of the room, I also see Naser and Sage, who seem to be talking to one another as well...More like Sage is doing all the talking and Naser just looks like he is still in that sour mood from earlier.

I follow Naomi to where Naser and Sage are. Sage looks over and brightens up when she sees Naomi and I.

“Naomi! Anon!”

She waves at us as we finally take ours seats, Naomi sitting next to Naser, and I only slightly begrudgingly next to Sage. The pastel raptor looks at me with a worried borrow of brow.

“How’s Inco, you seen him since?”

I look at her and give her a gentle smile.

“Rich boy is still kicking, saw him at lunch actually.” Sage immediately brightens up, her tail wagging slightly.

“Oh good! Gonna have to check on him later! Thanks for letting me know!”

On cue, the late bell rang and we all go ready for class. If I remember correctly, our teacher was out yesterday, and there still wasn’t any sign of them he-

The sound of the doors to the classroom slamming open makes everyone turn, alarmed, at the source of the disturbance. There in the middle of the slowly closing doors behind him…

Was Iadakan.

He was breathing a bit heavily, but he seems to straighten up his posture, fixing his overcoat slightly, then strides to his desk and turns to us, a serious looking expression on his beak.

“My apologies for my absence yesterday class, I had a prior engagement to take care of. In any case, welcome to theater class my little actors and actresses!”

His serious faces melts into one of pure ecstatic joy as he spreads his arms as well as his leathery wings in a bombastic flourish. There was some light clapping and a single whoop from another dino. He bows slightly, then looks back at us all, a kind smile creasing his lips.

“Most of you know my main classes are more artistic in nature, however, artistry is not just to be in photos and canvas. No, emotions and how people carry themselves in telling a story is also art. Conveying a believable tale by showing your audience your soul is a wonderful way of expressing yourself.”

I listen to him continue on, resting my chin in my hand. Wasn’t exactly jazzed about acting, but hit was one of the few electives that were still available. Guess people really don’t like being center of attention on stage for others to gawk at. Raptor Jesus knows that isn’t my cup of tea…especially after Rock Bottom. It wasn’t as if I was opposed to it though…just things have soured since-

“Mr. Mous?”

I shudder from my musings as Iadakan calls out to me, my reaction causing some students, including Mia, to chuckle.

“Y…yes?”

The ptero teacher had crossed his arms and was tapping his foot, a smirk on his beak.

“Thank you for volunteering for first picks for group scenes!”

I sink in my seat as the chuckles begin to intensify. Iadakan chuckles as well.

“Not to worry Mous, you will not be alone.”

Iadakan strides over to my desk and produces a large bundle of papers and places them in front of me. He looks up and around the room.

“I need two volunteers to come and join Mr. Mous in a blind read through.”

I am made aware of one very eager volunteer next to me as Sage rose her hand excitedly.

“Ahh Mr. Leif, glad to see you as eager as ever!”

My eyes widen as I look at Sage, who is looking at me with what could only be vibrating enthusiasm.

Wait…Mr. Leif?? I stare at Sage, who notices and blushes slightly, sticking HIS tongue out at me and winking an eye. Well shit, guess he just likes to dress that way huh. Whatever.

“Anyone else?” Iadakan asked once again. The rest of the class seems to not share in Sage’s excitement to be first on the chopping block.

“Mr. Aaron?”

I peek a look back at Naser and Naomi. The peach girl looks excited as Naser had raised a cheeto fingered claw. Iadakan had a serene smile on his face.

“Well then, we have our first group! Now decide from the scripts I’ve given you and take the stage!”

The class starts murmuring amongst themselves as Sage scoots his desk to mine, a large grin on his beak. As soon as he was in place, I could hear Naser approaching as well, choosing to stand at our combined desks.

“Well this is gonna be a blast Anon!” Sage grins as he rests his chin his hands, swaying back and forth. Naser just chuckles.

“Yeah…needed something to get distracted by…hope you got a little bit of imagination Anon.”

I grumble nervously. The closest thing I’ve done to this was just messing around as a kid, running around in homemade costumes of certain three sword welding pirates…

I look down at the scripts given to us and see at least three different ones. Ho…hold on a second…why are they all musicals?! I’m not great at singing…but…

Honestly, these all seem interesting, but guess I’ll vote for.

Mythological Musical

Political Musical

Supernatural Musical

“I vote this one.” I hold up the script that has the name “Epic: the Musical” on it. Sage’s eyes light up and his grin gets wider.

“Oh I know that one! The guy who wrote this would post all the finished songs on Yousnoot in Sagas and everything.”

He takes the papers from me and scans through it.

“Aaaand I know exactly who I want to be. Naser you gotta be him!”

Sage grabs Naser’s hand and shoves the script into his claws. A popped eyebrow and a slight smile creases his beak.

