Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Year 201M2024 BC.

August 26th

Location, ass end of nowhere.

In all honesty , I don’t even know what the name of this place is. I never wanted to come here, wherever “here” is, but…

It’s not my home, Bitter End might be a dumpster of a city, but it’s MY city.

And now it’s hundreds of miles away.

As I use my breath to fog the window of the car and draw an oversized dick, I watch around my surroundings. The streets are mostly empty, save for a couple of cars from people I assume are going to their sad, dead-end jobs.

They must be wishing the meteor actually made them go extinct by the looks on their face.

Well, most humans wish for the same thing, so who am I to speak.

My train of thought gets interrupted by the raspy voice in the front of the car. “Would you mind not tainting my windows?”

I sigh, letting my cramped body lay on the back seat while I curl myself up like a baby, adjusting my khakis so that they wouldn’t get too low.

The one who spoke is my driver, or I should say, my uncle. He is one of “those” kinds of people.

A Saurian.

I can see him from behind , that grayish color of his skin, the rock-hard scales on his hands and the back of his neck , everyone knows the name of this one.

As the ankylosaurus stops at a red light and turns his head to see me, I am confronted by those big piss-colored eyes of his.

“...What?”

“ Come on, couldn’t you at least TRY to act more like a living being instead of whatever you are doing? ”

“ You want me to jump out of the car? Because I will gla-”

“ NO , no, no, no. ”

“ Okay, let me rephrase it. Can we talk a little before we reach the school? ”

“ Whatever.”

I don’t like speaking to them stupid meteor dodgers.

Mom taught me that they don’t bring anything but problems; granted, my mother is a whore and can die for all I care, but It’s not like I can just forget.

“Tell me, why do you think you are here?”

I yawned, lowering my bandanna to the level of my eyes so it could work as a sleep mask.

“Mom and Dad got tired of me, so now I gotta deal with you while they try to mess up the head of my little bro. ”

“ Wrong.”

As the car starts going forward, I lift the improvised sleep mask so that I can see a small frown forming on his face, making me smile from satisfaction.

“They are worried that you went too far. You’re broken, and it’s my job to help them fix you.”

I laughed loudly at the comment.

“Fix? Me? Oh come on, if they wanna fix something they should have fixed themselves 6 years ago.”

My ‘uncle ’ frowns again at that remark while keeping his eyes on the road.

“They are trying, okay? You did your part. You already made them change, so why are you now the one just refusing to ch- ”

“ Whatever. ” I interrupted him before he could try to lecture me. “Why are you driving me anyway? I can take the goddamn bus while I wait for my bike.”

The moving truck got lost on its way here, so I was stuck with whatever I was wearing and nothing more.

“I need to make sure that you get there , once we arrive they will take good care of you , they always do.”

“ Why are you so confident in that? Speaking out of experience?”

Silence.

Sometimes, I am just amazing with my words.

He didn’t say anything else during the rest of the ride.

Maybe I hit a little too close to home for him.

...

Good.

As the car starts slowing down, I lift my body from the seat to look at the front, adjust my bandanna, and check what my prison would be like for one entire year.

Or at least until I find a way to get the hell out of here.

I’m just being dramatic, of course. How bad can a new school full of geckos be?

The massive building appeared in front of us, about two or three stories high and almost completely white if it wasn’t for a few graffiti on the sides of the academy. Most of them were nothing to be proud of, broken letters, badly drawn lizards, some half-cooked poems, slurs, and, of course, some dicks.

How immature, who would do something like that?

There was only one thing that really stuck out for me, a graffiti of a human with the classic prison attire, black and white stripes, back against the wall while he tried to go undetected from something on the top, what looked to be the graffiti of a saurian with exaggerated features, such as bigger teeth and a huge snout with wanky eyes, wearing a guard attire, scouting from the roof. I didn’t know if the human was trying to get out or trying to break in, but the saurian was clearly trying to stop him. You could tell that the saurian was based on a T-Rex, while the human, on the other hand, had close to no features at all; the only thing is that it was bald.

Talk about bad omens.

After the gray old man steps out of the car, I open the door to get out of it as well , stretching my body and looking into the sky, just to be flashed by the sun’s cheeks.

“FFFFUC- ” I slam my palm against the top of the car while I rub my eyes with my other hand.

The old man comes to check on me but after I’m able to hear the weight of his footsteps I immediately wave him off.

He didn’t make any comments. All I could hear was a grunt before he turned around towards the school, to which I slammed the door and started following him while still rubbing my eyes.

I hate it here already.

Walking behind him really puts an emphasis on his size , built like a rock and blocking everything in front of him with his at least 6’9 of height , his massive weight of over three hundred pounds causes the floor to tremble as he walks, rubbing his massive hands because of the freezing breeze of this morning.

It’s better not to imagine what a monster like him can do to a human like me.

Taking precautions against the sun by lowering my bandana, I looked up to read whatever was written on the entryway of the building…

“St. Brusatte Academy for Complicated Hatchlings”

Fuck

My

Life.

Even from outside the door I could already start seeing the reptiles in the hallway from whatever my ‘uncle ’ left out to see, and believe me, you wouldn’t get more colors even if you mixed water with gasoline.

Makes me feel a little light-headed , or maybe disgusted, in any case it’s just a transitory feeling as I put my hands inside the pockets of my orange hoodie.

The moment my ‘uncle ’ stepped inside I started feeling the glares of the multi-colored reptiles coming towards us, with most of them looking straight out of a cheap 80’s movie…

Should have expected something like that; if this place is for ‘complicated hatchlings, ’ then I will be dealing with a pretty fucking decent bunch of assholes in the near future . Or at least assholes with no fashion sense.

Walking across the school hall, it didn’t take long to see some of the meteor dodgers taking notice of me as I was walking behind the robust boulder that my ‘uncle’ appeared to be. To my surprise, their eyes open as wide as a plate from one moment to another; it’s almost as if they couldn’t- oh, oh, holy shit.

It takes me longer than it should, but the realization amuses me nonetheless. The boulder is so fucking fat that he’s hiding me.

These reptiles are staring at him, and then they are getting the shock of their life after watching what he was hiding behind.

Some of the lizards were checking their lockers while stealing glances at me, some even dropping their stuff the moment we made eye contact.

Others were whispering as they shamelessly glared at me, with more disgust than shock in their eyes.

The words ‘How ’ and ‘Why ’ were appearing a lot. I know this place has a shit ton more dinos than humans, but is it that weird?

How often do these fuckers see a human?

But for every two lizards wishing to rip apart a piece of my body, there was one who didn’t give a shit. Wish there were more like them.

‘Love ya, you apathetic, bug-eating, overdeveloped chameleons!’

But for those who kept staring, I decided to introduce them to my favorite finger, flipping them the bird with a shit-eating grin on my face . It’s my favorite expression, too.

And that sure as fuck caused a reaction; as we passed, I could already start to hear some screaming; there were some basic slurs like “Skinnie ” in between all of the rest, but my brain just decided to filter their voices as white noise.

Haters will hate. And I’m used to being hated.

But what I couldn’t filter was the fat-ass book that got thrown to my head, landing right on the dome of my cranium , causing my body to cringe as a result, especially my head and my neck.

I’m pretty sure I looked like a squashed goomba there for a second.

Fuck.

Of course, that caused these cold-blooded Triggers to start laughing at my expense.

I stopped in my tracks and lifted the book they had previously thrown at me, winding up my arm and getting ready to throw it back to the first fucking shit-eating son of Godzilla I saw.

Until the book was ripped from my hand, making me turn my head and observe how the boulder was staring daggers at me.

“What? ”

“ What in the world were you trying to do? ”

“ Hey, one of these bipedal sewer crocodiles threw his book at me, I’m returning it to the sender. I don’t want them missing their assignments of…”

I checked the book to see the cover and then went back to my usual position.

“Math.”

The boulder stared at the book for a second, frowned at it , and then simply left it on top of one of the lockers at the very end of the locker.

Oh, that is gonna sting more than any hit I can give them because one shorty was staring up at the locker with distraught paint all over his face. They are gonna take a while to figure out how to reach it…

…

But my head still aches a bit. Thank god that I have a thick skull.

The sea of insults continued for a while , but now that the boulder was aware of their presence, they refrained from throwing anything else.

Eventually, we reach what I can only assume is the principal’s office. There’s a noticeable lack of any form of plating to represent which door is which.

The boulder knocks only once, but that’s enough to shake the door to the point I thought it would fall off.

“Ah, Mr. Stern, we were waiting for you, please come in.”

They called the boulder by his last name; how the hell did he know-... Actually, never mind, I would also recognize this fat rock anywhere he went, even if I couldn’t see him.

He opened the door, and we went in one after the other. My ‘uncle ’ moved towards the desk as I analyzed the room.

God it looked boring. It was like if they picked the first picture that appears on the internet when you search “Office ” and then copy pasted it into the building.

Actually, there is something on the wall.

I squinted my eyes to try and see it.

...

Is that a...watermark?

I shake my head as I turn around and see a very short and old looking dino taking the hand of the boulder, surprisingly he was not shaking after he let go.

A small Spinosaurus that was wearing a full brown suit with a yellow tie and formal black shoes , somehow he looked balder than me , dragging his long tail on the floor as he moved, acting as if his tail was a wet noodle unlike any other saurian I’ve seen up to this point.

“It’s always a pleasure to see you, Roddy; this is the one I was telling you about.”

The boulder moved his hands to introduce me as if I were some kind of broken old car on sale.

“I see. I’m guessing you are the famous Octoceamo Pautunade.”

The boulder and I froze on the spot as we stared at the little Spinosaurus, his frill tilting along his head while he stared at me with genuine confusion.

“Is that not you? ”

“ You just butchered my name more than the internet butchered my innocence. ” And that is saying A LOT.

For the record, my name is Octaviano Patenaude, and that is one of the many reasons why I don’t like my parents. At this point I am already used to being called either ‘dude’ or whatever slur comes first to the mind of others, they usually start with an F or an S.

“Oh, I am very sorry but your name it’s very hard on the tongue, is it okay if I call you Mr. O?”

What am I? A spy from some 27-year-old movie? Just missing the black suit.

“One letter could feel weird, principal; I believe it would be better to call him ‘Octavio ’ or ‘Otto ’ if I’m allowed to have an opinion.”

No, the fuck you are not…

...

Wait, who the hell just talked?

As I turn around to follow the voice, I’m surprised by a female dinosaur 50 years younger than the principal.

They were the same species but unlike the midget, shining her snow white ski - well, white scales, with an indigo colored marking running across them, contrasting with all the purity of her body , but it was hard to see her features due to the dark hair enveloping her face, long enough to be divided by the white sail on her back, fixed in such a way that would make any princess cry.

She couldn’t be older than me, maybe even a bit younger. But unlike me, she was walking with the widest smile I’ve ever seen.

God. That’s so fucking creepy. She reminds me of that old horror movie where a bitch comes out of a radio to kill you.

Apparently, since I forgot to close the door, this girl could sneak in without anyone noticing.

Her white dress waved as she moved forward, covering all of her body from the neck down to the knees, except for the sail on her back that shared some of the indigo markings and the tail that rivaled her body in size, she was the very personification...or dinonification of a ‘goodie two shoes.’

Holding a bunch of papers against her small chest, she was now standing to the left side of the short, old dino, making me snort at the height difference.

“Is she your side woman or something?”

The boulder covered my mouth in a second with the most shameful expression I’ve ever seen, glaring at me in short intervals as he tried to apologize , but the principal and the girl simply brushed it off. I might need to tone it down a little because if my ‘uncle ’ closed his hand while he was covering my mouth, my head would have exploded.

“My name is Mari Lockhart , I am the president of the student council of the academy . It’s my pleasure to meet you, Otto.”

Despite how happy she might have looked with that smile , or how kind her tone could appear to be, she never stopped looking at me with what I can only imagine is disgust , it didn’t even look as if she was trying to hide it. She didn’t like me , I could feel it, taste it ... smell it.

“Don’t fucking call me that.”

And here I thought she would be only the nice person around, but it seems that even the finest of them all will be up my ass for the entire year.

“And why is the famous president of the council honoring us with her bright presence?”

My sarcasm was so obvious that my ‘uncle ” tried to hide me with his fat body, but it didn’t seem to anger either the dino whore or the dino midget on the side.

Why is there a student council to begin with? Aren’t most kids here a bunch of brats and good-for-nothing delinquents?

“I asked this fine lady at my side to watch over you in the first week, just to make sure that you don’t break something… or yourself.”

The tone of the principal seemed to change at some point, but I couldn’t hear what he said at the end.

He coughed on his hand before looking towards my ‘uncle, ’ giving him an odd, sad smile before turning back to me.

“At the request of Mr. Stern over here, and only because of the multiple contributions he has made to this school and this country, despite being a human, you've been allowed to attend our academy. As long as you can control yourself, that is.”

Making it sound like you are doing me a favor... little bastard.

The white Spinosaurus stepped up interrupting my inner banter , walking with a straight back and keeping that stupid smile, starting with her yapping while shuffling the papers.

From her shuffling, I could see one of them had a picture of me; it looked like a picture from one year ago, an awkward phase of mine where I was wearing piercings and accessories with thorns on the sides. Fuck, I was cringy back then.

“As of right now, allow me to clarify some stuff in order to help you adapt to our institution.”

The Albino-looking bitch cleared her throat, the one that was probably choking on something very long a moment ago.

“Welcome, and thank you for choosing the St. Brusatte Academy. From now on and until the end of your senior year, we will help you in any way among our realm of possibilities.”

She was reading something out of the papers in her hands, sounding more and more like a robot with every single word she said.

“We stand proud on our perfect record of 90% reformed hatchlings before reaching adulthood, joining the world as a proud member of our society without the need of a criminal record.”

She kept switching the papers while speaking.

“We offer fully equipped and working apartments for those who came from a long distance with hopes of fixing their broken wings.”

Broken wings...this cunt...they are not even trying to hide it. That’s how they see people like me, like us .

“For more details please ask the man or woman in charge of your complex , they will do a small inspection the first of every month. ”

They just think of us as some stupid little broken toys. The only thing that will break in here will be your tail once I finish kicking your as-

“In St. Brusatte, all faculty members and security workers are allowed to use any strength necessary in order to stop conflicts among students that appear to be occurring on school grounds during and outside of classes.”

Wait, what?

“Breaking our rules will result in complete isolation from the town for a set amount of time. Any violation committed while attending the academy will result in punishments from community service to being expelled and charged as an adult.”

This has to be a bad joke, right?

“We will give your picture to the city hall upon inscription; in case of escape during hours of class, the authorities will be notified, and the police are allowed to stop you under suspicion of a crime or self-harm.”

Huh? What is th-

“And if for any reason you leave the city while enrolled in the academy, your information will be immediately used for an order of arrest in your name, facing up to 6 months in jail.”

Jail?!

“Thank you for choosing St. Brusatte. Do you have any questions?”

As that woman stopped talking, keeping that bright and shiny smile on her face, I was in awe with my mouth open in front of them all.

The veins of my neck started to be more visible as I gritted my teeth

“Very well, if there is no quest-”

I slammed my fist against the closest wall with enough strength to hurt my own hand.

“Are you fucking with me?! Use of strength?! Arrest?! Just who the hell do you think you are?!”

My eyes were seeing all red; how dare they try and pull this shit on me? There was no way in hell that I would be attending this shithole of a school. “I’m leaving! I’m not playing along with this bullcrap! ” I didn’t care if I had to walk all the way back to Bitter End, and I refused to stay another minute here.

Why the hell did I even accept to come to this place?

As I turn around and head towards the door, I hear the principal raising his voice. “Oh, you are free to leave Mr. Otto, but as we already have your signature and you are a member of this academy now, that means that you will have to face the consequences.” I stopped cold in my tracks as I turned my head to look at the principal, ignoring the way he destroyed my name.

“Excuse me?”

The little Spinosaurus that couldn’t be taller than my crotch stared at me. “Take this as your first lesson. You should never sign a blank sheet, young man. ” The principal spoke as he walked towards his desk and pulled out a paper that clearly had my signature on it, even the horrible handwriting that not even Satan himself could mimic.

He looked right into my eyes...no; that little shit was watching my soul and enjoying how I was fuming on the inside.

“Wh- ”

It’s only then that a memory hits me. Three weeks before coming here, Mom and Dad kept pestering me about signing a white sheet of paper; for whatever reason, a practice, I think, was their excuse. I didn’t want to give them anything, but they said they wouldn’t bother me ever again if I did.

That was enough for me to fuck it up, them staying away from me.

Looking back on it…

Why did I not expect something like this? Or did I?

Fuck...how could I be so retarded?

God fucking dammit.

And now he is...

The anger cooled out as I stared at the paper. When we arrived I knew I said this would be a prison but…

I’m...actually trapped?

“Very well. For now, I will let the wall incident slide since you start tomorrow, and I would like to think of myself as a kind principal. Ms. Lockhart will show you the way to the student apartments, and don’t worry, Mr. Stern already took care of all the payments. ”

“ You are the first human to attend this academy since the last principal, and believe me, I have worked here for a loooong time , we wouldn’t want this to end so soon now, would we?”

The principal made a small motion to the white Spinosaurus to get close, and he spoke to her , if I meant to hear it or not , it didn’t matter.

“Take good care of the lost cause.”

I felt my heart sinking for a moment.

My vision got blurry.

My legs felt like JellO.

‘Lost cause’

That...really did sting.

Because it’s how my father described me before coming here.

The scene comes back to me at the simple mention of the words , it was in the middle of the night after I went to get a cup of water that I was able to hear him on the phone , he was speaking so fast and with such a worried demeanor that it was almost impossible not to hear him.

“Are you sure that place will be able to help him? We tried everything already and- ”

“ Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, but...I don’t know what else to do! ”

“ ...Yeah, you are right, it’s worth a shot, it might be the only thing we haven’t tried yet… ”

“ ...How do you even deal with a lost cause?”

What kind of kid wouldn’t feel bad after hearing those words?

That night… he was talking to this little bastard? And he said it so casually.

It’s almost disappointing , I already knew what I was, but to hear it out loud from him... I wanna get mad but- I’m just kept in awe while I stare at my uncle with disbelief. “You said this was just a normal school, that you were gonna help me...you, dad and even mom… ” He looked away, avoiding eye contact.

“You lied to me.”

It hurts , in a way that I can’t explain , to have this happen to me . As much as I despise my family, I would never...I never did…

They did send me here, but they never tried to trick me.

Maybe I was an ass, but I never lied to them. I promised to never do it.d

And yet they...

They didn’t care.

A betrayal like this makes me feel so...empty.

But I should have expected this already.

After all...

My brother is my only family.

While I try to recompose myself, the snow-white bitch approaches the little old Spinosaurus, showing her massive sail and her humongous tail to everyone in the room...

“Very well. Have a nice day, Principal Lockhart.”

She bent one knee to be at the same height as the principal and proceeded to hug him.

I got stuck watching the image. Looking to the side of where they were standing I could read on the front of the desk “Principal Lockhart. ”

'Oh, nepotism, neat…'

Was all I could think as my eyes stayed locke d onto them. Seeing them hug like that…

They...made me start fuming again.

I felt stuck glaring at them before my body started moving forward. I wanted to.

“Don’t. ” Something on my side stopped me from going any further, The boulder, who was blocking the way with his own body.

Fucking...

He’s massive, and I knew that I couldn’t take him down with only my hands. I knew it. And yet, it didn’t stop me from trying.

It was a meaningless attempt because with a simple hip move, he was able to make me back away.

I could only watch how the two Spinosaurus were now separating, my eyes stuck on the scene.

‘I wish... ’

“ Very well, follow me. ” The white spino once again interrupted my inner monologue, starting to lead the way, waiting in front of the door until I followed her, glaring at my ‘uncle ’ who looked apologetic moments before leaving the room.

“Why am I surprised…”

I muttered as I left the room and slammed the door.

“Fucking lizards.”

All of the other students seemed to be in their classes by now, since there was no one in the hallways anymore.

Why did they enroll me at such a weird time? And why didn’t they send me to a class?

Maybe they were lacking the shit for them to actually teach something to me.

Looking around the ceiling I saw no cameras either , odd for a place like this , being described the way it was just a moment ago.

No security, no cameras, couldn’t even see anything out of the ordinary besides a boring school with lockers and walls in a bad state filled with graffiti.

There was absolutely no one?

Only then did I look forward, with this shiny ‘fine lady ’ walking all all-mighty in front of me.

It appears that Raptor Jesus doesn’t really like her because she isn’t gifted in either her ass or her chest; she is an average Jane.

Didn’t notice until now, but she was way taller than your average girl, around 6’2, perhaps? No wonder she had to bend to be on the same level as the old fart, and no wonder she has no fat to spare on the curves.

With me standing at 6’ 1 feet, it means that she is only slightly taller than me, but right now, she was giving me her back just like that.

I will probably never get another chance like this.

No one was around, leaving herself vulnerable, with no cameras, no witnesses, and only assumptions.

After what they just did to me?

My face started to turn red, along with my head, to the point where I would look like a steel marble at a melting point about to be dropped on ice.

...

That thought almost made me cool down.

BUT THIS BITCH!

She doesn’t give a damn about anything that happens to me; for her, I’m probably just another project to work on.

Something to fix.

I wanna beat the fuck out of her.

Drag her by the horns and slam her head against the lockers.

“Hey...”

Twist her arm until they make a funny noise.

Punch her until my arms grow tired.

“If it’s worth something...”

Break her nose!

…

Well, her snout.

She would understand me if she couldn’t escape either…

Maybe without being able to walk for a while.

“About what the Principal said...”

She can’t see anything from my point of view, and she doesn’t care.

Just like everyone else.

“I...”

For them, I’m nothing more than a lost cause.

I hate her. I hate them all. I wanna make sure she understands that.

How dare she?

I keep repeating over and over what she said; the audacity of this bitch makes my blood boil.

“I don’t...”

My body starts moving by itself. I wanna make sure she can’t scream.

Make sure she can’t run.

Make sure she can’t fight back.

Make sure she can’t see.

My hands slowly approached the back of her neck.

Make sure-

THUD

That train of thought was suddenly interrupted as my vision was covered by green.

And I am pretty sure I heard a loud noise echo across the hall.

I tried to ignore it, focusing on whatever I had in front of me since it appeared that the last five seconds had just been wiped out of my memory.

And the next thing that I could see was…

… 

Huh, she is wearing high heels? I guess she isn’t so tall after all.

...

Wait what? How can I see what kind of shoe she is wearing unless I-

“Oh my god! Are you okay?!”

Yeah, I was lying down on my side, completely immobile and feeling numbness all across my body; it was only after my head started to ache that my shock was replaced with the realization that I got completely wrecked.

But before I could even open my mouth to express my pain or at least try to move to relax my body, I got lifted from the floor by the back of the hoodie and was left standing right in front of her.

It’s as if I was some old rag.

...

Okay, what the fuck?

“I’m so sorry! I felt you too close, and I-I thought you were doing something weird and-”

I mean, I WAS trying to do something, but I think she was assuming the wrong thing.

She was apologizing profusely, with such a panic that even I was starting to feel bad for whatever had happened , between all her apologies and whatnot, she kept side eyeing to her left.

I was now staring at her in shock, only moving to turn my head alongside her eyes to see a giant dent in one of the lockers.

Oh, hey, it looks like it would be a perfect fit for my head.

On the green lockers.

…

Oh fuck, that dent was shaped by my head, wasn’t it?

I slowly turned my head back to the female Spinosaurus, with my eyes opened as wide as they could .

She wasn’t any thicker than an average person , hell , if we were to compare, I am bulkier than her and I’m not even that toned! Then where the hell did that strength come from?

The only fat thing about her is her fucking ta...i...l.

Did she bitch-slap me with her tail?

Wait, wait, did she LIFT ME with her tail?

Oh, now I’m definitely, definitely going to kill this bitch.

“But, as I was saying…”

Ignoring her words, trying not to give her more time to use her tail again, I immediately grabbed her by the collar of her dress with one of my hands, pulling her to me as I winded up my fist to punch her right on her stupid sno-

“I don’t think you are a lost cause.”

“…“

The room fell silent. I can’t really tell how long it was , couldn’t be more than ten seconds , but it felt like hours.

“...”

Even if there was nothing to be heard.

My silence was louder than any word I could mutter.

“...”

And so was hers.

We stand there, staring at each other’s eyes, with my fist pointing towards her and a hand holding her.

This scene is pretty bad for me, but...

Her words took me out for a moment.

Even with the shock, my body refused to let go of her.

“What?”

My voice must have sounded so void of everything.

Or maybe I did sound angry.

I couldn’t even hear the sound of my own voice.

I was focusing on her.

Unlike last time, she didn’t seem to be trying to defend herself, letting me hold her by the collar as she spoke.

“When I saw your papers, I thought the same thing as the principal. ‘Oh, another lost cause who will just try to wreck this place, a member of the 10% ’ I said.”

She should be defending herself by now, but it’s giving me all the chances in the worl d to beat her up.

“...”

Then why am I stopping?

“And after I saw you, it only confirmed what I believed. I’m sorry for prying, but I needed to know you if I wanted to look after you. When I saw your file and all of the ‘reasons ’ you got sent here, I was sure that you were a troubled person.”

I don’t need your pity.

But I can’t force myself to move right now.

“Watching your picture only made me think, ‘This guy dresses like a punk. He sure takes the role seriously. ’”

She is no different from us humans; she is worse; I just have to deal with her the same way I would do with any other fuckface.

“But then, after I approached the principal…”

I clenched my fist and my grip over her.

“I could see you glaring at us with disdain. If I’m being honest, I will admit that I felt disgusted at the start , but in my defense, I wasn’t expecting what I saw.”

She was staring at me, dead in the eye , even with my sudden outburst she didn’t appear scared or even a little nervous about our current position.

“What do you mean by that?”

She saw me try to hit her, she knocked me to the ground, and now we are in this situation.

Yet she speaks to me.

Why?

I should just-

“I saw jealousy.”

I am frozen once again, staring at the woman who just said one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard in my entire life.

“I can’t put it into words, but it is what I felt, not anger, not hate, not even frustration, just jealousy, a feeling born from somewhere else.”

Despite my state of shock, what she said made me laugh a little.

“Oh yeah? Something like what? ”

“I don’t know.”

The fact she was so honest about it honestly surprised me, making me open my eyes wide as a plate once again and softening my grip , after which she took a step back, “escaping ” from me.

“Huh?”

I honestly couldn’t get a read on this girl, and that was annoying me more than the fact I couldn’t hit her.

“I don’t know why you are this way, and I don’t know how to fix you.”

Ah, again, with the ‘Fixing ’ bullcrap, maybe I should just beat her up after all.

“I really hope that you were not expecting the principal to hug you too.”

Well, that surely made me pop a vein on my forehead.

“But the only thing I know is what I see; the papers about you told me you were just a lost cause.”

She made a pause , watching the documents on her hands and then looking towards me, taking a step forward.

“But what I saw was different.”

I stare at those red orbs of hers.

My hand feels cold.

Waiting.

“And what was that?”

I don’t know why I’m waiting or what I am waiting for.

But I simply couldn’t move.

“This place is not for people to make fun of students , the staff will truly care about you , they just need you to try.”

My body and mind remained frozen. This woman had the audacity to speak to me as if I were a lost kid in the mall, which made me boil once again.

“Well, the principal clearly doesn’t agree with that shit.”

I was lost, waiting for her to finish her earlier statement ; what she saw, but instead k eeps talking trash.

“He will see, I’m sure.”

The entire room felt cold enough to freeze any meteor dodger. I could hear the teachers in their classrooms giving a class, but outside we were alone. I wasn’t able to handle this situation very well , I needed to do something , punch her, kick her, SOMETHING.

Yet I did nothing.

With all the overthinking done, I finally realized her face had been too close for a while now, and her breath was hitting my face, giving me the scent of an Apple Pie.

She looks at me and smiles, turning her body before...running.

She runs...

She-

Wait, She’s running?

She indeed started sprinting in the opposite direction out of nowhere, surprising the shit out of me to the point where I almost jumped back and fell on my ass.

Huh?

She was giving this deep shit talk, and she just ran?!

HUH???

By the time I could recover from the shock and see where she went, it was already too late, as I watched her standing on the other side of the hallway.

How the hell is she so fast? On heels?!

“The apartments are out the front door to the right , it takes 20 minutes walking to get there, 15 if you sprint , look for the door with the 68!”

I stare at her in confusion , she started doing gestures to her right hand, opening it and closing it over and over , confused I lift my own hand, feeling something and the moment I opened, I got to see a pair of keys with a big ‘68’ wood plate on it fall into the ground, but I immediately look back up.

“Hey! You didn’t tell me what you saw!”

She can’t run away after giving me that speech, I wanted to beat her ass!

The white Spinosaurus turned around moments before escaping, with the sun rays coming through the windows around her, making that stupid snow-white dino look like an angelic being.

And with what I could only assume was a smile on her face, she spoke.

“Welcome to St. Brusatte!”

Finally, she sprinted away between the hallways, leaving me confused, hungry, and very, very, very angry.

Angry at her.

But I was especially angry at myself.

Angry at me for thinking…

“Maybe it will not be so bad here after all…”

Looking down to the floor, I picked up the key and then started walking to the left, perfectly fitting on the dent in the locker and smacking my own nose, removing any thoughts I was having.

“FUCK!”

Chapter Text

I left the building while rubbing my nose, dreading what was about to happen to me, reeling my head back.

“A…aaa...ACHOO!”

The Witch Sneeze Combo has been released.

I sneezed so hard that I could feel my ribs cracking a little, but that wasn’t my main concern because not long after the first, I had to reel my head back once again.

“ACHOO!”

“ACHOO!”

“AAACHOO!”

I sniffed with a lot of force before spitting towards the grass on my side before walking.

My body was very gifted in terms of height and endurance, but I would be lying if I said that it didn’t have its issues; every single time that I get hit on the nose, I can’t help but start sneezing like a witch, I have to sneeze around 4 times for it to stop, if not more.

It was good that most people couldn’t aim that high.

And now, what was I doing?

Oh, right, the 68 thing.

Holding the key with the wood plate, I lifted my hand, letting it dangle in front of my eyes. The key was tiny compared to the wood plate; they probably made it so big that it couldn’t be lost.

“I wonder if they put a tracker in this shit or something.”

I started checking the entire thing, but I couldn’t find anything. I guess it’s better not to expect something so complicated from this dead-end high school, but just in case, I’m letting it soak in a pot of boiling water whenever I get the chance.

Walking to the right of the academy, I could not see anything besides the road. There were a lot of trees, grass, and flowers; it was as green as it could be, a big contrast with the pure white I was seeing inside the prison academy.