“It says thus guy carries around a huge sword huh? Pretty cool. Guess that leave the lead to Anon.”

What.

Sage bares a toothy grin at me, and Naser seems to be grinning at me too. I gulp…audibly.

I should have just taken Home Ec…

***

Sea salt sprayed on my face as I hurried down the ships narrow walkway between the starboard rowing line and the mast. My cloth tunic and shorts clung to my body as the winds blew against us. We needed to change course or we were going to capsize. Crew were busily pulling the ropes connected to the main sail as they showed it so we wouldn’t be at the mercy of the heavy winds.

The storm hadn’t even begun and still we were at the mercy of the choppy waves. I finally make it to the forward, where my second in command was holding onto a rope to steady himself as he scanned the horizon. His mismatched leathery wings fluttered in the breeze, his favored large broadsword strapped between them. As I grab a rope opposite of his I can see his furrowed golden eyes stare straight ahead.

“How are we faring Eurylochus?”

He looks at me with a worried, but hard look.

“Captain, we are heading towards a storm…and we are running out of supplies. We need to find something to feed the men and we are not prepared for these waters quite yet.”

I sigh as I scan the horizon, looking for anything out of the ordinary. I finally spy several seagulls flying at the aft of the boat, away from us. I point out towards them.

“Follow the gulls, they’ll lead us to land, we can search for supplies and food there I’m certain!”

Enriches nods and leaves me to continue scanning ahead, my second barking out orders as I can feel the ship turn towards the gulls direction. Looking back and forth, I see our fleet begin to follow our ship in a grand motion to look for food.

600 men returning from war…about 12 years or so since we had seen home and we hadn’t lost a single man to the bloody invasion. Now we needed to resupply…the thought of making sure we would find enough for 600 hungry dinos and humans.

I could feel the rope I’m holding start to shake. Looking up towards the end of it that connected to the crows nest, I can see a lightly colored micro-raptor in sack cloth sliding down rapidly, letting go in time for him to land lightly on his feet behind me. His curly light purple hair blows in the breeze, held back by the headband he wore around his forehead. His eyeglasses remaining snug on his face thanks to the band connecting the ends behind his head. He looks at me with a determined look.

“Polites, you saw sonething?” I ask, trying to hold back a smile from seeing my friend. His determined look changes to one of excitement as he points towards our heading.

“I could see an island in the distance! There’s even lights coming from near the beaches!”

I smirk at our lookout and turn, clasping a hand on his shoulder, Polites grins at me and laughs.

“Well done, help Eurylochus with preparations. I’ll keep an eye out.”

Polites salutes and rushes further into the thick of it as the crew not rowing finish securing everything.

As we approach the island, I can see the lights Polites mentioned, however, something was odd. The lights didn’t flicker like they should…just a constant glow.

“Captain?”

I turn to see Eurylochus and Polites had joined me.

“There’s fires…” my second States, as the raptor has an excited look.

“Maybe the people there will share some food!”

Eurylochus squints at the small lookout and shakes his head.

“We have no idea if they will willingly share. I say we go in en force and take what we need.”

I ponder for a second.

“Something is off, I don’t see any smoke coming from the fires…we need to be careful…”

I look at the two. Eurylochus looks like he is ready to lead a massacre. Fitting, we had just come from war, and he is one of our fiercest warriors. I sigh.

“Polites, gear up. You and I will go alone.”

The raptor gives another salute and scampers off to grab his gear. The ptero warrior furrows his brow at me. I give him a knowing look.

“We need to try and not rush into this…if we can do this without any more bloodshed, that would be ideal...”

He doesn’t seem convinced, him folding his arms. I shake my head and sigh. I place a hand on his shoulder and give him a confident smile.

“Give me until sunrise. If we don’t return by then…set the place ablaze.”

Eurylochus stares at me with a hard look, just as Polites returned with his and my gear. I smile at him and take my weapons and pack from him. The ptero looks up and gives a heavy sigh.

“Fine, sunrise then.”

I nod and then turn to Polites.

“Let’s go”

Polites nods.

“Yes sir Captain Odysseus!”

***

I look at Naser and Sage, they’re expressions my way looking…impressed?

A clapping from our side makes me turn to see a grinning Iadakan in his chair.

“Well done you three! For you three to just look over the material for a small amount of time, you did well!”

Some light clapping also came from a few students, a whistle sounding from Naomi directed at Naser, who blew a kiss to her.

I have a little time to react before Sage flings his arms around me and giggles.

“That was great Anon! You seem to take to the Odysseus role great!”

I want so much to pry the boy off me…but the praise is nice…

I look to Naser, who gives me an approving nod as he heads back to his seat next to his vibrating girlfriend.

Maybe acting isn’t so bad.