Looking behind me for a moment, I could see that the main city was decently far away from here. It shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes with a car, but walking? That could take half an hour if you trot half the way.

Maybe I should have gone back to the boulder’s house, but thinking about my situation for a hot minute made me realize that he probably lied about more besides the kind of school St. Brusatte was.

I checked my phone as I walked. It was still way too early in the morning, 9:32 AM, which made the fact that they told me to go to the dorms instead of staying at the school even more weird. It’s like making a kid go back home during the first day.

“Maybe that’s why she was so rushed; they still have classes.”

To kill some time, I decided to check on that old post I did before starting the trip here; I opened the app with their little mascot as the icon and checked the notifications.

It was a simple breakdown of my situation, alongside a question for random people on the internet to judge if what I did was wrong or not, of course being careful of not doxing myself.

( RegiKickBall) – Dude, what the actual hell is wrong with you? You are clearly the idiot in this situation.

( l0ts0fC4ts) – I can’t see anything wrong with what you did, but I can understand how they reacted. I would say no one here is the idiot, except for whoever attacked you.

(ratsrule) – Why are you even asking? Screw them! You did what they didn’t, you are not the idiot.

(Srtipe) – This has to be made up.

One can always use some validation from strangers, makes you feel better about yourself.

I have been using this app for a long time now, it has helped me with many things, from learning where to punch, how to deal with a bad situation in life or simple tricks for weird situations, I probably will never use the latter but they are cool to know.

After some minutes, I turned off my phone and left it in the pocket of my hoodie. Now, I was starting to see a faint figure of a building facing the road not too far away. It wasn’t extremely tall, around 3 or 4 floors, but very long and wide. I could even see some balconies. I wouldn’t be surprised if it could handle more than 100 people in it.

That idea made me cringe a little. Does that mean I will have to live with 99 of those raw boot materials?

Greaaaaat.

From far away, the building looked extremely clean when compared to the outside of the school, no graffiti, no dicks on the walls and if anything, it looked like an excellent place to live.

The entrance was right in the middle of the building, with a small set of steps leading to the main door.

After finally getting close enough, I rechecked my phone: 9:42 AM.

“Huh? Weird, she said 20 minutes, and I wasn’t even sprinting.”

I turned my head to read the sign buried in the grass near the building.

“Female Apartments”

Just then i turned my head to follow the road and indeed I could barely see another faint figure far away.

“Uuuughhhhhh”

I reeled back my head as I groaned before continuing with my walk.

Said and done, 9:51, and I was already at the next building, which in structure looked the exact same way as the other one.

I decided to double-check the sign this time.

“Male Apartments”

Hey, look, they drew a pair of balls beside the “L.”

Compared to the female apartments, this one was way more vandalized, graffiti on all of the walls, it didn’t look nearly as clean as the other, even the paint looked crusty, like if it was about to fall off.

The glass doors were stained with multiple hand prints on them.

The door creaked when I turned the handle to pull it open...let that sink in; these mentally challenged fly-eaters were trying to push a door with a fucking handle.

Home, sweet home! Yeah, right...screw this shit.

I entered the building, and after the initial shock due to the smell, I started looking around. If it was bad outside, it had to be even worse inside.

To no one’s surprise, it was exactly as I imagined: way more graffiti on the walls, different styles clashing against each other to the point where you couldn’t understand anything.

The lobby was divided into two areas; the first one on the left appeared to be a living room with many couches near the walls, some small tables in the middle, and even some bean bags, the best kind of cushion for a lazy teenager.

It seemed like this was an area made for people to hang out and relax, near the wall opposite to the entrance, there was a long brown desk that stood out as if it was some kind of reception, but of course, there was no one attending it.

I even looked behind the desk to see if I had gotten lucky and I could get a special surprise, but nothing. It was just a boring desk with a turned-off computer, a cheap office chair, and some closed drawers.

Much to my surprise, the right side was completely clean and filled with tables and chairs for dozens of people. It looked like a dining hall, even with doors that appeared to lead towards the kitchen and a camera pointing at it.

They really like their fancy knives or something.

Exploring around the left side of the lobby, I could see another camera pointing right at the entrance. I assume this is to avoid people sneaking out at night or inviting people from outside the academy into the building, which could go wrong real quick.

I wonder if you can invite girls over if it’s during the daytime.

…

Yeah, like if I had time to even try and get a girl.

Besides, those two cameras didn’t seem to have all that much security; granted, this place is in the middle of nowhere, so if anything comes here to attack us, it’s probably going to be a bear.

There was a set of stairs on the left side of the lobby, and behind the desk was a door with a sign saying “Staff Only.”

“I’d better not risk anything until I can get an idea of what they are keeping in this place.”

After dismissing my ideas with some inner dialogue, I went upstairs. I was received by a small lobby. It had a stand for books, a little table, and four couches around it. The place almost looked clean.

To the side of the small lobby, I could see a long hallway with doors on both sides.

It might be a good idea to try and checkrooms now that there is no one around, but honestly, I wouldn’t like people messing with my shit, so I won’t be messing with the shit of other people, for now, at least.

Besides, I could get caught or something.

“1 to 10 on the left side, 11 to 20 on the right side.”

I was tempted to check if they were open, but again, I wanted to avoid getting caught.

Plus, the fact that it smelled like someone had just died around the door with the number 15.

Instead, I went into the stairs to check the next floor, once again, there was a small lobby for people to hang out, a little bit more clean than the one in the main floor, a window facing towards the female dorms and once again a hallway with doors in both sides going from 21 to 30 and 31 to 40.

The next floor was more of the same, except that this one had something that made me stop for a second to analyze it: a mural similar to the one in the academy’s main building.

On this occasion, it was depicting a giant and very, very fucking ugly bootleg saurian eating a building, which I assume was meant to represent the academy.

Due to how morbidly they depicted it, I couldn’t tell what species of saurian it tried to appear as, but something was clear: It represented a disgusting thing that you shouldn’t even try to interact with.

It makes me wonder if the artist lives on this floor.

But, this was not my stop; the third floor only has dorms 41 to 60.

Thankfully the entire place appeared to be empty due to school hours, I guess people really don’t skip classes on this place.

After taking the stairs one last time, I reached the fourth floor.

Surprisingly, it was...clean; it actually looked decent, even better than the first floor, no graffiti, no trash, holy crap, even the windows looked clean. Did they have mercy on the last floor, or what?

Before checking the dorms I tried to go upstairs again but I was met with a closed door, I’m guessing that’s the roof, well, it was worth a shot.

I returned to the fourth floor and started checking the doors, key in hand.

“61...62...63...wait, am I stupid?”

Rhetorical question, the answer is yes, I already know my door is gonna be at the end of the hallway.

I facepalmed myself as I moved towards the door.

68, so close to perfection, yet so far away.

I inserted the key and opened the door, welcomed by a small room filled to the brim with boxes, most of them not taller than my knee.

“...I fucking knew it.”

The truck never got lost; it just wasn’t meant to go to the boulder’s house from the start.

“Lying piece of…!”

I ended up kicking one of the small boxes in the air, scattering the underwear stored inside it across the room and causing the box to land on my bald head.

There I was, angry, with my underwear on the floor, a box covering my head, in a room that was more like a glorified closet, and already starting to feel sick from hunger.

My stomach growls in accordance with my feelings, making me sigh with all of my breath.

“Now...which one of these had my wallet?”

I took the box on my head and threw it in one corner of the room.

I locked myself inside, taking the keys out of the keyhole and closing the door.

Well, at least they did leave me a mattress; it has no sheets, but…

I locked the door and started to unpack some of the boxes, throwing the empty ones in the same corner as the one I kicked.

Taking another look around the room, I it wasn’t that small; it was tall enough for me not to bump my head, and appeared to be around 10×8 feet long, but it had a bed and a small wardrobe on the left side of the wall, taking all the space on that area but still.

There was also a little desk besides the bed, against the wall and with a window behind it that allowed me to receive the warm embrace of the sun.

I even had a fully equipped bathroom, but there was no kitchen.

My stomach started growling again, I got through half of the boxes at this point but no luck with my wallet, when I checked my phone it showed that it was 11:55, around the time for lunch, and here I was starving like a homeless bastard.

And I didn’t only need my wallet, I also needed to find my bike so I could ride to the city and back without taking 2 hours.

The problem was that, besides the fact I didn’t know where my wallet was, none of these boxes looked big enough to store my bike.

Why would they even put it in a box? Am I dumb?

Starting to get tired, I decided to go to the bathroom for a moment; maybe clearing my head with some cold water would help to forget about the hunger as well.

The bathroom was small but it had a toilet, a shower, a small washing machine and a sink with a mirror...hey you can open the mirror and store some stuff! That’s a plus.

Taking off my bandanna, I stared at my reflection, giving myself a glance while passing my fingers along the lines of the scar that ran across a big part of my forehead.

I really hate this thing. Whenever I look at it or even think about it, it aches for no reason, even after it has completely healed.

That’s why I use this white piece of cloth in my head. Even after three years, this scar keeps giving me trouble.

I moved my fingers down my face until they reached my lips, specifically the right corner of them. Once again, I passed my fingers across the long and sharp scar that crossed my mouth, like the piece of garbage that caused it.

But at least this one didn’t ache, it just looked weird.

The healing process must have been a pain in the ass, it almost was a good thing that I didn’t eat anything during that time.

I turned on the cold water and held my hands under the stream to collect some of it, throwing it on my face. I repeated the same process two more times before turning off the water and staring at myself in the mirror.

“What issue did we get ourselves into this time, Octaviano?”

…

Can’t even pronounce my own name properly, I swear to god.

I sighed, now clashing eyes with my reflection.

No matter how I looked at myself right now, it was impossible not to see why they called me that, a lost cause, a random idiot who would eventually end up in jail or a cemetery before turning 21.

However, I couldn’t help but hate that they called me that, how they categorized me, putting a little note on my back letting everyone know not to associate with me.

And I hate it even more because I can’t deny it.

I can’t even try to deny it; my actions speak louder than any words I could mutter or any apology I could write.

That’s life for you. Not everyone is born with a great purpose or with a bright future; some are simply born to fulfill a role and disappear once they finish.

It’s better if you just accept it; I know I already did.

I slowly leaned towards the mirror, allowing my head to rest against it.

Yet...it felt good that someone denied that idea, even when I can’t.

For me to come here and feel happy about the babbling of a meteor dodger... I’m really sinking.

I focused on that girl’s words, closing my eyes, just to relive that moment one more time before letting it get lost in the haze of my mind.

Even if doing so means looking at his expression once again.

...

Whenever I close my eyes for too long, instead of darkness, I can only see those damned eyes with an expression of fear that I will never be able to forget.

That expression and her words make it seem like they cancel each other.

God, this feels like a torture.

Why couldn’t I just stay home? Why did I have to be sent here?

My punishment was to enter this shit hole? My penance?

I’d rather not think about it, not anymore.

I didn’t do anything that wasn’t meant to happen; it was my job to keep him safe, even from themselves, no matter how they looked at me.

He got what he deserved, and there is no point in regretting my actions.

Nothing will change in life; this is the path I’ve picked for myself, and I intend to live with it.

Even if this place is like a prison, I only have to stay here until they kick me out or until I graduate.

One year can’t be that long, right? After that, everything will go back to normal, back to MY normal.

And I will be able to fulfill my role.

I picked back my bandanna and fixed it back to where it belongs.

I was about to get out of the bathroom to try and finish with the boxes when I heard something weird coming from the door of my room.

I stood at the edge of the bathroom, peering from the doorless space between me and the bedroom, watching as my handle moved and hearing a squeak on the other side.

And then, a voice broke the silence.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

It sounded high-pitched, like a Smurf inhaling helium.

A second voice was present shortly after the first.

“I keep telling you, the skinnie signed up today; he must be in the cafeteria fighting for his life right now, trying to get a piece of corn or whatever skinnies eat.”

I’m glad to see that racism goes both ways.

The second voice was also high-pitched, but it sounded raspy, like a 12-year-old had been smoking cheap cigarettes since he was 6.

They continued talking about what skinnies eat for about 30 seconds before I heard a click coming from the door.

Holy Jesus raptor riding a tricycle, they are raiding me on my first day.

I had to resist the urge to crack my knuckles just in case they could hear me from the other side.

The door opens slowly, followed by two sets of steps. They are light, very light. If I wasn’t right next to them, I wouldn’t really be able to tell that two Saurians entered the room.

I kept my back close to the wall, trying to avoid being seen by them as the one with the scraped voice broke the silence.

“See? Told you! There are still a lot of boxes here; we can loot them and then go back to see his face.”

I peeked over to see them approach the boxes near the bed, using their small claws to tear the tape on top of the boxes and open them.

Well, saying small would be an underplay, THESE FUCKERS WERE TINYYYYYY.

I have never seen anyone this small. If I’m not wrong, they must be around 3’7”, but they could be even shorter than that.

Like the principal, their bodies were small but not malformed like an actual midget.

I sneaked out of the bathroom, towards the now open door of the room while the two saurians kept talking and looting through my boxes.

“Look! A boxer with no tail hole! I’ve never seen one of th- oh, never mind, it has one.”

“That’s the dick-hole, you retard, AND DON’T STICK YOUR SNOOT THROUGH IT!”

“Hahahaha! Oh hey, look at those boxes over there.”

“Huh? Oh yeah, they look...”

The one with the raspy voices seemed to choke on his own words as he got hit by a sudden realization.

“...recently opened.”

Their conversation got abruptly interrupted by me, slamming the door behind us and making sure to lock it.

They slowly turned back their heads, as if we were in a cheap horror movie, and there I was, their personal R-rated monster with E-rated hands.

“Good day, little geckos.”

Finally, I cracked my fingers while looking down at the two creatures that had invaded my personal space. God, I had always wanted to do that.

“So, matching boots or a purse?”

I would have bothered to explain what this fight was like if it had been a fight.

These 2 rat-sized saurians can’t fight for shit, they could only run trying to avoid me and my legs, but the moment I managed to grab their tails, it was over. I was able to shake them around like rag dolls against the floor and mattress.

Truth being told, I felt very strong doing that, but it was probably because these 2 weighed less than 50 pounds each. It was like a dumbbell combined with a squishy toy.

So now we were here, 2 saurians and one human sitting on the floor of the smallest room ever, with nothing but the light coming from the window.

“So, are you two gonna tell me who are you and what the fuck were you trying to do in my room?”

They were identical twins, I assume, both colored showing their anxiety as they scratched their lime green scales, shining blue when the light from the window reflected against them. The only reason I could tell them apart besides their voices was that the one with the scrappy tone had long blonde hair that covered his neck, and the smurf with helium had blonde braids instead. Hell, even their clothes were similar.

Bro, they look like what I puke when I’m sick.

While the one with the voice of a smoker kid remained quiet, his twin seemed more enthusiastic about talking.

“Hello Mr. Skinnie, my name is Lex, and at my right is my brother Rex, we are seniors in the Brusette Academy.”

I felt a shock going through my body while Rex stared at his twin with mixture between awe and annoyance.

This was the first time I got to say this…

And I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited.

“...Jesus Christ, your parent didn’t love ya, did they? Lex and Rex?”

For the love of god, they aren’t even the right species to be called Rex.

And this is coming from the motherfucker that got named after a Roman emperor.

“Actually, we are adopted!”

Lex said that with such confidence that I didn’t know how to mock him right now, it might even backfire if I tried.

“So yeah, our parents didn’t want us.”

Rex finally joined the conversation, making sense of their weird names.

“Anyways, if you were hiding in here, then you know what we were trying to do; we wanted to see what kind of stuff skinnies keep in their caves or whatever; I wasn’t expecting you to be brok-”

I interrupted his insult with a quick karate chop to the cranium of the reptile.

“You speak too much shit for a lizard at stomping range.”

Rex glared daggers at me, rubbing his head before opening his filthy snout again.

“We weren’t expecting anyone to be here. There is no way someone can get run fast enough to actually be in their dorms.”

“Other than us!”

Lex decided that it was his turn to speak. They are amusing.

“Wait, why are you here? School isn’t over yet, you certainly didn’t run all the way here during lunch and everybody should be eating right now.”

My stomach grumbled at the mention of food.

“That is what I wanna know, the midget told me to come here, so that’s what I did. I don’t get it either.”

Lex and Rex started pondering for a moment, humming loudly until Rex broke their focus.

“Maybe, and only maybe, they are trying to get everyone ready for you.”

Well, that sounds bad.

“Ready for me? What do you mean by that?”

“I haven’t seen a skinnie attending the academy in all the years we’ve studied here, and from what I know, there hasn’t been one in at least 20 years, maybe more.”

The principal mentioned something about that, but it has really been that long since the last time they had a human? I assumed they would add one or two every couple of years for the sake of diversity and advertising.

“So my peers don’t like this place?”

“No, its the other way around, many skinnies have come to check out the school every couple of months, Brusatte is pretty popular even outside of Volcaldera, but I’ve heard that they don’t allow them to enroll.”

... Didn’t they mention that I was being allowed to enroll due to the boulder or something? That’s another reason to hate the fat bastard.

“It’s not a surprise. No one in Brusatte likes skinnies, not even the teachers. If an average skinnie enrolled in the academy, he would probably get crippled in 3 days tops.”

So much for a post-racial world, huh? This just gives me another reason to hate these meteor dodgers.

“Apparently, Mr. Taylor gave a special class about skinnies today, and they said he was pretty excited about it, the only one, actually; we haven’t really seen it, but chances are that by the end of the day, we might get one class like that, as well.”

So, now I am a live subject of some kind? The more I know, the more shitty this place appears to be.

“They might be trying to get us accustomed to your folk so that they don’t try to jump at your throat the moment you walk through the door.”

I picture myself surrounded by dozens of those meteor dodgers, it doesn’t matter how strong you are or even if you had a weapon, with those numbers they can easily overwhelm one person.

“They could kill me.”

“I wouldn’t go so far, there are assholes here, sure, but this isn’t some slaughterhouse, and I’m pretty sure no one would try to actually harm you, but they will 100% try to beat you senseless.”

Great, so I’m going to be in a place where no one likes me, sticking out like a sore thumb and surrounded by thugs, sounds familiar to me…

Oh, right, that also happened in my old school with that one exchange saurian kid, poor bastard.

“Regardless, you should be fine as long as you listen to the Apex.”

…

The what now?

What, in the name of all the incels and dweebs in the world, is that title?

My confusion must have been evident to Lex since he started speaking.

“Every year, there is one student that sticks out from the rest, either because he is way too big, way too strong, or both, like those prison movies you can see on the TV, the biggest guy in the place, that’s the Apex.”

“They are like super scary! It’s not an official title, but everyone eventually knows who he is, and he acts somewhat like a…”

“Like a gang leader.”

I interrupted.

“Well, maybe, I’ve never been in a gang, so I wouldn’t know, but he does function as the voice of the students that enjoy fighting, the opposite of the student council.”

“They make a set of rules to avoid alerting the staff of the academy about every single fight they do, something like a secret fighting club, they call it ‘The Food Chain.’”

God, they fucking suck at naming shit, first the ‘Apex’, and now this?

I raised an eyebrow at the small reptile.

“And if it’s a secret, why are you telling me?”

Lex shined me the brightest smile he could before speaking.

“Because you are a student now! One of us!”

One of the idiots with broken wings? Go me…

“Still, the teachers probably know about it, it’s a system that has been going on even before we enrolled; they simply change the rules and location every now and then.”

“But either the staff doesn’t care, or they can’t do anything. If they ever catch them mid fight, they all will scatter and no one will admit to anything, but I think you can imagine what happens if someone rats them out.”

“Snitches get stitches.”

“Exactly!”

His tail started waging at a fast pace, making a sharp noise every time it swung from side to side.

“In a way its good for both parties, the teachers don’t have to deal with problems during their working hours, we get to enjoy of a good show, and there are no punishments!”

I crossed my arms, all things considered it WAS an effective system if everything they were saying was true, but it sounded sketchy.

“And what are their rules?”

“Glad you asked! They only have 5:

First, if you get challenged to a fight, you must accept, and you can’t just surrender or run away either, you win or lose.

Second, no weapons or sharp appendages during a fight, if the staff sees marks of knifes, sharp tails or fangs in a student, they will raise the alarms making everyone in the school 10 time more cautious, and no one wants that.

Third, don’t attack a downed opponent, if he is done, you leave him alone, and if he is not done, you must allow him to get up. They really don’t like cowards sucker-punching a guy while he is on the floor.

Fourth, don’t gang on people, fights are supposed to be fair all things considered, they also do fights of 2 vs 2, but those are more weird.

And fifth, don’t fight in the academy, keep all conflicts for the ‘Food Chain’, anyone who breaks the rules usually gets jumped by the friend group of the Apex.”

I pondered for a good minute, mostly cringing about the stupid name, but I also had to admit those were some simple rules that avoided people from getting too hurt, allowed them to blow all their steam and it worked as intimidation, don’t mess with the winners or you will be next.

That, and the fact that they couldn’t attack people at the academy, made for a perfect school environment.

“And everyone agrees with it?”

Rex took his turn.

“No, there are people who are too dumb to understand the benefits of it and still try to throw hands at school or here, but they get dealt with pretty quickly. The main issue is the student council.”

He made a disgusted face the moment the word ‘council’ came out of his mouth.

“They are the teacher’s pets, they are against all forms of violence or anything that they don’t consider ‘perfect’ for their standards, but because of their connections with the school, if you try to do anything to them, you will be completely and utterly screwed, ESPECIALLY if you deal with Mari.”

...Good thing I couldn’t hit her that one time, huh?

“Mari is the bitch with the solar panel on her back, right?”

Rex snickered a bit while Lex looked troubled.

“Oh, you met the princess?”

“Barely, what about her?”

“She is the face of the academy. Most of the girls love her because she keeps the place peaceful, but not a single guy likes her, except the ones who wanna get on her pants.”

I tilted my head.

“Her? But she has nothing going on for her, no ass, no boobs, and I don’t know about beauty standards for you saurians, but I don’t think her face is anything special.”

“Tail fetish.”

Just for a moment, Rex looked disgusted about being born a saurian.

“Oh.”

“Yeaaah, some weirdos out there.”

You tell me...Wait, why is Lex blushing?

“But seriously, don’t fuck around with her, if you get too involved, either she will force some spy work on you, or you will piss off the Apex. He HATES Mari, and if you get on the bad side of the Apex, the entire school will go after your skinnie ass.”

He pointed at me.

“Chicks in this place are chaotic, but most of them are not really into fighting, unlike the guys, and while the girls only respect the Apex, the guys will follow him to the end of the earth, so watch what you do around him.”

I sighed as he lowered his finger; yeah, I’m 100% gonna get killed in here.

“I think I get the gist of it, but you two still haven’t explained what are you doing here? Did you skip classes to get some time advantage?”

Lex once again got all worked up, looking at me with a giant smile on his face.

“We are very fast, you know, Mr. Skinnie? They say it takes 15 minutes running to go from the school to the dorms but for us its only 10 to go and return to the school!”

Holy crap, that IS fast; he is saying that they only take 5 minutes to reach this place from the school? That has to be a record of some sort.

“And my door suddenly not being locked?”

Lex pulled out a tool out of his hair, a clip.

“We have better tools, but I wanted to practice using a hair clip since we were supposed to have some time. Sadly, that meant that I took 30 seconds longer than usual, but it is convenient, and if you can believe it, Rex is even faster than me!”

…

These two are crazy

Although I gotta admit that lock-picking a door is impressive.

“Lex, you are doing it again.”

Suddenly, the braided dinosaur used both hands to cover his snout.

“Ah, a yapper, is he?”

Rex looked in my direction, clearly annoyed.

“I got no idea why he is acting like this with YOU, but yeah, he speaks too much.”

He scratched his head.

“Look Skinnie, we don’t want problems, we were just gonna take some of your stuff, play around with it, and then leave it at the lost and found area in the school, its a crime without victims.”

“And why would I believe something that is clearly a lie, you rat-tails?”

“Rat tail?!”

Lex jumped from his spot, pointing a finger at his tail and then at me.

“I mean, fair, we do have thin and long tails, but I’ll let you know that our tails are considered pretty attractive among our peers, its normal for a compsognathus! We were being nice to you, there was no need to call us like that!”

Oh, so that’s what they are, but still, his indignation made close to no sense to me.

“You two have been calling me ‘Skinnie’ since you came here and before you opened the door too.”

I also called them lizards before, so why is it that he only reacted to rat tails?

Lex stopped in his tracks and started staring at me, confused like a small dog watching his own reflection.

“Isn’t that the way that your kind refers to each other if you don’t know their name? Like how we say ‘bro’ or ‘dude’?”

“...”

“Who the hell told you something as stupid as that?”

He didn’t need to answer because I could clearly hear the little smoker child giggling at the side of his brother, prompting me to punch him on the shoulder.

“AGH! YOU OVERSIZED CUE BALL SHAPED CUNT!”

He recoiled from the hit and started hugging his arm.

Oops, that one actually seemed to hurt him, even Lex appeared to be concerned there for a moment, but he could suck it; they had it coming.

“Don’t be giving misinformation to your brother, they don’t look too smart to begin with.”

On another note, that insult was a new one, gotta give him props for it, I even felt tempted to rub my own bald head after hearing it.

I turned my head to Lex, trying to ignore the grunts coming from Rex as he rubbed his shoulder.

“And no, that’s a racial slur, a strong one too.”

Lex’s pupils shrunk the moment I revealed the atrocity he had been doing for god knows how long without realizing.

“Oh! OH! I’m very sorry, I-I didn’t mean to- Wait so then everyone else is extremely racist...no, that can’t be...Ah!”

I could almost see the damn hamster on a wheel inside his head, running around in a panic with no idea what to do.

“Then what should I call you?”

Oh boy, here we go.

“...Yeah, just keep calling me skinnie.”

Lex shook his head so vigorously that it made me think he was about to break his own neck.

“No, no, no! I will not keep calling you by a racial slur; that is just wrong! We should not do to others what we do not want done to us.”

I could see him glare at Rex for a second, but he went back to his previous childish behavior the moment I spoke up.

“So, am I allowed to lock-pick my way into your dorm and steal your stuff?”

“As long as you leave it later in the lost and found area, be my guest!”

“...”

I really can’t get a read from anyone in this school, they are all weirdos, even more than the people in Bitter End.

Why does he sound a little excited at the idea of breaking into his room?

“So...you are…?”

He looked at me expectantly.

I sighed, bracing myself to endure the typical humiliation I suffer after revealing the power of my name.

“My name is Octaviano, Octaviano Patenaude.”

Whenever I said my name I had to do it slowly, otherwise, even I couldn’t pronounce it correctly.

Lex’s face froze for a second while Rex looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“...beg your pardon?”

Lex looked genuinely confused as if I was trying to explain the lore of Dark Coils to this kid...wait, they are seniors; they have my same age...Then how the hell are they so small?

“Like I said, Octaviano is my name, Patenaude my last name, so if you wanna keep calling me skinnie, be my guest; I don’t care for racial slurs.”

They also weren’t very original; the slurs they came up with went from something related to our skin or simply comparing us with monkeys, but even with that, they are giant lizards, so they will always lose in the racism game.

“Dude...pfff...and you were talking about our names…”

Rex was trying to control his laugh as if his life was on the line, and being this close to me, he might as well be.

Once again, Lex started shaking his head like crazy.

“No, It’s not a bad name! I can do it, I can…”

He took a deep breath.

“Octraniano Petanuade, Ocratiano Pateneude, Octariano Patriane, Octavio Parasol!”

“That last one wasn’t even close…”

He even added a Mexican accent on that one, and it’s not like I could get mad at him; he is TRYING, but this name is just a hell of an experience.

Lex looked dejected after all those attempts but finally had to stop after he ended up biting his own tongue.

“As I said, skinnie is okay.”

Lex pondered for a second until Rex, cleaning a tear off his eye, came closer to Lex.

“Why don’t you pick a nickname for him? You are good with those, aren’t ya, Lex?”

This caused his twin saurian to perk up, now staring at Rex.

“You are right, Rexy! I’m great with those!”

... Rexy?

Fucking hell

“Otto!”

“Hell no.”

Oh, shit, now he looks like he is about to cry, aaaaaand Rex is glaring at me.

“Eh...eh...Mr. O!”

Why in the world... that’s the second time.

“I would rather not be called like a member of the secret service.”

“So...Oct...Pat…”

He kept muttering words, trying to figure something out.

While he was at it, now I was wondering why I wasn’t kicking their asses out of the door or tossing them out the window by this point? These 2 were intruders in my ‘home,’, and here I was talking to them as if it was nothing.

Is it because they are so small? Nah, I’ve beaten up people short before, not THIS short, but somehow close.

No, it’s something else, these twins...

Lex is weird, social, and very easygoing, while Rex is constantly keeping himself in between me and his brother, so if I ever tried to smack Lex, Rex would take the hit first.

And he hasn’t taken his eyes off me either; since the moment we sat down, he has been entirely focused on what I do.

Lex and Rex are brothers, and as much of a bother as they can be, it is obvious to me how much they care for one another.

And Rex, while being an annoying fuck, is trying to protect his little brother from someone who is almost twice his size.

That is something I can respect, meteor dodger or not.

“Oc...Pa…”

“O...P…?”

“OP!”

Once again, he perked up, moving towards me while his tail started wagging like that of a dog.

“That’s the perfect one! You will be OP!”

“... That’s the best thing you could come up with?”

For some reason, it sounded oddly familiar.

“Wait, wait, wait, think about it! Its perfect! It keeps your initials, makes it easy to remember you, its not a one letter thing so they don’t have to call you ‘Mr’ for it to make sense, and It can turned into more nicknames!”

It had to be one of the stupidest nicknames I could think of. But it was kind of catchy, all things considered.

“I still don’t like it.”

This didn’t seem to change the mood of Lex, he was CONVINCED it was the best possible nickname for me, he kept talking about all of the positive things about the nickname trying to sell it to me until Rex interrupted him with a slap on the shoulder, showing him his phone.

“Lex! We gotta go back, it’s 12:35; the lunch ends in 10 minutes!”

This made the easygoing Compsognathus go completely pale…

Oh, so I can pronounce Compsognathus off the top of my head, but not my own name?

Fucking fantastic.

The two little saurians turned their heads to me as if they were expecting something.

“What?”

“Can...can we leave?”

Lex asked me with pleading eyes.

Oh, right, I forgot I was the one keeping them in here.

“Hmm…”

Well, there are still 10 minutes for them to go, and they DID say it takes them 5 minutes to go back.

“Actually, I need a bit of help right now.”

Also, watching them panic might be funny.

“You see, I’m looking for my wallet, its in one of these boxes and I can’t go out to eat anything until I find it, if you help me find it, you can go.”

They got up in a hurry, Rex looked like he was about to protest but after checking his phone, he didn’t seemed to have the time for that.

“And if you try to steal anything, I’m throwing you both out the window.”

Jesus Christ, they are fast ; they were moving across the small room like little lightning, opening the boxes, throwing everything they found on the mattress, and then checking the next one,

It only took them 2 minutes to find a brown-colored leather square that made a sound whenever you shook it due to the nickels I saved in it.

Lex immediately passed it over to me, and while I was tempted to make them clean as well, they did their part.

And I already got rid of most of my stress back when I used them as rags.

“Alright, get the hell out of here.”

I opened the door and stood out of the way so they could dash outside, Lex was the first one out, and Rex followed soon after.

I sighed with relief; at least I knew now that there were lock pickers in this place; I would need to get something to block the door. Hopefully, that way, I would never have to deal with them again.

But that was a short-lived dream because when I was about to start fixing the room, I could hear someone outside of the door, his high-pitched voice sounding even happier than before.

“See ya at school, OP!”

And then he dashed off.

…

“Yeah, see ya tomorrow.”

The rest of the day was boring, I kept opening the boxes to kill time and keep my stomach silent until I could find my bike and ride it in order to find somewhere to eat.

Between all of the boxes I finally found a small letter, one written by hand, with rough but formal handwriting.

“If you wanna use your bike, speak with Mr. Lockhart, you need to get an authorization pass in order to ride any kind of vehicles, after that send me a letter and I’ll drop you the bike any day of the week.”

- Uncle Stern

Well, I’m screwed; that little bastard doesn’t like me, I don’t like him, and chances are that I’m never seeing my bike again.

I’m going to starve for the night.

I finished setting up the room and the sheets on the bed before laying down, it was only 3:40 PM and it may have been too early to sleep, but all my ideas about going out got wiped the moment I started hearing people walking by and talking around my room, doors opening, laughs, and some other loud noises coming from outside.

As the classes finished, they, instead of going back home, went to the dorms, of course.

You can call me crazy, but I’m not going to get out of this room to be surrounded by those triggers; I’d rather starve for the day.

The only time I got woken up was around 6PM, when I could swear I’ve heard someone knocking on my door, followed lots of people going down stairs, I only stayed awake long enough to check outside the door for a moment, couldn’t see anyone, I confirmed it wasn’t a house fire and went back to sleep.

The next day when I woke up it was still dark, when I checked the time on my phone, it said it was 4:13 AM, of course, I went to bed way too early, so I got up early.

And now I can’t go back to sleep...greeeeeeaaat.

Thankfully, this could work on my favor, I didn’t wanna have to walk side by side with the overgrown iguanas, so leaving early wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

It was only then that I realized I didn’t have any fucking idea of when we were supposed to go to class.

Should I simply stay here and wait until someone comes looking for me?

No, I’m already starting to get hungry again, if I keep trying to follow this plan I might end up eating my own leg.

I needed to kill time, and for that, I decided to take a shower and change into a clean set of clothes, let’s see, what do I have to choose from?

Orange hoodie, orange hoodie, white tank top, orange hoodie, orange hoodie, khakis, white tank top, khakis, khakis, white tank top, orange hoodie, orange jacket (I never use that one) aaand another set of khakis, seems about right.

Shower, underwear, socks, white tank top, orange hoodie, khakis, backpack, thats my everyday routine.

When my phone marked the 5 O’clock I got out from the dorm with nothing more than my phone, wallet, the earbuds in my pockets, and some notebooks in my backpack, locking the door behind me and started to go down stairs, just as I expected, there was no one to be seen in my way out of the building.

As I got out, I was struck in the face with the cold breeze of the morning, what yesterday looked like a green heaven for anyone who enjoyed nature, had turned into a foggy nightmare similar to the sequel of an overrated horror game.

I lifted the back of my hood to avoid getting my chrome dome completely frozen and started walking to the left, taking out the earbuds from their case and starting to play some music via Bluetooth.

It was a good thing that I took these things away from that one meteor dodger back in the day; now, I was able to jam my way to the school while listening to my favorite music.

Even those 20 minutes from the walk to the school seemed short once I started moving along with the music, the rhythm, and the angelic voice of the Jackson brothers could make any place feel like home.

They were one of the few good meteor dodgers.

And once I reached the gates of the academy, I was surprised to find there was someone there already, inserting a key in the door, with a giant sail-shaped wool cover sticking out of her back as she turned her head in my direction...oh, fuck my life.

“Otto? You came early, way too early.”

The dark hair contrasted with the scales of white spinosaurus as she turned her entire body towards me, making her hair flow along with the cold air of the morning.

“I already told you not to call me that, stupid lizard.”

I had to put a pause on the music to talk to this bitch; what a way to kill a vibe.

“Language, also, your name is too complicated.”

I clicked my tongue and started getting closer to her, stopping 3 feet in front of her, barely away from the range of her tail.

“Who cares about language? There are no teachers around.”

“You realize I’m still a member of the student council, right?”

“Yeah, so what? Is it your duty to wipe the ass off every foul-mouthed retard that walks across the school?”

She frowned upon hearing my manner of speaking, her expressions were much more colorful compared to when we were in the office.

“First, no, and second, they are not retards.”

She looked at me, eyeing me from head to toe.

“But I mean, if the sack fits you…”

Oh, this little…

“And while I’m not in charge of everybody, I am in charge of YOU, remember? I will be your guide for the rest of the week, I need to report to the principal anything that you do so that he can judge whenever you deserve some privileges or not. So please, at least behave for the time being; whatever you want to do after that is beyond my control.”

I faked a broken heart by grasping my chest.

“Awww, and here I thought you would be sticking to me like glue for the rest of the year.”

She rolled her eyes at this, turning her attention to the door the moment she realized I was just being a prick.

“So, after this week, you fuck off and leave me to my own thing?”

She stole a glance at me while opening the door.

“If that’s what you want, then yes, I doubt the principal will force you to expend more time with me than necessary if that’s what worries you. Now, lets get inside, I’m freezing.”

I’ve heard rumors about them being cold-blooded; I guess they were right.

“Oh, talking about the midget, do you know if he is at the school right now?”

My description of the principal really seemed to upset her, as she glared at me before going inside the academy.

The place was empty and it was almost peaceful, not a single sound, the white walls seemed so cold and relaxing right now, might be because I’m still a little drowsy.

“The principal is at home, he usually arrives around 8, again, you are here way too early, classes don’t start until 7, also, please detract from referring to him in such a manner.”

“Well, it’s not my fault that I didn’t receive a fucking itinerary; I didn’t know when to come.”

She froze in place, mumbling something to herself before bringing a hand to her chin.

“Oh, so that’s why I had the feeling I was forgetting something.”

She turned to face me.

“I’m sorry about that, but as you might imagine, with how our first “encounter” took place, it’s normal that something small like that would slip my mind.”

“Ah.”

Right, I tried to beat her up, oops.

“Follow me, I’ll print you one real quick so that you can guide yourself around, but I gotta say, its surprisingly diligent from you to wake up this early just in case you might be late.”

“I was hungry, I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday, figured I could have lunch in here.”

I positioned myself to her side as we walked across the hallways.

“That’s odd. Didn’t you get dinner last night?”

There was a hint of confusion in her voice as I looked around the school.

“Well, I wanted to order a pizza or something, but I don’t know any good place around here, and it’s not like I could go to the city because the midget needs to give me permission to use my own fucking bike.”

“No, that’s not what I meant; also, quit it with the midget thing.”

She huffed before continuing.

“At 6 PM the dorms offer dinner for the tenants, its included in the rent of the apartments. They also serve breakfast at 6 AM.”

So that was all the noise I heard yesterday; those lizards were going down to eat.

“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t have gone.”

“And why is that?”

“I don’t wanna be surrounded by you bootleg lizards; I saw the way you and your kind looked at me yesterday; I wouldn’t have been able to eat while trying to stop other idiots from stabbing me.”

We were once again in front of the principal’s office, and the spino proceeded to insert a key to open the door.

“They would never do anything to you in the dorms, whoever causes troubles in there will go 1 month without the meals.”

So if I go 1 month without eating in the dorms, that means I’m allowed to stab someone?

“It still would have been uncomfortable.”

“You rather be hungry or uncomfortable?”

“…”

Touché, bitch.

“If it worries you so much, just behave for this week. After that, I'll tell the principal to approve of your bike priviliges.”

That solves one issue. Mari went inside of the room and sat down at the desk while I stayed outside, didn’t take more than a minute before I heard the sound of a printer and the spino came out with a sheet of paper.

“Here, I believe your first class is PE with Mr. Chad, and then you should have history, math, and…”

Her eyes got wide for a second, and a smile crossed her face.

“And biology with Mr. Taylor, I hope you are happy, he is one of the few people who genuinely want to meet you.”

This is the second time I have heard that name.

I looked at her, confused, before checking the paper; all the classes looked normal, Biology, History, Math, Home Economics, PE...yeah, it seemed normal.

“There are optional classes, but you will need to speak with the principal about that.”

“Better than nothing, I guess; anything else you forgot to give me?”

“Not really; everything else can be checked on the school website unless you want a rule book?”

“Is there anything weird that I should know about the rules?”

“No, as long as you behave like a normal student, you should be fine if you can do it. But just in case, I’ll tell one of your neighbors to give you the rule book for the dorms after the day is over; there is a curfew and some other rules you should memorize.”

Great, so now they are gonna treat me like a little kid.

She waved me goodbye before moving out of the office, tempting me to try and continue our conversation from the other day but…

No, I shouldn’t.

Don’t try to give yourself doubts, Octaviano. Just stick to the plan.

“I guess I will explore.”

Just in case I had to run from an angry mob of racist dinos, perhaps I could find some secret place to hide myself in.

But besides the graffiti and markings on the walls, the place looked like your average school with two floors, a science lab, a recreational room with instruments, and the rooftop, the latter of course being locked.

The classrooms and the gym were closed when I arrived, but around 6 O’clock, the teachers started to arrive as well.

Most of them looked surprised when the first thing they saw when entering the school was me, others, similar to their students, simply ignored me.

Some wished me a good morning, one even gave me a handshake, but the rest of them either glared at me or ignored me.

…

Yeah, I expected that much.

Rex already told me no one likes humans in this place, I’m surprised one of them even dared to touch me. Are they butt-hurt about the wars from many years ago, or do they simply hate us because they can?

Well, that didn’t matter, I just needed to find a balance between surviving and getting a passing grade, their racism can’t affect my grades, can it?

It really doesn’t surprise me that the saurian kid left our school 1 month after the transfer. He got all kinds of fucked up in so little time.

I can still remember him, a short, skinny raptor with dark blue scales, the most generic saurian in existence, that was probably the reason why he was chosen.

It makes me wonder where he might be right now. This happened 4 years ago, and I still have his earbuds.

He wasn’t gonna need them, I heard that he got his hearing messed up after the incident.

In a way, I’m doing him a favor, making sure the stuff he bought is still useful to someone.

Sucks to be him, I guess; I bet he got into one of those fancy programs for disabled and bullied people; maybe he became rich or famous or something.

But now I really should focus on what is about to come.

I checked my phone.

Tuesday, 6:38

They are coming, I could start to listen to some voices from outside of the door.

I decided that I didn’t wanna deal with the entire extended family of the Ninja Turtles and I decided to dip, rushing towards the gym before any of them could see me.

The only thing I heard as I rushed away was some male saurian screaming at the tops of his lungs:

“WHO THE FUCK DENTED MY LOCKER?!”

…

I rubbed my bald head for a second.

“Just keep running.”

Luckily for me, the door to the gym was already open, and I was able to rush in without issues, being almost instantly greeted by a warm and humid environment similar to the water in front of me.

It looked so clear that I almost wanted to jump ins-

Wait, water?

Before I could even start to process what I was seeing, my shoe slipped the moment I tried to stop myself, causing me to be suspended in the air for a moment before landing on my backpack.

“SH-”

That almost knocked the air out of me, turning my body to the side as I tried to stand up, slowly looking up and being received by the sight a thong right in front of my face.

“OH DEAR GOD!”

I crawled backward like a panicked crab on all fours away from that thing.

“HAHAHA! Are you okay, young crustacean?”

Now, looking up, that thong was attached to a body, a very, VERY big body, gray body, built like a Greek god, slicked back hairstyle, black hair that made a contrast with his scales, and a jawline that could cut through glass covered by a short and well-trimmed beard.

It was the first time in my life I’d ever seen a Saurian with a beard that covered the entirety of their snout...was he even a Saurian? He looked more like a shark.

He had a body that would make anyone who called themselves a man want to be like him.

And this man was in front of me, wearing nothing but a thong.

Are they...are they allowed to wear that in a school?

“Eh…”

He looked at me with a warm smile on his face, which quickly got replaced with a surprised expression.

“My, my, wasn’t expecting to meet the new human like this. Sorry for scaring you, little man.”

He walked towards me and offered a helping hand, afraid of scaring the powerhouse in front of me, I took his hand and he lifted me in a moment with what appeared to be no effort.

“My name is Chad, but you can call me Coach.”

He was...surprisingly nice, his grip didn’t use enough force to hurt my hand, but was firm enough to lift me without any issue, now that I was standing straight, I could see that he was slightly taller than me, around 6’3.

What a beast.

“I am supposed to go to the gym for the PE class, but I must have taken a wrong turn…”

He then shook his head.

“No, you came to the right place. This is the PE class.”

I looked around, observing a massive pool filled with water, some red and yellow lane dividers in the water that created 4 different tracks for one to swim.

The place was massive, with long but short windows on the upper part of the room that allowed for the morning light to fill the place.

“I’m very sorry for the mess, I slept in today and wasn’t able to clean the pool fully before you came.”

Giving another glance around, there was not even a little bit of dirt in here.

He may be a perfectionist.

“But eh...a pool? Isn’t it supposed to be a gym for games like basketball or dodgeball?”

Once again, the giant saurian shook his head.

“Many kids here tend to play too rough on those contact sports, so we decided to incline more for conditioning and relaxing, yet demanding workouts, such as swimming.”

That...that does make sense, actually, of course a school that focuses on problematic kids wouldn’t give them any chances to go ape shit in class.

“We do have an open area outside, but today is a specially cold morning, so instead, we will have the class in the water.”

He pointed towards the pool.

“You...do know how to swim, right?”

I nodded, causing him to smile.

“Perfect then, it would have been weird if we had to teach the new kid how to swim, you know, first impressions and all that.”

Thank you for throwing me in the freezing cold river when I was 7, Father.

“For now, you should go and get dressed up. Do you know your sizes?”

I stared blankly at his face, causing him to sigh in response.

“Check the back of your pants and read me what it says.”

Oh.

A quick check and some awkward moments later, the coach came back with a swimsuit.

I find myself thanking god that it wasn’t a thong like his.

Which raises the question of why the fuck is he wearing that.

“The class starts in 10 minutes, the others will arrive very soon to get changed, you might wanna go in now in case that you are very shy.”

...Yeah, I don’t want some meteor dodgers looking at my ‘spear.’

I excused myself to go change my clothes in one of the two rooms labeled as “Male” and “Female” located at the opposite side of the entrance and across the pool, allowing me to leave everything on a locker that had my (misspelled) name in it before going back out with the new swimsuit.

Sure enough, a group of saurians were coming in through the door as soon as I got out of the changing room.

It was a mix of multiple saurians of all sizes and colors, chatting between themselves as they slowly approached the locker room, the same one I was in front of.

At first, only one of them stopped to look at me, but from that point, it snowballed until no one in the room was moving.

And...now I made eye contact with the entire group.

Even with this place being extremely warm thanks to all the heating, right now, it felt cold enough to make me die of hypothermia.

Shock, disgust, curiosity, all of them had a different expression and yet I couldn’t read a single one of them.

It felt as if we were gonna be stuck like this for a while because not even the Coach was saying a word, but it all crashed down with a high-pitched scream.

“There you are! We were looking for you, OP!”

And among the legs of the crowd, a small dino head popped out.

“Lex?”

Yeah, those were his braids.

He slipped out of the crowd before running all his way to my arm and started pulling me by the hand.

“Come on, they can’t pass if you block the door.”

My brain went into auto-pilot and moved toward the direction Lex was trying to pull me into.

“I was not-”

A single glance at his nervous smile made me shut up.

Soon enough, another dino joined us, but this time pushing my leg.

“Yeah, move already.”

Ah, the dickhead brother, I was wondering where he was.

But even if it looked stupid, their effort paid off.

The rest of the group, consisting of both men and women, started going in their respective doors, Lex and Rex following soon after.

They were...helping me?

Out of pity, maybe?

Just the idea made me clench my teeth.

I don’t need pity, I could have handled the situation.

Somehow.

…

After that first scare, the rest of the class went on quickly without issues, warm-ups, and then to the water to make a test of speed and technique.

I could still feel the stares towards me, but no one approached me or even said anything to me, so I was able to focus on the pool.

While I wasn’t the most avid swimmer, and my performance was far from good due to how weak I felt after not eating for 24 hours, at least I wasn’t even close to the slowest ones, which were Lex and Rex.

I guess those legs work only for running then? It was a miracle they didn’t sank with how slow they were moving.

“Well done, youngsters! Now go and take a shower before your hair turns into stone!”

The coach dismissed us with a laugh that could fill the entire room.

While the other saurians seemed to be normal, they were clearly uncomfortable with the idea of taking a shower in the same place as me. The feeling was mutual, but at least I didn’t have any hair to worry about.

I decided to simply give myself a quick rinse before putting on my clothes and going back out, and the moment I left the room I could hear them speaking like normal.

At least it wasn’t a beatdown.

The next two classes went surprisingly well, they were trying to make an introduction for me, but my lack of cooperation soon made sure to shut them down, until they simply went on with their classes.

They were boring, yeah, but I could handle that. There was no trace from the twin midgets, so it was also quiet, besides the mumbling of other saurians behind my back.

Unlike the first time they saw me, no one was trying to throw stuff at me; if they really had a talk with them, it seemed to be working.

Just one more class before lunch, Biology, so I decided to go to the bathroom before the class, that way I wouldn’t get jumped in the toilet in the middle of the lunch period.

After finishing with my call from nature, I stood in front of the closed classroom door, took a deep breath, and-

“THERE HE IS!”

The door slammed open the moment I was about to grab the handle.

I almost lost my balance because of how sudden it was, making me retreat by instinct.

What the fuck?

Approaching at a rapid pace, a blue colored triceratops grabbed me by the sleeve and pulled me inside the class room.

I had to resist the urge to push him away the moment I realized he was the teacher.

“Today’s class will be unique, everybody!”

As I stated before, he is a triceratops with blue scales, a short frame of around 5’8,a skinny body and an afro that covered a big part of the frills in his head.

He pulled me to the middle of the class, right in front of everyone to see me.

“Yesterday, we had an introduction to the human body, but now we can have a real reference to explore in detail the fascinating body of the homo-sapiens!”

The teacher quickly moved to my side, holding my arm and extending it to the side while rolling up my sleeve.

“As you can see, the homo-sapiens lacks any kind of scales in their bodies, making them extremely vulnerable to cuts or major tissue damage, the fact they could survive during the hardest times of this world really baffles me!”

“Eh, I-”

The triceratops jumped to reach my shoulders and suddenly he pushed me down to my knees, it didn’t hurt, but it was shocking to say the least.

“Unlike us, the homo-sapiens body is mostly focused on their bone resistance; I’m sure that most of you had accidents where you lost a couple of teeth or broke a bone just for it to heal in a couple of weeks. For humans, their bones are extremely resilient, being able to handle an immense amount of stress before snapping, but they don’t heal nearly as fast.”

I’m feeling violated right now.

“Many of you might be a sports fan. Is there anyone here?”

Between my confusion and the laughs in the class, one of the saurians at the front raised her hand; it was a small dino similar to Lex and Rex, if not smaller, I guess their height is a racial thing.

“I like baseball, Mr. Taylor.”

She was cute as a button, her innocence appearance and short stature awakened in me a fatherly instinct I didn't know I had.

“Oh, that is the best example!”

The teacher tapped my shoulders extremely fast as if I were a living drum.

“Tell me, Rita, who is your favorite pitcher?”

“Chris Scale.”

There wasn’t a moment of doubt, the class seemed to agree with the pick of the girl, even the teacher let out a small whistle.

“Good taste, Rita, very good taste. He is one of the best ones, but if you don’t mind, can you tell me who was the only person that Scale couldn’t get a single strike on?”

The short girl made a funny face as if she had just sucked an entire lemon.

“...Maron Judge.”

The class went silent at this, as if they were dealing with a taboo.

“And what is he?”

After a moment of silence, the girl looked pained at what she was about to say.

“A skin-. I mean, a human.”

“Bingo!”

The teacher clapped his hands. I couldn’t see his face, but I bet he was smiling.

“Across the ages, the homo-sapiens needed to evolve with the use of multiple tools, such as the fire and their most famous one, the spear. That is why some people call them “Spear Chuckers” in a derogatory way, but it is not something to laugh at. Rita, please come here.”

The small dino looked to her sides, hoping for support, but under the expectant glare of the teacher, she had no other option but to get close to us.

“Please, touch his arm.”

The teacher then seemed to focus on me.

“And don’t flex it, no need to try and impress.”

I wasn’t gonna-

…

No, yeah, I was going to.

While reluctantly, the little saurian approached the teacher and I.

“Mr. Taylor, I don’t think-”

“Nonsense! He doesn’t bite. I mean, he can, but you probably deal with way worse than that every day.”

The jolly personality of this teacher made it hard for the girl to say no, ultimately letting out a sigh as she started poking my arm with her index finger.

“How does it feel?”

The girl looked confused at me and then at the teacher.

“Is...soft? I don’t know what to say.”

The teacher nodded at this, but I could only see the horn in his nose moving up and down.

“Now, do his shoulder.”

The girl repeated the same process as before, just that this time, she actually looked shocked for a couple of seconds.

“So, Rita, how did that feel?”

She kept poking more and more after that.

“He has to be flexing, it’s way too firm.”

The teacher tapped me in the back.

“Did you?”

I shook my head, right now i was too confused to be trying to flex something as weird as my shoulder.

“Then, please do it now.”

Well, that’s a hard one. The only time I feel my shoulder under pressure is when…oh.

I lifted my hand a little and clenched my fist, setting my arm as if I was about to punch someone.

“Go ahead, Rita.”

Once again, she poked my shoulder, or more like she tried to, because this time, her finger couldn’t even push the tissue in the slightest.

She looked baffled at this, even turning her head towards the teacher.

“Thank you, Rita; you may return to your seat.”

The short Compsognathus started to retreat while Taylor grabbed my shoulders, applying pressure under them.

“After many years of evolution, the homo sapiens learned how to use weapons in order to survive against creatures that towered them in size, strength, and range, and for that they became the best throwers in the entire world. Of course, someone who doesn’t train in the slightest will be as weak as they can, but.”

He tapped my shoulders again.

“For some punks like you that like to get in trouble, these shoulders turn out to be an amazing thing to work with. This is why you can see humans in many sports that require hitting, throwing, and swinging, such as baseball, boxing, and even bowling.”

He held me, this time by the armpits, and pushed upwards, making me get up by instinct.

“Of course, homo-sapiens are still a race with weaker bodies on general terms, but with some work, they can outperform even the most talented saurians.”

He tapped me on the back, pushing me forward to take a seat.

And the only seat available was…

Right beside the meanest motherfucker I’ve seen in my life.

Oh, and Rita too.

Talk about a duality.

“Now, let us talk about the different muscle groups.”

The rest of the class was going smoothly. This teacher seemed fascinated by human biology. No wonder he was excited about me attending this school. It’s like having a guinea pig to test anything he wants to.

Or maybe he genuinely enjoys teaching. With his passion and jolly attitude, it was hard not to pay attention to everything he said. Hell, I didn’t even know the part about our shoulder muscles.

The class was over in a blink, that way of speaking makes time go fast.

But finally, it was time for lunch. I’m starving!

“Oh, Mr. Human, please stay here for a moment.”

Mr. Taylor closed the door after everyone but me had left.

...I wanna kill myself.

My body wailed at the idea of this interaction. I can’t say that I wasn’t happy about delaying the possible confrontations I would have during lunch, but this hunger was killing me.

“What?”

Now, walking towards the teacher’s desk. He was now sitting on his chair, crossing his legs and holding his hands like an evil scientist.

“How has been your first official day so far?”

I shrugged.

“It’s a pain in the ass to be in prison, but at least no one seems to actually care about my existence, so I guess that’s a good thing.”

He chuckled, moving his hand as if brushing off what I said.

“Come on, this place is not a prison, it’s a place of healing, even if you can’t see it right now.”

“Healing my ass, I’m completely trapped in here; I can’t leave without facing federal charges or shit like that.”

Well, there goes my inner filter, I’m going to get in trouble for speaking like that to a teacher.

“Oh no, I wholeheartedly agree with you in the fact that this shithole feels like a prison, but the feeling will pass.”

Huh? Are teachers supposed to speak like that?

“Tell me, kid, why do you think we work here?”

Once again, I shrugged.

“You look young. Is it the only place you can find a job without experience?”

He shook his head while clicking his tongue multiple times.

“Let me tell you a secret, kiddo, that seat you see right there? Where you were sitting a moment ago?”

He pointed at the chair.

“8 years ago, that was my seat.”

He smiled at me, and I could feel some nostalgia in his words.

“Look, I know this school it’s the last place where you would like to be right now; 80% of the student body starts like that, and I’m not gonna tell you that it isn’t a shithole, because that is up to you.”

He placed a palm on his desk.

“My old teacher said those same words to me when I first came to the school. I’m not saying that I know how you feel or what you are going through; you are your own person and, on top of that, a human, but I want you to keep an open mind.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, right. If you know how we feel, then you should know that I don’t care about learning anything here.”

Taylor raised an eyebrow.

“Let me see your backpack.”

“What? No, do you think I have drugs or something?”

He smiled at me.

“Scared?”

“...”

I tossed my backpack at him with enough force to make him recoil a little on his chair.

He opened my bag, and instead of looking for anything weird, he took out my notebooks.

And the moment he opened them, his smile widened.

“Then what is this?”

He turned the open notebooks to me, showing that the first pages of at least three were filled to the brim with notes.

“What? Those are meant for taking notes.”

I didn’t get his point.

“‘You should know that I don’t care about learning anything here.’ those were your words, were they not?”

...Fuck.

I tried to argue back, but he interrupted me before I even started.

“I’m sure you already know this, but remember, actions speak louder than words; you can tell me 100 times that you hate learning, or how much you hate this place, but this...”

He placed his index finger in one of the notebooks.

“This tells me you are lying.”

I choked with my words for a moment, and he didn’t let me recover.

“I really don’t get why you are forcing yourself to say stuff like that, and I will not pry. That is your life and yours alone, but the only thing I ask of you is to TRY.”

He closed the notebooks and then proceeded to put them back into my backpack, closing it before throwing it back to me.

“I work here because I know better than anyone what it is like to feel lost. Most of the other teachers here do too, and let me tell you, I can see many of us in you. The problem is that...”

He looked conflicted.

“You are a human.”

This made me frown visibly.

“Yeah, I was told your kind didn’t like me.”

He sighed, bringing a hand to his forehead.

“They will see you are just like all the other kids. Give them time. They just need to see you try. Trust me on this.”

Once again, I rolled my eyes.

“I just have to do this for one week; after that, I get back my back and I will simply stay out of everyone’s way.”

For some reason, his eyes shined after I said that.

“YES! That’s all I ask for. Try for a week; that should be enough.”

Why is everyone here such a fucking weirdo?

“Can I leave now?”

“Oh, right, yeah. Sorry for holding you. Go eat something. I heard your belly grumbling during the class.”

I held my stomach for a second before heading towards the door.

“AH, one more thing.”

I turned my head.

“Look, I don’t wanna be rude, but your name is weird as fuck. What should I call you? Like, do you have a nickname or something?”

...

Just try, huh?

Just call me human or skinnie, I don’t care.

Actually, there is one...

...

I guess...I guess I can try.

> Actually, there is one...

“Yeah, I do have a nickname.”

I opened the door while keeping eye contact with the professor, who was expecting my answer.

“OP. Call me OP.”

Chapter Text

As I left the classroom, I couldn't help but cringe at the over-dramatic introduction I just made.

'Am I really gonna stick with that dumb nickname?'

It beats having to explain the longitude of my name every single fucking time someone asks. Might as well go with something short that doesn't sound nerdy.

"O.P." I repeat it to myself like an idiot, but it helps me realize that it's similar to nicknames such as 'C.J.' or 'A.J.'

When you see it that way, it's not so weird.

And all for the sake of ‘trying’. Thinking about it, didn’t the white chick say something similar?

grrrrrrrrrrr

The growling of a malnourished belly reminds me of my current state and how much I'm craving some meat and potatoes. I can already taste them the moment I start moving.

"Hey." A voice interrupts my advance as something curls around the sleeve of my hoodie. Turning around, I find myself locking eyes with the vanilla-colored whore, also known as Mari. Talking about the devil.

"First, ask me out for dinner. Because what the hell is this?" I lift my arm to show her tail rolled around me, to what she only smiled.

"Actually, I came here to ask you out for dinner. Well, for lunch."

"Noooo thank you, I'll pass. I'd rather eat shit from the curb than sitting on the same table as you." I pull away my arm, freeing myself from her restraint and resuming my walk toward the cafeteria.

"Oh, that's such a shame. The principal would find it endearing to see the new kid eating with someone...What shall I do with my broken heart? I don’t think I will be able to speak with the principal about anything with wheels for a long time...'"

I froze mid-step, turning my head around to glare at the white Spinosaurus.

You fucking bitch, are you trying to keep my bicycle hostage?

The smile on her face and the way her eyes are curling tell me everything I need to know: She is.

“Uuuuuuuuughhhhh, FIIIINEEEEE.” I moan my answer, reeling my head back while walking towards her in the most zombie-like style. "But I ain't talking to you."

"Good enough. Let's go, they are expecting us." Mari leads the way with a broad smile of pearly fangs.

"Who is?"

"I thought you said you weren't talking to me?" Oh, this little-

Grunting as a response, we remain silent on our way to the cafeteria.

The place was...strangely quiet. Besides the conversations going around the tables and the sound of lizard-brains chewing all around, it was pretty peaceful.

Similar to the rest of the academy, the walls were painted all white, and the tables looked silvery, like a prison. At this point, I believe they are making it up on purpose.

There were enough tables for all students, and some more with a door leading to the outer patio where you could see more tables covered by a dense fog.

We step towards the line of saurians who politely wait for their turn to receive a meal. They speak among themselves in the way you could expect problem kids to do, using slang and slurs every now and then, but they stop the moment they realize who's behind them. If it's because of Mari or because of me, I don't know.

When our turn finally came, the lunch lady had a special package covered in foil ready for the pale girl beside me, while I had to order like a peasant. She was a lovely old lady, smiling whenever I got something wrong on the menu. She ended up giving me a massive sandwich with all kinds of meat inside. You gotta love carnivores.

Mari once again leads the way from the line, the Spinosaurus finally stopping beside the circle-shaped table right in the middle of the cafeteria, which has only another saurian in it, sticking out like a sore thumb with her dark goth clothing and purple scales.

"Wait, what? Where's everyone?"

The girl pulled down her headphones and opened her weird-looking snout. "When they heard who you were bringing, they dipped. Sup." The girl nodded to me in recognition before putting back the headphones and scratching her face with a very, very long thumbnail.

Shit, how can she wipe her ass with a nail like that?

I try not to imagine it as Mari deflates, moving around the table to sit beside the thumb-girl, setting her weird-looking package in front of her, while I sit at the opposite end and waste no time ogling my sandwich, as if it were the most beautiful woman on earth.

'Now, if you excuse me, mademoiselle.'

I opened my mouth enough to put a soda can inside and started devouring the exquisiteness like a wild beast, taking giant bites that left my cheeks full of food.

Five minutes into the meal, I heard a light tap coming from the other side of the table. The spinosaurus looks at me mid-chew with a judging stare while the other girl is browsing on her phone.

"Waght?" Letting some crumbs fall out as I open my mouth, Mari's stare only deepens as a frown forms.

"You are unbelievable."

“Wagth!? Img geaghting.”

"For the love of god, please don't speak with your mouth full. And why are you just eating? A perfectly nice and suitable lady is right here waiting for you to introduce yourself." When she says this, the goth girl removes her headphones again and utters a 'What?'

I finish chewing the last parts of the bite before speaking again. "I said I wasn't talking to you."

"Yes. To me. She's not me. Look, I'll make it easier for you.” Mari lifted a hand, presenting the goth girl. “I would like you to meet my friend, Gwen."

Once again, the thumb girl nodded. "Sup." And with that, we both went back to our business, leaving the slutty-orchid with a flabbergasted expression.

"You both are beyond…" She brought a hand to her face, sighing before trying to take a different approach. "I'll make it EVEN easier for you then. Gwen, this is Ot-"

"O.P." Trying to avoid a horrible scenario, I interrupt her introduction of me, causing the goth girl to stare at Mari's confused expression.

"O...P? What's th-"

"Look, I ain't dealing with the shit of my name every single time, it’s a nickname. Just roll with it." Mari continues to stare with confusion painted all over her face, but soon shrugs it off.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, O.P." The goth dinosaur takes the initiative after witnessing her friend's inner suffering. "Name's Gwen. I take care of cleaning stuff, and I like to paint, pleasure."

"Ah. Name's O.P. Got my ass dragged to this table, and now I'm trying not to starve if you excuse me." I bit another chunk out of the sandwich, which caused the goth girl to snicker.

"Mari said you were an interesting guy, but I didn't think it was true." Me? Interesting? I tried to attack her, for fucks sake. What part of that is interesting?

...

Well, I already did my part, there's no need for further interacti-

"I do have one question, though." Gwen puts her phone down and stares at me with a severe look on her face.

"Hurmh?" I grunt an interrogative, which gives her the lead to ask:

"Do human dicks have the same shape as Dinos's?" I almost choked on my fucking sandwich the moment I heard that, slamming my fist against the table and later on my chest, trying to avoid a tragedy.

People around the cafeteria turn their heads to investigate the commotion but quickly return to their own tables.

"Gwen!" Mari blushes profusely, with her indigo-colored markings becoming more noticeable than before, with her tail-whipping the goth dino on her back at an impressive speed. Although it appeared to be light taps.

"What? It's for reference. Never met a human before, and I don't wanna search up 'human porn' in the school's computer."

"…" What THE FUCK am I supposed to say to that? "...What kind of art you do, exactly?"

"Street art."

“What? Like, using chalk on the sidewalk?”

“It isn’t first time I’ve heard that, but no.” Gwen uses her long nail to push her phone across the table and into my hands. "You can check it, but no peeking."

While I wasn’t an art enthusiast, the things she asked made me a little curious. If she's questioning stuff about my dick, it better be for a damn good reason.

Leaving my ¾ finished sandwich on the table, I pick up her phone and to review whatever this chick works with. To my surprise, it was graffiti, of pretty decent quality on top of that.

I let out a low whistle before sliding the phone back to her owner.

“So? What do you think?”

“It’s aigh’. Wouldn’t pay for someone to do it on my wall, but not ugly enough to call the po-po.” That reminds me, isn’t there some graffiti right outside of the school and in the dorms? “Wait, are you the one who paints the walls around here?”

Gwen side eye’s Mari, before turning back to me.

“Officially? No, because that would be against school regulation. But you can praise them murals all you want while I’m around.” Resting her head against both of her hands, Gwen’s tail starts wagging from side to side as she smiles.

Yeah, she did them.

Mari only sighs, resisting the urge to bang her head against the table. Doesn’t seem to be surprised about this. “Please don’t make me put you in cleaning duty again…” Oh. That’s what she meant.

What an odd pair these two were.

After Gwen goes back to her phone and headphones, the Spinosaurus unwraps her mysterious package, which ended up being a microraptor-sized burrito.

“Holy fucking shit.” I can’t hold back my words after witnessing such a massive chunk of tortilla and whatever the hell is inside of it.

“Language.” Mari retorts without motivation. Must be getting used to me speaking like a trigga.

Gwen watches our interaction and starts laughing, slapping her own thigh before turning to Mari. “Oh right, you don’t know. This chick eats so much that they need to prepare her a special meal every day, otherwise the school might collapse due to her stomach grumbling!”

The goth dino starts laughing once again the moment Mari raises her tail, only that this time the smack actually packs a punch and causes Gwen’s head to bang against the table making a clanking sound.

“Ow!” Gwen raises her face after the impact, showcasing a new red-colored bump right on her forehead. It seems that I’m not the only one she uses that tail against.

Mari turns her head while holding her burrito with indignation, refusing to look at the goth saurian as she eats her meal with delicacy...how the fuck do you eat a burrito like that?

The rest of the lunch period went on with me and Gwen exchanging some words every now and then, mostly weird questions, but not as bad as her initial one. Mari refused to speak up again, but none of us tried to bug her now that she was in a bad mood, for the sake of our craniums.

And for some reason, the more I spoke with Gwen the more I felt like someone was trying to make my head blow up with their mind, but every time I turned around to see, everything looked normal. Maybe it’s my paranoia.

But I was surprised not to see Lex or Rex anywhere, maybe they went to raid another dorm while we all ate…

They wouldn’t try to raid mine again, right?

…

Nah, after last time I doubt they would have the guts to try again.

“Well, I have to go.” There were still 5 minutes left for lunch, and yet Gwen was starting to get ready to leave. “Rika needed help reaching something. I’ll smell ya later, Mari.”

The goth girl saurian stood up to leave and…

GOD DAMN!

Stretching her arms, she discomfits one of the extremes from her long-sleeve blouse, hanging to one extreme of her shoulder and revealing a decent amount of ski- scales while protecting her modest chest.

Making sure that it didn’t get loose, she stuck most of the blouse inside her short jeans, which were so compressing a massive, fat ass, protected only by a medium-sized thin tail.

Shit. I was so focused in eating that I didn’t pay attention to the CAKE she was carrying around, lord have mercy…

Fixing her short pink-dyed hair as the light glistens off the silver ornaments from her choker, the sound of her commando boots mark her leave.

And all of this time I got my eyes glued to her ass. Man I ain’t no Dino-fucker, but those buns can rest on my fa-

“OP!” The sudden shouting makes me turn my head towards the angry red eyes of Mari, mimicking the tone of autumn leaves. “You know that's called sexual harassment, right?”

“...?” Rather than answering, I stay quiet waiting for her to provide an explanation.

“You are leering. Also, close your mouth.”

What? My mouth?

Bringing a hand to my jaw, I realize it’s wide open.

Damn. Her ass is THAT good, huh?

Giving one good look towards Mari’s face and slowly going down to her dress, I can’t help but feel bad for the poor girl. She lost the genetic battle.

My instinct yells me to run away, backing out immediately before a fast whip-like appendage passes right in front of my face, missing by a millimeter. “Holy sh-” This table is NOT small, the fact she was able not only to throw a strike from the opposite side like that it’s scary.

The only reason I still have my face intact was because the table got in between her perfect strike and my jaw.

“That doesn’t mean you have to leer at me.”

“Get yourself some new dreams, lassie, because I ain’t gonna waste my time leering at a skewer with no meat.” I wasn’t the best at shit talking, but I’ll be dammed if people around the web don’t come with creative ways to insult people without it being ‘wrong’.

Knowing that I’m out of tail range, I dedicate her my best shit-eating grin, which makes her unleash all of her frustration on the poor burrito that she was holding, devouring the whole thing in a minute.

So much for being delicate, huh?

The albino-looking girl is the first one to leave, turning the wrap that was previously covering the burrito into a ball and stomping away.

Note #1 about Mari, she's extremely sensitive about her body.

Good to know. I finished the last bits of my sandwich and head forward to the next class as the bell marks the start of the next period. With lunch out of the way, my belly full and Mari pissed, I think this has been a pretty great day, I’m feeling invincible.

Classes carry on as expected, with stares from here and there, and the teachers glaring at me whenever they weren’t giving an old-fashioned lesson that could put a shark to sleep.

That was until we reached the last class of the day, Math, where I finally re-encountered with Thing 1 and Thing 2, two seats away from me to the left.

5 minutes into the class, the teacher wasn’t showing any signs of arriving. I guess we get a free class then. Still, similarly to the cafeteria, the students mainly were chatting, no chairs were flying around, and no imbeciles were beating the shit out of each other in the back.

The fact these meteor dodgers were more civilized than my last class almost makes me puke.

All stays in relative order until a paper ball hits me on the side of the head, turning my neck to see a small dino waving at me, with his brother behind him. “Hey, Cue Ball.” Rex motions me to approach them, and seeing how the teacher was nowhere to be seen, I’d rather talk with the small rats instead of rotting out of boredom.

I make my way to their seats, crouching down on the floor with the classic Russian squat to be leveled with them. “Whatcha want?” Lex keeps waving while Rex moves closer to me, whispering in my ear.

“Dude, what the fuck are you doing hanging with Mari in lunch? Do you want to get us all turned into mashed dino nuggets?” I turned my head with a ‘really trigga?’ expression, primarily because of the whispering, but his question was also weird.

“I know the ‘aprex’ doesn’t like the bitch and whatever, but why does it matter? And why are we whispering?” Rex turns around to check if anyone is listening and makes a small hand sign to Lex.

“Because Lex will get anxious if I tell him about this, but if you keep fucking around like that, they are going to go after your ass and ours as well! I thought you didn’t like the princess. "He raised his voice slightly during his whisper, frowning at the end.

“And I don’t. I only have to deal with her for a week so that I can recover my bike. After that, we can all fuck off.” I thought that would help Rex relax, but it caused his expression to deepen. “Why do you care anyway?”

“Because my autistic brother keeps bragging about making a human friend!” My head instinctively turns towards Lex, who looks around and smiles once he notices my stare.

“Well, that’s your own fault.” I return to Rex, who puts both hands around his face.

“You are the one who is actually using the nickname he made! Now Lex actually thinks you are our friend.” Oh, poor innocent bastard. “They won’t kill you for being a human, but they would make us bite the curb if they think we are betraying our own kind because of you!”

“Wooow, Nazi-style?” Lex almost bites his tongue at my comment. “Just chill your rat-ass. After one week, everything will be done, and I’ll stay out of your way too.” The main reason I’m speaking with them AT ALL is because, besides the fact they are easy to overpower in case something goes south, there are too many things I don’t know about this place, and they work as a perfect guide.

I don’t want to get my ass turned into a communal fountain because I walked into the wrong shower.

“One week is way too long! Even more, if you are planning to keep orbiting Mari.” The twin wasn’t satisfied with my answer still. Man, I just want my fucking bike back. Since this chick is either the personal prostitute or the granddaughter of the principal, I can’t be ignoring her right now.

“It can’t be that bad. Another one of your kind actually touched me during the biology class.” The mention of this confused Rex, who questioned me with his stare. “Taylor made a shorty come in front of the class to prove something about my shoulders or whatever. I think her name was Rima...Rila…”

“Rita?!”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Oh man...now you DEFINITELY can’t keep hanging out with Mari.” Dude, why does he keep insisting on that? It’s just one week.

“Rex, fuck off. "I stand up to leave, but the small saurian desperately tries to keep me in place.

“Oct- O.P., please, for the love of god, listen to me. If Rita was seen doing anything with you after Lex claimed that we are friends and you were hanging around Mari, they could target her instead of us.”

“That’s a stretch. Why would they target a random girl instead of you two or me?” I mean, I can get that they are the same species, but they aren’t all the same.

“Because she's my friend, retarded egghead!”

“... You are trying to score?” The way his face was shaped, from desperation to shock and then to anger, was incredible. “Okay, okay, chill; she didn’t even want to do it; Taylor forced her, and everyone saw that.”

“It’s- O.P., people are NOT rational when it comes to this kind of shit, please…” Seeing how overprotective Rex was when it came to Lex, and now even begging to protect a girl he cared for, was heartwarming.

“Look, I need to keep seeing the solar panel bitch if I want to recover my bike, but I won’t talk to Rita anymore; that should be enough, right?” Rex pondered for a moment, and after what appeared to be a careful consideration, he let out a question.

“Promise?” The innocence in his eyes reminded me of someone requesting nothing but to honor our word. I nod in response, with which Rex lets go of me and sighs with relief.

“WHAT ARE WE WHISPERING ABOUT?!” Lex jumped out of nowhere into my back, joining the now not-so-private conversation, which caused Rex to laugh.

Some giggles came from me as well. This was...surprisingly fun.

In the end, the teacher never showed up, even after the bell rang, marking the end of the day. Everyone started to take their leave, with Lex and Rex hurrying out with nothing but a wave towards me.

While everyone leaves, I decide to wait a moment to avoid getting run over by the wave of students desperate to go back home or having to walk alongside them toward the dorms. Maybe I should walk towards the city now that I’m close, but it would be such a pain in the ass to come back…

“What to do...what to do…” After twenty minutes, I step out to an almost empty hallway that gives me freeway to stroll, thinking out loud. “Maybe I should just shelter in my room. After one week, I will be able to go to the city quickly and get some lock for the door…” because right now, with the two rats running around, it’s not safe to leave my stuff unattended.

Heading out of the building, by now all the saurians are going to either the city or the dorms.

Except for one. The mean-looking motherfucker from the biology class was waiting by the side of the road, with a motorcycle near him and an arm around the helmet. “About damn time you got out.”

Well. I knew this time would come, might as well get it over with. “The hell you want, Scalie?” The creature didn’t react to my provocation, instead reaching behind the motorcycle for something and throwing it in my direction.

It was a helmet with a visor and everything, worn out by lots of use but smelling like flowers.

“Put it on, let’s go.” The mean-looking saurian tapped his massive boot on the ground.

“Going where? And who the fuck are you?” He didn’t answer, instead fixing the leather jacket around his broad shoulders. Holy shit, this guy is actually massive, 6’7, maybe? I’m gonna have a hard time knocking him out, if it's even possible.

“I’m Jane, and you are O.P. Now, with that cleared up, you are coming or not?” He passed one leg across the motorcycle, taking a seat as his hands reached for the handles.

Is he asking me to fight him somewhere else? Well, I guess it would be stupid to do it right in front of the school, and there's no one around, so it doesn’t look like an ambush.

But if he tries to lure me into a dangerous situation and I get surrounded, I know I won’t win. This guy is clearly strong enough to give me a run for my money, and handling two or more at the same time would result in an immediate defeat.

He looks impatient at me before putting on his helmet. What should I do?

Fuck this shit, I’m going to sleep

If he wanted to try something, he would have done so already

I remember the note the boulder left me and how ‘you need an authorization pass’ to ride any vehicle, which means that this dude was personally approved by the school to have that motorcycle; that means he has to be a trusted person, right?

At the very least, I don’t think he would try to ambush me. And if the worst came to worst, I could take him; surely there will be a rock around somewhere.

>If he wanted to try something, he would have done so already

You know what? Fuck it. I ain’t gonna be acting like a pussy all this damn year; if some random lardass wants to fight me because he feels tall and strong, he can be my guest. I’ll give him a free guts rearrangement. Plus, he might try and run me over if I decline.

I put on the helmet, walked towards the bike, and sat behind the tall Allosaurus.

“Hands around my waist.” I cringed in response.

“Ew, no. I ain’t no fag.”

“If you make it gay, I’m crashing this thing with both of us in it. Now quit bitching and hold my waist.” Closing the visor of his own helmet, leans forward and starts the engine, twisting the handles to make it roar.

Reluctantly, I grab a hold of his sides, pulling his jacket. I’d rather fall off than hugging a meteor dodger.

The moment he feels my hands, he accelerates from zero to eighty, causing me to stagger at the sudden change of speed. I wave my arms around to keep my balance and hug him from behind to avoid falling off.

…

FUCK!

I found a good balance between holding him and not looking gay while doing it, keeping my back straight and away from his back while my arms held him from the front. I still felt like a faggot, but repeating ‘No homo’ in my head every thirty seconds helped me get some peace of mind.

Jane decreased the speed once we approached the city, which allowed me to take a good look around while he took me to wherever the fuck he wanted to go.

The city was massive compared to Bitter End, a lake beside the sea. The illumination seemed deemed by the helmet’s visor, but I could still see all the colors decorating the buildings. Compared to the ghost town I witnessed yesterday, now there was a rainbow of saurians walking along the sidewalks.

With each red light we stopped at, some of the saurians turned their heads towards the vehicles with either disgust or wonder, even if they couldn’t see who was under the helmet.

The longer we went, the more I wondered where we were going. I had already discarded the idea of him trying to jump me with a group; it had been twenty minutes already, but I couldn’t get any clues from the directions he was taking, mostly because I didn’t know this place.

At least we reach the end, with him stopping by the curve in between two other motorcycles in the bay. Jane gets off at the same time as me, taking off his helmet and pulling mine off.

“Let’s go.” The tall saurian turns around towards a staircase without even checking if I’m following.

“Wait, I already agreed to tag along, at least tell me where the fuck did you bring me?”

“I didn’t bring you anywhere; I needed to come here and talk with you, so I invited you to tag along.”

Talk? I thought he was trying to pick a fight with me, but he wanted to talk?

Jane keeps going up, turning to the side at the top of the stairs and opening a door.

“Hold on, where the fuck are we?” My words go on deaf ears because he closes the door right beside him. “Son of a huh?” The door has a poster stamped on it.

“Volcaldera’s Arms! For those who can’t stand remaining weak!”

…

Is this a god damn gym?

After opening the door, I’m hit right in the face with the reek of sweat, tears, and probably someone shitting his pants, because holy fuck.

Pinching my nose to avoid dying from a weird saurian disease, even from the reception, it can already be heard how two jacked saurians exchange insults about their bodies, followed by them laughing.

The gym was what I could imagine, a massive room with tons of equipment and saurians all over the place, and a lady saurian sitting by a long and tall gray desk, working on a computer.

Walking towards the female raptor at the front desk, I can see Jane speaking with her, turning his head to me for a moment before returning to the receptionist. “This is the one.” The tall saurian pointed at me with a tired motion, causing the raptor girl to fix her glasses, giving me a good glance, and then returning to Jane.

“Alright. Remember, this is the third and last time you can invite a friend without a membership.” Giving a slight nod, the Saurian girl passes him a small tag that Jane presses against my chest.

“HEY!” Pulling my hoodie to see whatever got stuck to me, the tag reads ‘Oupi’.

…

Fucks sake, I can’t escape people getting my name wrong, even with a nickname.

“What are you waiting for? Move it.” Jane doesn’t wait for an answer, and after rushing me, he walks to the back of the gym, where all the cardio equipment recedes.

“This meteo-” I bite my tongue when the receptionist starts looking at me. “What?”

“If you don’t feel comfortable working around dinos, the state requires us to have a section only for humans. Accidents happen, and we understand if you don’t like us.”

…

Why are you so nice to me when saying something like that? Are you okay with me being racist?

What?

Fuck, I’m blushing, I can feel my face getting hot.

“I’ll..pass…” Before I follow after Jane, the lady waves me waves me goodbye with a smile. I know it’s her work, but she doesn’t need to be nice to an ass.

I know I wouldn’t.

By the time I reach the treadmills, the Allosaurus is already running at some decent speed, turning his head, now looking at meand making a head motion to climb into the machine next to his.

Eh, might as well. My head is still a little messed up after interacting with the receptionist.

I should have thanked her.

…

Fuck.

Twenty minutes pass as we jog at level four of speed. “So, how are you feeling?” Thankfully, both of us remain with a cool head.

“I’m confused like a grandma hanging in a swing. I thought you wanted to beat me up, not bring me to the gym.” Huffing every ten words, I turn my head towards Jane, who looks confused.

“Beat you up? Dude, I’m on the baseball team.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“Are you some kind of- Oh wait, right, you are new? That’s my bad.” Lowering his head as a sign of apology, the saurian clicks his tongue, thinking. “Okay, how do I explain this...”

Jane closes his eyes while pondering, eventually gathering all his thoughts. “Let’s see, we usually don’t get to play sports since, you know, all that deal about students hurting each other, yada yada yada.” Using his thumb, he points towards the door from which we entered.

“Remember my amazing bike? Principal Lockhart has to approve of its use. Something similar happens with sports. After enlisting in a team, you enter a probation period. If you don’t mess anything up, you can stay, but if at any point we cause trouble, they can remove us without any notice.”

“Then everyone on the baseball team is, like, chilling with me being a human and whatnot?”

“Oupi, they don’t even care that you exist, neither us nor the swimming team. It would be stupid to sacrifice our sports time to go after a guy who looks a little different.” Jane runs out of breath around the end, putting a stop to the treadmill before falling off due to a lack of rhythm.

“Then why are you bringing me here?” Hopping off the machine, Jane and I stare at each other.

“I already told you I wanted to talk with you. By the way, can you spot? It’s chest day.”

“That depends. How much do you press?”

“350lb, you?”

“…”

“Oupie?”

“250lb…” I slump my shoulders, depressed, not even bothering to correct his pronunciation. I can’t get a single win in this god-forsaken place.

“Eh, that works. If it falls on my chest, just hold it tight so that I can tilt the bar and slide the weights off.” This guy wants to crush his ribs and my fingers in the damn process.

“If it falls, I’m letting it crush you to death.”

“No, you won’t.” Smirking confidently, he moves towards the bench press and starts loading the disks on each side of the bar. “As I was saying, I wanted to talk with you. How long have you known Mari?”

Wow, the cunt is famous; even Mr. Jock over here, who claims not giving a fuck about me, cares about her. “Shared words there and then, but between you and me, I hate the bitch.”

“Join the line, buddy.” After finishing the preparations, Jane sits on the weight bench and reaches for the bar. “But that’s good, I was hoping you’d say that.”

After I took place behind him as the spot, the Allosaurus started his routine, moving the bar up and down with no effort whatsoever until the seventh rep, in which his arms started shaking.

“Do you, erm, know... Gwendoline?” Grunting words in between the repetitions, around the ninth, he seemed unable to lift the bar from his chest. “Ggh!”

That’s my signal. Pulling the bar from the middle, our combined effort is enough to lift it back to its rest.

“Don’t speak while lifting heavy weight, dumbass…”

“I can handle it.” He spoke big, but the sweat and heavy breathing told a different story. “Anyhow, you know her?”

“I know Gwen, didn’t know her full name is Gwendoleen.”

“It’s exactly because people mispronounce it the way you did that she goes by Gwen.” Wait a minute, aren’t, like, all the saurians I’ve met so far suffering from something because of their their names?

Mari sounds weird as shit as if it was an illegal Rexican name; Lex and Rex are unoriginal, to say the least, Jane sounds like a woman, and Gwendoline it’s weird to pronounce.

“Oupie?” The tall saurian clapped his hands in front of my face. When did he get up? I should stop spacing out around these lizard-wannabes.

“It’s O.P. Not Oupie, two letters, not that hard.”

“Ah, like C.J.? Gotcha, my bad.” Same brain cell, it seems. “I feel bad about the tag now…”

He looks towards my hoodie, with me peeling off the tag and pocketing it to throw it away later.

The saurian shakes his head, stretching its long arms right after. “Okay, while I rest, let’s talk.”

“About damn time.” Jane looks at me with confusion before rolling his eyes.

“I’ll be quick. You don’t like or agree with the student council, or want to join them or anything, do you?”

I shrug. The entire academy wasn’t of my liking, but with the solar panel bitch being a part of the student council, I guess that’s the part I like the least.

“I guess not.”

“Perfect. Then, you wouldn’t mind helping a brother?”

“A brother? I don’t see any human in here besides me.” True, there were only saurians in the vicinity, most of them either bald and walking around or the big group around one single bench press machine, appearing to be a salad with all those broccoli-like haired triggas.

“Come on, don’t be like that. I’m just asking for a small favor.” Ah, so THAT’s what you wanted. My expression must have given away the current change of mood because he was quick to follow up. “Ey, it’s nothing bad.”

He raises his hands, attempting to alleviate the now-growing tension between us.

“It’s just that Gwen and Mari stick to each other like dirt and nail, boy, there isn’t a single chance for me to approach.”

“You can’t just talk to them?”

“Heeeeell nah, you know how much the Apex hates Mari’s guts? I would end up with a broken rib and a busted shoulder if I ever TRIED to act friendly towards her.”

“Then what the fuck do you want from me?”

“Well, apparently, you don’t give a shit about what the rest think; the fact you stay anywhere near Mari without being a part of the council says it all. You are literally the only crazy motherfucker who would do that, besides Gwen.” The way Jane explained the situation slowly made Rex’s reaction more understandable.

“I’m a human, we don’t give a fuck about anything.”

“That’s what I’m counting on. Let me offer you something; If you do this for me, I’ll owe you a favor, and I always pay back up.” He finally was getting to the good part.

“Any favor?”

“One equivalent to my request, of course.” The fact some jock like him was able to carefully chose his words was surprising, to say the least. But one favor from a sportsman with access to bats? And with an appearance that could scare a rat away from a wheel of cheese? Sounds good to have.

“If it’s something I can do, we’ll see.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” His sudden smile struck a nerve in me, as those sharp and massive fangs were now pointed in my direction. Even if there wasn’t any ill intent... Fuck, these things are scary.

“Yeah, yeah. What is it that you want?”

“Okay, so, remember how I told you Mari and Gwen are always together? I want you to fix that.”

“Explain.”

“All you gotta do is take Mari somewhere far away from Gwen during lunch, it doesn’t matter where, as long as it’s not in the cafeteria.” Using his hands as puppets, he represents his plan with me and Mari walking away. “After that, I’ll have freeway to approach the lonely, lonely Gwen, and then POW! We all lived happily ever after!” He finishes his presentation with a self-fist bump.

Oh. OH.

The moment I realized what this was all about, I couldn’t help but laugh.

A laugh that quickly transformed into laughter. This motherfucker went out of his way, acting cool as shit with a motorcycle, just to make a move with a woman?

Fuck’s sake, my sides hurt! Not that I’m blaming the guy, Gwen has an ass to kill for, but the hilarity of the situation was worthy of a ballad.

As a response to my laugh, I only got another smirk from the tall saurian as his hand extended towards me. “Is that a yes?”

“Oooh, man, you will regret making a deal with me.” I clean the forming tears around my eye, shaking the hand of the saurian to seal the deal.

“I doubt it,” He says, laughing between teeth, letting go of my hand. “Anyways, that’s enough rest. Let’s go back to working out. Do you have any routine?”

“Wait, what day is it?”

“Tuesday, why?”

…

Fuck, it’s leg day.

ZEUS, SMITE ME NOW!

By the time we are done working out, it’s already 5:30. My legs are killing me, and Jane is about to cry, but we feel satisfied with the results. I internally thank God for the fact that I will not have to walk all the way back to the school.

The ride back to the apartments was quiet, and the only other interaction the Allosaurus and I had was a slight nod as we parted ways, with him going towards the dining hall while I went upstairs. I last saw Jane’s confused expression while watching me leave.

I won’t eat around them. I’m dying on this hill.

The moment I reach the dorm with the 68 marked on the door, I get inside with my key and start inspecting the room. Thankfully, it seems that Lex and Rex didn’t assault the place while I was out.

My legs slowly crumble when I approach the bed. I slump head-first into the low-quality pillow and take out my phone, which gives light to the dark room.

Wasting half an hour watching weird interactions between people in the threads around my favorite app and how pitiful the lives of others seemed to be, I restored all my self-confidence and got ready to sleep. One week until I could get my bike, that shouldn’t be too hard.

I close my eyes, allowing my tiredness to take over as I lose consciousness.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

That is until someone knocks on my door and wakes me up. Checking my phone, they are 8:54 PM. Who is knocking this late?

Drowsy, grumpy, and without thinking too much, I drag my feet until reaching and opening the door, welcomed by a blue smudge.

“Hello, the president told me to deliver this to you.” The dark blue smudge looks towards his backpack while I rub my eyes, slowly clearing up my vision.

It wasn’t a blue smudge; it was a blue saurian.

And said Saurian; the moment he turned his head to see me and hand me the paper, he froze. His purple pupils dilated, and his breath accelerated as everything he held fell to the floor.

“Why...are you here?”

The blue Saurian starts panicking, twisting his head towards one side, causing the hair to cover a big part of his face. He quickly grabs hold of his left ear in a motion that looks strangely similar.

As if he had just seen a monster.

It’s funny; he kind of reminds me of the raptor who went to my old school.

The blue raptor that almost died.

And that was now standing before me, whimpering with every word that escaped his mouth.

“…”

“Why are you here? Oc-” grabbing hold of his collar with both hands, I dragged the raptor inside the dorm and tossed its body onto the floor as I closed the door.

Why am I here? Why are YOU here?!

This place is supposed to be for pieces of shit like me, not for people like you. You are a victim.

Mortimer. Mort. The poor bastard who got stuck in my school, surrounded by humans that hated Saurians beyond any logic.

The raptor that four years ago...

We almost killed.